Zamfara State House of Assembly has abolished a law that allowed the payment of pension and other allowances for state’s former governors and their deputies. The law also affects ex-speakers of the house of assembly and their deputies.The spokesperson of the state’s assembly, Mustapha Jafaru, in a statement today, November 26 in Gusau, the State capital said the bill to stop the payment of such benefits to ex leaders of the state was sponsored by the house leader, Faruk Dosara (PDP Maradun), who urged his collogues to consider the ‘complete repeal’ of the law “which provides the jamboree payment for the former political leaders of the state at the detriment of the retired civil servants who have not been paid their entitlements over the years.”
According to the lawmaker, these categories of past leaders “are collecting over N700 million annually” which he said the present economy cannot accommodate.
Seconding the motion, Tukur Birnin-Tudu, PDP member representing Bakura local government said the abolition of the law is necessary.
After deliberations, the speaker, Nasiru Magarya pushed the process; the bill passed both first and second readings.
Later, the house went for a committee of the whole after which the bill went for a third reading.
The bill will now be sent to the governor for his assent, the spokesman said
The development is coming days after a former governor, Abdul’aziz Yari, in a leaked letter to the state government, requested his N10 million ‘monthly upkeep’, which he said had not been paid for some months.
The media aide to Governor Bello Matawalle, Yusuf Idris, on Tuesday confirmed that Mr Yari had written the request, adding that former governor Yari also sent another letter of reminder demanding the payment two days after the first one.
“With this development, all past political leaders in Zamfara will no longer enjoy any entitlements unless those prescribed by the national revenue mobilisation allocation and fiscal commission,” Jafaru quoted the speaker as saying in the statement.
Prime Minister of the Netherlands, Mark Rutte, has confessed that many investors in his country are eager to come and invest in various industries and projects in Nigeria.In a communique emanating from the bilateral meeting, President Muhammadu Buhari and Prime Minister Mark Rutte agreed that Nigeria and the Netherlands would continue to work together to improve bilateral trade volumes as well as private sector investments.
The communiqué said that the two leaders reviewed the progress that has been made with implementing the Memorandum of Understanding on deepening the bilateral relations between the two nations concluded and signed by the respective Foreign Ministers in The Hague in July 2018.
‘‘We welcome the steps that have been made to increase bilateral economic cooperation and are happy to see higher levels of bilateral trade volumes as well as private sector investments, ’’ the communiqué signed by Nigeria’s Ambassador to the Kingdom of Netherlands, Oji Ngofa and the Deputy Head of Mission, Netherlands Embassy in Abuja, Ewout-Jan de Wit said.
‘‘The contribution of Dutch private businesses, both global players and small, micro and medium enterprises, to the Nigerian economy is duly noted.
‘‘Investments by the Netherlands Investment Bank FMO and the Dutch Good Growth Fund are contributing to better access to finance and energy for the private sector.
‘‘Nigeria confirms its commitment to continuing reforms for a conducive business and investment environment while the Netherlands pledges to continue assisting Nigeria for an increase in agricultural productivity especially horticulture, seed, and sustainable palm oil production,’’ it added.
President Buhari and Prime Minister Rutte also reiterated their commitment to the fight against human trafficking, appreciating the close collaboration between both countries in supporting the victims.
Noting with concern the challenging security situation in the West-African sub-region and Nigeria, The Netherlands acknowledged the sustained efforts of Nigeria in the fight against insurgency and in countering violent extremism.
‘‘The Netherlands will continue to provide humanitarian assistance to those in need, in particular women and girls, in order to mitigate the impact of insecurity and displacement,’’ the communiqué said.
Prime Minister Rutte, who is on a two-day working visit to Nigeria is leading a trade delegation of 8 Chief Executive Officers (CEOs) of Dutch multinationals currently operating in Nigeria with huge investment portfolios in the agriculture, finance, oil and gas sectors.
After the bilateral consultations between delegations of both countries, President Buhari and Prime Minister Rutte witnessed the signing of the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on dairy chain development between Royal FrieslandCampina WAMCO and the Government of Niger State.
The MoU was signed by Governor Abubakar Sani Bello of Niger State and Mr Ben Langat, Managing Director, FrieslandCampina WAMCO Plc.
The agreement on dairy chain development is expected to save Nigeria about 1.2 billion dollars from milk importation annually.
Shehu GarbaSenior special assistant to President Muhammadu Buhair on media and publicity, Malam Garba Shehu has called on Nigerians to stop blaming the President on things that do not concern him.
Speaking to news men today, November 26 in Abuja, in reaction to insinuations in some quarters that President Buhari blackmailed former President Goodluck Jonathan to support the governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) to win the Bayelsa State election, Garba shehu described it as “false and irresponsible.”
The Presidential spokesman, who cautioned media against availing their platforms for all sort of false stories, said: “we really must stop this habit of blaming President Buhari for everything, including issues that are not his business.
“It just doesn’t make any sense. Our media really must learn to verify whatever they publish. And people who make wild allegations during interviews should be made to produce the facts backing their claims by editors. A newspaper can be sued for granting space to people who belch false allegations against individuals with no proof.’’
Garba Shehu said that former president Jonathan had been out of power for almost five years without any previous allegations of government blackmail cropping up, stressing that there were more than enough reasons for Dr Jonathan to work against his Peoples Democratic Party in Bayelsa elections without interference from President Buhari.
“Anyone who has been following the politics of Bayelsa State should be aware of the sour relationship between Dr Jonathan and the incumbent governor, Seriake Dickson. That’s more than enough reason for the former president to decide to work against his party, if indeed he did.”
Professor Babagana ZulumBorno State governor, Babagana Zulum has sacked the State’s Head of Service, Mohammed Hassan.
A statement today, November 26, by the Secretary to the State Government (SSG), Alhaji Usman Shuwa, announcing the sack did not give reason for the governor’s action.
However, the SSG said that the governor had already approved the appointment, with immediate effect, of Simon Malgwi, as the new Head of Service.
“Gov. Babagana Zulum has relieved Mohammed Hassan of his appointment as the HOS with immediate effect.
“He has accordingly approved the appointment of Barrister Simon Malgwi, as the new HOS,” he said.
Shuwa added that until his appointment, Malgwi was the Solicitor General and Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Education.
Source: NAN.
Crisis has crept into Adamawa branch of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) as aggrieved members of party broken away to form a splinter group with a former governorship aspirant, Umar Ardo, as its leader. The faction was named the Reformed PDP (R-PDP).According to Umar Ardo, who addressed newsmen in the state capital, Yola, today, November 25, the PDP at the state level had long been an illegality and that he was leading Reformed PDP (R-PDP) out because all efforts he made to get the PDP to make amends had failed.
Umar Ardo said that the defunct Interim National Executive Committee of the party put caretaker committees in place at the state level on the condition that all of them would leave on the constitution of elected executives.
“The emphasis was that any member of the caretaker committees wishing to contest towards the formation of executive committees must resign, but this was not adhered to in Adamawa State,” he said.
“The entire Adamawa caretaker committee, all eleven of them, sat in a hotel in Yola and transmuted themselves into the state exco.”
Umar Ardo said that he wrote petitions to both the national and state leaderships of the party but got no satisfactory response, and that the prevailing illegalities were being perpetuated towards council election due in November, hence the resolve to break off.
He said that a meeting by stakeholders of the new Reformed PDP met earlier in the day and constituted a steering committee made up of 29 members.
According to him, the R-PDP Steering Committee would, among other things, work to outline modalities of establishing executive committees of the R-PDP in Adamawa State.
Meanwhile, the state Chairman of the PDP, Barrister Shehu Tahir, described R-PDP as an illegality, saying that Umar Ardo had never been a member of the PDP.
Tahir said that Umar had ceased to be a member of PDP and could therefore not talk about pulling out of the party into a parallel one, and that when he was a member; he contested as a governorship aspirant under the party towards the 2019 election.
“How could Umar Ardo have been contesting under a party exco he is now describing as an illegality.”
Boris JohnsonFormer British Prime Minister, Tony Blair, has warned that Britain is in a dangerous mess, saying that neither his own Labour Party nor Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s Conservatives deserved to win a December 12 election.
Britain is holding an election three years ahead of schedule because parliament was deadlocked over Brexit, unable to agree on how or even whether to leave the EU.
“We’re in a mess,’’ Blair said at a Reuters Newsmaker event, adding: “the buoyancy of the world economy has kept us going up to now, but should that falter, we will be in deep trouble.’’
Blair, Labour prime minister from 1997 to 2007, said both major parties were peddling fantasies, adding that if the opinion polls were accurate, Johnson’s party looked likely to win a majority.
Blair, the only Labour leader to win three elections, said his party is now controlled by its “Marxist-Leninist wing” and that its leader, Jeremy Corbyn, is promising a revolution.
“The problem with revolutions is never how they begin but how they end.The problem with revolutions is that they always end badly.
“The truth is: the public isn’t convinced either main party deserves to win this election outright.’’
Blair, an opponent of Brexit, argued for a second referendum on the decision to leave, saying it would need to be followed by another general election.
Blair said he did not know whether Labour would ever return to the centre-ground of British politics, saying: “we must set about the urgent task of reconstructing the sensible mainstream of British politics.
“Otherwise, this laboratory experiment in populism running riot will end very badly for our nation.”
Information Minister, Alhaji Lai MohammedThe Nigerian government has announced the seizure of items valued at N3.5 billion and arrest of 296 illegal immigrants since it closed the country’s borders early this year.
The government listed the seized items as 38,743 units of 50kg bags of foreign parboiled rice, 514 vehicles, 1,012 drums filled with petrol, 5,400 jerry cans of vegetable oil, 346 motorcycles, 10,553 jerry cans of petrol and 136 bags of NPK fertilizer used for making explosives.
The Minister of Information, Lai Mohammed, who made these known today, November 25 he led a delegation to visit the Seme Border with Benin Republic, said that since the closure, monthly import revenue has increased by 15 per cent, instead of dropping as expected in many quarters, while local consumption of fuel has dropped by 30 per cent.
According to a statement by the information ministry, the minister said that 296 illegal immigrants have been arrested.
”It is important to note that 95 per cent of illicit drugs and weapons that are being used for acts of terrorism and kidnapping in Nigeria today come in through our porous borders. However, since this partial closure, these acts have been drastically reduced.
“Our conclusion is that the arms and ammunition these terrorists and criminal elements were using no longer gain access into the country.
“In addition, the importation of the drugs which affect the well-being of Nigerians have equally been reduced.”
Lai Mohammed said that the closure of the borders has curbed the smuggling of foreign rice into Nigeria, in addition to other prohibited items.
”There has been an enhanced production and milling of Nigerian rice. Patronage of Nigerian rice has also increased and farmers are expanding their farms as well as engaging more hands.”
The minister said that the decision to close the borders was fueled by the inability of Nigerian neighbours to comply with various MOUs and the ECOWAS transit protocol.
He said that there has never been a legitimate transit trade between Nigeria and two of its neighbours, Benin and the Niger Republic.
He said that the ECOWAS protocol on transit demands that when a transit container berths at a seaport, the receiving country is mandated to escort same without tampering with the seal to the border of the destination country.
“Unfortunately, experience has shown that our neighbours do not comply with this protocol.
”Rather, they break the seals of containers at their ports and trans-load goods destined for Nigeria from the original container to trucks.
“In most cases, five containers loaded onto one truck and duty paid as one truck. This improper trans-loading of transit goods makes it impossible to properly examine such goods, resulting in the importation of illicit goods, including arms and ammunition, without being detected.”
Former President GoodluckFormer Nigeria’s President, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan has described the former Governor of Jigawa State, Sule Lamido who linked him to the Malabu oil deal in a recent interview with media, as a sulking skunk and a blackmailer.
Sule Lamido had granted an interview with Sunday Sun newspaper, claiming that the former president traded off November 16 Bayelsa State governorship election in order to escape being investigated over the controversial Malabu oil deal.
Lamido was quoted to have said: “the leadership of the APC and the government are blackmailing Jonathan and I think I can say it anywhere that he traded this for his own freedom.”
Reacting to Sule Lamido’s position, in a statement by his Media Adviser, Ikechukwu Eze, the former President said: “we really do not know why Mr. Lamido, chose to speak like he did, especially with such hostility, contempt and lies against former President Jonathan. However, one thing is clear: In his anger and apparent bile-filled disposition, Mr. Lamido, an otherwise astute and erudite politician, obviously dropped the ball by electing not to speak responsibly like a statesman.
“He actually came off the interview sounding like a sulking skunk, to whom logic or reason meant nothing. It didn’t matter to him that, as a well respected member of the society, he shouldn’t make such weighty claims against a former President if he was only guessing, like he admitted. Hear him: “And the issue of Malabo, I think, played a key role.” So hugely pathetic!”
He regretted Lamido, out of resentment for him, joined few mischief-makers to peddle lies against him, adding that the former governor jumped into this convenient bandwagon of grovellers without first thinking of the burden of substantiating his claim.
“What to do? Orchestrate a raft of incongruent drivel of cheap lies to confuse the readers. In one breathe, Lamido alleged that Jonathan worked against his party “because he was very, very angry with (Governor) Dickson,” in another he claimed that it was “because he (Jonathan) sure knows his problem with Buhari and his government. And the issue of Malabu, I think, played a key role.”
“This absurd claim definitely would have gained more traction in the public space if it really made any sense. But it didn’t. What, if we may ask Mr. Lamido, is the correlation between Jonathan supporting APC because he was angry with Governor Dickson and Jonathan supporting APC to avoid prosecution over Malabu? Where was Lamido and his ‘Malabu problem’ when Jonathan campaigned vigorously and helped PDP to win Bayelsa governorship election in 2015, under the same President Buhari?
“It is important to establish at this point that Mr. Lamido probably knows very little about the Malabu case, for which he was not supposed to have commented blindly. In the first place, the Malabu oil block was not given out by Jonathan. It was a deal that was sealed during the time of late head of state, Gen. Sani Abacha. We feel that Mr. Lamido is in a position to know that the business of oil exploration has an international dimension, as such, it is clear that it is not only the Nigerian Government that is looking into the Malabu case.
“If that is the case, he should also have known that there are at least three other countries outside Africa that are investigating the matter. Assuming without conceding that the former President Jonathan is culpable as Lamido alleged, would a trade off deal with the Nigerian Government also free him from blame in other countries like Italy, United Kingdom and the United States?
“His Excellency Goodluck Jonathan is convinced that Mr. Lamido’s awkward intervention in this matter was deliberately designed as a form of blackmail. Having tried many other ways to discredit the former President to no avail, Mr. Lamido is now scheming to project Malabo as Jonathan’s Achilles heel. Here again he has failed because the true story of Malabo is already very well known to Nigerians.”
He said Lamido is too smart not to realise that when the pot conveniently called the kettle black, it is a grand design to confuse, deceive and cover up the truth, adding that Lamido served as Governor of Jigawa State for two terms under the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) after which the ruling APC took over his state; asking, “Is he then telling Nigerians that he cut a deal with APC, helped the ruling party to procure victory at the polls and take over his state?”
Eze said the fact was that it was not only in Bayelsa State that the country had experienced such a situation where PDP or even APC had lost elections to another party, lamenting that holding Jonathan responsible for PDP’s loss in Bayelsa without first investigating the issues that determined the fate suffered by the party in the state was not only disingenuous but also detrimental to the image and aspirations of the party.
“It is true that Jonathan who is a former deputy Governor and Governor of Bayelsa States as well as former Vice President and President of this country is well loved and respected by his people. However, it will be tantamount to playing God for anybody to expect that the former President should command a vice-like grip on every Bayelsan in all the local government councils in his state.
“Rather than cast aspersions and throw shades because of pre-existing animosities and prejudices against the former president, what is expected of party leaders like Mr. Lamido is to seek to interrogate whatever went wrong in Bayelsa, to avert a repeat in another state.
“We believe that further interrogation of Lamido’s other weird claims is not necessary in this space, lest it gives the unfortunate interview more attention than it deserves. However, we feel that it is important to reiterate, as we have always done, that former President Jonathan did nothing wrong as far as the Malabu deal is concerned. He therefore doesn’t need to cut a deal with anybody within or outside Nigeria,” he stated.
He restated that Jonathan did not ask for or collect any bribes over the Malabu deal, neither had he been charged for asking or collecting bribes and neither would he ever be charged with asking for or collecting bribes, because such never happened.
Eze said the fact remained that as recent national events continued to vindicate Jonathan, and as the world continued to celebrate him, those who were insecure would feed such propaganda to their media agents to serve their narrow interests.
“We have always made it clear that beyond this wave of conjecture, former President Jonathan was not linked, indicted or charged for collecting any monies as kickbacks or bribes by any law enforcement body the world over. It bears repeating that the documents relating to the transactions and decisions of the Federal Government on the Malabo issue, during the Jonathan administration, are in the relevant Government offices, where they are accessible.
“We would like to point out that all the actions taken by the Jonathan administration in relation to activities in the oil industry were legally conducted by relevant Nigerian Government officials and were carried out in the best interest of the country We call on anyone, including Mr. Sule Lamido, who has any shred of evidence linking former President Jonathan to any wrongdoing in the case of the Malabu incident to waste no time in publishing such evidence or forever remain silent.
“While we wait for such an impossible task to be undertaken by Mr. Lamido and his co-travellers, we would also want to draw their attention to the following fact: Dr. Goodluck Jonathan as an elder statesman, is a father figure to all Nigerians. His door is open to all who wish to pay him courtesy visits or seek his counsel. That should not mean that he automatically subscribes to whatever political agenda his visitors subscribe to,” he said.
Eze added that while he was president, Jonathan had the largeness of heart to receive then members of the All Progressive Congress at Aso Rock Presidential villa, including Muhammadu Buhari, whom he conferred an award on in 2014, adding that ahead of the last governorship election, most of the gubernatorial aspirants and candidates from different political parties in Bayelsa State visited Jonathan as a father of the state, saying that is a role the former President would continue to play.
“We wish to state categorically, that Dr. Jonathan remains a faithful member of the PDP and had no reason to have worked against his political party in the last election. That the PDP lost in the gubernatorial election to APC is unfortunate, but attributing the defeat to the former President is to be gratuitously obsessed with blackmail and red herring.
“Finally, Dr. Jonathan would want to counsel Mr. Lamido and others in his shoes to look at their national passports.They would see that their citizenship is Nigeria. We are first Nigerians before we are members of any political party or social organisation. If Mr. Lamido does not know that, then it is a pity. A big pity indeed,” he stated.
Sule Lamido: How Not to be a Patriot and a Good Party Man
Our attention has been drawn to a Sunday Sun publication of October 25, 2019 in which Alhaji Sule Lamido claimed that former President Dr. Goodluck Jonathan traded off the Bayelsa elections in order to escape being investigated over the controversial Malabu oil deal. In an interview granted the newspaper, Lamido was quoted to have said: “The leadership of the APC and the government are blackmailing Jonathan and I think I can say it anywhere that he traded this for his own freedom.”
Ordinarily we shouldn’t be responding to an interview of this nature because it is obvious that given his amiable nature, former President Jonathan does not consider the idea of joining issues with individuals on the pages of newspapers a decent conduct. We are also well aware of the former President’s belief that truth always has a way of catching up with statements rooted in lies and propaganda, such as this one. Furthermore, we considered that when former President Jonathan was in office Mr. Lamido was one of the governors that worked closely with him.
However, we chose to make this clarification just to set the record straight, especially as a number of the former President’s close associates have been asking questions about the blatant statement credited to Mr. Lamido.
We really do not know why Mr. Lamido, chose to speak like he did, especially with such hostility, contempt and lies against former President Jonathan. However, one thing is clear: In his anger and apparent bile-filled disposition, Mr. Lamido, an otherwise astute and erudite politician, obviously dropped the ball by electing not to speak responsibly like a statesman. He actually came off the interview sounding like a sulking skunk, to whom logic or reason meant nothing. It didn’t matter to him that, as a well respected member of the society, he shouldn’t make such weighty claims against a former President if he was only guessing, like he admitted. Hear him: “And the issue of Malabo, I think, played a key role.” So hugely pathetic!
Apparently seized by some inexplicable resentment, Lamido held on to the lie currently being pushed by few mischief-makers to the effect that former President Jonathan helped the All Progressive Congress (APC)to win the last gubernatorial election in Bayelsa State. Unfortunately, the former Governor jumped into this convenient bandwagon of grovellers without first thinking of the burden of substantiating his claim. What to do? Orchestrate a raft of incongruent drivel of cheap lies to confuse the readers. In one breathe, Lamido alleged that Jonathan worked against his party “because he was very, very angry with (Governor) Dickson,” in another he claimed that it was “because he (Jonathan) sure knows his problem with Buhari and his government. And the issue of Malabu, I think, played a key role.”
This absurd claim definitely would have gained more traction in the public space if it really made any sense. But it didn’t. What, if we may ask Mr. Lamido, is the correlation between Jonathan supporting APC because he was angry with Governor Dickson and Jonathan supporting APC to avoid prosecution over Malabu?
Where was Lamido and his ‘Malabu problem’ when Jonathan campaigned vigorously and helped PDP to win Bayelsa governorship election in 2015, under the same President Buhari?
It is important to establish at this point that Mr. Lamido probably knows very little about the Malabu case, for which he was not supposed to have commented blindly. In the first place, the Malabu oil block was not given out by Jonathan. It was a deal that was sealed during the time of late head of state, Gen. Sani Abacha. We feel that Mr. Lamido is in a position to know that the business of oil exploration has an international dimension, as such, it is clear that it is not only the Nigerian Government that is looking into the Malabu case. If that is the case, he should also have known that there are at least three other countries outside Africa that are investigating the matter. Assuming without conceding that the former President Jonathan is culpable as Lamido alleged, would a trade off deal with the Nigerian Government also free him from blame in other countries like Italy, United Kingdom and the United States?
His Excellency Goodluck Jonathan is convinced that Mr. Lamido’s awkward intervention in this matter was deliberately designed as a form of blackmail. Having tried many other ways to discredit the former President to no avail, Mr. Lamido is now scheming to project Malabo as Jonathan’s Achilles heel. Here again he has failed because the true story of Malabo is already very well known to Nigerians.
Mr Lamido, we believe, is too smart not to realise that when the pot conveniently calls the kettle black, it is a grand design to confuse, deceive and cover up the truth. Lamido served as Governor of Jigawa State for two terms under the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) after which the ruling APC took over his state. Is he then telling Nigerians that he cut a deal with APC, helped the ruling party to procure victory at the polls and take over his state?
The fact is that it is not only in Bayelsa State that the country had experienced such a situation where PDP or even APC had lost elections to another party. Holding Jonathan responsible for PDP’s loss in Bayelsa without first investigating the issues that determined the fate suffered by the party in the state is not only disingenuous but also detrimental to the image and aspirations of the party.
It is true that Jonathan who is a former deputy Governor and Governor of Bayelsa States as well as former Vice President and President of this country is well loved and respected by his people. However, it will be tantamount to playing God for anybody to expect that the former President should command a vice-like grip on every Bayelsan in all the local government councils in his state.
Rather than cast aspersions and throw shades because of pre-existing animosities and prejudices against the former president, what is expected of party leaders like Mr. Lamido is to seek to interrogate whatever went wrong in Bayelsa, to avert a repeat in another state.
We believe that further interrogation of Lamido’s other weird claims is not necessary in this space, lest it gives the unfortunate interview more attention than it deserves. However, we feel that it is important to reiterate, as we have always done, that former President Jonathan did nothing wrong as far as the Malabu deal is concerned. He therefore doesn’t need to cut a deal with anybody within or outside Nigeria.
For the umpteenth time, we restate the following facts to proclaim Dr. Jonathan’s innocence:
Former President Goodluck Jonathan did not ask for or collect any bribes over the Malabu deal, neither has he been charged for asking or collecting bribes, neither will he ever be charged with asking for or collecting bribes, because such never happened.
The fact remains that as recent national events continue to vindicate former President Jonathan, and as the world continues to celebrate him, those who are insecure will feed such propaganda to their media agents to serve their narrow interests.
We have always made it clear that beyond this wave of conjecture, former President Jonathan was not linked, indicted or charged for collecting any monies as kickbacks or bribes by any law enforcement body the world over.
It bears repeating that the documents relating to the transactions and decisions of the Federal Government on the Malabo issue, during the Jonathan administration, are in the relevant Government offices, where they are accessible.
We would like to point out that all the actions taken by the Jonathan administration in relation to activities in the oil industry were legally conducted by relevant Nigerian Government officials and were carried out in the best interest of the country
We call on anyone, including Mr. Sule Lamido, who has any shred of evidence linking former President Jonathan to any wrongdoing in the case of the Malabu incident to waste no time in publishing such evidence or forever remain silent.
While we wait for such an impossible task to be undertaken by Mr. Lamido and his co-travellers, we would also want to draw their attention to the following fact:
Dr. Goodluck Jonathan as an elder statesman, is a father figure to all Nigerians. His door is open to all who wish to pay him courtesy visits or seek his counsel. That should not mean that he automatically subscribes to whatever political agenda his visitors subscribe to.
While he was president, former President Jonathan had the largeness of heart to receive then members of the All Progressive Congress at Aso Rock Presidential villa, including Muhammadu Buhari, who he conferred an award on in 2014. Ahead of the last governorship election, most of the gubernatorial aspirants and candidates from different political parties in Bayelsa state visited Jonathan as a father of the state and that is a role the former President will continue to play.
We wish to state categorically, that Dr. Jonathan remains a faithful member of the PDP and had no reason to have worked against his political party in the last election. That the PDP lost in the gubernatorial election to APC is unfortunate, but attributing the defeat to the former President is to be gratuitously obsessed with blackmail and red herring.
Finally, Dr. Jonathan would want to counsel Mr. Lamido and others in his shoes to look at their national passports.They would see that their citizenship is Nigeria. We are first Nigerians before we are members of any political party or social organisation. If Mr. Lamido does not know that, then it is a pity. A big pity indeed.
An accountant with the Living Faith Church, Canaan land, Ota, Ogun State, Pastor Afolabi Samuel, has been remanded in prison on the order the Ikeja Special Offences Court, Lagos having allegedly admitted to have stolen the sum of $90,000 and N4.5 million belonging to the Registered Trustees of the church.Afolabi Samuel was brought before Justice Mojisola Dada by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), today, November 25
The EFCC prosecutor, S. O. Daji, alleged that the defendant committed the offences sometime on September 24 and December 31, 2018, in Lagos. He added that Samuel and one Mrs Blessing Kolawole, a staff of the Covenant University (now at large), converting the said sum to their own personal use.
A petition submitted to the EFCC by Chioma Okwuanyi & Co legal practitioners, said: “The duo started carrying out various acts of breach of trust and fraudulent commission of unconscionable economic crime and sabotage, by unlawfully diverting to their private use, the Church’s money in Pastor Samuel’s custody without the permission of the Church.
“The duo continued doing so until sometime in the month of December 2018 when they ran out of luck and all their secret acts of economic sabotage and financial crime of fraudulently tampering with the church’s money were revealed.
“When confronted by the church, Pastor Samuel, who lives around the church at Raji Oba, Lagos admitted committing the act and even voluntarily made a written confession where he detailed how they have been stealing from the church.”
Justice Dada remanded him at the Correctional Centre and adjourned the case to December 10, 2019, for the hearing of bail application.
Garba Shehu At 60: Destined For The Top, By Ali M. Ali
Let me wish my mentor,Malam Garba Shehu, media aide to President Muhammadu Buhari a happy birthday as he turns sixty (60) on November 27. I doubt, very much, if there would be any fanfare to mark this milestone. Ten years ago, when he turned fifty (50), to my knowledge, there wasn’t any beating of drums to mark his entry into the “golden” club, at least, not in the public space. I am not too sure this time, it would be any different.
Certainly three “scores” is momentous. I pray to Almighty Allah (SWT) to increase him in good health and wisdom.
To many people, Shehu is just another “spokesman”. This, indeed, has been his main turf in the last twenty years or so. Before his foray into the difficult terrain of Public Relations and managing the image of politicians these past two decades, he had been a brilliant journalist, media manager and communications teacher. Long before he spoke for Atiku Abubakar and now President Buhari, he had been the image maker of Aluminum Smelter Company (ALSCON) in the twilight of the 90s.
Further back in history, he was once a reporter with the NTA before crossing over to the Triumph newspapers in kano, his home state, where he was, at various times, editor of all the titles before exiting as Managing Director /Editor -in-Chief around 1998 at 39 or there about.
Shehu was destined for the top in his chosen path, which is journalism and PR. He made marks in both fields. As a newspaper editor and media manager, he was brilliant and a visionary. He had a keen eye for both talents and details. Thanks to his vision, he constituted a world class editorial Board whose membership was drawn from the academia, the intelligentsia, the business community and top notch technocrats.
The Board used to meet every Monday. I was the youngest member. It had my former college principal, the no nonsense Ado Gwaram. There was also Malam Ibrahim Muazzam of the political science department of Bayero University (BUK) and Marxist Ibrahim Bello Kano of English department. Foremost economist, Kassim Musa Bichi, Dr Hafiz Wali, former DG of National Teachers Institute (NTI), Nuuman Habib, sociologist and journalist and a host of others.
I christened the weekly rendezvous the “Monday School”. I learned more and developed the confidence to engage even my tutors without being disrespectful.
Shehu also helped recruit or head hunt young promising reporters regardless of creed or status. In the newsroom of the Triumph, wholly owned by government of Kano state were Nigerians from across cultures. There were many voices on the editorial board and the newsroom but Shehu was able to “distill” the tower of babel and produce a paper whose views were respected and its stories often quoted by foreign media. I recall one instance when I was the News editor; the coverage of the June 12, 1993 debacle that earned the paper rave reviews by the Lanre Idowu edited Media Review Magazine. Other times, the BBC and VOA will quote stories from the Triumph as their trusted reference. As government paper under military regime, Shehu found a way of telling truth to power without appearing belligerent.
One day in 1994,the then Commissioner of Information late Bashir Karaye accompanied a visiting military governor of the neighboring state of Katsina. After a tour of the company, the visitors sat down for a chat and as unit heads, we all had a question or two to ask but the Commissioner was throwing his weight trying to control the flow until Shehu stamped his feet on the ground and made it clear that it was “our show”. The visitor backed down.
Shehu was “encyclopedic”. No subject was Greek to him. Politics, Economics, Sports, Entertainment, you name it, Shehu was at home discussing. I have seen him engage intellectual power houses at close quarters. In 1991,I was nominated to attend a workshop organized by the Centre of Democratic Studies (CDS) in Conjunction with the Nigeria Guild of Editors (NGE). I was still wet behind the ears. Alhaji Wada Maida was then the President of the Guild.I saw Shehu taking on Late Professor Omu Omoruiyi, the Director -General (DG) to task throwing up different alternatives and postulating different theories concerning the Transition Programme of the administration at the time.
In between running a newspaper with a few hot heads like me,he found time to teach undergraduate and post graduate courses in the Mass Communications department of BUK. In my formative years in journalism, Shehu taught me many lessons in management .I learned from him early that knowledge is power and it’s the best guarantor to ascend the ladder. Once, during the general staff meeting, he pointedly said that “ability” not seniority in age was the consideration in promotion.
“This is not gerontocracy” he said and rested the contrived agitation in the company that “greenhorns” were becoming line editors.
Shehu matured early. He became Managing Director of the Triumph at thirty three (33) and President of the Guild of Editors at thirty seven (37). Clearly he was gifted. He had a way with people. He is quick witted, always ready with a sharp one liner. Among his peers, when excited, he has a patented throaty laughter. Among his subordinates, he projects a tough exterior but deep down he really is a nice guy. Once,he assembled all of us in editorial management and chastised us for being “too nice”. The title editors were quiet. But not hot headed me who retorted “you are the nicest of them all”. He challenged me to give an instance and I did. The following week, a reporter did the unthinkable-he assaulted his unit head after being queried for dereliction of duties. He was dismissed at the recommendation of a disciplinary committee.
I met Shehu 30 years ago. I didn’t know him from Adam. He was then editor of the TRIUMPH. It was a chance meeting. One day, I accompanied a classmate Abdullahi Mohammed Doki to see a relative of his, called Muktar Magaji who had taken up a job there, a year earlier. Magaji was a brilliant student of Mass Communications. He was editor of the campus newspaper at the time called Bayero Beacon. The dream of every Communication undergraduate was to edit the Beacon back in the day.
On the way out, we bumped into Shehu in the corridor apparently on a mission. There was a hurried introduction by Magaji. Shehu acknowledged without breaking his pace as he headed upstairs probably to meet with the Managing Director.
A year later, I came looking for a job. Armed with nothing but my NYSC discharge certificate and photo copies of a couple of published articles in especially the Guardian and the Sunday Triumph, Magaji convinced me to meet with Shehu. I did. It was very brief. All he asked was if I had “written” any articles in the past. He took a bird’s eye view of my “prized” article in the Guardian on Sunday when Amma Ogan was editor under the weekly “Campus Experience” column. I think that helped made up his mind to persuade Management to give me an offer.
In the mid 80s, getting published in the Guardian as a student was huge. In the whole of Bayero University, only a few of us were that lucky to have met the high linguistic standards of the Guardian. There was a taciturn guy called Ibrahim Mohammed Sheme who blazed the trail in writing for the Guardian. He got paid the princely sum of one hundred naira (N100). I followed suit.
From that moment, Shehu ran from pillar to post until I got the job despite a suffocating embargo on employment nationwide by the military regime of General Ibrahim Babangida.
Within weeks, I was employed as Features Writer and member of the editorial board, thus began my career as a reporter with Shehu as my mentor.
Before I left the Triumph, I had been everything except Managing Director. I edited the Weekly broad sheet Sunday paper intermittently for five years, removed thrice by the powers that be. The first time was by Shehu himself. At the time, I heard later, I was still not ripe to be editor. I was 29.
Years later, after my sojourn as the pioneer Group Politics editor of Daily Independent,ThisDay both in Lagos and Editor of Abuja based Leadership newspaper, Shehu came looking for me to head the management of Peoples Daily. He convinced me that I had what it took to run it. I was Chief Operating officer for a record six years.
The Triumph of the 80s and early 90s produced brilliant journalists like Kabiru Yusuf, Chairman of Daily Trust, late Rufai Ibrahim, the only northerner to edit the Guardian, Saleh Mari Maina, the first editor of Thisday, Sani Zorro, who was an editor in African Concord International Magazine, Late Hajiya Bilkisu Yusuf and several others.
Once again, happy birthday sir! May your days be long. Thank you. We are here because you were there !
Ali M. Ali writes from 1st Avenue, Gwarinpa, Abuja.