Billionaire and former New York City mayor, 77 year old Michael Bloomberg, one of the world’s richest men, has formally launched a Democratic bid for US president in the 2020 election. This is coming about 10 weeks before the primary voting begins.
The former Republican announced his candidacy today, November 24 in a written statement posted on a campaign website, describing himself as uniquely positioned to defeat President Donald Trump.
He declared: “I’m running for president to defeat Donald Trump and rebuild America,” Mr Bloomberg wrote.
“We cannot afford four more years of President Trump’s reckless and unethical actions,” he continued.
“He represents an existential threat to our country and our values. If he wins another term in office, we may never recover from the damage.”
Bloomberg’s entrance is considered as an unorthodox move that reflects anxiety within the Democratic Party about the strength of its current candidates.
As a centrist with deep ties to Wall Street, Bloomberg is expected to struggle among the party’s energized progressive base.
He became a Democrat only last year but yet his tremendous resources and moderate profile could be appealing in a primary contest that has become, above all, a quest to find the person best-positioned to deny Mr Trump a second term next November.
Forbes ranked Bloomberg as the 11th-richest person in the world last year with a net worth of roughly 50 billion dollars (£39 billion).
President Trump, by contrast, was ranked 259th with a net worth of just over three billion dollars (£2.3 billion).
He did not say how much he would be willing to spend overall on his presidential ambitions, but senior adviser Howard Wolfson did say: “Whatever it takes to defeat Donald Trump.”
Wolfson also said that Mr Bloomberg would not accept a single political donation for his campaign or take a salary should he become president.
Even before the announcement was final, Democratic rivals like Bernie Sanders pounced on Mr Bloomberg’s plans to rely on his personal fortune.
“I’m disgusted by the idea that Michael Bloomberg or any billionaire thinks they can circumvent the political process and spend tens of millions of dollars to buy elections,” Mr Sanders tweeted on Friday.
Elizabeth Warren, another leading progressive candidate, also attacked Mr Bloomberg on Saturday for trying to buy the presidency.
“I understand that rich people are going to have more shoes than the rest of us, they’re going to have more cars than the rest of us, they’re going to have more houses,” she said after a campaign stop in Manchester, New Hampshire.
“But they don’t get a bigger share of democracy, especially in a Democratic primary. We need to be doing the face-to-face work that lifts every voice.”
Bloomberg does not speak in his announcement video, which casts him as a successful businessman who came from humble roots and ultimately “put his money where his heart is” to effect change on the top policy issues of the day – gun violence, climate change, immigration and equality, among them.
President Muhammadu Buhari has pleaded with the leaders of the All Progressives Congress (APC) not to allow the party to collapse after his tenure in 2023.
The President, who spoke at the meeting of the National Executive Committee (NEC) of the party in Abuja, said that history would be unkind to the party leaders if the party collapses at the end of his administration.
“The aim is that history will not be fair to us outright if the APC collapses at the end of this term. History will be fair to us if the APC remains strong and not only holds the centre but makes gains. People will reflect with nostalgia that once upon a time, the builders of APC made a lot of sacrifices, worked very hard.
He reminded the party leaders of their responsibility to make the party attractive to their constituents, saying: “anybody who fails to maintain the respect of his constituents and is thrown out, it is his problem.
“Like the chairman has said, all those who left us to the upper house, none of them were voted by his constituents. You want to take our people for granted, but they know what they are doing.
“The sacrifices are physical, material and moral to make sure that we maintain the leadership, politically, of this system. This is what we should all aim at and ensure that our constituencies understand us and follow us to this great objective.
“What we did for you the executive, NWC is bottom to top. You must make sure that people elected to be responsible from polling units to wards to local governments to states and here are respected in their respective constituencies.
“This is the only way we can make this party survive. This is the only way history will be kind to us that we have led with absolute concern for the country and for the people.
“If for any other reason you divide the party at any constituency and it causes failure, then be prepared that history will not recognize you as a leader at any level at any time.”
“For the past three months, we have been doing everything possible to ensure we make progress and we are happy to let the nation know that the president has given us full backing in this assignment.
“The support given by the president includes political backing to ensure that Ajaokuta works and by the grace of God it will work soon.”
These were the words of the Minister of Mines and Steel Development, Olamilekan Adegbite, in an interactive session with newsmen in Abuja on the proposed Nigerian solid minerals downstream workshop scheduled to hold on December 2.
The minister who spoke through his Special Adviser on Special Duty, Sunny Ekozin said that part of the directives by Buhari was for the sector to solve long intractable problems bedeviling the solid minerals and to ensure that Nigeria relies on the sector to diversify its economy.
He said that after articulating the problems for the past three months, the administration is on the path to harnessing the potentials that abound in the minerals sector for the benefit of the people in the country.
Adegbite explained that one of the steps taken was the current process of developing the Nigerian Downstream Mineral Policy, saying that the policy is first of its kind in the history of the country.
“The downstream mineral policy will trigger the nation with a clear diversification blueprint in a sustainable manner, especially for the revamping of Ajaokuta steel company.
“And also effective harnessing of the abundant minerals endowment spread across the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).”
“As part of the process leading to the revamping of the entire solid minerals sector, we are sensitising key stakeholders, especially large investors of this novel initiative for the development of solid mineral downstream value chains.
“This will help to create massive jobs, wealth and industrialisation.
Adegbite added that the ministry was determined and committed to ensuring that the president’s mandate was realised within the next three years.
He said that the present government would stem the exports of jobs and wealth by unwittingly exporting 35 million of unprocessed mineral products annually.
The minister pledged to open the sector to genuine indigenous and foreign investors to actively participate in the downstream licensing of mineral plants. (NAN)
The Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, has promised that the Federal Government will commercialize Creative Industry in 2020, as part of efforts to encourage the growth of the sector.
The Minister, who spoke today, November 24 at the 2019 All Africa Music Awards (AFRIMA) in Lagos, said: “as we head into 2020, the successful commercialization of the Creative industry is our number 1 priority. It will create jobs, reduce crime, be a major source of foreign exchange and thereby reduce our dependence on oil, rebrand our country internationally and boost our GDP. “So, we in government are tackling all impediments to the industry thriving. We are making cheaper and longer term financing available for the industry, especially for infrastructural projects, like concert halls across the six geo-political zones of the country, as recently announced by the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria.” Lai Mohammed said that government is providing the necessary framework through the Office of the Attorney General of the Federation to ensure that listeners of music pay for it, adding that internet data must be cheaper and owners of content must make more money from the use of their works. “The other big issue for commercialization is the digital economy – data must be cheaper and owners of content must make more money from the use of their works. I am sure you have been following the announcements by my colleague, the Minister of Communications, on this.” The Minister said that government is cleaning up the advertising industry and making sure proper measurement of content exist and are collated, stressing that this measure has the potential to add at least 50 billion Naira annually to the Creative Sector. The Minister congratulated the organizers of AFRIMA for another successful hosting of the prestigious awards and the role they have been playing in the explosion, development and the success of African music. The Executive Producer of AFRIMA, Mike Dada, said that the organization is using culture and art as a platform to change the narratives of unemployment, extreme poverty and homelessness on the continent. He commended the Minister for providing the needed support, which enabled them to successfully host this year’s AFRIMA.
In the atmospherics and nuances of ideation and argumentation, facts remain sacred. The flip-side – opinions are free and continue to experience free falls. Successful defence of cases, whether in or out of the law courts, is always grounded on adducing facts with probative value that help to establish cases beyond reasonable doubts. Facts about the N30 billion Benin City storm water master plan that the administration of Comrade Adams Oshiomhole conceptualized and implemented to address the menace of flooding in the city for decades are centrally addressed in this piece.
Recently, some fictional narratives on the social media had tended to befuddle the issues and blame the seeming distortions and dysfunction of the master plan at the wrong doorsteps. Manipulating the sensibilities of Edo people and goading them into believing the administration of Oshiomhole failed to deliver on the storm water master plan are the heights of political mischief.
Indeed, that has been the essential plot of forces trying to rubbish the commitment to policy decisions, programmes and delivery of projects that formed the basis on which Oshiomhole launched Edo on the path of development, growth and prosperity during his eight-year administration. The other camp seeks to diminish and disparage Oshiomhole’s luminous epoch in Edo, through salacious media spins.
This piece seeks to juxtapose the facts and the fictions in order to draw comparison between the propaganda of bogus claims on the one hand and the magnitude of the mitigating facts of the matter on the other hand. The facts would upend the lies and disrupt maneuvers by conspiracy theorists to fool circumspect observers.
By trying to insinuate Oshiomhole, who is national chair of the governing All Progressives Congress (APC), and his former Commissioner of Environment and Public Utilities, Prince Clem Ikanade Agba, who is minister of state for budget and national planning, into a needless controversy, the other camp, enjoying the covert support of Governor Godwin Obaseki, had inadvertently hoisted itself with its own petard. The underbelly of the Obaseki administration in its blinkered agenda to abandon the legacy projects of Oshiomhole’s administration has long been exposed.
Whereas, the original plan was to demonise Oshiomhole and Agba; the stratagem had backfired on the very logic that the storm water master plan existed under Oshiomhole and was functional in dealing with the perennial problem of flooding in the state capital. The argument is then not that Oshiomhole’s government did not execute the project but that Obaseki’s administration had decided to abandon Oshiomhole’s legacy projects as a directive principle of his administration’s policy. How so unfortunate!
To the enlightened Edo State folks living in Benin, Obaseki should take responsibility for the seeming failure to sustain the functionality of the storm water master plan, the same having proved to be salutary under Oshiomhole. A factual narrative of the existential considerations and administrative decisions that birthed the storm water master plan within which there were a series of linkage projects that had to be completed over time is imperative.
Fact is, successive governments, within a period of about thirty years or more, were to sustain the project to completion. Another fact: the Storm Water Master Plan took about 12 months of study to be inaugurated and was done by supposedly one of the best companies in the world renowned for handling such projects. The company was said to have handled the Lagos Bar Beach problem of Atlantic sea surges. Aurekon, the South African company, reportedly had over 400 surveyors on ground in Edo, doing topography mapping just to profile water-flow, establish watersheds and determine the final flood water destination during the rains in Benin.
Ikpoba River and Ogba River were, as learnt, identified, but the study showed that three quarters of flood waters end up in Ogba River, because of the topography, as water does not flow up but downwards. If it must be made to flow up, then mechanical devices – a pump and constant power – would be needed. What Oshiomhole’s government did, as gathered, was to identify the lowest point in Benin, where water could flow and where eventually it would end.
Consequently, a two-pronged approach was said to have been adopted. First, the administration looked at the low-hanging fruits: there were areas where a former two-time governor, the late Dr. Samuel Ogbemudia, had put some underground drains. Focusing on those areas, Oshiomhole put drains that would connect to those undergrounds, constituting the primary drains that de-flood the city. The secondary drains on the sides of the roads, which are visible to the eyes, are only ancillary in the process to protect the roads. If there were no primary drains to which they were connected, the flood problem would be transferred from one area to another. That was the underlining argument.
Significantly, the Oshiomhole administration confronted the expensive nature of the primary drains; and, for instance, constructed underground drains on the Airport Road that were as deep as 22 feet. Some top officials of the Obaseki administration were part of the project: Obaseki as Chairman of the Economic and Strategy Team; the Secretary to the State Government, Osarodion Ogie, as Commissioner of Works and his counterpart in the Ministry of Environment and Public Utilities, Prince Agba. There were others such Anselm Ojezua and Frak Evbuomwan who also served as either commissioners for works or environment at the time. They were part and parcel of the certification and payment process for the project.
The entire process was documented and archived. The relevant documents would show 23 catchment areas in Benin, which take flow of water in 23 different directions straight into Ikpoba and Ogba Rivers. The Upper Lawani catchment, which was a storm water project, had been completed together with the one around Ugbowo Road to Eghosa Grammar School receptacle where flood waters are discharged into Ikpoba River. There was a storm water project at the Five Junction connecting eleven streets. The administration dealt with a basin flood that had twenty routes. The entire area was subjected to a complete urban renewal through infrastructure development.
Yet another fact: the N30-billion storm water master plan encapsulated more than the drains. It is one project, not all of the storm water projects, which takes care of the Uwelu East and Uwelu West catchments. There were about eleven roads within that catchment, which includes Igbinadowa whose road is a drain; it is a massive drain and the road sits on top. The idea was to create a tributary for the other drains to flow into at that primary level en-route the river.
It is a fact that the master plan was 70 percent completed under the Oshiomhole administration. The drains from the river had been taken up to Siloko Road and what was left as of 2016 was for the Obaseki administration to continue the drain from Adolor College Road, which is the upstream area and that would have also helped to collect the flood waters from the Uwelu spare parts market area. Curiously, the Obaseki administration stopped the project.
Whereas, the components that had been completed needed to be constantly maintained and the drains de-silted, the Obaseki administration failed to act in accordance. Significantly, so many roads in Benin are not paved and consequently the rate of siltation on drains is very high. What Obaseki needed to do but which he did not do was to spend little money to clean the drains and the flood waters would flow.
It is needless exertion to try to divert attention from the blunder of personal indiscretion and failure of leadership to cause Oshiomhole or Agba to be invited through a probe to explain the N30 billion that had already been spent on the drains and allied projects. The Oshiomhole administration had worked on and completed six of the 23 catchments areas.
The administration’s uproar over the storm water master plan is mischievous and misplaced. The problem is with Obaseki’s failure to continue with the project in which he and some of his leading administration officials were involved in its conceptualization and execution.
Consider the declining beauty of Benin under Obaseki’s watch: the street lights are no more functioning; the Akenzua Water Fountain on Ring Road has stopped working. To be sure, these have nothing to do with the N30-billion storm water master plan. Obaseki should stop crying wolf where none exists and do the needful concerning the plan. The recent appeal by Minister Agba to Oba of Benin, Ewuare II, to request the State Government to continue the master plan was in apple-pie order.
Ainofenokhai, public affairs commetator, contributed this piece from Lagos.
What appeared like a rumour last Monday concerning seizure of my Presidential Villa tag is not rumour, but true. Let me first apologize to my colleagues who had shown concern by calling me or messaging me when they got the hint. I had denied it to all of them by claiming I was on working leave and out of Abuja. But there is a reason, explained below, why I had to deny it prior to this message.
My office, Vintage Press, publisher of The Nation Newspaper, had directed me to do a picturesque piece on the Villa, sort of describing the houses and everything in the Villa. I had resisted and explained to them that it may have security implications especially as the Presidential Villa is considered to be a security zone. But I was told to do the report and that there won’t be any problem from the authorities as long as I avoid mentioning the security posts and the number of security personnel on duty and other security issues. I did exactly that. The piece, I was also told, will not embarrass the government, but will make an interesting reading material for Nigerians, at least to know where their President, under a democratic setting, is operating from.
Before I continue recounting my recent experience let me go back to few months back: My former Abuja Bureau Chief, Mr. Yomi Odunuga, who had covered the Presidential Villa in the past, had did everything in the past to let my newspaper management understand that writing such report could breach the security of the Villa. But with his exit from the newspaper, the pressure was on that my reports, especially my Tuesdays weekly write up ‘From the Villa’ was not adding value to the newspaper. So, I was told to buckle up otherwise I would be redeployed from the Villa if I fail to do the ‘good’ reports because I didn’t want my tag to be seized by government authorities. Severally, Yusuf Alli, during Editorial meetings, had even explained that I should not be scared of doing the reports because the publisher of The Nation Newspaper, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, must be consulted by the government before my tag could be seized. But every is adding up now, and showing that all the threats and deceptions were part of a grand plot to get me out of the Villa or The Nation Newspaper at all cost. They had been waiting patiently to see me miss a story from the Villa so that they can easily sack me. But God didn’t allow them succeed through that means. I have no doubt in my mind that everyone of them involved in the scheming and conspiracy that led to the bad name they gave me in the Presidential Villa and the seizure of the Villa tag, despite my dedication to duty over the years, will be paid back in their own coin in due course, because the battle is of the Lord.
Back to my predicament; the story that led to the tag seizure. With the mounting pressure from the office and somehow wedged between the devil and the deep blue sea, I wrote the report. To still discourage the editors from publishing it, I put the following message boldly in bracket on top of the report: Editor, please look at this critically and remove any part that could breach the security of the State House. Their song to State House correspondents at every opportunity is that the Presidential Villa is a security zone. But The Nation disregarded the written and verbal warnings and went ahead to publish it. Its first part, entitled ‘Inside Aso Rock Villa (1)’ was published on Friday 1st of November, 2019.
I could not approach the Villa on that Friday. My tag was however seized by security men at the Villa after taking my statement on the matter on Monday 4th of November, 2019. In the statement, I explained clearly that the idea of the report came from The Nation Headquarters in Lagos and I was made to write the piece despite explaining that it could breach the security of the Presidential Villa.
On the same day the tag was seized, the media office in the Villa had promised to intervene on the matter when the Chief Security Officer returns to Nigeria from London where the President paid a private visit. But I was warned that the only condition the media office will intervene is for me or my office to keep the issue of my tag seizure from the media. My office and I did exactly that from when my tag was seized till now. This is why I did everything to deny it when some concerned members called me over the issue.
A lot of twists and drama started to play out from last Monday over the matter. On Wednesday, I was told by a top official in the Presidency that the security didn’t see things the same way the media office perceived the matter. In essence, my Presidential Villa tag will remain seized. I was also told that The Nation Newspaper headquarters in Lagos have been informed about the Villa decision on my issue since last Monday and should be in better position to brief me.
But when I got in touch on Monday with the Daily Editor of The Nation Newspaper, Mr. Adesina Adeniyi, who is based in Lagos, he told me the management was still waiting for intervention promised by the Villa media office on the matter.
When I called him on Thursday afternoon, he refused to pick my calls and neither did he call back (This was happening for the first time since I knew him on the job). I repeated the call four hours later and when he picked, he told me that the Villa media office will get back to The Nation management the following day, which is Friday.
On Friday, I put a call through to him around 9pm, he didn’t pick.
He also declined to pick the several calls I made to his two lines on Saturday. None of the calls were returned.
As the matter was becoming not only high level gang up, but a hide-and-seek game and the more you look, the less you see, I then dug further in the Presidency, where I was reliably informed that a letter was written to The Nation management last Monday asking it to send a new name to replace me in the Villa.
It’s so sad that after dedication and loyalty to duty, The Nation Newspaper did not only schemed to put me in trouble with the government, they followed it up with series of deception just to achieve their goals. Did they forget that Almighty God, the owner of heaven and earth, is watching them and will answer them at the appointed time. What pained me most was not leaving the Villa, but the way and scheming method adopted by the evil forces in The Nation. A simple letter redeploying me from the Villa would have been appreciated than this inhumane method adopted by The Nation management. It is better I go to the streets and be clearing rubbish bins for a living than to continue working for such organization.
What happened to me this morning in my house where I have been living in the past nine years made me to ponder if they have also gone spiritual. My wife and children had taken their bath in their bathroom, dressed up and went to Church to meet up with the workers’ meeting that normally precedes the main church service. After typing this recent predicament in the Villa on my laptop, I decided to take my bath in my own separate bathroom around 9.30am in order to meet up with the church service. As I opened the bathroom door to first excrete (as Fela called it ‘shit’) before taking my bath, what I saw in the water closet surprised me to my marrow. The bathroom was dark and I managed to switch on the light. Initially, I thought what I saw was a big black curly rubber. On a second look, it turned out to be a giant snake. Its head and tail were caught up in the pipe that links the closet to the service chamber outside the toilet. I almost ran out of my compound naked but returned and locked the bathroom door firmly and tied my towel. I then went outside the compound and sent for one of my neighbours, Malam Gambo. When he came and I explained everything to him, he took a big stick and we returned to the bathroom door. But I told him to wait as I went outside to the generator set area to carry the six litres keg of petrol and some packets of salt. When I returned to the bathroom door, we opened it and poured the six litres of petrol on it as it remained in the same position we left it. By the time we opened six sachets of salt and poured it inside the closet, the snake had moved further into the pipe heading to the chamber. I then covered the closet and placed one bucket filled with water on it. We then decided to go and pour the remaining packets of salts into the water closet in the other bathroom, which is about twenty feet away from my bathroom. On getting there, we saw a big dead rat on the floor. Malam Gambo picked it up and said it came out from the water closet and died from the impact of the petrol and salt we poured on the snake in the closet in the other bathroom. He was certain that the big snake in the pipe or toilet chamber will not survive the effect of the petrol and salt. So I thanked him and he left as I later took my bath outside in my compound before rushing to meet up with the remaining church service. I don’t believe that the devil and its agents can prevail over me spiritually, but I kept wondering why the snake on a day I decided to open up on the injustice meted out on me by The Nation. Was it meant to silent me forever or was it just a natural occurrence. Only God in heaven can answer that. But I always believe that only His Will will be done in my life and family, and not the will of witches, wizards, principalities, powers, rulers of the darkness of this world, and spiritual wickedness in high places. Their counsel and plans against me will never stand, in Jesus mighty name.
Again, The Nation Newspaper is doing everything to compete with The Punch Newspaper, but they are not ready to do the needful. The Punch Newspaper is ever ready, for instance, to spend its last strength and resources to support any staff doing what it believes in. Comparing this with my recent predicament, The Nation Newspaper, on the other hand, have just wasted and sacrificed me like a worthless pawn in a Chess game, especially for a report idea which originated from the headquarters and forced on me. The Punch Newspaper is rare and will continue to be the newspaper to beat, in all ramifications, for many years to come.
Above all these, I give Almighty God the glory and honour that I’m leaving the Villa in one piece and my family members safe, because somebody had whispered to me in the wake of this issue that I would have been picked up and dealt with mercilessly if not for the relationship between the President and the publisher of my newspaper and the quick intervention of the Villa media office.
Despite my explanation in my statement to security men in the Villa that the idea of the report originated from Lagos and it was forced down on me, I still ended up being used as the sacrificial lamb. Did The Nation management gave a false and different explanation to Villa security just to nail me? Is the Villa security now satisfied that the report was only a scheme to get me out of the Villa or there is still more than meet the eyes now by the originators.
I also hope that the withdrawal of my accreditation tag didn’t mean they are still very angry with me after explaining how the report came about. My prayer and hope is that they should now allow the matter to end with the seizure of my Presidential Villa tag because it will be very difficult to disconnect the matter from any ugly incident that may happen to me and my family members directly or indirectly from now onward, including assassination, accident, robbery, fire incident, kidnapping, unknown soldier attack, etc.
Dear colleagues, I’m not saying you should write a story from this my predicament or not to write. The decision is yours, but I hope it will also not risk your Presidential Villa tag when you decide to write. This my recent experience in the Villa, I feel should just be a lesson for new members to learn from for their coverage of the Presidential Villa.
At this point, we have to part ways for this relationship we started since 2013. I hereby ask for forgiveness from those I might have genuinely offended, knowingly or unknowingly. (Of course, this does not cover those that felt offended due to enforcement of one sanction or the other against them in the course of serving the State House Press Corps as Financial Secretary because I may not behave differently if our path cross again in similar circumstances at any level, as I always believe in discipline, just and fairness to everyone in any union or association or the society).
The Governor, Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Godwin Emefiele has advised corporate bodies in the country to take advantage of the Presidential Order 007 to raise infrastructure bonds at concessionary rates to support the federal government in its desire to develop infrastructure in Nigeria. Emefiele who spoke today, November 23 during the inspection of the on-going road construction from the Apapa Port to the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway toll gate being undertaken by the Dangote Group, commended President Muhammadu Buhari for signing the Executive Order Number 007, which opened the opportunity for private companies to intervene in infrastructure. According to him, the Apapa Port road being constructed by the Dangote Group is comparable to those constructed in countries with more developed technology. “It is a good thing for this country. When we talk about the Ease of Doing Business, you can imagine a situation whereby people have been complaining about the ease of transporting their goods out of the Apapa port.” The CBN boss commended Alhaji Dangote for taking the initiative, even as he expressed hope that the road would ease the traffic challenge on the route, particularly for trucks conveying cleared goods from the ports. He commended the Dangote Group for using 100 percent local content for the project.
Dangote group uses the cement it produces on the road, even as the rods are procured from African Foundries that smelted waste steel, which is converted into iron bars and are being used for the road. Speaking earlier, Alhaji Aliko Dangote assured that the first phase of the construction would be ready before the end of December 2019.
President Muhammadu Buhari has expressed appreciation to Nigerians who he said, listened to his appeal in 2015 to return to farm thereby saving the country from collapse that stared its face.
In a goodwill message he sent to farmers as they observe this year’s Farmers Day in Enugu, Anambra State, the President stressed that only God knows what Nigeria would have been today if the citizens had remained complacent and if God had not blessed the country with abundant rains.
“As I have said on occasions in the past, what would we have done as a nation, if God had not been kind to us, giving us good and abundant rainy season and good harvests in the past four seasons?
“As at 2015, our economy was in such perilous state, with oil prices crashing internationally, and so many challenges nationally and locally. In fact, our country was in a desperate state.
“We then decided to put the modest resources we had where our mouth was. We focused on agriculture, and God heard our prayers. And we got good returns from our investments.
“We appealed to Nigerians to return to the land, and take up farming seriously again. They heeded our call, and have not regretted it since then. The theme of this Farmers’ Day is ‘Farm and Fortune’ and I must say that it is a well thought out theme.”
President Buhari said that farming has brought fortune to millions of Nigerians who embraced it, as it has turned round their social and economic status.
“We should never forget: the real wealth of our country lies primarily in farming, livestock, foresting and fisheries.
“Farmers are now among very well to do Nigerians. They can cater for their families, meet other existential needs, and even embark on various capital projects.
“Above all, farmers have led the country to the food self-sufficiency we now enjoy, saving us billions of dollars yearly, which would have been spent on food importation. Such funds are now deployed to other developmental projects, particularly infrastructure.
“It is gratifying that farmers have responded positively to initiatives by government to empower and strengthen their hands. Through the Central Bank of Nigeria, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, the fertilizer initiative, and many others, government gives supports to our farmers, and you have responded positively, to the good of our country.
“When floods caused havoc to farmlands last year, we responded by giving financial support to affected farmers. We will continue to stand by you.
“Let me also commend the Nigerian Agip Oil Company for organizing this Farmers’ Day, something the company has done consistently for 30 years. In its own way, Agip has empowered, encouraged and celebrated farmers in 300 host communities in Rivers, Bayelsa, Delta and Imo States. I urge big companies and high net-worth individuals to emulate such example.
“A day like this provides good networking opportunities for farmers and stakeholders in the agricultural sector. I urge you to make the best use of it.
“Our intention is to make agriculture the backbone of our economy. It once was so, before petroleum was discovered and we neglected farming for easy petroleum-dollars, but we are wiser now.
“With agriculture, we don’t have to crash again anytime oil prices crash in the international market. We have our farmers to thank for that assurance. We will also take precautions against bad harvest.
“We made our priorities clear from the beginning. We want to secure our country so that it can be efficiently managed, we want to curb corruption, and revive the economy.
“Agriculture is one of the veritable ways to economic recovery. It guarantees employment to millions of our people, particularly the youth, engenders better living standards, enhances the income of people, and ensures food security. This, in turn, will improve the security situation in the land.”
The President then called for the celebration of Nigerian farmers, insisting that they are the nation’s authentic heroes, not only for today, but for tomorrow, and ever more.
The Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) said it dismissed 62 officers found to be involved in corrupt practices at various times this year.
The FRSC corps Marshal, Boboye Oyeyemi, who disclosed this when he interacted with news men, in Abuja said that the dismissal of the officers was part of the effort to rid the corps of corruption.
“Those involved are 14 officers and 48 marshals with several others receiving various degrees of punishment in accordance with the provisions of the FRSC regulations on discipline.”
He said that the collaboration with the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) and the State Security Service (SSS) resulted in the investigation of 172 officials.
“I wish to use this opportunity to urge members of the public not to hesitate to report any wrongdoing by the FRSC personnel for proper disciplinary actions, as the corps will not condone bribery and corruption from any of its personnel.”
Boboye Oyeyemi said that the agency will not condone bribery and corruption within its ranks.
According to him, FRSC is the first government agency to collaborate with the Akin Fadeyi Foundation and MacArthur – both non-governmental organisations (NGOs) – for the launch of Flag-IT, an application developed for reporting corruption cases.
September 30, 2019 seemed like a normal business day for Dayo Ayoade, Managing Director of Travel Deals Limited, Lagos, until he discovered that Guaranty Trust Bank Plc had placed a lien on his bank account. On approaching the bank, he was arrested and detained at the Area F Police Station, Lagos State without any charge for a period of five days, placed in the cell amongst hardened criminals and handcuffed to the hospital bed like a common criminal and later transferred to Port Harcourt, Rivers State. Enquiries from his family about his whereabouts revealed that a certain Joseph Ezekwugo, Technology Manager at Shell Petroleum, Port Harcourt, ordered his arrest, alleging that he was duped by Ayoade and should be remanded in police custody until he pays the sum of N3.4 million. Ayoade said: “The whole drama started on July 22, 2019 when one Ayanniyi Babatunde Daniel of Range Travels came to my office to make enquiries about my discount tables for sub agents and expressed his willingness to do business with me. He told me to do travel reservations for Mr. Joseph Ezekwugo from Lagos to Winnipeg on Lufthansa, Ottawa to Winnipeg for his son on West Jet, Lagos to London return for Jenmi Nikky Omolola on British Airways and Oke Oluwale Abayomi on Ethiopian Airline. The reservations were made and immediately forwarded to Mr. Ayanniyi Babatunde via WhatsApp. I gave him my GTBank account number before he left the office to enable him make payment once his client gives his approval. “Later that evening, an unregistered number called me and introduced himself as Joseph Ezekwugo from Port Harcourt and wanted to know if he’s speaking with the MD of Travel Deals Limited, I answered in affirmation and he told me his agent (Ayaniyi Babatunde) gave him my number and account. I called Ayaniyi Babatunde and notified him of the call from Mr. Ezekwugo Joseph and he confirmed to me that he gave him my details. Shortly after that I got an alert of Seven Hundred Thousand Naira (700,000.00) from Mr. Ezekwugo Joseph. I immediately called the two of them to notify them of the payment and Mr. Ayanniyi told me that more payment will still be made as he (Mr. Ezekwugo) will be traveling with members of his family. “The following day, on July 23rd, 2019 I received another payment of Five Hundred and Fifty Seven Thousand Two Hundred Naira (N557,200.00). I again notified Mr. Ezekwugo via text message and called Mr. Ayanniyi to let me know the tickets to be issued as I will not be responsible for any increase in fares and he told me he will liaise with his client get back to me and even confirmed that more payment will still be made. “About a week after, Mr. Ayanniyi came to my office and asked me to issue ticket as follows: “(1) British Airways ticket to London for Jenmi Nikky Omolola at a cost of Seven Hundred and Fifty Five Thousand, Five Hundred and Ninety Eight Naira (N755,598.00). “(2) On August 19th, 2019, he was in my office to issue another Ethiopian Airline ticket for Vitalla Golla at a cost Three Hundred and Fifty Three Thousand Six Hundred and Two Naira (N353,602.00). “Same day, he asked me to issue another ticket for a local flight to Mr. Ezekwugo from Port Harcourt to Lagos but I told him we don’t do local tickets because of the stress involved. He then requested that I send him the balance of One Hundred and Twenty Thousand Naira (120,000.00) after deducting the Twenty Thousand Naira (20,000.00) I borrowed him to enable him source for Mr. Ezekwugo’s local flight ticket. “On September 26th, 2019 an unregistered number called me and introduced himself as Inspector Dominic from Port Harcourt. He asked if I know Mr. Joseph Ezekwugo and why I issued him a fake ticket. I told Inspector Dominic that though I don’t know Mr. Joseph Ezekwugo in person but we spoke with twice on phone and I didn’t issue any ticket to him. I further told the Inspector that the two tickets I issued from the payment Mr. Ezekwugo gave me were in favor of Jenmi Nikky Omolola and Vitalla Golla which were on instruction Mr. Ayanniyi Babatunde, his agent and that the balance of his money has since been transferred Mr. Ayanniyi Babatunde. Inspector Dominic later made a snapshot of the purported fake tickets to me and I told him that what he sent to me did not originate from me as they did not even resemble my company’s ticket format. “Shortly after, I called Mr. Joseph Ezekwugo to intimate him of what Inspector Dominic told me but was surprised when he affirmed it. I questioned why he didn’t notify me when he realized the ticket given to him by his agent were fake, he gave no answer to that and further said my company has been used to defraud him by his agent. “All attempts to get in touch with Mr. Ayanniyi Babatunde who was the one that came to my office to do all the negotiations proved abortive as he initially refused to pick calls and when he eventually picked, he was so evasive as he kept giving excuses of not been around. “On September 30th, 2019, I realized my GTBank account was frozen and I had to go to GTbank to enquire why there is a restriction on my account, to my surprise, the bank’s Chief Security Officer (CSO) showed me some documents from the Inspector General’s office effecting my arrest on sight. I followed him to the Police Station hoping that the issue will soon be resolved since I knew I had not committed any fraud. “We met the DPO who took us to the Area Commander and after so much going back and forth, I was detained and locked up in the cell. Due to my ill health, I was moved from the cell to stay behind the counter overnight. My health got worse the following day and was taken to the hospital (Cottage) on the order of the DPO and was handcuffed to the bed. I was treated for my Asthma ailment and in the cause of the treatment, it was discovered I had developed high blood pressure. “I was moved to police station again on Thursday morning where I spent the day and night behind the counter before Inspector Dominic finalized his paper work and we proceeded on the trip to Port Harcourt. We were to move by road but had to buy flight tickets for the two police officers that came from Port Harcourt namely Inspector Igwe Dominic and Sargent Oludare Olamide. “We got to Port Harcourt same Friday, I wrote my statement with the police and later met one Mr. Chukwukaelo Ogadinma who said he is Mr. Joseph’s Personal Assistant. Mr. Ogadinma insisted that I must pay Three Million Five Hundred Thousand Naira (N3,500,000.00) before I can be granted bail. It was later discovered that Mr. Chukwukaelo Ogadinma is a staff of Shell and was employed by Mr. Joseph Ezekwugo to further confuse and make believe the allegation against me. To further put fear and intimidation in me as well as extort money, Mr. Ogadinma boasted of how much money he had paid the police to effect my arrest and that the said amount must be paid before my release. All pleas to release me fell on deaf ears. “Not even my proposal to be responsible for the only Two Million Two Hundred Thousand Naira (2,200,000.00) which was the cost of the fresh ticket Mr. Joseph claimed he bought since he already had the plan to travel and to spend One Million Two hundred and Fifty Seven Thousand Two Hundred (N1,257,200.00) yielded any positive result as his “PA” insisted I have to pay Three Million Naira N(3,000,000.00) final payment or else I should remain in police custody. Already I was locked up in the cell with criminals and couldn’t imagine spending another night there. “When all pleas fell on his deaf ears, a friend of mine, Jide Akinuli transferred Three Million Naira (3,000,000.00) to Mr. Chukwukaele Ogadinma and upon receipt of the payment, which he confirmed via online banking, he asked the Police to release me. “After all the necessary paper work, I was released on bail later that Friday night.”
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Billionaire and former New York City mayor, 77 year old Michael Bloomberg, one of the world’s richest men, has formally launched a Democratic bid for US president in the 2020 election. This is coming about 10 weeks before the primary voting begins.
President Muhammadu Buhari has pleaded with the leaders of the All Progressives Congress (APC) not to allow the party to collapse after his tenure in 2023.
“For the past three months, we have been doing everything possible to ensure we make progress and we are happy to let the nation know that the president has given us full backing in this assignment.
What appeared like a rumour last Monday concerning seizure of my Presidential Villa tag is not rumour, but true. Let me first apologize to my colleagues who had shown concern by calling me or messaging me when they got the hint. I had denied it to all of them by claiming I was on working leave and out of Abuja. But there is a reason, explained below, why I had to deny it prior to this message.
President Muhammadu Buhari has expressed appreciation to Nigerians who he said, listened to his appeal in 2015 to return to farm thereby saving the country from collapse that stared its face.
September 30, 2019 seemed like a normal business day for Dayo Ayoade, Managing Director of Travel Deals Limited, Lagos, until he discovered that Guaranty Trust Bank Plc had placed a lien on his bank account. On approaching the bank, he was arrested and detained at the Area F Police Station, Lagos State without any charge for a period of five days, placed in the cell amongst hardened criminals and handcuffed to the hospital bed like a common criminal and later transferred to Port Harcourt, Rivers State.
The Storm In Benin City, By Sylvanus Ainofenokhai
Recently, some fictional narratives on the social media had tended to befuddle the issues and blame the seeming distortions and dysfunction of the master plan at the wrong doorsteps. Manipulating the sensibilities of Edo people and goading them into believing the administration of Oshiomhole failed to deliver on the storm water master plan are the heights of political mischief.
Indeed, that has been the essential plot of forces trying to rubbish the commitment to policy decisions, programmes and delivery of projects that formed the basis on which Oshiomhole launched Edo on the path of development, growth and prosperity during his eight-year administration. The other camp seeks to diminish and disparage Oshiomhole’s luminous epoch in Edo, through salacious media spins.
This piece seeks to juxtapose the facts and the fictions in order to draw comparison between the propaganda of bogus claims on the one hand and the magnitude of the mitigating facts of the matter on the other hand. The facts would upend the lies and disrupt maneuvers by conspiracy theorists to fool circumspect observers.
By trying to insinuate Oshiomhole, who is national chair of the governing All Progressives Congress (APC), and his former Commissioner of Environment and Public Utilities, Prince Clem Ikanade Agba, who is minister of state for budget and national planning, into a needless controversy, the other camp, enjoying the covert support of Governor Godwin Obaseki, had inadvertently hoisted itself with its own petard. The underbelly of the Obaseki administration in its blinkered agenda to abandon the legacy projects of Oshiomhole’s administration has long been exposed.
Whereas, the original plan was to demonise Oshiomhole and Agba; the stratagem had backfired on the very logic that the storm water master plan existed under Oshiomhole and was functional in dealing with the perennial problem of flooding in the state capital. The argument is then not that Oshiomhole’s government did not execute the project but that Obaseki’s administration had decided to abandon Oshiomhole’s legacy projects as a directive principle of his administration’s policy. How so unfortunate!
To the enlightened Edo State folks living in Benin, Obaseki should take responsibility for the seeming failure to sustain the functionality of the storm water master plan, the same having proved to be salutary under Oshiomhole. A factual narrative of the existential considerations and administrative decisions that birthed the storm water master plan within which there were a series of linkage projects that had to be completed over time is imperative.
Fact is, successive governments, within a period of about thirty years or more, were to sustain the project to completion. Another fact: the Storm Water Master Plan took about 12 months of study to be inaugurated and was done by supposedly one of the best companies in the world renowned for handling such projects. The company was said to have handled the Lagos Bar Beach problem of Atlantic sea surges. Aurekon, the South African company, reportedly had over 400 surveyors on ground in Edo, doing topography mapping just to profile water-flow, establish watersheds and determine the final flood water destination during the rains in Benin.
Ikpoba River and Ogba River were, as learnt, identified, but the study showed that three quarters of flood waters end up in Ogba River, because of the topography, as water does not flow up but downwards. If it must be made to flow up, then mechanical devices – a pump and constant power – would be needed. What Oshiomhole’s government did, as gathered, was to identify the lowest point in Benin, where water could flow and where eventually it would end.
Consequently, a two-pronged approach was said to have been adopted. First, the administration looked at the low-hanging fruits: there were areas where a former two-time governor, the late Dr. Samuel Ogbemudia, had put some underground drains. Focusing on those areas, Oshiomhole put drains that would connect to those undergrounds, constituting the primary drains that de-flood the city. The secondary drains on the sides of the roads, which are visible to the eyes, are only ancillary in the process to protect the roads. If there were no primary drains to which they were connected, the flood problem would be transferred from one area to another. That was the underlining argument.
Significantly, the Oshiomhole administration confronted the expensive nature of the primary drains; and, for instance, constructed underground drains on the Airport Road that were as deep as 22 feet. Some top officials of the Obaseki administration were part of the project: Obaseki as Chairman of the Economic and Strategy Team; the Secretary to the State Government, Osarodion Ogie, as Commissioner of Works and his counterpart in the Ministry of Environment and Public Utilities, Prince Agba. There were others such Anselm Ojezua and Frak Evbuomwan who also served as either commissioners for works or environment at the time. They were part and parcel of the certification and payment process for the project.
The entire process was documented and archived. The relevant documents would show 23 catchment areas in Benin, which take flow of water in 23 different directions straight into Ikpoba and Ogba Rivers. The Upper Lawani catchment, which was a storm water project, had been completed together with the one around Ugbowo Road to Eghosa Grammar School receptacle where flood waters are discharged into Ikpoba River. There was a storm water project at the Five Junction connecting eleven streets. The administration dealt with a basin flood that had twenty routes. The entire area was subjected to a complete urban renewal through infrastructure development.
Yet another fact: the N30-billion storm water master plan encapsulated more than the drains. It is one project, not all of the storm water projects, which takes care of the Uwelu East and Uwelu West catchments. There were about eleven roads within that catchment, which includes Igbinadowa whose road is a drain; it is a massive drain and the road sits on top. The idea was to create a tributary for the other drains to flow into at that primary level en-route the river.
It is a fact that the master plan was 70 percent completed under the Oshiomhole administration. The drains from the river had been taken up to Siloko Road and what was left as of 2016 was for the Obaseki administration to continue the drain from Adolor College Road, which is the upstream area and that would have also helped to collect the flood waters from the Uwelu spare parts market area. Curiously, the Obaseki administration stopped the project.
Whereas, the components that had been completed needed to be constantly maintained and the drains de-silted, the Obaseki administration failed to act in accordance. Significantly, so many roads in Benin are not paved and consequently the rate of siltation on drains is very high. What Obaseki needed to do but which he did not do was to spend little money to clean the drains and the flood waters would flow.
It is needless exertion to try to divert attention from the blunder of personal indiscretion and failure of leadership to cause Oshiomhole or Agba to be invited through a probe to explain the N30 billion that had already been spent on the drains and allied projects. The Oshiomhole administration had worked on and completed six of the 23 catchments areas.
The administration’s uproar over the storm water master plan is mischievous and misplaced. The problem is with Obaseki’s failure to continue with the project in which he and some of his leading administration officials were involved in its conceptualization and execution.
Consider the declining beauty of Benin under Obaseki’s watch: the street lights are no more functioning; the Akenzua Water Fountain on Ring Road has stopped working. To be sure, these have nothing to do with the N30-billion storm water master plan. Obaseki should stop crying wolf where none exists and do the needful concerning the plan. The recent appeal by Minister Agba to Oba of Benin, Ewuare II, to request the State Government to continue the master plan was in apple-pie order.