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President Bola Tinubu blew Nigerians a kiss as he began the inspection of the parade after he was inaugurated as the 16th President of Nigeria.
Watch a video of him moving in the military motorcade below…
The Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) has blamed the scarcity of passport booklets on President Muhammadu Buhari’s regime and the Central Bank of Nigeria’s policy on forex.
The NIS comptroller-general, Idris Jere, disclosed this at a public hearing organised by an ad hoc committee of the House of Representatives in Abuja.
“Foreign exchange regulation policy of the government and CBN’s refusal to grant access to forex for importation of the passport booklets. We generate forex from sale of passport but we do not have access to buy the same booklet and that is a challenge for NIS,” explained the NIS chief.
He added;
“The factors responsible for scarcity of passport include the inability to set up passport-producing factory in Nigeria as its production is done abroad. The major seven components used for producing passports are sold in international market and the assemblage and production are done in Malaysia.”
Mr Jere explained that Irris Smart Technology Ltd, the foreign company responsible for producing the Nigerian passport, had done well given the prevailing circumstances, noting that the presidential directive to commence the production of passports locally by the Nigerian Security Printing and Minting (NSPM) was a welcome development.
He, however, recommended that a proper exit plan be implemented for a smooth handover from the foreign firm to prevent any breach of contract and production process.
Irris Smart managing director Yinker Fisher said before the advent of the e-passport system, the Nigerian passport was marred with embarrassing irregularities and inconsistency under the watch of NSPM.
According to him, due to a lack of capacity, NSPM outsourced the process to three companies, leading to many irregularities, including passport colour and numbers.
Former Governor of Abia state and current Chief Whip of the Senate, Orji Uzor Kalu has said that Nigerians may not yet be ready for a President from the South-East region of the country.
While Kalu had in the past advocated for an Igbo presidency, appearing on a Channels Television on Wednesday, February 22, the former Governor said “this is not the best time for us” to become president.
He added that the people from the south-east “are not the best politicians”.
Kalu said;
“This is not the best outing for us. For you to be president of Nigeria, you need other regions. I’m not sure that Nigerians are yet ready for a president of Igbo extraction,
“We have five other regions to be able to come up with votes. We do politics with emotions. I want Igbos to stop doing politics with emotions. I want them to do practical politics that will be able to drive Nigerians if we want to be in the community of the nation. We need to read the temperature of other regions.”
William Ruto was on Tuesday September 13, sworn in as Kenya’s fifth president following his narrow victory over Raila Odinga in a bitterly fought but largely peaceful election.
Tens of thousands of spectators turned up at Kasarani stadium in Nairobi to witness the event which Nigeria’s Vice President Yemi Osinbajo is representing President Muhammadu Buhari at.
The Vice President was accompanied on the trip by the Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, Ambassador Zubairu Dada, and the Special Adviser to the President on Political Matters, Senator Babafemi Ojudu. With his hand on a Bible, the 55-year-old swore to preserve and protect the country’s constitution.
Defeated candidate Raila Odinga did not attend, saying as he had “serious concerns” about his opponent’s victory.
Mr Ruto won the election with 50.5% of the vote, to Mr Odinga’s 48.8%. Mr Odinga has alleged that the result was rigged, but the Supreme Court has ruled the election was free and fair. Ruto’s campaign had portrayed him as a “hustler” with a humble background of going barefoot and selling chickens by the roadside, a counterpoint to the political dynasties represented by Kenyatta and Odinga.
But Ruto received powerful political mentoring as a young man from former President Daniel arap Moi, who oversaw a one-party state for years before Kenyans successfully pushed for multiparty elections.
Ruto now speaks of democracy and has vowed there will be no retaliation against dissenting voices.
Superstar, David Adeleke, popularly known as Davido, has congratulated Kenya’s president-elect, William Ruto, on his victory in the country’s supreme court verdict.
Kenya’s Supreme Court on Monday upheld William Ruto’s election as the country’s president-elect.
Ruto, Kenya’s Deputy President, was declared the winner of the August 9 election by the Independent and Electoral Boundaries Commission, but his rival, Raila Odinga, had filed a suit challenging the election results.
Delivering the ruling Monday morning, Chief Justice Martha Koome struck out Odinga’s suit and upheld Ruto’s election as the Kenya president-elect.Shortly after the ruling, Davido tweeted,
“Congratulations to Dr William Samoei Ruto on being declared 5th President of the Republic of #Kenya @WilliamsRuto. Also, Congratulations to the people of Kenya! DEMOCRACY WINS AGAIN.”
During the ruling, Koome said, “This is a unanimous decision. The petitions are hereby dismissed, as a consequence we declare the first respondent (Ruto) as president-elect.”
The court dismissed all nine issues of contention in the suit.
Koome declared that the alleged irregularities in the election “…were not of such magnitude as to affect the final results of the presidential election.”
By the apex court’s judgement, the 55-year-old incumbent deputy president, Ruto, will now assume office as Kenya’s president on September 13, 2022.
Sri Lanka’s deposed President, Gotabaya Rajapaksa has returned to the country from self-imposed exile and is now facing arrest warrants.
The 73-year-old announced his resignation from Singapore and spent weeks under virtual house arrest in a Bangkok hotel after being asked by the city authorities not to leave the hotel for his personal safety.
“Gotabaya returned because no country is willing to accept him, he has no place to hide,” Joseph Stalin, the leader of a teachers’ trade union that helped mobilize demonstrators, told AFP.
“He should be arrested immediately for causing such misery for the 22 million people of Sri Lanka. He should be prosecuted for his crimes.”
Rajapaksa arrived at the main international airport in Colombo on Saturday, September 3, and was greeted by a crowd of ministers and politicians.
He was accompanied by a security team to his new official residence in the capital, provided to him by the government of his successor, President Ranil Wickremesinghe.
Rajapaksa’s younger brother Basil, the former finance minister, met with Wickremesinghe last month and asked him to allow the former president to return to the country.
“Basil Rajapaksa requested the president to make arrangements for the former president to return home,” their Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) party said in a statement.
Sri Lankan legal and judicial activists have vowed to press the government to prosecute Rajapaksa’s charges, including his alleged role in the 2009 assassination of prominent newspaper editor Lasantha Wickrematunge.
“We welcome his decision to return so that we can bring him to justice for the crimes he has committed,” Tharindu Jayawardhana, a spokesman for the Sri Lanka Young Journalists’ Association, said:
The island of 22 million people is struggling with its worst economic crisis since independence in 1948 amid a severe foreign exchange shortage that has limited essential imports of fuel, food, and medicine.
It will be 24 years of uninterrupted democracy in Nigeria by May 2023. I can still vividly remember the wave of joy the country felt when the then Head of State, General Abdulsalami Abubakar, handed over to the newly elected civilian president, Olusegun Obasanjo, on May 29, 1999.
At last, Nigeria would start her journey to growth and sustainability for all. The then President Obasanjo, in his speech, described the day as “the beginning of a genuine renaissance” in Nigeria. The word renaissance comes from a French word meaning “rebirth.” In hindsight, was it truly the beginning of a genuine rebirth in Nigeria?
The political structure in Nigeria has been largely criticised by many as being laden with corruption, godfatherism and a lack of visionary approach to leadership. So much so that many in their pain and naivety have wished for Nigeria’s return to military dictatorship in the hopes of some form of sanity and economic stability. This largely owes to the seeming steadiness of the exchange rate from the day the late General Sani Abacha took power in 1993 till the day he died on June 8, 1998. For a period of five years, the exchange rate of the naira to dollar never changed from N22 to $1, while on the parallel market, the naira was trading as high as N88 to $1 (using the word ‘high’ to qualify N88 to $1 in 2022 might be a stretch but you get the point).
It is, however, important to note that democracy, no matter how problematic it might seem at the moment in Nigeria, is the closest to what we can get in terms of a system that can protect everyone. The almost 24 years of democracy under two prominent political parties—Peoples Democratic Party and All Progressive Congress—may be seen as some form of progress despite existing challenges.
Sadly, Nigeria has missed opportunities, truncated dreams and lost talents. Many sectors of the economy have suffered backwardness. Education is in a state of a cry for help. Security has degenerated so much that the average citizen sees the safety of their lives and property as their personal responsibility. There is the issue of police brutality that led to the #EndSARS movement. Also, the country is wallowing in massive debts. Inflation is on an all-time high, with Nigerians lacking the ability to afford three square meals, which has become a luxury. Even the power sector is so inflated with corruption that solutions deployed by smaller countries to generate power are so cumbersome for our leaders to deploy. According to the Nigeria Bureau of statistics, the rate of unemployment was 33% in 2019 and is likely to have increased as many lost their jobs during the pandemic. It appears that the country is crumbling with a lot of problems.
Nigeria is at a crossroads and people are expecting a miracle. One of my professional colleagues once said, “Nigeria is not something that anyone will want to acquire if it were to be personal property.” Hence, I pity the next President of Nigeria.
The last seven years of our lives as Nigerians have been excruciating. This is not to say that the present regime under the leadership of Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.) has failed in every area. However, communication is key and this regime has failed in terms of communication and carrying the populace along in the little progresses made. The concept of servant leadership has been trampled upon.
According to a publication on OCED.org, Nigeria is the largest Black nation in the world: “One of every four Africans and one out of every five persons of African origin is a Nigerian.” This speaks to the power, talent, skills and resilience we have as a people. Nigerians are amazing people – industrious, innovative, creative, bold, kind, family-oriented, hardworking, etc. Young people have argued that they only need an enabling environment in order to survive and build the country they desire. They want leadership but leadership with all the progressive qualities of a visionary leader.
Leadership is service, management and hard work. Whoever emerges the president of Nigeria come 2023, be it Bola Ahmed Tinubu of the APC, Atiku Abubakar of the PDP or Peter Obi of Labour Party, Nigerians are expecting that change promised by President Buhari in 2015. It doesn’t matter that the next President did not make this promise; that expectation just comes with the territory of being the president of Nigeria. As such, fighting corruption and seeing true change is now an inherited campaign promise and the next president needs to be seen to hit the ground running from day one and ensure that true positive change happens.
It’s important to pay attention to the campaign season of the coming election (September/October). Beyond asking what, we must begin to ask, “How?!”
Just as Governor Ifeanyi Okowa of Delta State, who is the PDP Presidential running mate, said on Politics Today on Channels TV, it’s a common fight for hope.
The struggle for change remains constant.
Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar on Friday promised to restructure Nigeria and restore the economy if elected as the country’s president in 2023.
Abubakar, who is one of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) presidential aspirants, stated this while addressing the party delegates and the Delta State Governor, Ifeanyi Okowa, at the Government House in Asaba.
He listed the unity of the country, insecurity, economy, and education as some of the areas he would focus attention on if elected as president next year.
The ex-Vice President stressed that the country was at a cross road and needed an experienced hand to navigate through.
He thanked the delegates for the support given to him at the Port Harcourt convention in 2019 and urged them to vote for him in the PDP presidential convention billed for May 28 and May 29 in Abuja.
Abubakar said the issue of power rotation was enshrined in the party’s constitution, pointing out that what the PDP needed at this time was to grab the power before entrenching rotation.
The former Vice President has repeatedly identified restructuring as a major solution to Nigeria’s challenges and promised to carry it out if given the chance to lead the country.
He said: “We want to thank you very much indeed, particularly for the support that we received from Delta in the last primaries that took place in Port Harcourt.
We cherished that support and we value that support and we shall not forget that support.
Having said that, we have come to another season of elections in the country but this season is unique because Nigeria has never found itself in this type of situation facing numerous challenges.
That was why when l declared to run for the presidential election this time around, l identified five key areas that this country requires immediate attention.
“First of all, l identified the lack of unity in our country today.
“Government at all levels must identify with our diversity, and respect our diversity but this has been neglected over time.
“And as a result of that, we have a very divided country and l said l will tackle this disunity on the first day of my presidency if elected.”
He urged the delegates to put competence and credibility above money in casting their votes for aspirants to fly the party’s flag in 2023.
“And as a result of that, we have a very divided country and l said l will tackle this disunity on the first day of my presidency if elected.”
He urged the delegates to put competence and credibility above money in casting their votes for aspirants to fly the party’s flag in 2023.
“And as a result of that, we have a very divided country and l said l will tackle this disunity on the first day of my presidency if elected.”
He called on delegates to put competence and credibility above money in casting their votes for aspirants to fly the flag of the party.
On his part, Okowa said Abubakar has the requisite experience to take the country out of its present challenges.
He added that the issue of restructuring was important to the people of the Niger Delta in the choice of who should rule the country in 2023.
Okowa said delegates from the state would scrutinize the presidential aspirants and throw their weight behind the most credible at the primary.
Vice President of Nigeria, Yemi Osinbajo has officially declared to run for president in 2023.
Osinbajo made the declaration on Monday, in a video shared via his social media accounts.
”I formally declare my intention to run for the office of the President, Federal Republic of Nigeria, on the platform of our great party, the All Progressives Congress,” the VP said.
Osinbajo also stated in his declaration speech that he was committed to continuing the vision President Muhammadu Buhari has for the country.
He said; “If by the grace of God and the will of the people, I am given the opportunity, then I believe that first, we must complete what we have started, radically transforming our security and intelligence architecture.
Completing the reforms of our justice system; focusing on adequate remuneration and welfare of judicial personnel and ensuring justice for all and the observants of the rule of law; rapidly advancing our infrastructure development, especially power, roads, railways, and broadband connectivity, providing an excellent environment for businesses to thrive, taking the agriculture revolution to the next level, especially mechanisation and developing the farm-to-table value chain; making sure that the government, its agencies, and regulators, serve the business community, creating a tech economy that will provide jobs for millions of young Nigerians; enhancing our social investment programme, to a full-scale social welfare program…”
Watch the video below:
National Leader of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), Bola Tinubu has told Nigerian youths that they can only become president of the country after he has become one.
The 69-year-old former Lagos state governor said this on Sunday during a visit to the Alaafin of Oyo, Oba Lamidi Adeyemi.
Speaking in Yoruba, he said; “You won’t give room for the elderly to pass and you haven’t become president. What if you become president, you will chase us out of town?
You will grow old, you will become president but I will become president first.”
Watch video below:
Guinea Bissau’s President, Umaro Sissoco Embalo, said Tuesday several people were killed and others injured in the country’s attempted coup.
Gunshots on Tuesday rocked neighbourhoods near the West African nation’s presidential palace in Bissau.
The incident occurred when the President was attending a cabinet meeting while security agents quickly mobilised and surrounded the building.
The President, who stated this in a post on his Facebook page, claimed the plot was due to his decision to fight drug trafficking and corruption in Guinea Bissau.
He said: “The attackers could have spoken to me before these bloody events that have seriously injured many and claimed lives.”
Renowned political commentator and economist, Pat Utomi has revealed his interest in the Presidency dependent on some factors.
Utomi made the disclosure on Saturday during an interview with Arise TV, stating that his ambition was subject to a consensual agreement by the Igbo people.
The issue of an Igbo Presidency has been the subject of various political discourses with some stakeholders advocating for the region to produce the next President, in the interest of equity.
Nonetheless, the two major political parties — the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) and the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) — are yet to decide on zoning the Presidency but high-profile politicians from the APC such as Bola Ahmed Tinubu and Dave Umahi have signified their interests in gunning for the coveted post.
In his statement during the interview, Utomi said, “Igbo Candidacy? If people come to me and say, ‘Look! We have looked at your background. We have looked at your whole life of service and we think you are the candidate that the Igbo nation needs to offer to Nigeria, I would have no problem with that. But, am I driven by the very fact of position?
“Look, there are people who have been Presidents in Nigeria, who if you give me their place in history; I would rather never have held any office in Nigeria than be what history would remember them as. So, the fact of office and power has very little attraction to me as a person but service to transform the lives of people matter to me.
“It is about the people. Honestly, it is not about people who would hire crowds to come and say, ‘These people have come to ask me to run.’ No. I have always seen service about people looking around them. Almost everything I have done in my life is to literally see it as a duty.”
Cross River State Governor, Ben Ayade, has attributed Nigeria’s continued existence to the emergence of President Muhammadu Buhari in 2015, saying the country would have been history by now.
Ayade who spoke on a Channels Television programme, Sunrise Daily on Wednesday, said the efforts Buhari put in at tackling the myriad of problems the country faced caused by past administrations, was what kept the country together till date.
Ayade particularly lauded Buhari’s efforts at addressing insecurity in the country, insisting that without the President’s intervention by employing his military background in tackling the menace, terrorists and insurgents would have crippled the country.
According to Ayade, “there was an international conspiracy against the country, particularly the northern regions” and the country would have collapsed if Buhari had not intervened.
Perhaps, if it was not Buhari’s administration with his military background, the country would have collapsed at this stage,” the Governor said.
People don’t know that because if you have been able to avoid risk, nobody can see it because it was avoided. I think the situation could have been worse,” he added.
On insecurity, Ayade had this to say:
“Security comes first and what President Buhari did on assumption of office was to curtail the onslaught of Boko Haram which was very important in order to prevent the implosion of the country.
“This country would have collapsed if not for Buhari’s military background and the situation could have been worse.
“The crisis we would have found ourselves in would have been worse than the ISIS crisis in the Middle East, so we Nigerians must give kudos to President Muhammadu Buhari,” he said.
A Benue man, Gaza Gregory Tyover has sparked reactions on social media after a poster of him running for a position in his state Chelsea FC fan club.
He is running for the post of president, Chelsea FC fan club in Ikpayongo, Gwer East Local Government Area of Benue state.
His campaign poster was shared on Facebook by Daniel Uza as he asked people to vote for Tyover.
See post below..
Reacting, Henryflo said; Our mumu no too much? 70yrs old man
Unique wrote; Chai, it’s well
Anubi Nebo; MOST OF YOU DONT UNDERSTAND HOW FANATICAL WE CHELSEA FANS ARE WE ARE SO BONDED IN LOVE AND UNDERSTANDING IT IS NOT SURPRISING THAT PEOPLE CONTEST TO HEAD THE FAN BASE IN HIS LOCALITY
Thinktwicemybro; Nothing Musa nor go see for gate
Kayode Cole; Chelsea fans are very hungry looking people. Always looking mal-nourished. Most lagos touts are Chelsea fans. Most of them can’t speak good English..
Ebuka Abe; He better If u use that poster for Jesus work
Taiwo Ololade; Yes he can, like play like play he will become a Chelsea board member and he will start making a decision before we count one Chelsea will be relegated.
Tony Ita Bassey; Madness of the highest order. jobless youths everywhere may God have mercy on Nigeria.
A former President of the Nigeria Medical Association (NMA), Dr. Osahon Enabulele, has been elected as the President of the World Medical Association (WMA).
Members of National Medical Associations across the world took part in the voting that lasted one week.
Enabulele’s opponent defeated the President of Pakistan Medical Association, Prof. Muhammad Ashraf Nizami, to win the coveted seat.
The WMA said in a statement on Thursday that Enabulele’s victory was a recognition of his years of hardwork in the association.
Enabulele, who is currently the President of the Commonwealth Medical Association (CMA), will oversee the WMA activities during the 2022 – 2023 Executive year.
The statement read: “With this historic development, Enabulele, has once again attained another milestone by being the first-ever Nigerian and West African physician to be elected President of the World Medical Association since the global body of all physicians in the world was established in the year 1947.”
The Shehu of Borno, Abubakar El-Kanemi says Nigerians, and indeed the people of Borno State, are lucky to have Muhammadu Buhari as the President of Nigeria as he has significantly changed the tide against insurgency and insecurity in the country.
The first class traditional ruler who said this on Monday when the Senate President, Ahmad Lawan, paid him a condolence visit over the loss of his elder brother, said his people had “seriously suffered as a result of Boko Haram crisis,” but that they were “lucky” to have the Buhari government, which eventually changed the tide.
According to El-Kanemi, all the local government areas in the state, which were under the control of Boko Haram had been taken back by the troops, adding that normal business activities had also returned in the state.
He also rejoiced at the news that Boko Haram elements were surrendering, saying, “it’s a welcome development”, because “Borno is a home of peace and we are for peace.
We are lucky to have President Muhammadu Buhari as our leader as he had done what nobody thought would be possible to do.
“Before his coming to power, we could not sleep, we could not go out to do our businesses.
“Our people were fleeing to neighbouring countries because of Boko Haram but today, peace has returned because Buhari has lived up to expectations. We are lucky to have such a dedicated man as President,” the Shehu added.
The Haitian police on Thursday night announced that it had arrested 15 Colombians and two Haitian American suspects in connection with the assassination of the Haitian President, Jovenel Moise.
Speaking at a press briefing, Director, Haiti’s National Police, Leon Charles, accompanied by the Interim Prime Minister, Claude Joseph, said about 28 people participated in Moise’s murder, including 26 Colombians and two Haitian Americans.
According to Charles, eight other people who participated in the assassination escaped, while three of the assassins were killed in the gun duel with security operatives.
The late president was shot dead at his residence on Wednesday during an early morning raid by a group of gunmen.
The Borno State College of Nursing and Midwifery has suspended a student for refusing to welcome President Muhammadu Buhari during his visit to the state last week.
Recall that Buhari arrived Maiduguri, Borno state on Thursday, June 17 to commission some projects executed by the state governor, Babagana Zulum.
A letter of suspension from the college which was sighted by SaharaReporters today, stated that the student, whose name had yet to be ascertained, was suspended for one week from June 21 to June 28 over the action.
The letter reads, “You are hereby suspended from the college for one week with effect from today 21st June 2021 for disobedience of executive order to welcome the President of Nigeria, Muhammadu Buhari GCFR, GCON (on the 17th of June 2021)
You are expected to report back to college on the 28th of June 2021 along with your parent or guardian.”
SaharaReporters had alleged in a report on June 17 that governor Zulum paid N350million to mobilise the crowd for the visit of Buhari to the state.
Governor of Kogi state, Yahaya Bello, says he will in due time, answer the call of Nigerians for him to run for President in 2023.
He made this known on Friday night while speaking on Channels TV’s Politics Today.
Bello said; “Nigerians, the youth and women, and all Nigerians, including very objective elites are asking me to run for President in 2023.
“And I believe it is high time that we look into capacity, who can do the job, who is going to unify this country. And I think they are seeing something in me that they are asking me to come and unite and fix this country.
My answer will be in the affirmative in a few time from now.
“I want to urge each and every one of us that are urging me to come to be patient. It’s a work in progress. And by the grace of God, I am not going to disappoint you when the time comes for me to give a response to that.”
A chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Bode George, says he will cease to be a Nigerian should national leader of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Bola Tinubu, become president.
Although Tinubu has not expressed his interest in running for presidency in 2023, many of his supporters have been urging him to contest.
George who spoke during an Arise TV programme on Friday, called on the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to investigate Tinubu’s tenure as Lagos state governor and his alleged involvement with Alpha Beta Consulting, a tax firm.
He said: “I’ve talked about it and I’m still saying publicly that the EFCC should go urgently and investigate Alpha Beta Company owned by him.
Let me say it in very clear language, to me it’s an insult to de-civilise the people of this country who are committed to national development that the likes of him want to run this country.
“We must make sure that they investigate him. He’s junketing all over the place, an insult to the civilised minds who work so hard in this country. If, by whatever yardstick, he becomes the head of state, I will cease to be a Nigerian and I’m not joking.”
Speaking on the security situation in the country, the PDP stalwart described it as “very heart-wrenching”.