The Senate Minority Leader, Enyinnaya Abaribe, said on Tuesday there are more than 30 secessionist groups in the South-East.
Enyinnaya, who disclosed this when he featured in a Channels Television’s programme, Political Paradigm, stressed that secession agitators are merely protesting the marginalisation of their people and demanding justice and equity in the country.
The lawmaker, however, expressed regret that the focus of Nigerians has always been on the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB).
He asked the Federal Government to dialogue with the self-determination groups to restore calm and peace in various parts of the country.
Abaribe said: “One of the biggest problems the media has is that they tag everything IPOB. In the South-East, you won’t believe that there are more than 30 different separatist organisations – IPOB, the Movement for the Actualization of the Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB), there are so many and each one of them comes back to the same thing.
“Why you are having separatist agitations everywhere today in the West, in the South, in the South-South, is that some people are unable to manage our diversity, that is just the fact.”
The Inspector-General of Police, Usman Baba, has approved the posting of Echeng Echeng to Anambra as the new Commissioner of Police in the state.
He replaced Tony Olofu, who has been redeployed to the Force Headquarters, Abuja.
The Force Public Relations Officer, Frank Mba, who disclosed this in a statement on Tuesday, said the IGP also ordered the deployment of a detachment of Special Forces to boost the ongoing peace-building efforts in Anambra State.
The deployment of the Special Police Force was aimed at checking the rising cases of violence ahead of next month’s governorship election in the state.
The statement read: “The IGP, who is particularly concerned by the renewed incidents of attacks on innocent individuals and symbol of state authority in the state, ordered the new commissioner of police to mobilize both kinetic and non-kinetic law enforcement and crime-fighting approaches to reverse the negative trend, reclaim public spaces from hoodlums and restore public peace in the state.
The IGP charged the new police commissioner to work with other stakeholders and patriotic forces in Anambra State to restore law and order in the state.
“He also urged the Ndi-Anambra to support and cooperate with the new CP in his task of protecting the lives and property of all.
President Muhammadu Buhari has forwarded the revised 2022-2024 Medium Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF) and Fiscal Strategy Paper (FSP) to the Senate for consideration.
The Deputy Senate President, Ovie Omo-Agege, read the President’s letter at Tuesday’s plenary.
The Senate had on September 22 approved the 2022-2024 MTEF/FSP and pegged the benchmark oil price at $57 per barrel.
The letter read: “It is with pleasure that I forward the revised 2022-2024 MTEF-FSP for the kind consideration and approval by the Distinguished Senate.
“The revision was necessitated by the need to reflect the new fiscal terms in the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA) 2021 as well as other critical expenditures in the 2022 budget.
The underline drivers of the 2022 fiscal projections such as oil price benchmark, oil production volume, exchange rate, GDP growth, and inflation rate to reflect emerging realities and a microeconomic outlook and remain unchanged as in previously approved 2022-2024 MTEF and the FSP.”
The President said the PIA established a fiscal framework aimed at encouraging investment in the Nigerian Petroleum Industry.
This significantly alters the oil and gas fiscal terms and has necessitated changes in the 2022-2024 Medium Term Fiscal Framework.
“The fiscal effects of PIA implementation are presumed to kick in by mid-year 2022.
“The revised 2022-2024 fiscal framework is the premise on the hybrid of January to June based on current fiscal regime and July to December based on PIA fiscal regime while 2023 and 2024 are fully based on the PIA.
“Arising from this, therefore, the other critical expenditure that should be accommodated in the 2022 budget, the changes to the 2022 projections in the fiscal framework are as follows:
“Growth revenue projection decreased by N341.57 billion from N8.87 trillion to N8.528 trillion.
Deductions for federally-funded upstream project costs and 13 percent derivation decreased by N335.3 billion and N810.25 million respectfully.
“An increase in projected federal government of Nigeria’s retained revenue from N8.36 trillion to N10.13 trillion inclusive of Government-Owned Enterprises (GOEs).
“This was largely based on a projected increase in the revenues of GOEs by N837. 76 billion,” it added.
An investigative report has revealed that the current Kebbi State Governor, Abubakar Bagudu allegedly did some time in a prison in the United States of America while awaiting extradition for alleged money laundering deals.
The report also stated that he was deeply enmeshed in money laundering by helping “the Sani Abacha family to steal from Nigeria in the 1990s”.
The report by Premium Times in collaboration with the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) a nonprofit newsroom and network of journalists centered in Washington, D.C., tagged the Pandora Papers on Tuesday laid bare a global entanglement of political power and secretive offshore finances and dealings.
The report which did not state whether he was ever convicted, said the Kebbi governor was allegedly imprisoned in the United States over crimes of laundering funds for the late Abacha.
“Between 1998, when Abacha suddenly died, and 2020, 3.6 billion U.S. dollars have been recovered from the Abacha family and Bagudu.
The 163 million U.S. dollars recovery from Jersey in 2003 directly involved Mr Bagudu, who then negotiated a deal with the U.S. and Jersey to return the funds to Nigeria in exchange for Jersey’s withdrawal of an extradition request and his free return to Nigeria.
“He spent six months in American federal prison in Houston while awaiting extradition to Jersey. The deal to return the $163 million was to avoid that extradition,” the report stated.
According to the report by Premium Times, Bagudu was allegedly involved in a web of schemes designed to aid the late Head of State, General Sani Abacha launder billions of dollars belonging to Nigeria into foreign bank accounts.
Bagudu is long known to have played an instrumental role in the Abacha conspiracy to steal and launder billions of dollars belonging to Nigeria. But how he set up complicated structures of secrecy to hide stolen money as well as the role of his enablers, including prestigious British law firms and Serious Organised Crimes Agency (SOCA) the predecessor of the National Crimes Agency (NCA) has never been crystal clear,” the report stated.
It further detailed how “Blue Holdings Trust, registered in Cooks Island” was established with the “beneficiaries of each of the family trusts and the corresponding investments domiciled in London were Mr Bagudu, his wife, seven children, and his brother, Ibrahim.”
Neither the governor, not.his media handlers have issued any an official response over these allegations.
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has reportedly arrested Hafsat Ganduje, wife of the the Kano State governor, Abdullahi Ganduje.
She was said to have been arrested on the strength of a petition against her by her son, Abdualzeez Ganduje.
Reports say Mrs Ganduje had failed to honour the anti-graft commission’s invitation to appear at its Abuja headquarters on September 13, prompting investigators to move in on her, to effect her arrest on Monday.
It was gathered that she is being accused of using her position to perpetuate graft, and land fraud.
Efforts to reach the head of media and publicity of the EFCC, Wilson Uwujaren to throw light on the matter proved abortive.
A message sent to his line to either confirm or deny the allegation was still.unanswered as of the time of this report.
A former Governor of Kano State, Ibrahim Shekarau, has criticised the Southern Governors Forum over what he said was its conspiracy and coercion on the discourse concerning zoning and rotational presidency.
Shekarau made this call during an interview with Channels TV ‘Sunrise Daily’ breakfast programme on Monday.
The lawmaker, who represents Kano Central District in the Senate, warned state governors and crucial stakeholders to be mindful of their utterances in order to avoid tensing up the country which is battling insecurity on all fronts.
“While I agree we should go for the best and therefore throw it open, regardless of which part of the country, but we must also be mindful of the aspect of the sense of belonging. We must be mindful of perception, to give some sense of belonging to every part of Nigeria.
“Where I disagree with the Southern Governors is coming together to gang up to say it must be our turn. I think this is purely a party affair,” Shekarau noted.
He further reiterated the need for unity ahead of the 2023 general elections.
“We must not do this at the point of threat, that it must be me, it must be he, we need to come together. This is more of a political party issue.
“My point of disagreement with the gang up groups like the Southern Governors is coming to gang up to say it must be our time, this is wrong, it is purely (a) party issue and the political parties should go into the boardrooms and sort this issue out themselves.”
“Today, the Southern Governors gang up, tomorrow, another group would gang up and say it must be us.
Governors are very prominent people in the scheme of things, they are leaders, so, they must be careful coming together to make some pronouncement that would amount to instigating the general public to take a stand and see it as a regional fight,” Shekarau warned.
President Muhammadu Buhari arrived in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, on Sunday for the inauguration of the country’s Prime Minister, Abiy Ahmed.
Ahmed will be inaugurated for another term of five years on Monday.
The presidential aircraft carrying President Buhari and some members of his entourage landed at the newly built VIP Terminal of Bole International Airport at 5:06 p.m. (Nigerian time).
The Nigerian leader, who was accorded a full guard of honour by the Ethiopian National Defence Force on his arrival, was received by Ahmed.
He was later treated to a private dinner attended by the Ethiopian President, Sahle-Work Zewde, and his Senegalese counterpart, Macky Sall.
The Presidents of Djibouti, Kenya, South Sudan, Senegal, Somalia, Uganda, and the Prime Minister of the Democratic Republic of Congo will also attend the event.
A Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Femi Falana, on Sunday warned Nigerians against branding terrorists as bandits.
The lawyer made the call in a statement in Lagos.
He was reacting to the Federal Government’s refusal to declare bandits as terrorists.
The Senate had last week asked the federal government to declare bandits wreaking havoc in many parts of the North-West as terrorists.
The upper legislative chamber also charged the federal government to go after all known leaders of the bandits with a view to prosecuting them.
In the statement, Falana insisted that the bandits are not different from Boko Haram insurgents who are regarded as terrorists.
He added that President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration was unprepared to declare bandits as terrorists.
He said: “The failure to ascribe these criminals as ‘terrorists’ as evidenced in the kidnappings of the Chibok and the Dapchi schoolgirls led to the proliferation of the scourge.
It is public knowledge that the dangerous criminal elements who kidnapped the Chibok and Dapchi secondary school girls in the North-East Zone in 2014 and 2017 respectively were not referred to as bandits.
They were called terrorists by the Federal Government and the media. The description was correct as the abductions carried out by the criminal elements were acts of terrorism.
“But for reasons best known to the Federal Government the criminal elements who are currently involved in the brutal killing of innocent people and abduction of thousands of people including primary school pupils in the North-West zone are called bandits and not terrorists.
“Embarrassed by the reluctance of the Federal Government to deal decisively with the so-called bandits, the members of the Senate and House of Representatives, in separate sittings, unanimously passed resolutions last weekend requesting President Muhammadu Buhari to declare the dangerous criminal elements as terrorists and proscribe them in accordance with the provisions of the Terrorism Prevention Act as amended without any further delay.
The federal lawmakers also asked President Buhari to declare all the known leaders of the bandits wanted and track them wherever they are for arrest and prosecution. So far, the Federal Government has ignored the resolutions.
“However, as the Federal Government is not prepared to declare them as terrorists we call on the media and the Nigerian people to stop referring to terrorists as bandits.”
The Ministry of Defence on Sunday dismissed as fake and mischievous, a video currently in circulation allegedly showing the minister, Maj.-Gen. Bashir Magashi (retd), boarding a black Sports Utility Vehicle (SUV) with an AK-47 rifle strapped across his shoulder.
The video has attracted several reactions since it surfaced on social media.
The Special Assistant on Media and Publicity to the minister, Muhammad Abdulkadri, who made the clarification in a statement on Sunday, said the person in the video was the rector of a Nigerian Army college.
He said: “To claim that the person in the video is Gen. Magashi is false and misinforming.
Findings have revealed the undeniable identity of the person in the video as the rector of a Nigerian Army college.
By virtue of the rector’s command and position, he is statutorily allowed in the military to sign for weapons when travelling.
“The army green colour on the vehicle shown in the video and the unit sticker on the official vehicle are enough evidence to neutralise the spurious claim on the video.”
Abdulkadri also said that the vehicle in the video was not the minister’s official car.
The minister’s aide added: “Going by the verifiable and tenable analysis of the video, the minister is not the person in the video as being portrayed.”
The member of the House of Representatives member representing Bauchi Federal Constituency, Yakubu Shehu Abdullahi has alleged that the State Government has demolished his building situated at the GRA in Bauchi metropolis as well as revoked the allocation of his rice mill in what he described as political vendetta.
While narrating what happened to a group of Journalists in Bauchi on Saturday, Yakubu Abdullahi alleged that, “The Governor went and demolished my house. We have been dragging about this for about two weeks. Finally, the day before yesterday (Thursday), he sent them in the night and they came with guns and they shot four of my security men there. We reported the matter to the Police and they were taken to the hospital where the bullets were removed”.
He added that, “A day after that (Friday) the same group went to the house around 6pm. They came with a bulldozer from BASEPA, he (the Governor ) went there himself and ordered them to demolish the house” .
When our correspondent asked if he had evidence to back his claim that the governor was personally there where he allegedly ordered for the demolition of the house he said: “He went their personally. Of course, he went there, it is not something hidden. I was not there but people saw him when he went there. Many government officials including the SSG and his Commissioners, they were all there” . According to him, “Initially, the SSG, Commissioners of Works and Housing and the GM, State Development Board, were the first to go there where they showed those who did the demolition the building” .
When Asked who were the people he claimed came with the guns and shot his security men guarding the house, he said: “They are not Police but a group of hunters called Garu Hunters Association, created by the governor and working under his government. The government officials came and wrote on the fence of the house “revoked by the State Development Board”, and they came and said they want to demolish it”.
The embattled politician opined that “There is a process for demolition. If government wants to revoke your title, they have to issue revocation notice to you and when it expires, then it can be revoked. It is either it is revoked for overriding public interest and it has to be specified exactly what it is”.
Quoting relevant laws to buttress his argument, he said that, “Section 29 of the Land Use Act gives the Governor the power to revoke a title but if that will be done, they have to compensate you based on the value. If you refuse to accept the value they are putting on your property, then, you go and bring your own professional to do the valuation for you, then you go into negotiation”.
“Infact, even before they go for the valuation, they have to send you an invitation letter after the notice and it is either for you to be there or you send your representative to stand for you. Unfortunately, all these steps were not taken before the demolition”, he added saying that there are just finishing touches to be done in the house. It is about 70 to 75 percent completed.
The politician popularly called ‘Yakubu Wowwo’ added that, “When they came about two weeks ago, I told them that I have already filed a case against the government, Ministry of Lands, Bauchi State government, Commissioner for Works and they all know that the matter is in court, but yet, they went ahead and demolished it’.
On why the demolition was done, he said: “it is pure politics because my piece of land attached to my factory, a rice mill, he also revoked it about one month ago. He revoked it for the same purpose, overriding public interest. I know he will go ahead and revoke my other lands because I have many of them. I didn’t acquire that land through allocation, I purchased it from somebody who was genuinely allocated the land by owner-occupier. I bought the land between four and five years now”.
He further claimed that, “I didn’t even buy the land directly from the man who got the allocation, I am the third person that bought the land. I did all the necessary documentations and I followed due process. I paid building approval issued by the government, I paid ground rates to 2024, even the Certificate of Occupancy was not even issued in my name. I then did a deed of assignment registered by the Governor.
“Before I even bought the house, I conducted a legal search to see if there is any encumbrance but there was none. All the legal processes to acquire the land, I did all of them”, the politician said.
Yakubu Abdullahi whose political life has remained controversial ever since he joined said that, “This is victimization being done to me personally, because of politics. It is not only me, but also to APC chieftains, their lands were also revoked. He revoked that of the former governor, Isa Yuguda, he revoked Yakubu Dogara’s land, he revoked my own land and now, he has demolished my house”.
Efforts to get reactions from the State government proved abortive as all top government officials contacted declined comment but another top functionary who spoke under anonymous condition told our correspondent that the governor has directed that no official should respond to the allegation.
Another top functionary of government confided in our correspondent that by Monday, government will officially react to the allegation saying all relevant MDAs have been directed to prepare their submissions for presentation to the public.
When contacted over the development, Bauchi State Police Command denied knowledge of the situation as claimed by the politician who said that he promptly reported the matter to the Police.
State Police Commissioner, Sylvester Abiodun Alabi who spoke to our correspondent vide phone conversation said that, “as far as the Command is concerned, there is no official report of the situation by anyone. We are only reading it in the media based on which we have taken proactive measures to avert any breakdown of law and order”.
When told that the politician claimed that he reported to the Police, the Commissioner responded that, “which Police station did he report to, who took his complaint? As far as I know, nothing of such is before the Command as of now that we are talking. The thing happened Friday evening, who did he report. Ours is to maintain law and order, we are ready to do that”, he stated.
The National Democratic Coalition (NADECO) on Friday faulted the Nigerian constitution, saying the document has entrapped some ethnic groups in the country.
In an independence message signed by its General Secretary, Ayo Opadokun, the group lamented that since the January 1966 military coup, “politicians in khaki” had halted the country’s progress, and development.
It urged the United Nations to supervise the conduct of a referendum to ascertain the wishes and aspirations of entrapped, humiliated, and oppressed ethnic groups in Nigeria.
It said President Muhammadu Buhari’s government has used the flawed constitution to cage Nigerians.
NADECO claimed that the current administration preferred to trivialise the genuine demands of entrapped groups in the country.
The group decried the killing, maiming, and kidnapping of several thousands of Nigerians including school children by herdsman, Boko Haram insurgents, and bandits in communities in the North-Central, North-West, North-East and Southern part of the country without manifest counter-action by the government to check the situation.
The statement read: “It is needless but necessary to restate that the centralisation and unitarisation of Nigeria had since created injustice, unfair play, inequity, wanton disregard, and disrespect for the rule of law.
The Nigerian State has failed to provide security for lives and property a fundamental right which is its primary responsibility under the UNO Protocols, African Charter on Peoples’ Rights, and its domestic legislation.
“President Buhari’s led government had frustrated in Nigeria any legal avenue where the entrapped ethnic nationalities can seek redress for the many instances of humiliation, repression, hounding and subjugation of the majority of Nigerians by the sectional dictates and wishes of his Fulani controlled security agencies and outlaws.
NADECO hereby requests the UN, its Security Council and other Global bodies to critically accept that their failure to act timeously on these legitimate demands for their intervention may tantamount to an invitation to possible national conflagration and unmanageable national crisis which may result into consequential deleterious situations on the West African Sub-Region, the African Continent and the World in general.
“Let it be remembered that Nigeria as the most populous black nation in the world has about 200 million citizens residing in a suffocating geographical and political space, the possible reaction of the entrapped ethnic nationalities who are already overwhelmed with repression, discriminations on religion, gender, ethnicities can quickly result to national upheavals, forced dispersal, and migration with their attendant global consequences.”
The Director-General of the World Trade Organisation (WTO), Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, said on Friday she has no desire to vie for the Nigerian presidency in 2023.
Okonjo-Iweala, who was reacting to speculations that she planned to resign from the WTO’s top job, dismissed the rumours as “utterly ridiculous and not true.”
The former Nigerian Minister of Finance took over as the intergovernmental organisation’s chief in March.
She is just seven months into her four-and-a-half-year term.
The former World Bank official told journalists she is enjoying her job at WTO.
Okonjo-Iweala said: “I just got here. I am enjoying what I’m doing. It is a very exciting job and I am trying to have some successes here.”
Bloomberg had reported on Thursday that the WTO Director-General considered resignation due to the “organisation’s historical inertia.”
The news agency reported that some WTO officials explained that Okonjo-Iweala privately floated the idea that she may resign if there is no headway in dealing with/providing solutions to the critical issues of the institution.
The officials also claimed that they suspect the Nigerian wants to take part in the country’s 2023 presidential election.
The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) on Friday described President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration as the worst in Nigeria’s history.
In a statement issued by its National Publicity Secretary, Kola Ologbondiyan, PDP said the President’s independence anniversary address confirmed its position that the government was confused and incapable of moving the country forward.
President Buhari had in his address to Nigerians admitted that the last 18 months had been the most difficult period in the history of the country.
He said: “The past 18 months have been some of the most difficult periods in the history of Nigeria. Since the civil war, I doubt whether we have seen a period of more heightened challenges than what we have witnessed in this period.”
The party noted that Buhari’s admittance in his speech that Nigerians have faced difficulties that are similar to the civil war situation gave credence to the horrible situation in the country.
The statement read: “This grave assertion brings to mind the ugly images of the civil war; the killings, lawlessness, violence, human rights violations, poverty, hunger, starvation and other horrible situations as also being currently witnessed today under the All Progressives Congress (APC)-led administration.
From Mr. President’s admission, it is clear that he has nobody but himself to blame for the sorry situation in Nigeria under his watch.
It is, therefore, a pathetic antithesis for Mr. President to attempt to exonerate himself by claiming that no government, since 1999, has done what his administration has done in six years; a claim that portrays a desperation to parry blame for the consequences of the misrule of his administration.
“What is obtained in the public space is that no government has since 1999 brought our nation to her knees on every facet of life like the Buhari administration.
“It is appalling that in his speech, President Buhari had no concrete assurance on how to revamp our economy and how to end acts of terrorism in our country. Instead, the speech, as usual, dwelt on empty claims that have no bearing on the actual situation in the country.
Such disposition further exposes the insensitivity of the APC towards the plight of millions of Nigerians and confirms that our nation will end in ruins if the APC is allowed to stay in power any moment beyond May 29, 2023.”
The Southern Youth Wing of the Christian Association of Nigeria (YOWICAN) on Friday charged President Muhammadu Buhari to address hunger and poverty in order to stop the growing secessionist agitations in the country.
The Chairman of YOWICAN, Oluchukwu Green Nnabugwu, who made the call in Owerri, Imo State, as part of the group’s 61st independence anniversary message to Nigerian leaders, noted that the Buhari administration “does not believe in equity and fairness.”
He said: “Celebration of the nation’s 61 years of Independence amidst the increasing security challenges, poverty, different agitations by various groups, poor infrastructural facilities among others, we should rather have a solemn reflection on our existence as one Nigeria, noting that it is time for our leaders to start asking questions to know the way forward to these menace ravaging the country.
Time has come for our leaders to re-examine themselves, their stewardship, and tell themselves the truth. Hunger, poverty, and starvation are the bedrock of the various agitations by various ethnic groups. This is because a hungry man is an angry man. The current leadership doesn’t believe in equity and fairness.
“The country and our leaders must work to protect the nation in areas of employment, healthcare, empowerment among others. As a youth leader, I desire that the leadership of the country see children and youths as the hope of the country and as such invest in them.
“The Christian youths should also get involved in politics too to salvage the country. In Nigeria, youths have the greater population, hence it is time to take over the system so that we can be in the same realm with other developed countries.”
The All Progressives Congress (APC) governorship candidate in Anambra, Andy Uba, has postponed his campaign flag-off following the upsurge in violent attacks and killings in parts of the state.
In a statement he personally signed and made available to journalists on Friday night in Awka, Uba said the postponement was in sympathy with families of those killed and wounded in the violence.
The APC candidate’s campaign flag-off was slated to take place in Onitsha on Saturday.
He said: “Like every other well-meaning member of the public, I have followed with sadness and grief, the recent, unfortunate and mindless spate of violence and insecurity in Anambra state.
“I have also watched with disdain obvious breakdown of institutional capacity and the inability of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA)-led state government to address security challenges and prevent the state from further descent into anarchy and chaos.
“As a mark of respect and honor and in consultation with both APC and his campaign council leader, the campaign flag-off rally scheduled for October 2, 2021, in Onitsha has been shifted to a later date.
“I, Senator Andy Emmanuel Uba, will be the last person to sacrifice or play politics with the lives of our people. Neither will I allow anybody to do so under my watch.”
Uba, therefore, called on the state government to address the problem.
A former Deputy National Publicity Secretary of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Timi Frank, said on Friday President Muhammadu Buhari’s independence anniversary address was strewn with mistakes and false claims.
Frank, who is the United Liberation Movement for West Papua (ULMWP) Ambassador to East Africa and the Middle East, in a statement in Abuja, decried the rising insecurity and deplorable state of the nation’s economy.
He also accused the Buhari administration of nepotism, divisiveness and ethnic bigotry, saying the President attempted to pull wool over the faces of Nigerians in the address.
Frank said: “The country which had been on steady growth and development since 1960 through the spirited efforts of successive administrations, did not only stall since 2015 upon Buhari’s ascension to power but has continued to retrogress irretrievably in all measurable economic, social and political indices.
First, Buhari praised the Armed Forces for their gallantry in curtailing the murderous activities of Boko Haram insurgents, Fulani herdsmen, bandits and other criminal elements, yet, this is the same military that have failed to stop incessant attacks on their formations, killing of its personnel and kidnapping of its Generals across the country.
“The attack on the Nigerian Defence Academy, killing of two officers and kidnap of Major Christopher Datong is a case in point.
“The nation’s currency exchanged for about N180 to a dollar when Buhari took over power, but his administration created multiple foreign exchange rate windows. What is the exchange rate today? About N567 to a dollar at the parallel market and N410 at the official window!
What was the price of fuel, cooking gas and electricity tariff when Buhari assumed office in 2015 and how much are Nigerians paying for these essential commodities today?
“Nigeria was the fastest growing economy in Africa following the rebasing of the nation’s economy under President Goodluck Jonathan’s administration. Today, Nigeria is the Poverty Capital of the World. However, Buhari would want the world to believe that his regime has recorded appreciable economic revival in the country.
“Insurgency was largely confined to the North-East states of Borno, Yobe and Adamawa when Buhari took over, but today farmers in Buhari’s home state of Katsina and North-West states of Kaduna, Zamfara, Sokoto, Kebbi, including Niger in the North-Central pay taxes to bandits to be allowed access to their farms.
Today most schools in the North-West states have been shut down while telecommunication networks have been switched off in Zamfara, Kaduna and Sokoto States as a result of the activities of rampaging bandits and insurgents who have taken to kidnapping innocent school children for ransom. Yet Buhari praises his administration’s efforts at curtailing insecurity. In Southern Kaduna, killing of innocent villagers has continued unabated.
“Today, Buhari and his administration have turned a once peaceful South-East region bubbling with commercial activities to another haven of insurgency and gruesome killings due to the cluelessness with which it handled legitimate protests and agitations by youths in that region.
“Unfortunately, Dr. Chike Akunyili who was husband to late Prof. Dora Akunyili recently fell victim to that heightened orgy of violence now ravaging the South- East.
No doubt that the wanton killing of innocent Igbo youths has now snowballed into undreamt of a killing spree by unknown gunmen. But to Buhari, all is well!”
The Court of Appeal sitting in Abuja on Thursday granted a request by the Lagos State government to join Rivers State in the appeal filed by the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) on the Value Added Tax (VAT).
FIRS had on September 8 appealed the judgment of a Federal High Court in Rivers State which held that the agency does not have the right to collect VAT in the State.
At the resumed hearing of the matter on Thursday, Justice Haruna Tsammani, granted the request by the Lagos State government and ordered all processes filed to be served on the state’s Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice, Moyosore Onigbanjo.
He held that Lagos State has proved that it has a direct interest in the subject matter, including the previous judgment which backed the Rivers State government’s claim on VAT collection.
He said: “It is not in doubt that Lagos State is a constituent state in Nigeria.
“It is, therefore, my finding that the applicant has been able to establish that he has a direct cause in the subject matter of this appeal.
“The application for joinder is in the appeal as the third respondent is accordingly granted.”
The Oyo State government had also filed an application to be joined as co-respondent in the case.
The Ebonyi State Governor, David Umahi, said on Thursday the people of the state would not obey the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) sit-at-home order on October 1.
Umahi disclosed this to journalists in Abakaliki.
The group had last ordered the people of the South-East to stay at home on October 1 in a bid to force the Federal Government to release its detained leader, Nnamdi Kanu.
IPOB also banned the flying of the Nigerian flag in the region, effective from September 25.
The governor insisted that October 1 was a very important day to Nigeria as a country and also the state, which was created on October 1, 1996.
He said the state that had been so deprived in the past was trying to catch up with the rest of the country with innovations.
Umahi said: “So, anybody that says `sit-at-home should know that Ebonyi people are not going to sit at home. I appeal to the entire Southeast people to remember the danger of this order. Many people have been killed for no reason because of it.
“Agitation is natural and fundamental, but nobody is justified to carry guns illegally to kill other people. We condemn in totality the insecurity in the Southeast being instigated by our people.
“We also condemned the killing of Dr. Chike Akunyili, (erstwhile widower of Dr. Dora Akiunyili, former Minister of Information) and other people in the country at large.”
The All Progressives Congress (APC) has announced an updated timetable for its activities in the forthcoming state congresses scheduled to commence on October 16.
This was contained in a statement issued by Sen. John Akpanudoedehe, the National Secretary of the APC Caretaker and Extraordinary Convention Planning Committee (CECPC) on Thursday in Abuja.
“Pursuant to the provisions of Article 11:A sub-section (i-xiii), and Article 17(i) of our party’s Constitution.
“The CECPC of our great party has approved the revised timetable and schedule of activities for the conduct of Congresses across States in the federation to elect party officials,” he said.
The APC scribe further stated that the purchase of forms for the State Congresses which commenced on Wednesday (Sept. 15) would end on Monday (Oct. 11), while screening of aspirants for State executives would be on Oct. 13 and 14.
He said the State Congresses would hold on Saturday (Oct. 16), while appeals arising from the exercise would be from Oct. 23 to 30.
“On the cost of nomination forms, aspirants for the position of State Chairman will purchase forms at the cost of N100,000. Deputy State Chairman, Secretary and Treasurer aspirants will pay N50,000.
“Aspirants for the position of Senatorial Chairmen are to purchase forms at N50,000; Senatorial Youth Leader N30,000 and other offices N30,000.
“Female and physically challenged aspirants are to pay 50 per cent of the prescribed fees for each position,” he said.
Ripples Nigeria had reported that the APC CECPC at its 17th regular meeting on Sept. 29, considered and adopted the Local Government Areas (LGAs) Congresses reports.
The committee assured that it would look into any areas where there were disputes.
It also directed that the conduct of the State Congresses shall proceed on Oct. 16 across the federation, while Zamfara and Anambra States were exempted.
Former President Goodluck Jonathan said on Wednesday the electronic transmission of elections results would help the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to conduct free and fair elections in 2023.
Jonathan, who stated this in his keynote address at the National Defence College Course 30 Inauguration Lecture in Abuja, warned the National Assembly not to frustrate the commission in its quest to ensure credible conduct of the 2023 elections.
He said: “I have always made the case that electronic voting is the way to go, if we truly desire to secure the credibility and integrity of our elections.
“It is difficult, therefore, to understand why the argument against the possibility of electronic transmission of election results continues to subsist, despite all the advancements made in information and communication technology, over the years.
I want to appeal to members of the National Assembly to always ensure that they do not embark on measures that could hinder the progress and independence of INEC.
“ If they have to amend the electoral law, they should do so in a manner that would enhance INEC’s processes in its performance of its duties, especially through the adoption of innovations in ICT to aid its operations.
Since the beginning of the Fourth Republic, our nation has made incremental progress towards deepening the roots of the nation’s democracy. The fact that questions are today being asked by the people on the direction of that progress means that Nigerians appreciate democracy but expect us to do more to make it work better for our people and the country.
“From my experience in leading election observation missions to many countries, people hardly go to court to contest election results in countries where the processes are credible and transparent because of the level of confidence in the system.
It is not exactly the same here. In Nigeria, the system is such that as politicians prepare for elections, they also prepare for litigation. I recall that as a Vice President, then at one international engagement, I asked my counterpart, the Deputy President of South Africa about his country’s experience with post-election court actions, and he expressed surprise that people go to court after elections.
“Everybody should be involved in securing the country. Yes, the government will do its part but we as individuals should also do our own part.
“My humble suggestion is that government and stakeholders should do a lot of dialogue. When you start talking, it reduces the anger in people.
“In many circumstances, the fear factor in human survival, prosperity and security requires that more should be done to restore hope in the people and in their economic wellbeing.”
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