The Nigeria Police Force have declared the call for a revolution march across the country against the government by a group known as ‘Global Coalition for Security and Democracy in Nigeria and others, scheduled for August 5 as a treasonable offense.
Adams Oshiomhole“If this country (Nigeria) is going to change and deliver to the poor, deliver decent jobs, we need not diplomacy, but aggressive engagement to force those who are benefiting from the status quo to change and in such a way that will make the country to work for the people who live on their wages.”
These were the words of the national chairman of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), Adams Oshiomhole when he spoke today, July 2 at a reception organized by the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) for the Director General of the International Labour Organization (ILO), Guy Ryder.
Oshiomhole, who said that he did not join politics to be changed by the way things are done by politicians, adding that his long stay in Labour had taught him to be combative, even as he said that he did not commit class suicide but to impose his own ways of doing things.
“Whatever I am doing today, my style and choice of what I do and what I abstain from doing, I owe to Labour. If you study the Nigerian media, there is this saying that as national chairman of a governing party, I am not supposed to be combative. I am even more convinced now about the need for combat.
“Some people said to me that I am too combative and I said to them that I was not coming to copy their method, but coming to impose my method to change the system and not for the system to change me.
“I refuse to be changed by the system. My hope is that with more comrades coming into politics, we will work together to change the system for a better future.
“I am very proud of my background, as a factory hand, as a factory organizer, as a General Secretary of Textile Workers and as President of NLC. Some people said I have I cross over and I ask, to where? I just continue with the struggle.
“I move from conveying my grievances with placards and organizing strikes with protest and pressure, to trying my hands on the driver’s wheel, to try to do those things that I try to communicate with placards and then use executive pen to get them done.”
The 43 Presidential ministerial nominees, who have been confirmed by the Senate, have been scheduled to undergo a two-day induction retreat between August 15 and 16 before they are sworn in at a date yet to be announced.
A statement today, July 2 by the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Boss Mustapha, said that the induction retreat will be held at the State House Banquet Hall.
Boss Mustapha asked the new ministers to take their time to study such documents as Status Report on Policies, Programmes and Projects; the 2019-2023 Road Map, FEC Handbook, etc, before the inauguration.
“All Ministers Designate are by this notice informed that relevant documents for their study and guidance, preparatory to the inauguration of the Cabinet shall be available for collection at the Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (OSGF) (Cabinet Affairs Office) from 10.00am on Tuesday August 6, 2019.
“Ministers Designate are also requested to please bring along and submit to the OSGF, their updated CV in soft and hard copies as well as any valid identification document.
“For further clarification, please contact the Permanent Secretary, Cabinet Affairs Office, OSGF on 08023229481.”
A female official of the Federal Airport Authority of Nigeria (FAAN), Jennifer Luka, has been alleged to have stolen $600 belonging to a pilgrim at the Yola airport, Adamawa State.
Police in the State had on Thursday arrested Luka for “removing” the money from the pilgrim’s bag and was said to have hidden the money inside her hair and used her barrette cap to cover it.
FAAN spokesperson, Henrietta Yakubu, in a statement today, July2, said that Luka has been suspended indefinitely pending the completion of investigation into the matter.
“Following a report of theft involving an aviation security officer, Jennifer Luka at the Yola International Airport, the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria has suspended indefinitely the officer involved, pending the completion of investigation into the case.”
The statement said that the official had been handed to the appropriate security agency for further questioning and prosecution.
“FAAN deeply regrets this unfortunate incident and the conduct of Jennifer, which does not reflect the values of the Authority and its staff.
“The Authority wishes to re-assure the general public that our airports remain safe and secure for travellers and other airport users.”
The Ambassador of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to Nigeria, Adnan bin Mahmood Bostaji has hosted some Nigerians who have been invited by King Salman and Crown Prince as special guests for this year’s pilgrimage.
In a farewell address to the Kingdom’s guests, in his office in Abuja, the Nigeria’s Federal Capital, Ambassador Adnan Bostaji, said that the idea of inviting Muslims from Nigeria as guests of the King is one of the efforts of the leadership of the Kingdom aimed at strengthening and consolidating the brotherly relationship among the Muslims in the world.
He said that the programme is also meant at enhancing the Islamic unity, brotherhood as well as to enable the guests to witness first hand, the efforts being made by the Government of the Kingdom to serve the Two Holy Mosques and facilitating Hajj performance for all the pilgrims. Responding, the director of the Nigerian Center for Arabic Research, Professor Khidir Abdulbagi Mohammad, expressed appreciation and gratitude to Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques for the gesture.
He prayed to Allah to protect King Salman and the Crown Prince for the invitation and their efforts to safeguard the Holy Sites and make hajj easy for all the guests of ar-Rahman.
The Presidency is angry with the defeated Presidential candidate of the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the last election, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar over his recent comment on the reported secret burial of Nigerian soldiers fighting Boko Haram in the Northeast.
Governor Yahaya Bello of Kogi State has virtually unleashed the most virulent words on his deputy, Simon Achuba whose allegation of attempt on his life as bogus and an exhibition of a blind rage by an angry suckling with a long-term pattern of abnormal behavior characterized by exaggerated feelings of self-importance.
In a statement today, August 1st, by the governor’s Chief Press Secretary, Onogwu Mohammed, Yahaya Bello said that he and the state government were “appalled that a Deputy Governor, who should epitomize leadership and good example in all senses, could descend so low to employ smear campaign against the person of His Excellency, Governor Yahaya Bello and we state without equivocation that Mr. Achuba has no shred of evidence for his reckless surmising which is nothing but a scripted venture in ruinous adventure.
“We do not train assassins, (and) as such, the state government or her personnel cannot be involved in sending assassins to murder any human soul let alone a Deputy Governor of our dear state.
“Despite these unsubstantiated ramblings, however, we deemed it fit to clear the air by letting the general public know that the Kogi State Government would not be dragged into any form of political gerrymandering concocted for the furtherance of any person’s political interest or notoriety.
“The state government challenged Mr Achuba to bring evidence of his claims or desist from making further spurious allegations.
“We warn Mr. Simon Achuba who is known to history as a man whose affinity for violence is unparalleled not to judge us by his own standards. The report of the Kogi State Government Commission of Enquiry on the Iyaño Ethnic crises in 2017 is still fresh in our memories.
“The Kogi State government led by Alhaji Yahaya Bello, therefore, rejects the futile attempt at seeking to link it to any assassination attempt on the Deputy Governor and we advise that people desist from seeking political capital from scenarios they imagine would advance their parochial cause, no matter how banal such causes may seem.”
“Nigerians and Kogites, in particular, are aware that it is not in the character of the administration to persecute perceived opponents let alone the second in command of New Direction team. We have remained a model for peaceful engagement and political dialogue. Any inclination at portraying us otherwise will not be acceptable.”
Islamic clerics in Omu-Aran, Kwara State have warned Muslims to refrain from incurring unnecessary debts to buy ram for the Sallah celebration.
The clerics, who gave the warning in their separate interviews with News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Omu-Aran, said that ram slaughtering, like pilgrimage to Mecca, is for those with the financial wherewithal.
The clerics observed that such development often resulted in unwarranted frictions and quarreling among concerned parties after the Sallah celebration.
The Chief Imam of Omu-Aran Central mosque, Alhaji Sodiq Afolayan, said that it is not allowed in Islam to be extravagant as the religion forbids such ignoble act.
“Muslims should not go the extra mile of borrowing money just to buy and slaughter rams for Eid-el-Kabir (Sallah) celebration.
“Both acts of slaughtering rams and pilgrimage to the holy land are for genuine worship of God for those who have the financial capacity.
“As we warm up for the Sallah celebration in few days’ time, Muslims are advised to spend within their limit not only on rams but in every daily activities.”
Also the Missioner of Omu-Aran branch of the Nasirullahi-L-Fathi (NASFAT) in Kwara State, Alhaji Mustapha Abdulsalam, advised Muslims to shun buying unhealthy rams for Sallah celebration.
“Some Muslims are fond of buying unhealthy or infected rams for Sallah celebration just because of their low costs. ‘‘Buying rams for Sallah is not mandatory or compulsory if you don’t have the financial means.
“So, buying unhealthy rams due to lower cost does not arise at all. ‘‘If you don’t have the opportunity this year certainly you might be in the best position at other times,’’ he said. Alhaji Abdulrazak Aduagba, the Chief Imam of Rahamatul Adabiyyah Muslim Association, said buying of rams should not be at the expense of other compulsory household obligations.
“Education of children, especially school fees, providing food for the family and other essential domestic obligations must not be affected as a good Muslim. ‘‘It’s better to spend the little you have wisely on pressing family needs than incurring unnecessary debt or borrowing to slaughter rams.”
Aduagba, who quoted from the Quran said: “Allah does not place a burden heavier than any soul can bear on him or her. ‘‘We must distance ourselves from the culture of waste and wastage.”
NAN reports that the slaughtering of rams signifies the end of Zul-Hijjah, (Pilgrimage to Makkah). Muslims who are not privileged to embark on the journey are to kill their rams at home.
The Ambassador of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to Nigeria, Adnan bin Mahmood Bustaji has commended the chairman of the Economic and Financial Crime Commission (EFCC), Ibrahim Magu for the great job he has been doing in the area of fighting corruption in the country.
The Ambassador, who received the EFCC boss today, August 1st in his office in Abuja, gave assurance of mutual cooperation between his country and Nigeria in the area of combating corruption and mal practices.
Ambassador Adnan Bostaji wished Ibrahim Magu success in the onerous task he has accepted to carry out, by cleansing the system of the Augean stable.
This was even as Ibrahim Magu hailed the leadership of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in combating corruption through the establishment of the similar Anti Corruption Agency.
He expressed the hope that Nigeria will benefit from the wide experience of the Kingdom in this regard.
The Federal Ministry of Information and Culture has posted 80 trained information officers to various Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) as spokesperson to stem redundancy in the government system.
A source in the Office of the Head of Civil Service of Federation said that the posting will checkmate incessant appointment of media aides by some chief executive officers against the service rules and management service circular PSRU/C16.1.17.1/11/430 which makes provisions for spokespersons. It is also aimed at saving for the government over N2.8 billion which had been spent annually on maintaining media aides whose expenditures are not captured in the budget.
The Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Information and Culture, Deaconess Grace Isu Gekpe recently introduced three-year tenure for Press Secretaries posted to Ministries, Departments and Agencies of government.
According to the new criteria, Press Secretaries in the Federal Civil Service on posting should not overstay in particular agencies but to move around to garner and deploy their experiences in various agencies.
The spokespersons are deployed to Permanent Secretaries and Chief Executive officers of MDAs who should handle their deployment to the press unit. The Press and Public Relations Unit of the MDAs in the federal public service operate within the framework of guidelines provided by the federal government through the supervisory of Federal Ministry of Information.
According to the provisions of the circular, a Resident Information Officer is a professional on posting to an MDA to work in the Press and Public Relations Unit as the Image Maker of the establishment
“He/she is mandated to professionally project the policies, programmes and activities of the MDAs vis-à-vis that of Federal Government of Nigeria.
“The Federal Ministry of Information is the ministry that has the mandates to lead the management of the image and reputation of the people and government of Nigeria through a professional and dynamic public information system that facilitate access by citizens and the global community to credible and timely information about our nation.”
