-Ike EkweremaduFormer Deputy President of the Nigeria Senate, Ike Ekweremadu has reacted to the attack on him by some suspected members of the Indigenous Peoples of Biafra (IPOB), in Nuremberg, Germany, saying that they knew not what they were doing.
The Senator, who gave the account of the event on his social media handle, @iamekweremdu, assured Ndigbo and his supporters across the nation that he is safe.
Narrating the incident, Ekweremadu said: “I attended the Second Annual Cultural Festival and Convention organised by Ndi-Igbo Germany in Nurnberg today where I was billed to give a keynote address along with the President-General of Ohanaeze Ndigbo, Chief Nnia Nwodo, who, however could not make it eventually.
“I was given a resounding welcome by Ndigbo in Germany and everything went smoothly until some men, who identified themselves as IPOB members stormed the venue and began to complain about the killings in the South East, stressing that there would be no Igbo event at the venue.
“I tried to engage them, but when they became unruly, I had to leave the venue. The organisers also invited the police and I was accompanied out of the venue.
“Much as I am disappointed in their conduct, especially as I am one of the persons, who have spoken up on justice for Ndigbo, the Python Dance, judicial killings in Igbo land and elsewhere both on the floor of the Senate and in my written and personal engagements with the Presidency and the media as well as rallied the South East Senate Caucus to secure Mazi Nnamdi Kanu’s release with Senator Enyinnaya Abaribe taking him on bail to douse tension in the South East, I nevertheless do not hold this to heart against them, for they know not what they do.
“I have received thousands of solidarity calls and messages from well meaning Ndigbo. I want to assure them that I am hail and hearty. I have also spoken with the Nigerian Ambassador to Germany, Ambassador Yusuf Tuggar.”
Gani AdamsThe Yoruba war lord, Aare Ona Kakanfo of Yoruba land, Chief Gani Adams, has vowed to crush, within four months, bandits and armed robbers as well as kidnappers that have been disturbing the Southwestern part of Nigeria.
Aare Adams said that he would use resources available within to tackle the menace to a standstill.
Addressing members of Oodua People’s Congress (OPC), Osun adherents and other traditionalists who were celebrating this year’s Osun Osogbo festival, Gani Adams said: “I am a warrior and I’m ordained to ensure that Yoruba people are protected. I am assuring you that I would use everything within my reach to make sure problem of insecurity becomes the issue of the past. I will make sure I crush insecurity in the Southwest.”
He emphasized that he is committed to ending banditry, kidnapping and all sorts of criminality within the south west region within the next four months.
The Yoruba generalissimo reminded the people that among his duties are to defend and protect the Yoruba people against any criminality, saying: “as the generalissimo of Yoruba land, my duty among others is to ensure that Yoruba people are protected against any forces.”
An early morning flood today, August 17, left three people dead and about 500 others rendered homeless in Bosso and Chanchaga local government councils of Niger state after a heavy downpour that lasted for hours.The rain which began at about 4 am today, destroyed and submerged buildings and farms in the affected areas leaving 500 people displaced. The people were caught unawares by the flood as most of them claimed they were not aware the area was flooding when the rain was falling.
The flood was said to have been caused by the overflowing of the drainage systems in the affected areas which caused the collapse of the MYPA bridge in Bosso and washed away the Mola bridge in Dusten Kura Hausa.
When the flood-affected areas were visited, some women could be seen trying to rescue what they could from their already flooded houses while those whose houses were destroyed were seen with folded hands and confusion on their faces as to what next to do.
In Shanu village, Hadiza Rabiu said all her personal belongings got lost in the flood adding that all the foodstuff which she brought hoping it would take her and her family till the end of the month were all washed away by the flood.
The mother of three lamented over the fact that she and her family no longer have a home as the flood destroyed the House saying it was God and well meaning neighbours who helped her to save her children.
Narrating the incident, she said, “We were fast asleep when I started feeling and hearing noise of water flowing into the house, my spirit was not at ease. So I stood up and tried to look out the window and I saw water everywhere and heard people shouting that water is coming.
“Immediately, I started calling for help to save my children because the water level was already increasing in my house. We were helped by neighbours.”
Wiping the tears that started dropping down her eyes, she continued, “The flood took everything, our house collapsed and everything we have, including my money which is N40, 000 and foodstuffs were washed away.”
One of the affected residents, Sanusi Mohammed who spoke on behalf of the Dusten Kura victims confirmed that three people were carried away by the flood, adding that a lot of them have lost their valuables to the flood.
The Ward Head Of Dusten Kura, Inuwa Bawa Tokora said the flood is a yearly occurrence and accused the government of adopting a nonchalant attitude towards addressing the yearly disaster.
“I have witnessed four floods since I became the Ward Head but government is not doing anything to address our problem. My suggestion for the solution to this annual flooding would be the construction of drainage system from the FUT Minna down to Minna-Bida road.”
The Niger state Acting Governor, Alhaji Ahmed Ketso paid a sympathy visit to the victims and said that government would try its best to bring succour to the affected people.
He directed the Niger state Emergency Management Agency (NSEMA) to take inventory of the losses and provide food and non-food relief materials to cushion the victims hardship.
The Director General of the Niger state Emergency Management Agency (NSEMA), Ibrahim Inga said that there are three unconfirmed deaths as the bodies of the victims have not been found or recovered.
He lamented that despite sensitization on the dangers of building on waterways, a lot of people still go-ahead to build on waterways which he attributed to have been the cause of the huge number of losses experienced.
According to Inga, 75 per cent of those affected built on waterways and lived along the river banks.
He however assured that government wi make necessary provision for their temporary accommodation.
Source: NAN.
Chairman of the Kogi chapter of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Comrade Onuh Edoka, has accused the state governor, Alhaji Yahaya Bello of sitting on the N2.8 billion, representing 10 percent of the fund kept aside to offset arrears of state workers’ salary.Onuh Edoka, who doubles as National Vice President of the Medical and Health Workers Union of Nigeria (MHWUN), said today, August 17 in Lokoja, the state capital, during the 14th edition of the North Central zonal conference of the union, that despite the use of the N30.8 billion bailout for the settlement of salaries by the state government, the union “stands aside” until government fulfils agreements it entered into with labour.
“We must appreciate the state government over the bailout. The bailout was effectively used by government. Anyone who harbours contrary opinion should engage the government personally.
“However, we have declined to make a categorical statement on the usage of the fund, as we should do, because government has not fulfilled all aspects of negotiations it entered with labour before the release of the fund by the CBN.
“Ten percent of the money was reserved to tackle arrears of months when percentage salary were paid to the state workers.
“The government promised to pay in installment from the 10 percent reserved, but they have not commenced. When that is done, we shall come out to make a definite statement.
“We have computed those months when percentage salaries were paid. What is needed now to offset all arrears of state workers who are on the clear list is N2.8 billion.”
The NLC Boss lamented that local government were paid 85 percent for three months, contrary to the governor’s directive for complete payment, even as he frowned at some aides of the governor who according to him are sabotaging 100 percent payment of salary to council workers.
“The percentage payment to council workers was carried out by some of his appointees who are working internally to bring down the government. They have turned local government areas to their handbag, which they carry about, and pick what they want.”
The Secretary to State Government (SSG), Dr. Folashade Ayoade Arike, assured civil servants of the government’s readiness to implement the minimum wage across the board, as soon as the resources of the state improve.
A northern youth group, known as United Northern Youth and Students (UNYS) has started to mobilize support for the National leader of the All Progressive Congress (APC), Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu for the 2023 Presidential contest.Speaking to new men in Kaduna yesterday, August 16, Coordinator of the UNYS, Jabir Maiturare, said that the group had already thrown weight behind Tinubu should he seeks to contest for the presidency in four years time.
“Let it be known that Asiwaju Ahmed Tinubu has not declared to contest for any position yet. Instead, he is solidly behind President Muhammadu Buhari and giving him the required support. “In any case, whenever he seeks to contest for any position, including the presidency in 2023, we are ready to give him overwhelming support, and we therefore dissociate ourselves from such irresponsible act of some minority youth from the North.
“In the same vein, we wish to state categorically that Governor Nasir Ahmad el-Rufai’s statement against the zoning arrangement in place is uncalled for, and should not be given any serious thought because he speaks only for himself and not for the North.”
General Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida (Rtd)President Muhammadu Buhari has acknowledged the statesmanship role which the former self-styled military President of Nigeria, retired General Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida (IBB) has been playing in the nation’s affairs.
In a message today, August 17,congratulating Babangida on his 78th birthday, President Buhari said: “on this special day of your life, the reminiscences of your courage and invaluable service to the army in protecting the sovereignty of the country come to the fore. Thank you for the role of statesman you are playing in the affairs the nation.
“As you age gracefully, the country will continue to look up to you for guidance and wisdom. May Allah continue to increase your health and grant you the strength to give your best to your family and the nation.”
This was even as the Presidential flagbearer of the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the February 2019 polls, Atiku Abubakar described Babangida as a great patriot, statesman and iconic visionary leader.
Atiku, in a congratulatory birthday message, acknowledged the nation-building roles played by Babangida.
“General Babangida, as a young officer, fought for the unity and indivisibility of our fatherland. And as head of state, he not only spearhead the physical relocation of the nation’s capital from Lagos to Abuja, but politically too, championed and implemented the ideal of a two-party system which enlisted majority of Nigerians.
“In and out of office, General Babangida carries himself with immense grace, comportment and dignified charisma.”
President Muhammadu Buhari has described the petition by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and its candidate in the last presidential election, Atikiu Abubabar, as the most worthless in election litigation history. He therefore asked the Presidential Election Petition Court (PEPC) to dismiss the petition for lack of merit.This was even as the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidate, Atiku Abubakar insists that the President is unqualified to contest the election. He urged the tribunal to quash his victory.
These are contained in the final written addresses submitted to the court, which they are expected to adopt on August 21 when the court will hear final submissions from parties to the petition by Atiku and the PDP, challenging the outcome of the last presidential election.
Buhari and the APC argued that not only are the reliefs sought by the petitioners “ungrantable and meaningless,” they (Atiku and the PDP) failed woefully to prove the allegations as contained in their petition.
Buhari and the APC, after analyzing the evidence by witnesses called by the petitioners, argued that in their attempt to establish their allegations, they dumped documents on the court in the name of tendering documentary evidence.
“It is submitted with every force that in the annals of election petition proceedings in Nigeria, this particular petition has been the most starved in terms of evidence, whether oral or documentary.
The petitioners also woefully failed to appreciate that this court does not wrought miracles, but decides cases according to law, and not based on sentiments.
“Whereas, the petitioners are challenging results of election in all the states of the federation and the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, and have pleaded in paragraph 107 of their petition that there were 119,973 polling units in the country, they called only five polling unit agents to give evidence, i.e PW5 of Mai Angwa Yclwa 008 Polling Unit of Jigawa State; PW6 of Farin Dutse 001 Polling Unit of Jigawa State; PW12 of Polling Unit 009 of Nasarawa “B” Ward of Niger State; PW46 of Unit 009, Karu Ward of Nasarawa State, and PW49 of Unit 1, Morowa of Nasarawa State.
“Apart from the fact that these witnesses made no impression on the petitioners’ case, a pertinent question arises, to wit, what happens to the remaining witnesses in respect of the outstanding 119, 968 polling units in the country?
On this note again, respondent submits that the petitioners are not in the least bit, serious at ventilating any grievance against the presidential election of 23rd February, 2019 before this honourable court. From the presentation of the petition, through to the calling of witnesses, the petitioners would appear to be very unsure and unsteady as to what they want precisely.
“This is not surprising as the entity of the petition is based on assumptions, speculations and conjectures. The petition itself is based on live conflicting and irreconcilable grounds, the last two of which glibly suggest that the 2nd respondent (Buhari) was not qualified to contest the election under reference.
“As against the grounds, the evidence given, both oral and the dumped documentary, suggests something different; the five reliefs sought are not any shade better than the grounds, but they vividly bring to the fore the confusion enveloping the entire petition.
“Reliefs (b) and (c) wishfully pray this honourable court to, not only to declare the 1st petitioner (Atiku) as the winner of the election, but also to issue him a certificate of return. Yet, throughout the gamut of the terse evidence presented, it has not been demonstrated by any strand of evidence at all, how the 1st petitioner secured the highest number of lawful votes cast at the election, to warrant a certificate of return being issued to him.
“Reliefs (d) and (e) trivially pray the court to determine that the respondent, who was a military Head of State between 1983 and 1985; a former Commander-in-Chief of the Nigerian Armed Forces; a former Military Governor of the old North-Eastern State; a former Federal Commissioner of Petroleum, a democratically elected President of Nigeria, between 2015 and 2019, etc., was not qualified to contest the said election. ‘I’here is an alternative relief, which is neither here nor there.
“In purporting to present a case before this court, the petitioners called 62 witnesses, While the respondent called seven witnesses. The seven witnesses called by the respondent were called out of abundance of caution, more particularly so, that at the close of the petitioners ‘case, the respondent has extracted every bit of evidence needed to not only deflate the entirety of the petitioners’ case, but also to establish the facts pleaded in his reply.
“As for the much propagated non-qualification of the respondent, not a single one of the witnesses called by the petitioners gave any scintilla of evidence to support this presumptuous claim. Out of abundance of caution, the respondent called four witnesses in respect of his qualification? who not only gave evidence as to their class and course relationships with the respondent, but also tendered photographs. results, transcripts, among others.”
“The 1st petitioner, who has made and continues to make a mountain out of the molehill of an otherwise irrelevant issue, has failed, refused and neglected to tender or produce any educational certificate of his. The Form CF001 which he claims in paragraphs 18 and 19 of his reply to the respondent’s reply has not been tendered before this honorable court.“
Source: The Nation.
Zakzaky IbrahimThe Federal Government of Nigeria has narrated how the leader of the Islamic Movement in Nigeria (IMN), also known as Shiites, Ibraheem El-zakzaky planned to use his supposed medical trip to India to escape and seek asylum in another country.
President Muhammadu Buhari has recommended sports of different kinds to both the young men and women as well and old people for the purpose of attaining good health, apart from also generating incomes and promoting healthy local and global relationships as well as ensuring unity.Speaking today, August 16 when he received in audience in his Daura country home, Katsina State, organizers of the Muhammadu Buhari Cup Competition and some soccer teams, the President said: “I want the younger generation of our population to take part in sports so as to keep away from mischief and lawlessness.”
President Buhari stressed that in addition to physical and mental fitness, sports also provides employment and ensures wellbeing.
“Sports provide jobs opportunities. It is also a business from which you can earn respectable incomes.”
The President said that those who compete and excel at state and zones will eventually rise into national reckoning with focus and determination.
The President commended organizers of the competition for maintaining unity among the youths in the Emirate, adding that by keeping the young people positively engaged, sporting activities also protect them from negative influences.
The Secretary of the Local Organizing Committee of the competition, Malam Aliyu Bello told the President that before introduction of various cup competitions, young people in the Emirate were contending with idleness, lawlessness and in some cases, drugs abuse.
He said revival of sporting events in the state by Alhaji Sani Abu had brought a decline in negative activities.
The Director of Sports in Katsina State, Nalado Iro Kankia, assured the President that Governor Aminu Bello Masari’s administration will continue to provide facilities and opportunities for promotion of sports.
The Muhammadu Buhari Cup Competition is held annually in Daura Emirate to encourage youths to develop interest in sporting careers and enhance their skills.
Tijjani Yusuf: The Titan Bows Out, By Abdullahi M. Gulloma
There are times when we hear something and it is very hard to believe our ears. One of such hard-to-believe news came to us at the Presidential Villa in Abuja penultimate Wednesday. It came like a bolt from the blue in form of an announcement of the death of Tijjani Yusuf.
Until his death, Tijjani Yusuf was the Special Assistant (General Duties) to the Permanent Secretary, State House. He retired from Public Service as a Director/Special Assistant (Special Duties) in the Presidency in 2016 after decades of serving several Nigerian military and civilian leaders.
A very likeable and unassuming gentleman, Tijjani Yusuf was known for his excellent service and administrative skills, which explains why he was given the national honours of Member of the Order of Niger (MON) in 2006 and the Officer of the Order of the Niger (OON) in 2012.
For many years, Tijjani Yusuf coordinated the presidential swearing-in and oath-taking ceremonies for chief justices, ministers, permanent secretaries and commission members. He handled meetings of the weekly Federal Executive Council and other sundry issues relating to the President’s office and official residence.
Tijjani Yusuf graduated with a B.SC in International Studies from the Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, and relished his work, especially the private times spent with visiting Heads of Government, like United States President Bill Clinton. According to him, the contacts served as motivation and broadening of horizon, including the local and international trainings, conferences and official visits on the federal government’s delegation.
Today, with Tijjani Yusuf gone, all of us who knew him are united not only in our desire to pay our individual respects to him but, rather, in our need to do so. For such was his extraordinary appeal that many people, including those who only read or heard about him and never actually met him, feel that they too lost someone close to them on that fateful Wednesday.
Indeed, Tijjani Yusuf was the very essence of compassion, of duty, of style, of diligence. And, in the Presidency, he was a symbol of selfless humanity. Thus, we all feel sad that he was taken from us but, at the same time, grateful that he came in the first place. And only now that he’s gone do we truly appreciate what we are now without him.
For all the status, the glamour, the applause, he remained close to everyone and this quality has made us to cherish and admire him. He stood tall enough as a human being of unique qualities so much that to sanctify his memory would be to miss out on the very core of his being, his wonderful sense of humour with a laugh that used to gladden hearts.
Like journalists, Tijjani Yusuf was too inquisitive; eager to know everything about something and something about everything. He was a reservoir of happenings in and around the Presidential Villa, and a journalists’ delight. His scoops were authentic, but unfortunately often not publishable because of their sensitive nature.
I will miss him beyond words. Like countless other compatriots who came in contact with him at one time or the other, one could testify that he was the kind of personality that could rightly be described as “one in a million.” I often stroke the chairman of State House Press Corps (SHPC), Mr Ubale Musa, our mutual friend, and that used to unsettle the late Tijjani Yusuf, and, he would say, laughing that “Kai Abdullahi, abokin ka ne fa.” That really underscored his commitment to friendship.
Aside from being personable and likeable, he had so many endearing qualities and virtues. He was a veritable embodiment of his brothers’ keeper. It is after his demise that I now appreciate why he was always defending the Permanent Secretary of State House, Mr Jalal Arabi. Tijjani Yusuf saw in Jalal Arabi a saint, and you dared not speak evil of him in his presence. Such was his commitment to their friendship. I didn’t know the extent of their bond until I read Jalal’s tribute to his fallen friend. It was a great loss for him and for us.
The days Ubale Musa and I spent with him in his office were full of laughter, education and richly rewarding in every respects. These were days I will always treasure.
Indeed, we are all chewed up with the sadness at the loss of a man who was not even our contemporary. How great our suffering is, born out of his loss, can only be imagined.
But we thank God for the huge mercies He has shown us by bringing us together with him. We all give thanks for the life of a man I am so proud to be able to call exemplary, the unique, the extraordinary and irreplaceable, whose beauty, both internal and external, will never be extinguished from our minds for many years.
As we mourn the passage of this incomparable compatriot, we are comforted by the indisputable fact that Tijjani Yusuf came, saw and conquered by living a life whose gifts, talents and opportunities were judiciously utilised. Rest on, Tijjani Yusuf.
Gulloma is the State House correspondent of Blueprint newspaper.