Politics

Hoodlums set police inspector ablaze in Akwa-Ibom

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A police officer in Akwa Ibom State identified simply as Inspector Aniekan was on Monday set ablaze by hoodlums in his apartment in Ikot Afangha community, Essien Udim Local Government Area of the state.

The hoodlums were said to have traced him to his residence and razed it down around 2:30am while he was fast asleep.

“We woke up to see the charred remains of the inspector buried in the rubble of his house that was completely burnt down by the inferno deliberately set to consume him and his household properties,” a source who preferred anonymity said.

The Police Public Relations Officer in the state, Odiko Macdon, who confirmed the incident, said the Commissioner of Police, Amiengheme Andrew, was saddened by the attacks against police personnel in the state.

He stated, “We are aware of the incident and it is quite unfortunate. We have yet to really establish the remote and immediate causes of the incident and we will be able to establish that when investigations are concluded.

“The Commissioner of Police is deeply saddened and has condoled with the bereaved family and has ordered mass police operations in the area.

“There is an ongoing operation right now in the area and hopefully the culprits will be apprehended and I can assure you that justice will prevail at the end of investigation.

Politics

Nigerian govt urges health institutes to ensure proper use of N49bn intervention fund

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The Federal Government has tasked all Federal health institutions in the country to ensure proper utilisation of the N49 billion intervention fund released for the upgrade of their health facilities.

Mr Clem Agba, Minister of State for Budget and National Planning, made the call, on Tuesday, during an assessment and evaluation visit to Irrua Specialist Teaching Hospital (ISTH), in Edo.

While commending the management of ISTH on the utilisation of the fund, the minister noted that only those institutions that had judiciously applied the funds would get the balance of 50 percent.

He said that each of the 52 federal health institutions were meant to get N950 million to upgrade their infrastructure and improve resilience in the sector.

“This fund is meant for some specific purposes such as, the building of molecular laboratories at the cost of N18.5 billion for 52 health institutions and also equipment for isolation centers at N5.2 billion.

Provision was also made for the building of 520 Intensive Care Units (ICU) at 10 each for the 52 institutions at the cost of N18.3 billion and provision of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) at N7 billion.

“In all, each of the federal health institutions is to get N950 million. Edo State is blessed with three federal health institutions and this has brought close to N3 billion into the medical centres in the state. This is aside from the N1 billion given to the state.

“Every state got N1 billion, with the exception of Lagos, Kano, and FCT, that got more because they are the epicenter of the COVID-19 pandemic.

I have the same impression with what I saw in the centres I have visited before now; quality work being done, the equipment has been purchased. ISTH has always been an institution of reference for others,” Agba said.

Politics

Kogi govt makes u-turn, as state expresses readiness to receive COVID-19 vaccine

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The Kogi State Commissioner for Health, Saka Haruna, on Monday, expressed the state’s readiness to start administering the COVID-19 vaccine to its residents, noting that the state would receive doses of the vaccine on Tuesday (today).

Kogi is the only state yet to commence the administration of the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine to its residents after three weeks of its rollout in Nigeria.

The National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA) had attributed the delay to the state’s concerns around the contradictory information about the vaccine and the non-repair of its cold-chain store.

It would be recalled that when the vaccine doses arrived in Nigeria, the Governor of the state, Yahaya Bello, who openly expressed his doubt about the existence of COVID-19 in Kogi, said, “I’m not going to subject the people of Kogi State to vaccination; I will not make them guinea pigs.”

But speaking with newsmen on Monday, Haruna said, “We have done the micro-planning and everything has been completed with the NPHCDA. Anybody willing to receive the vaccine will receive it; nobody is exempted and nobody will be forced to receive the vaccine.

He noted that residents would be given “unhindered access to receive the vaccine”.

Haruna said the state would announce further plans, including the location of the vaccination launch, after the supplies have been received, however, failed to confirm if government officials, particularly the governor would receive the vaccine.

The governor does not have to receive the vaccine before others will; I don’t think there is anything special about COVID that we have to bring the governor out to come and receive the vaccine,” he added.

Lifestyle, Politics

Barack Obama’s step-grandmother, Sarah Obama, has died

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Barack Obama’s step-grandmother, Sarah Obama, has died at a hospital in Kenya at the age of 99.

Affectionately called Granny Sarah by the former president, Mrs Obama defended her grandson during his 2008 presidential campaign, when he was said to be Muslim and not born in the US.

Her home became a tourist attraction when he was elected as the first black US president.

Sarah Obama was the third and youngest wife of Barack Obama’s grandfather.

She died early on Monday at a hospital in the western town of Kisumu, her daughter Marsat Onyango told Kenya’s Daily Nation newspaper.

A family spokesman said Mrs Obama had been unwell for a week, but did not have Covid-19.

She will be buried later on Monday.

“We will miss her dearly,” Barack Obama said, “but we’ll celebrate with gratitude her long and remarkable life.”

Before her grandson became a household name, Sarah Obama was well known for the hot porridge and doughnuts she served at a local school, AFP reports.

She became more widely known when Mr Obama visited Kenya in 2006. At the time he was a senator from the state of Illinois, but a national celebrity in Kenya, and his grandmother spoke to the media about his rise in politics.

He returned in 2015, becoming the first sitting US president to visit Kenya, meeting Mrs Obama and other family members in Nairobi.

Mr Obama visited his step-grandmother’s home in the village of Kogelo in 2018, after leaving office, joking he had been unable to visit earlier because the presidential plane was too big to land at the local airport.

Barack Obama with Sarah Obama in Kenya
image captionAfter leaving office, Barack Obama visited his grandmother’s village of Kogelo in western Kenya

Sarah Obama was born in 1922 in a village on Lake Victoria, according to AFP. She was a Muslim and part of Kenya’s Luo ethnic group.

For decades, she ran a foundation in Kenya to help educate orphans and girls, something she felt strongly about as she couldn’t read herself.

She was the third wife of Hussein Onyango Obama, President Obama’s paternal grandfather.

Her husband, who died in 1975, fought for the British in Burma, now called Myanmar, and is reported to be the first man in his village to swap goatskin clothing for trousers.

Politics, World News

Visa Will Be Needed To Kano If Nigeria Breaks Up, Osinbajo Warns.

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Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo has advised those calling for Nigeria to break up to have a rethink, adding that if Nigeria does break, they may need visas to travel to places like Kano.

Osinbajo said this while delivering his speech virtually at the 12th Bola Tinubu Colloquium in commemoration of Tinubu’s 69th birthday in Kano.

The Vice-President, who was the special guest of honour, said the initial plan was to hold a completely virtual event but Governor Abdullahi Ganduje of Kano State offered to host a physical event that would run alongside the virtual one on Zoom.

“For the purveyors of breaking up into small components, into small countries, perhaps they should be reminded that we would not have been able to accept Governor Ganduje’s offer to come to Kano at short notice since we would all have needed visas to come to Kano,” Osinbajo said.

Yemi Osinbajo

Osinbajo added that Kano was a strategic location because it was the home of radical and progressive ideals.

Politics, World News

Palm Sunday mass in Indonesia hit by suicide bomber.

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Nearly two dozen people were wounded during a Palm Sunday service after two suicide bombers detonated an explosive device outside a church in Indonesia’s Sulawesi island.

The Associated Press reported the blast injured 20 people. Local officials said the suspected suicide bombers were the only casualties from the blast.

“I call on people to remain calm while worshipping because the state guarantees you can worship without fear,” Indonesia’s President Joko Widodo said in a televised address to the nation following the attack, according to the AP.

The country’s top security official reportedly added that any terrorist groups or other individuals linked to the bombing would “continue to be pursued,” according to the news service.

Indonesia has a history of battling Islamist extremist groups. In December, police arrested the head of Jemaah Islamiyah, an Al Qaeda-aligned terror group most famously known for a 2002 bombing that killed more than 200 people.

The country has been expecting attempted retaliation in the months since the arrest of Zulkarnaen, Jemaah Islamiyah’s leader, according to the AP, with the risk growing as the Christian holiday of Easter approaches.

Pope Francis, head of the Catholic Church, offered prayers for victims of violence on Sunday including “those of the attack that took place this morning in Indonesia, in front of the Cathedral of Makassar,” the AP reported.

Politics

Drama as Okorocha, monarch engage in serious altercation aboard plane

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Passengers aboard an Air Peace flight en route Abuja, on Sunday, became spectators to an altercation that emerged between a former governor of Imo State, Rochas Okorocha, and a former chairman of South-East Council of Traditional Rulers, Eze Cletus Ilomuanya, at the Sam Mbakwe International Cargo Airport, Owerri, the IMO State capital.

It was gathered that the traditional ruler on sighting Okorocha, accused him of being the cause of his present day dilemma, while Okorocha in return told him that he had no regrets removing him as the chairman of the State Council of Traditional Rulers, noting that he would still repeat his actions if he was still a governor.

Some reports had it that the traditional ruler, attacked Okorocha with his walking stick inside the airplane. However, a source from Okorocha’s camp said contrary to speculations in many quarters, the monarch didn’t use his walking stick on the ex-governor, who now represents Imo West in the Senate.

A source, who claimed the traditional ruler attacked Okorocha with his walking stick, said, “Eze Cletus Ilomuanya aboard Air Peace flight to Abuja, on Sunday, accosted Senator Rochas Okorocha sitting next to him, exploded with so much rage and royal anger.

What started as a mellow drama, all of a sudden snowballed into a full-fledged confrontation inside the aircraft, as the royal father descended on Okorocha with his walking stick.

“If not for the timely intervention of the flight captain, who rushed out when Ilomuanya was hitting Okorocha with his royal walking stick to leave his sight, the story would have been something else.”

Meanwhile, Okorocha in a statement issued by his Spokesperson, Sam Onwuemeodo, on Sunday, warned politicians, who he claimed were looking for favour from the state government, to stop reducing his name.

It would be recalled that Okorocha deposed Ilomuanya as the monarch of Obinukwu autonomous community and installed another person as the traditional ruler of the community.

Politics

NLC vows to resist imminent increment of fuel pump price to N234 per litre

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The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) on Sunday, March 28, warned the Federal Government that the Nigerian people and workers would resist any attempt to increase the fuel pump price to N234 per litre, in the face of severe hardship being faced by the masses.

The President of NLC, Ayuba Wabba, who gave the position of Labour while speaking to journalists at the weekend said organized Labour would not allow inefficiency of the system that past and present governments have not been able to address be transferred to ordinary Nigerians.

Nonetheless, the NLC pledged to support the move by the Federal Government to fix the refineries, but said a due diligence and transparency should be deployed in committing resources to make sure the refineries are working.

Wabba said: “As we have said clearly, Nigerians and NLC will continue to resist this imposition on us. In fact, Nigerians are at the brink, we have been pushed to the wall and many cannot even afford a meal per day. Therefore, increasing the price of this important commodity will exacerbate the current bad situation.

“We have said it very clearly that we would continue to resist this anti-people and neoliberal policies that were imposed on Nigeria by Bretton Woods Institutions. There is no way we would allow inefficiency of our system that past and present governments have not been able to address be transferred to ordinary Nigerians.”

Rather than imposing another hardship on the masses, Wabba said the Nigerian citizens at this time requires palliatives and not additional hardship.

He emphasized that the Nigerian people should be seen to enjoy the proceed as a oil producing country whenever the price of crude oil goes up in the international market, but regretted that what should bring an advantage to the masses was rather being translated to hardship by Nigerian Government.

Politics

ORTOM: Police deploys special team to Benue

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The Inspector-General of Police, Mohammed Adamu, has deployed a special team to Makurdi, Benue State, followed an attack on Governor Samuel Ortom by gunmen.

The Force Spokesman, Frank Mba, who disclosed this in a statement on Sunday, said the Special Investigative Task Force is being led by a Deputy Commissioner of Police, Abba Kyari, regarded by the police authorities as a no-nonsense investigator.

He added that the team has arrived in the North-Central state.

Mba said the team consists of operatives from the Tactical Investigation Units of the Force Intelligence Bureau (FIB) and other experienced and crack detectives with competencies in crime scene investigation and reconstruction, ballistics, fingerprint analysis, and other core areas of forensics.

One of the team’s core mandates is to take over and consolidate all ongoing investigation into the incident.

The Force spokesman said: “The team is also expected to investigate all angles of the reported attack with a view to ensuring that all persons empirically linked to the incident are apprehended and brought to book.”

“IGP Adamu also charged the team to be professional, thorough, and clinical in their investigations, stressing that they should liaise and work with the Benue State Police Command and other relevant members of the law enforcement community to ensure that they deliver on their mandate.”

Gunmen suspected to be assailants opened fire on Governor Ortom’s convoy at Tyo Mu along the Makurdi-Gboko Road in Makurdi local government area of the state on March 20.

But the attack was repelled by the governor’s security aides.

Politics

Omo-Agege warns APC against repeating PDP’s mistakes

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Sen. Ovie Omo-Agege, Deputy President of the Senate, has cautioned the All Progressives Congress(APC) against past mistakes of the opposition, Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

Omo-Agege, gave the charge in an address at the APC South-South Town Hall Meeting for Constitution Review in Asaba, on Sunday, March 28.

He said that the move to review the APC constitution was to make it a peoples oriented party that created equal opportunities for all members.

He noted that the decision of the national leadership of the party to review the party’s constitution was born out of the imperative of receiving contributions at the grassroots levels to make a working document that would provide equal opportunities for all.

To this end, the Caretaker and Extraordinary Convention Planning Committee (CECPC), ably led by Gov. Mai Mala Buni has underlined the sacrosanct need for reviewing the party constitution to meet the current realities of nation’s political space and increase the need for intraparty relationship and efficiency.

History beacons on our great party. It is the first ever opposition party to unseat an incumbent party in the life of our nation, Nigeria.

“Fellow party men, remember that the PDP had confidently said that it would be in power for 60 years. It took the resolve and determination of a strong-willed nation and its people to upstage that confidence.

“Now there is a lesson that we must bear in our subconscious and which should give centrality to our thoughts and deeds,” he said.

Omo-Agege added:”Nigeria has shown that it has come of age in terms of political maturity; politicians and political parties must deliver on their mandates and their promises or face removal, just as it happened in 2015.

Yet, politicians must be given the enablement to so perform. This is why we must provide a working manual (Constitution) that is fully integrative not only of the obligation and responsibilities of party men and women but also of their rights and privileges.”

He added that the party should be guided at all times by a people-oriented constitution.

“Such that as we work, the APC would be so positioned to provide an irresistible appeal to all persons desirous of inclusive and purposeful political participation,” he said.

He charged the Constitution Review Committee, to consider all areas that had been contentious in the exiting party constitution.

The first, by no order of importance is the need to strengthen the organs of the party with clear cut and non-overlapping duties amongst the organs.

“Another is that of power devolution down the grassroots. Our party today has 12 million Nigerians strong and growing, the review needs to give specific functions to the zonal structures of the party such that power trickles down to the ward levels,” he said.

Politics

Nigerian govt dispels reports of fake COVID-19 vaccines

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The Federal Government has dispelled the possibility of any fake COVID-19 vaccines being administered or sold by unauthorised institution in the country.

This was contained in a circular signed on Sunday, March 28, by Dr Adebimpe Adebiyi, the Director, Department of Hospital Service, Federal Ministry of Health, on behalf of the Minister of Health, Dr Osagie Ehanire in Abuja.

The circular followed a letter from the Presidential Task Force (PTF) on COVID-19 regarding the arrest of about 3,000 doses of fake COVID-19 vaccines destined for Africa from China.

The minister, who acknowledged receipt of the PTF letter, however, stated that “I am, therefore, to bring this to your notice and dispel any possibility of COVID-19 vaccines being available for sale or being administered by any unauthorised institution

“To prevent the importation of fake vaccines, kindly note that the Nigeria Customs Service has designated the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja, as the only Point of Entry (PoE) for imported COVID-19 vaccines.”

He then called the attention of chief medical directors and medical directors of federal tertiary health institutions to the fake COVID-19 vaccines destined for Africa, noting that it had been arrested in China.

Politics

Atiku cites unemployment as major reason for insecurity

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Former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar, has revealed that the escalating rate of insecurity in the country is caused by the high rate of youth unemployment.

Atiku made this assertion via a statement on Sunday, March 28, titled ‘World’s Highest Unemployment Rate: Time To Help This Government Help Nigeria.’

This was in response to a report by Bloomberg which predicted that Nigeria will emerge as the nation with the highest unemployment rate on Earth.

According to him, Nigeria got to this current situation due to the abandonment of policies implemented by the administration of former President Olusegun Obasanjo under which he served as Vice President.

Atiku said, “I have never felt so bad at being proven right, as I am by the report from Bloomberg Business on Saturday, March 27, 2021, that Nigeria is to emerge as the nation with the highest unemployment rate on Earth, at just over 33%.

We warned about this, but repeated warnings by myself and other patriots were scorned. And now this.

“How did Nigeria get here? We got here by abandoning the people-centred leadership and free trade and deregulatory policies of the Obasanjo years (which saw us maintain an almost single-digit unemployment rate) and implementing discredit command and control policies that have led to massive capital flight from Nigeria.

“And with the paucity of funds, we continue to ramp up government involvement in sectors that ought to be left to the private sector, with the latest being the ill-advised $1.5 billion so-called rehabilitation of the Port Harcourt Refinery that has failed to turn a profit for years.

What this government must realise is that the unprecedented insecurity Nigeria is facing is the result of youth unemployment.

“Idleness is the worst feature of unemployment because it channels the energy of our youth away from production, and towards destruction, and that is why Nigeria is now the third most terrorised nation on Earth.

“Now, how do we address this challenge?

“In 2020, I recommended that to immediately and drastically bring down youth unemployment, every family in Nigeria with at least one school-age child, and earning less than $800 per annum should receive a monthly stipend of 5000 Naira from the government via their BVN and NIN on the condition that they verifiably keep their children in school.

My recommendation still stands and stands even stronger now that we have crossed the rubicon in youth unemployment.

Atiku said if 13.5 million out of school children could be enrolled in schools, Nigeria could turn the corner in one generation.

“If we do not do this, then the floodgates of unemployment will be further opened next year, and in the years to come,” he said.

“We can no longer say we cannot afford this. We can.

Recall that in 20 years ending 2020, the NLNG had delivered $18.3 billion dividends to government irrespective of taxes and other benefit accruals to the country.

“This will not only free the government of needless spending but also clean up the infrastructure mess in the petroleum downstream sector.

“I say this because the fastest way to bring down a world record unemployment rate is via incentivised education. An educated citizenry is more employable and more self employable.”

Politics

Court awards N210m compensation to victims of police brutality in Bauchi

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The Federal High Court, Bauchi, on Saturday awarded N210 million compensation to three victims of police brutality in the state.

Justice Hassan Dikko held that two of the victims – Ibrahim Babangida and Ibrahim Sama’Ila – were tortured to death by the police after they were accused of stealing 24 chickens belonging to a retired police officer.

He awarded the sum of N100 million each to the families of the deceased as compensation.

The third victim, Abdulwahab Bello, was awarded N10 million for brutality, senseless arrest, and torture by the police.

The three victims were accused of stealing chickens by the retired police officer on July 21, 2020.

They were arrested and detained at the Township Division “A” Police Station in Bauchi.

According to Bello, one Superintendent Baba Ali, who was the Divisional Police Officer (DPO) at the time, used a pestle to torture him and his two friends who died as a result of the brutality.

He said: “The DPO hit Ibrahim continuously until his last breath.”

Bello and families of the deceased persons later filed a suit at the Federal High Court in Bauchi.

Listed as respondents are one officer simply identified as Ali, Sgt. Jibrin Mohammed, the Commissioner of Police in Bauchi, the Inspector- General of Police, and the Police Service Commission.

Politics

Igbo leaders initiate moves for 2023 presidency, south-eastern security outfit

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The Ohanaeze Ndigbo Elders Council has mandated the President of Ohanaeze Ndigbo, Professor George Obiozor, to begin immediate consultation with other ethnic groups in Nigeria, to actualise the goal of an Igbo president come 2023.

This was disclosed in a communique issued by the group after their meeting at the Government House in Owerri, on Saturday, hosted by the state Governor, Hope Uzodimma, alongside the Governor of Ebonyi State, Dave Umahi, as well as representatives of other governors.

Speaking at the meeting, the group maintained that the year 2023 was the turn of the Igbos to provide the country’s president, and warned Igbo politicians to desist from speaking against zoning.

“The elders’ council mandated the President General of Ohanaeze Ndigbo worldwide to work with Igbo socio-political intelligensia to pursue the task of ensuring that Ala Igbo takes the turn in producing the next president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria in 2023.

“The elders’ council frowned at the sudden rhetoric from partisan leaders in Igboland that zoning should be de-emphasised. Insisting that even that will be, it will be after Igbo have taken their turn.

The council mandated the Ohanaeze Ndigbo to also work in consultation with other ethnic groups in pursuant of this objective. We urge every Igbo man with the needed capacity to show interest in the 2023 presidency,” the communique read.

Speaking on the security challenges faced by the region, the group said: “The council mandates Ohanaeze Ndigbo leadership to work in consultation with the state governments in Ala Igboland, to reduce the vulnerability of those residing outside Igboland to the current abysmal state of affairs.

“The council agrees that Ala Igboland needs a security outfit to begin to address the things that are peculiar to the culture, religion, and tradition of Ala Igboland.”

Ripples Nigeria reported that Uzodinma had disclosed that the governors of the five south-eastern states planned to hold a summit in Owerri to discuss the modalities of setting up a security outfit for the region.

The governor said the summit would help to access the security situation in the region and proffer the best solutions to its security challenges.

Politics

Buhari charges leaders to help Nigeria unlock potentials

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President Muhammadu Buhari on Saturday charged leaders at all levels to show exemplary quality in order to help the country to overcome its current challenges.

President Buhari made the call in his address at the 2021 annual lecture of Arewa House held in Kaduna.

The President, who was represented at the forum by his Chief of Staff, Prof. Ibrahim Gambari, also urged Nigerians to put the nation first in all their dealings as was done by the country’s founding fathers such as Sir Ahmadu Bello.

He stressed that good leadership would provide a platform for Nigeria to overcome its challenges and unlock the country’s huge potentials.

President Buhari said: “Our ability to collectively address the challenges in our country today will go a long way in unlocking its huge potentialities and the starting point is leadership by example.”

He also called for inclusiveness and the provision of quality education, particularly for girls, to develop to their full capacity.

Buhari added that there was the need to improve coordination and collaboration among leaders for good governance at federal, state, and local levels in a bid to take the country to enviable heights.

“We must not assume that the problems of our country should and can be solved by President Buhari’s administration alone.

Yes, we lead by example, but every stakeholder has a responsibility to work collectively and put the interest of our country first and foremost.

“We have no choice if indeed we are committed to the welfare, prosperity, peace, and security of our people, but to be selfless in service and honor them by making peace and security as a cardinal point in all our actions,” the President added.

Politics

Nnamdi Kanu renews call for referendum, says it’s people’s right

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Nnamdi Kanu, leader of the proscribed Indigenous People Of Biafra (IPOB) has criticised the Federal Government over its refusal to hold a national referendum towards determining the future of the country.

He further stated that it was not the duty of the Federal Government to decide who stays or leaves Nigeria.

Kanu made the assertion on Saturday, March 27, via a tweet on his official Twitter handle.

According to him, the decision of whether the country would disintegrate or remain integrated should be determined by the people via a referendum.

The founder of the Eastern Security Network, ESN, said not even the military has such powers.

“Dear Nigerian Govs, it’s not your business to decide whether the people of your State should remain Nigerians or not. It’s not even the business of the President or the Nigerian Army.

“Instead, it’s the business of the PEOPLE, freely expressed through a process called REFERENDUM”, the tweet reads.

Politics

How to eradicate Boko Haram:. Chad President tells Buhari

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The President of Chad, Marshal Idris Deby Itno, has expressed optimism that the armies of the four countries under Multinational Joint Task Force (MNJTF) can eradicate the Boko Haram insurgents.

The Chadian President spoke Saturday while responding to questions from State House correspondents after an official visit to President Muhammadu at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.

The Chadian leader said terrorism remains an issue in the Lake Chad Basin and the Sahel region of Africa because the MNJTF has not been carrying out enough required operations.

According to him, he discussed the situation at the MNJTF with President Buhari, saying a situation where the joint military outfit embarks on just one operation in a whole year has made the fight difficult.

Marshal Into expressed optimism that with the new strategies being deployed and new officers with fresh ideas being assigned to take over commands at both national and regional levels, the menace of the various terror groups, including Boko Haram and the Islamic State, West African Province (ISWAP), would be addressed permanently.

Derby and Buhari during the visit

“However, with the new security apparatus that has been put in place with the new security chiefs and not only in Nigeria, but even on the Multinational Joint Task Force itself, which also has a new leadership, that we’re hopeful now that with new strategies, and new dynamism, that we’ll be able to address definitively the issue of Boko Haram.

“All the countries participating are taking responsibility, none of them is shirking their responsibilities and the military of all the countries also have that sense of responsibility of what needs to be done and what their obligation is, which is to protect all the countries and that they are fully on track for that and that with this new security architecture, we’re hopeful that the things will get much better and it will be done all together.

Boko Haram has hampered four countries

“Boko Haram is indeed an evil that has hampered the four countries of the Lake Chad Basin and it has done many harm to our populations. It would be remembered that since 2013/2014, the four countries put together their means to create the Multinational Joint Task Force, this Multinational Joint Task Force has had good results.

“Unfortunately, the resilience of Boko Haram and the Islamic State in the Lake Chad Basin has been unprecedented. They are being supplied and being trained and being formed through Libya. The MNJTF has done a lot of work and as you have seen recently, we’ve had exchanges on this with my brother on the way ahead. With the new team of the Chief of Defence Staff and the new Commander that has been appointed at the Multinational Joint Task Force, they are convinced that we can eradicate Boko Haram.

“There’s a lot of hope on this new team, with this new strategy. I remain confident that the four armies of the four countries can finish this evil and eradicate Boko Haram once and for all,” he said.

President Itno, while speaking further, said a number of important issues including the challenges facing Nigeria and Chad were discussed at the meeting.

Politics

Aregbesola admits restructuring needed to move country forward

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The Minister of Interior, Rauf Aregbesola, has revealed that the current national arrangement is unworkable while hinting at restructuring as the panacea to the challenges bedeviling the country.

Aregbesola made this call on Friday, March 26, in Ibadan, after his investiture as the grand patron of the Nigerian Union of Journalists, South-West zone.

The minister stated that the current structure needed to be adjusted to enable its constituent parts have access to more resources for development.

Aregbesola said, “The argument that the current political configuration holds down the country may be admissible to a large extent and we need to adjust our structure, both politically and economically.

“Nigeria needs to ensure maximum exploration and use of the resources by the constituent parts of the Federation with a view to encouraging healthy competition and broadening the space for mass participation in wealth creation.

Nigerians need to create a Nigeria where individuals can find fulfillment in life, even as they tread the narrow path of honesty, hard work, and sincerity.

“They need to create a nation where justice reigns and no man is oppressed, where merit can elevate to the top and the content of a man’s or woman’s character is enough to guarantee of enjoying the benefits of a prosperous federal society.”

The minister said secession was not the solution to the current challenges facing the country, adding that war would also not solve the problem but rather compound the woes.

He added, “Besides, those who take the precipitate action of resorting to armed conflict often plunge their land and people to ruin from which there may not be an exit option. Nations are often locked in civil wars of mutually assured destruction in which, peradventure one side wins, the victory will turn to ashes because the cost of victory is the loss of everything that was fought for.”

Politics

Amaechi promises commencement of Lagos-Calabar rail before end of year

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The Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi, has revealed that work on the proposed Lagos-Calabar railway will commence before the end of this year.

Amaechi made this disclosure during his delivery at the 34th Convocation Lecture of the University of Calabar with the topic: “The National Question and the Challenges of Nationhood in Nigeria” in Calabar, on Friday, March 26.

The former Rivers governor said the Buhari administration was committed to massive infrastructural development across the country.

In a few weeks from now, we are going to sign the loan agreement for the commencement of the Lagos-Calabar project and before the end of the year, contractors will move to site,” he said.

He added: “The President Buhari administration has embarked on railway construction and rehabilitation from Port Harcourt to Maiduguri, from Ibadan to Kano, and from Abuja to Kauran Namoda, among others.

“We are also renewing the Lord Lugard railway line that has been out of effective service for decades,” he said.

Politics

Kano govt rewards two policemen who rejected N1m bribe

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The Kano State Commissioner of Police, lSama’ila Shu’aibu-Dikko has commended two officers of the command, Insp. Garba Saleh-Rabo and Jamilu Alkassim for rejecting a N1 million bribe.

Shu’ibu-Dikko in a statement on Friday in Kano, commended the officers, who were attached to the Kano State Consumer Protection Taskforce, for reportedly rejected a N1 million gratification by a suspected dealer of expired products in the state.

Chairman of the task force, Bappa Dan’Agundi, moved by the exemplary conduct of the officers, presented them to the commissioner.

The officers following intelligence had stormed a warehouse loaded with expired products worth billions of Naira. However, the owner of the expired products in a bid to circumvent the law, offered the officers a N1 million bribe, which they turned down and got him arrested.

Shu’ibu-Dikko described the action of the officers as worthy of emulation, saying, “The two personnel while working with the Consumer Protection Council Task Force received information that expired goods worth billions of naira were kept in a warehouse.

“They stormed the location and were offered N1 million bribe. They rejected the bribe, recovered the expired goods, and arrested the suspect as well as brought the money as an exhibit.”

Meanwhile, he said the agency, in turn, rewarded the officers with N1 million as a reward for their commitment and selfless service.

He urged other officers in the command to emulate their colleagues, saying they have brought honour to the police command.

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