₦airaland Forum

Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN) Mahmud Mohammed has said that “the failure on the part of the executive arm of government to act upon recommendations by the National Judicial Council (NJC) cannot be blamed upon the NJC.”
Justice Mohammed made the statement in a letter dated 26 October 2016 and sent to Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP).

The letter which was signed by the Senior Special Assistant to the CJN, H. S. Sa’eed was in response to SERAP’s request to the CJN requesting him as chairman of the NJC to “take over from the Department of State Service (DSS) the cases of all the 7 judges released by the DSS and refer the cases of those judges to anticorruption agencies for conclusion of investigation and prompt prosecution.”
But the CJN in reaction told SERAP that, “Certainly, you will agree with me that where there are clear constitutional provisions relating to the power of any individual, institution or arm of government, then it cannot deviate nor exceed such powers as this will be unlawful.”
The letter by the CJN reads in part: “While restating the willingness of the NJC to act upon any petition as well as commitment of the Nigerian judiciary to the fight against corruption, his Lordship opines that any significant involvement in the fight against corruption will be upon a similar commitment of the Prosecutorial Agencies to actively prosecute their cases expeditiously when information about same is received. It is necessary to restate that the NJC is a creation of the 1999 Constitution of Nigeria (as amended) being established under Section 153 with its mandate clearly set out in Para 21, Part One of the Third Schedule to the Constitution. This provision clearly stipulates at Para 21(b) and (d) that the Council may only ‘recommend’ to the President and the Governors, the removal from office of Judicial Officers and to exercise disciplinary control over such Judicial Officers, which in effect is the extent of its power to discipline. Hence, the Council cannot, suo moto dismiss any Judicial Officer.
“The NJC can also neither ‘hand over corrupt judges to law enforcement agencies for prosecution nor recover proceeds of corruption, as you have suggested. It can merely recommend to act upon its findings, as it has always done.
“However, in exercise of its constitutional mandate, the NJC has enacted the Judicial Discipline Regulations, 2014 in order to ensure that petitions are received, investigated and addressed as appropriate. As SERAP’s own Report attests, 64 Judicial Officers have been disciplined within 5 years even preceding the institution of the new guidelines. Any failure on the part of the Executive Arm of Government to act upon such recommendations cannot therefore be blamed upon the NJC.”
Read more at http://www.dailytrust.com.ng/news/general/njc-blames-executive-arm-for-corruption-in-judiciary/169706.html#uR8JjoeaYs8ZWLXX.99

The Leader of the Senate, Ali Ndume, on Tuesday said senators voted against President Muhammadu Buhari’s request for 29.9 billion dollars foreign loan due to technical issues.

Briefing newsmen shortly after plenary, Ndume, who said that he was shocked that the request suffered such setback, expressed optimism the issues would be resolved and the request would be represented.

“The problem came on a technical ground; it is supposed to go to the committee level and the committee is supposed to take a look at it.

“I am going to appeal to my colleagues to take a look at it again and see how we are going to bring it back.

“One of the technical things that were missing is that in the letter, if you read it, says: ‘attached is a draft’ but there was no attachment.

“So, these are some of the lapses that we will look at in bringing it back.

“We were thinking that there were going to be details but there were no details of the borrowing plan.

“I believe that those will be included in the next one,” he said.

The lawmaker said that the red chamber did not have the power to give anticipatory approval of any bill or document that it had not received.

He assured that the senate was poised to do things the right way and would reconsider the request on its merit.

“We are trying to do things the way it should be done this time around, but we cannot throw away the baby with the bath water.

“In the Appropriation Act we approved that the budget will be financed through internal and external borrowing.

“The internal borrowing is going on; we also approved external borrowing, so we will look at these areas that are necessary for the funding of the budget,” he said.

Ndume could not give a specific date or period within which the president was likely to represent the request, but assured that he was going to interface with him.

“I cannot tell you now when it would be represented; I, as a leader, I am in contact with the executive which I try to market in the senate.

“As I told you, I was shocked by the decision; my colleagues surprised me today. I was not expecting that.

“If I had a little inclination that such a thing was going to happen, I would have tried to market the request or at worse, I will not present it.

“Today, the senators had their way and I had my say,” he said. (NAN)


Read more at http://www.dailytrust.com.ng/news/general/why-senate-rejected-buhari-s-29-9bn-loan-request--ndume/169616.html#41VH1CKcYXoIdjBK.99

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The Bauchi State government has said the “constant attacks” on Governor Mohammed Abubakar by the member representing Misau/Dambam constituency in the House of Representatives, Ahmed Yerima, were attempts to hide his (Yerima’s) failure and incompetence.

A statement by the Press Secretary to the governor, Abubakar El-Sadique, said Yerima’s attacks on the governor were based on unfounded allegations. ‎

“For quite some time, we have avoided giving responses to the several media drama being dished out, almost on daily basis, by Mr Yerima because of our belief that if he doesn’t have any work to do in the House of Representatives, where the people of Misau and Dambam local government areas sent him, we have quite a lot of work in all parts of Bauchi State competing for the attention of Governor Mohammed Abubakar,” the statement said.
The statement, which is in reaction to a recent interview by Ahmed Yerima, said the lawmaker used the governor as a guinea pig or shield to cover up “his gross failure and inadequacies to provide quality representation to the people of his constituency.”

“This is the reason why nearly one and a half years into office, and having no grasp of or not taking his responsibility as an elected member of the National Assembly seriously, Mr. Yerima chose to embark on smear campaign against the governor.

Read more at http://www.dailytrust.com.ng/news/politics/yerima-s-attacks-on-gov-abubakar-escapist-bauchi-gov-t/169497.html#hhWigY7TCHirhGFT.99

Kannywood Actress Nafisa Abdulahi has said that she tried to jump out of a moving vehicle to because of love.

Nafisa responded to Kannywood scene 's question "What’s the craziest thing you have done in love?" with "Tried to jump out of a moving vehicle. that’s so crazy, been thinking of why I wanted to do that ever since."

She also said that her dream husband would be "Someone who puts everything about me first! someone who deeply loves my family….and I’ve found that person."

The Jos actress said also that when her colleagues try to flirt with her she reacts by flirting back "Don’t get me wrong, but I go with the flow…it’s just flirting right? no harm in that" she said.

The real Madrid club supporters said she scared of heights and water " Fear of heights and water….as in ruwa sosai bawai Na pool ba"


According to Nafisa the words that describe her are " stubborn and simple"

Nafisa started acting in early 2009, and she became a household name in Northern Nigeria, however she was suspended from acting in 2013 for organizing party and failing to appear before disciplinary committee.

The suspension which was billed to last for two consecutive years was lifted in August 2013, about two months after.

Some of her movies are Ummi, Ya daga Allah, Yar Agadez, Addini ko Al'Ada, Jari Hujja, Laifin Dadi, Lamiraj, Madubin Dubawa.

Nafisa recently dabbled into philantroph when she founded Love and Laugh

Read more at http://www.dailytrust.com.ng/news/entertainment/i-tried-to-jump-out-of-a-moving-vehicle-because-of-love-nafisa-abdullahi/169455.html#fgHM5KqwsD24EB04.99

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The Ooni of Ife, Oba Adeyeye Ogunwusi on Friday ended his visit to Ekiti state with a promise that the Yoruba-speaking states in Nigeria would soon have a common anthem in local dialect that will be sung at every public forum immediately after that of the national anthem.

The monarch made the pronouncement when he visited Governor Ayo Fayose at the Government House to round-off his two-day official visit to the state.

He said the need for such Yoruba anthem had become necessary in view of the need to inculcate the spirit of solidarity, unity, service,love and togetherness on every yoruba person, irrespective of age and status.

He said he drew his inspiration about forming a common Yoruba anthem after listening to the one already adopted by Ekiti state many years ago.

He also promised to release a book that would further add value to his current peace efforts across the country.

He described the state as a model, saying most of the new experience gathered in the state would be adopted and incorporated into the overall yoruba affairs in near future.

“My ascension to the throne of Oduduwa is not by mistake, it was God, the creator that ordained it and it is my belief that He has a clear role for me, and that role is to bring all my people together and foster peace among them

“We yorubas must learn to do only those things that unite us,and not those that separate us because there cannot be growth and development where peace and unity are conspicuously absent

“The time has come for us leaders in the country, especially those of us in yorubaland to put supremacy aside,we are all nothing before God, we are just basically human", the Ooni said.

In a response, host governor Fayose thanked the Ooni for extending his visit to two days to enable him fraternize more with the Ekiti people and urged him to continue with his tempo of peace amd prayers for the yoruba people and the entire nation.

Read more at http://www.dailytrust.com.ng/news/politics/yoruba-speaking-states-to-get-own-anthem-ooni/169109.html#A0kCWZ8yStOh3Z88.99

RIP

The UN has negotiated the release of nearly 900 children detained by Nigeria’s army and security forces after they have retaken land from Boko Haram militants, a senior official said.

The 876 children had been held in the barracks in Maiduguri, UNICEF’S Regional Director for Western and Central Africa, Manuel Fontaine, said after visiting the north-eastern city.

It was not immediately clear how long they had been held.

However, the army routinely detains civilians who have been living in areas that had been ruled by the insurgents on suspicion that they too might be linked to militant activities.

Nonetheless, rights groups said there was no proper legal process for such civilians, including the children.

They said that they were not formally charged and some ended up in so-called rehabilitation centres or Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) camps.

The United Nations says children should not be detained.

“We fear that there are still kids who are being at least temporarily detained because they are being released from Boko Haram areas by the army but then kept for a while,” Fontaine said.

He give no details of the ages of the children or how long they had been at the barracks .

It would be recalled that after President Muhammadu Buhari came to power in May 2015, security forces began an offensive.

The security force were backed by neighbouring countries, to retake territory from Boko Haram, meaning at least some of the children could have been held for a year or more.

There was no immediate comment from the army.

Army officials say they need to question civilians to establish whether they have any ties with the militant group, which has been trying for seven years to set up an Islamic state.

The security situation remains volatile in Borno and its capital Maiduguri because Boko Haram still stages suicide bombings, often using women or teenagers.

Fontaine also said the conflict, which had killed thousands and displaced more than two million, had separated around 20,000 children from their parents, of which 5,000 had since been reunited with families.

“Once we get children out, there is a major issue of stigmatisation in the communities.

“There is a sense that children who have been associated with Boko Haram for a while, could be, and in some cases we have some evidence, are rejected by community and people around them,” Fontaine said.

This was also a problem for the girls freed from the town of Chibok, he said.

Nigeria this month negotiated, with the help of Switzerland, the release of 21 of more than 200 girls Boko Haram kidnapped in April 2014.(Reuters/NAN)

Read more at http://www.dailytrust.com.ng/news/general/unicef-frees-876-children-held-for-possible-boko-haram-ties/169163.html#dhV3wZ7El8MTVmgD.99

The Chief of Staff to President Muhammadu Buhari, Alhaji Abba Kyari, says he was not suspended as insinuated in some quarters.

Kyari said yesterday that he was only on vacation and had resumed.

“Are you going to tweet that I am back?”, he asked State House correspondents while coming out from the president’s office.

Asked to react to social media reports that he was suspended, he asked: “Can’t I go on leave?” But when he asked to speak on camera, he said: “I don’t talk to the press. You know my job doesn’t allow me to talk.”

Reports recently said Buhari had suspended Kyari for allegedly receiving N500m from MTN to facilitate a reduction of a fine handed the telecommunication firm by the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC

Read more at http://www.dailytrust.com.ng/news/general/abba-kyari-i-wasn-t-suspended/169117.html#Q2kuKFjozEGf6hgk.99

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The National Chairman of Nigeria’s ruling All Progressives Congress, APC, says God sent President Muhammadu Buhari to save Nigeria from collapse.

The News Agency of Nigeria reports that Mr. Oyegun made the observation in Sokoto on Friday when he declared open a three-day retreat organised by the Kano State Chapter of the party for its officials and stakeholders on political party management.

Mr. Oyegun said: ”Buhari was God-sent at the most crucial time in Nigeria’s history.

“He inherited a comatose economy and he has been strenuously working to deliver on his campaign promises centred on the economy, security and fighting corruption.

“Insurgency has been tamed, while the issues of militancy and other related security challenges were being diligently attended to by the President.”

Mr. Oyegun also said that the president was being so “frugal” with every kobo that accrued to the nation, saying that the economy would soon bounce back.


The party national chairman said that no sane and patriotic Nigerian would be pessimistic about the way Mr. Buhari was uniquely tackling corruption.

“Buhari is generally working tirelessly to make Nigeria a better place for all Nigerians,” he said.

Mr. Oyegun stressed the need for internal democracy as well as ensuring the supremacy of the party.

The Kano State Governor, Abdullahi Ganduje, said that the retreat was organised for stocktaking on the achievements, problems and to chart the way forward.

Mr. Ganduje said that APC in Kano was still united and indivisible.

Governor Aminu Tambuwal of Sokoto State said the retreat would help to keep the party on the right track.

Mr. Tambuwal said: “This is to ensure that government is properly adjusted in the interest of the common people.”


Kawu Sumaila, the Senior Special Assistant to the President on National Assembly Matters, restated that governors of the party were its due leaders in the states.

The Chief Whip of the House of Representatives, Alhassan Doguwa and a chieftain of the party in the state, Bashir Tofa, commended the wisdom of organising the retreat.

The Zonal Vice Chairman of the party, North West, Inuwa Abdulkadir, said that the retreat was the first of its kind organised by any of the state chapters of the party.

(NAN)

http://www.premiumtimesng.com/news/headlines/213925-god-sent-buhari-save-nigeria-collapse-oyegun.html

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The President/CEO Dangote Group, Aliko Dangote has said the power sector privatisation was done wrongly and suggested it should be reversed.

He said the problem in the power sector has persisted despite privatisation because the buyers lack understanding of the complexities of the sector.

Dangote made the assertion as a guest lecturer at the Senior Executive course 38 at the National Institute of Policy and Strategic Studies (NIPSS), Kuru, in Plateau State.

He spoke on “Promotion of Local Manufacturing and Poverty Reduction in Nigeria: The Private Sector Experience and Policy Options”.

He said because of lack of understanding of the sector, the generating and distribution companies are now holding the country to ransom.

The African richest man said unless the federal government quickly decides on taking back the assets and giving them to people who have the capacity to inject money, the country may not be able to deliver on power.

He said: “What government did was to privatise but the privatisation was done wrongly. People who wanted to buy all these plants, both the generating and distribution companies, thought that this was another opportunity like mobile phones, where we have moved from 500,000 lines in 2000 and in ten years we now have 120million lines.

“Yes it would have been so but these guys, what they did when they bought these power plants was that they borrowed 90% of the money in foreign currency. You cannot go and borrow dollars when your base income is in naira, you will have an issue because your earnings are in naira you are taking a huge exchange risk and that is what happened today.

“These are guys, with respect to them, when I say guys I don’t mean 100% of them but the majority of them went in without even understanding what they are doing and the worst thing for any entrepreneur is to go into a business without understanding it.”

“If you don’t understand a business no matter how much money they show you that you are going to make, how much profit, don’t go into where somebody has to come and sit you down and start explaining because if he is doing something wrong, you don’t have any way of challenging him.

“If you wake me up in the middle of the night on any of the businesses we are doing today, even the new ones I will be able to explain it to you, I know my entry and I know my exit but unfortunately that is what these guys did and today they are holding the entire nation to ransom, it is very embarrassing for us.”

“Today, how can we say that we don’t have 300,000 prepaid meters? things have changed you cannot go and charge a rate and then you have to follow people one by one to be scheming for them to pay but with a prepaid meter, once you buy for N10,000 after the N10,000 you have to remain in darkness so it is not an issue to start chasing people to pay. And it is also estimated that 30% of the overhead costs of businesses in the country go into the provision of alternative source of power. This affects their revenue and profitability.”

“We should be as open as we can if government doesn’t intervene by taking back these assets and giving them to people who really have money that they can really inject, we will not be able to deliver on power.

“We should ask, how many people, who and who are these guys that have actually gone into the power sector then you will know when you see the quality of people, are they really serious, because they went in to just make money, power business is not just about money, it is a huge business when you invest heavily you will reap at the end of the day.

“My own advice is that government should sit down with them and negotiate the best way out because we need power, we are desperate for power and if there is no power no growth because if you look at the medium and small industries, most of their income goes into buying diesel or petrol to generate power and that shouldn’t be the case.

“I believe with enough power we will have tremendous growth we are not going to be in negative GDP growth, in fact it will double digit growth, an inclusive one not the one that only the likes of MTN, DANGOTE and co will be making profit, everybody will feel it and that is the kind of GDP growth we are looking for.

“If we generate power, majority of the States that are rushing to Abuja to collect monthly pay won’t even go because they will be able to generate enough economic activities where you will be able to tax people and you can only tax somebody who is making money.”

He said apart from the epileptic power supply in the country, other constrains to entrepreneurs include inconsistency in government policies, taxes as well as poor road networks.

“Nigeria has a plethora of raw materials that can provide inputs to various sectors particularly the agro-allied and extractive industries. Any business in which you will not use local materials is dangerous.”

Former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar, also gave similar advise at the 36th Kaduna International Trade Fair in April when he asked President Muhammadu Buhari to reverse the sale.

Five Generation companies (Gencos) and 11 Distribution companies (Discos) were handed over to private investors on November 1, 2013 with 60 per cent stakes in the former PHCN utilities.

According to the Service Level Agreements (SLA) held with the Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE), the firms assured of metering electricity consumers and significantly reducing the collection and technical losses in the sector within five years.

Read more at http://www.dailytrust.com.ng/news/general/dangote-to-fg-reverse-power-privatisation/169010.html#27zVFsq1v5PPLJpB.99

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