₦airaland Forum

The Sokoto State House of Assembly has confirmed 26 nominees presented to it by Governor Aminu Tambuwal as commissioners.

Among the fresh names on the list are Sagir, the eldest son of former Governor Attahiru Dalhatu Bafarawa; Abdulsamad Dasuki who is the son of late Sultan of Sokoto and member of the 8th National Assembly. Also on the list were the outgoing Speaker of Sokoto State House of Assembly, Salihu Maidaji and the immediate past Secretary to the State Government, Prof. Bashir Garba, as well as many other people who served as commissioners during Tambuwal’s first term.

Tambuwal had in the letter to the assembly said the persons so recommended for the appointments were of proven integrity and dedication who have served the state and nation in various capacities.

Read more: https://www.dailytrust.com.ng/sokoto-confirms-bafarawa-dasukis-sons-25-others-as-commissioners.html

Negotiations between Nigeria, the United States of America and the Island of Jersey for the return of fresh $300m from former Head of State, late General Sani Abacha, has reached an advanced stage, Daily Trust heard yesterday.

The Special Assistant to the President on Justice Sector Reform and National Coordinator for Open Government Partnership, Mrs Juliet Ibekaku-Nwagwu, A presidential aide, also said the figures being reported [£210m – equivalent to $267m or N82bn) are wrong.

She said negotiations and litigation on money have been ongoing for over three years between the USA, Island of Jersey and Nigeria. The presidential aide refuted reports that the money will be divided between Nigeria, US and Jersey.

Mrs Juliet Ibekaku-Nwagwu said the decision of the court in Jersey is that the fund belongs to Nigeria, adding that the concluding part of the negotiation is to determine how it would be utilised.

“We have been in court over the fund; finally the court has agreed the money be refunded to Nigeria. The procedure requires that Nigeria, Jersey Island and USA should sign a memorandum of understanding (MoU) on how the funds should be managed,” she said.

“President Muhammadu Buhari has approved that the fund be used for infrastructure. So it would be designated Infrastructure Fund. And when it finally comes to Nigeria, we don’t know how long it would take on the ongoing MoU and asset sharing agreement. When that is finalised, then the Government of Nigeria would now inform Nigerians that the fund has come to Nigeria.

“But the fund is not going to come to Nigeria until all these procedures have been put in place,” she added.

The Solicitor General of the Federation and Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Justice, who is currently supervising the ministry, did not respond to inquiries through his mobile phone line.

Reports claimed that the ‘fresh’ fund was put in accounts held in Jersey by Doraville Properties Corporation, a British Virgin Islands company on behalf of Abacha.

According to the reports also, the Royal Court froze the fund in 2014 and following series of litigation, the fund was on May 31 paid into Jersey’s Civil Asset Recovery Fund. Jersey’s attorney general, Robert McRae QC, said the seizure “demonstrated [Jersey’s] commitment to tackling international financial crime and money laundering”.

The late Abacha was in power from 1993 until his death in 1998.

It would be recalled that the Federal Government had received the sum of $752m Abacha loot from Switzerland in March, 2005, which was said to have gone into infrastructure.

Nigeria also received another $322.5m from Switzerland in December 2017, which is being used for cash transfers to the poor.

The repatriations followed court pronouncements and MoUs between Nigeria, World Bank and Switzerland with monitoring by the civil society on the utilisation.

One of the Swiss officials involved in the negotiations with Nigeria, Roberto Balzaretti, had told the BBC in 2017 that strict conditions were attached to the transfer of the money back to Nigeria and would be supervised by the World Bank, which will also conduct regular audits.

Mr Balzaretti added that if the money was not properly accounted for, subsequent payment would be halted to prevent the funds from being stolen again.

Read more: https://www.dailytrust.com.ng/what-were-doing-about-abachas-300m-by-fg.html

happy anniversary

Nigeria’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations, Amb. Tijjani Muhammad-Bande, has emerged President of the 74th UN General Assembly.

Muhammad-Bande, the sole candidate for the position, was elected through acclamation at the 87th plenary meeting of the Assembly in New York on Tuesday.

He is the second Nigerian to hold the office after Joseph Garba, a retired military officer and diplomat, who led the organ between 1989 and 1990.

He will be inaugurated in September.


Read more: https://www.dailytrust.com.ng/breaking-muhammad-bande-emerges-unga-president.htm

A former president, Olusegun Obasanjo, says it is nice that President Muhammadu Buhari’s wife, Aisha, is criticising some programmes of her husband’s administration.

Aisha had lately criticised the implementation of the Social Investment Programme of the Federal Government as well as its approach to banditry issues in the northern part of the country.

Obasanjo, however, yesterday asked Aisha to have a “pillow talk” with Buhari as a way of getting his attention to drive home her displeasure about happenings in the country.

A statement issued yesterday by his Obasanjo’s media aide, Kehinde Akinyemi, quoted the former leader to have spoken while hosting the editorial board of a social media platform, Penpushing Media, at his Olusegun Obasanjo Presidential Library, Oke – Mosan, Abeokuta. Obasanjo said the president’s wife’s position was good for the development of the country.

“It is nice that the president’s wife is talking, I think she did well, and maybe she should also have a pillow talk with the president.

“I believe every Nigerian family, individual, group is entitled to livelihood. And it is the responsibility of all to make sure we have a dignified life. That should be our aim collectively,” Obasanjo was quoted as saying.

Obasanjo said the advocacy would raise awareness “and we have to put all things on table to address these problems. Mind you, we have to be sincere and genuine with ourselves.”

Earlier in her address, the leader of the delegation, Mrs Funke Fadugba, had said the visit was to intimate the former president with the programme of events for the 3rd anniversary lecture of the organization scheduled to hold July 19.

Read more: https://www.dailytrust.com.ng/obasanjo-its-nice-aisha-buhari-is-speaking-out.html

The question of good and evil is intimately linked with God's and man's nature, as is to be suspected. We have seen that God is a spirit who has a spiritual soul, mind, and body.

Man also is a spirit, soul, mind and body, but the body is material. From these come four aspects.


The mystic says, "God is good because He truly loves us. Only His love is far higher than ours." However this kind of emotionalism is bound to run dry. We cannot be high on God all the time as if He were dope. Our spirits must lift us up regularly and our mind must give us reason. If we try to live on emotions only then we will soon find out that we lose heart. For what will we say if sorrow upon sorrow hits us. That God has lost His love? To escape from such an impasse one might embrace fideism (spiritual faith only). However fideism by itself is a dry, emotionless, impractical, though suprarational attitude towards God. To withdraw into an ivory tower of adamant faith is escapism. Our bodies, minds and emotional souls must participate in the flights of the spirit. If we do not see a practical purpose, or rational explanation, we must still believe though that God does. Paul says that, "... all things combine to work for the good of those that love God ( Rom.8:28)... " This is divine purpose in the practice of our daily lives. To say in a fideistic manner that God simply is good, no matter what He allows or does, is bound to let our heads bang into a wall of concrete reality.


On the other side of the balance there is the rational attitude that God is good because He has a rational reason for everything. However if we bank on rationalism too much then we will soon run out of reasons to believe in God's goodness. Our minds cannot grasp everything, not by far. If we demand complete rational understanding, we are really trying to reduce God's mind to ours. To escape the tension of rationalism one might embrace some kind of pragmatism. "God is good because everything serves a practical (material) purpose. Now pragmatism is very practical, but to try to find it in every event is also an impossibility. If you make yourself too dependent on material practicality, then you are really trying to make God the slave of your pleasures. However the Bible says, "As heaven is higher than the earth, so my ways are higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts ( Is. 55.9) "


Therefore we must combine material practicality, reason, emotion and spiritual strength in order to lay a good foundation for our faith. All four together can help us to cling to God. If we rely on reason only we will end up concluding with the deists that God just is not able to help us any better, or that He simply does not care about us. For if He were almighty He would not allow anything to go wrong. However we have already judged that such a God is a mad genius. If He is almighty but does not care about us, that makes even less sense. For what kind of a God is it that first creates us only to subsequently abandon us? Both forms of deism really imply that God is guilty, one way or another. But it is clear that if we are at the mercy of a psychopathic God that there is no hope for us at all. We had better become atheists then. However then we land in the following vicious vortex. For if there is no God, then the world was made by chance. But chance will destroy us in the end again. Atheism offers even less hope. Whereas deism is a break away from the truth, atheism is a double break. Whereas the deist more or less still believes that good and evil are absolute things, the atheist considers them relative. Good is simply that which serve practical purposes.


In nihilism there is even no difference between good and evil. And in some forms of existentialism good and evil are ignored or declared non-existent. Many atheists reason that evil does not exist in us, but it is the system that is rotten. However if we are so good, why then did we create a rotten system? If we are innocent than our forefathers are evil who made the system. But if they were evil, why aren't we? Clearly this is a contradiction in terms.


On the intrinsic side of the scales a similar glide into despair takes place. If we overaccentuate the mysterious and emotional side of God's love, we are likely to wind up saying with pantheists that there is some kind of hidden, mysterious link between good and evil. For clearly if the world emanated out of God, rather then was created by Him, then we have inherited the problem of evil from Him. God and evil ultimately must form a secret ununderstandable harmony in Him.


Somehow evil must be necessary, and somehow God knows how it all adds up. However if this is true then it must be argued that God is schizophrenic. There is no hope in an equivocal and labile madman. We cannot expect any kind of stability from a dualistic God. This kind of pantheism is emotional escapism, childish naivete. God cannot be partially evil, for good and evil are absolute things, infinitely more unreconcilable than fire and water. To escape from this tension one might embrace the following kind of spiritism. There have been polytheists that have claimed that good and evil are just human concepts, and ignorant at that.


Good and evil are chimerical appearances, illusions really, caused by the mirror play of empty phenomena. God or the gods are neutral, they are altogether beyond good and evil. But if this is really true then it just does not make any difference whether somebody kills his wife, or honors her. Here we can see that philosophy is truly ancilla theologiae, the handmade of theology. Logic, a philosophical discipline, clearly shows us that if a=1 then a≠2. If God is good than He cannot be evil. If I am falling from a roof, I cannot at the same time be going upwards. Without clear thinking we cannot distinguish between God and Satan, good and evil. Eastern religions that believe in the emptying of the mind, have very poor logical thinking indeed.


For your information we will discuss in short. Manichaeism and Zoroastrianism. Followers of these religions believed in a dualism of matter and spirit, equated with evil and good respectively. For them good and evil exist from all eternity. One day the good God will vanquish the evil one. But if these two uncreated gods have co-existed already an eternity past then what hope do we have that the good one will win out in the future (eternity)? Clearly the good one must be the stronger for there is more good in nature than evil, for else they would cancel each other out. But if the good god is so mighty than why hasn't he overcome yet? What guarantee do we have that he will overcome? And even if he turns out the conqueror, then evil can crop up again any time. For how could one eternal god destroy another one completely? Or how could he hold him in prison for ever? Also if they are already enemies for an eternity the good one will never be able to convert the baddie into a goodie. It is evident that these religions hold out little hope for us if any.


Another view is the following. There are certain theologians that claim that God and Satan are two figures of the same reality. God "plays the devil" only in order to test us to see whether we really will adhere to the good. This kind of dualism is a mix-up of pantheism and monotheism, whether these divines proclaim themselves as monotheists or not. Is it justice for God to send a family into the gaz chambers of Auschwitz just to see whether they will cleave to Him? What kind of a mephitic actor is this? What kind of a God is it that does not shrink from posing as Mephistopheles to a degree that shatters all moral equilibrium?


But the bible declares soberly, " Let nobody that is being tempted say, "I am tempted by God?" for God cannot be tempted by evil, and He Himself tempts no one. But everybody is tempted being lured out and baited by his own desire. Then desire, having conceived, brings forth sin, and sin having been completed fully, produces death (James 1.13-15)."


Further there is the gnostic view that finiteness implies sinfulness. God gave us finite bodies to teach our eternal spirits how good it is to be fully one with Him. Clearly this kind of theory makes God the author of sin. We are hardly, if at all, responsible for our actions in this case.


source:https://christianlifeministry..com/2019/06/is-god-author-of-sin.html

The Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC) has said that those criticizing President Muhammadu Buhari for attending this year’s Organisation of Islamic Conference (OIC) summit are in urgent need of anti-Islamophobia vaccine.

The MURIC Director, Prof. IshaqAkintola, in a statement yesterday faulted the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), Afenifere, and Ohaneze for condemning President Buhari’s attendance at the summit. Akintola also berate a former President Olusegun Obasanjo for accusing the President of Fulanisation and Islamisation of Nigeria.

“It is pathological hatred. Those who are allergic to transparency, those who have phobia for due process, those who are ethnic bigots and those who are deeply entrenched in acrobatic religiosity are ganging up under the banner of gymnastic Islamophobia. The old order cometh again. CAN, Afenifere, Ohaneze are all Muslim-haters and what they need urgently is anti-Islamophobia vaccine.

“Come to think of it, 53 heads of state out of the 57 member-states of the OIC are being expected at the summit and majority of them are not even Muslims. Why are they singling out Buhari? MURIC will not hesitate to give proportionate response to any attack on Islam from any quarter no matter how highly positioned.

“Those who want to attack Buhari’s government are free to do so. We may ignore them. But anyone who uses religion as a launching pad to attack any Muslim leader (not Buhari alone) will have MURIC to contend with.

“That is where OBJ crossed the red line. He accused PMB of Fulanisation and Islamisation. We have no problem with the former because it is a mirage. Fulanisation exists only in the imagination of those who concocted it. In reality, Nigerians have either consciously or otherwise turned Fulanis into endangered species, pushed from pillar to post,” Akintola said.

He urged the present leadership of CAN not to start the old firebrand rivalry all over again and should stop crying wolf where there is none.

He said CAN shouldnot continue to heat up the polity or whip up anti-Muslim sentiments but should follow the path of peaceful coexistence.

“We were all here when ex-president Jonathan turned Jerusalem to Aso Rock’s backyard and the Muslims said nothing about it. CAN should eschew selective criticism,” he said. He also accused Afenifere and Ohaneze of hiding under socio-cultural identity to launch a crusade.

He said, “Afenifere has always been known as a group of deceptive crusaders in a socio-cultural cloak. The group has always pursued parochial agendum. It has always represented Christian interest alone whereas it claims to speak for the South West. No sane Nigerian takes Afenifere seriously these days.

Read more: https://www.dailytrust.com.ng/oic-can-others-need-anti-islamophobia-vaccine-muric.html

Immediate past governors are scheming to be part of President Muhammadu Buhari’s next cabinet, multiple sources told the Daily Trust yesterday. Most of the ministers who worked with the president in his first term are also lobbying to come back. Among the former governors seeking to be ministers are some of those who are soon to be inaugurated as senators having won elections to the National Assembly, the sources added.

Also included are some first-time governors of the All Progressives Congress (APC) who lost their second term bids.

Daily Trust learnt that the president’s recent remarks that that members in his last cabinet performed well had equally emboldened some of them to intensify their lobby.

APC governors who bowed out of office on May 29 included Jibrilla Bindow (Adamawa), Kashim Shettima (Borno), Mohammed Abubakar (Bauchi), Rochas Okorocha (Imo), Akinwunmi Ambode (Lagos), Ibikunle Amosun (Ogun), Abiola Ajimobi (Oyo), Umaru Tanko Al-Makura (Nasarawa), Ibrahim Gaidam (Yobe), and Abdulaziz Yari (Zamfara).

Shettima, Amosun, Al-Makura and Gaidam have won Senate seats, while Ajimobi failed to make it to the National Assembly.

Yari was sacked by the Supreme Court ruling that voided APC votes in Zamfara, while Okorocha is in court trying to get INEC to issue him with a certificate of return. The electoral body said its official had admitted declaring Okorocha winner of the senatorial election under duress.

Bindow and Abubakar lost their re-election bids to PDP candidates, while Ambode could not secure the APC ticket for the governorship during the primaries in Lagos.

“You know there are ten APC governors who left office recently and I want to assure you all of them have ambitions,” a credible source in the party said.

“As you can see, all of them had contested for offices during the general elections; all the governors who finished their second term wanted to go to the Senate but not all of them got it. Similarly, all the first term governors had contested for second term but not all of them won.

“But the irony is that while all the second term governors worked hard to see that they become senators, some of the governors that won the Senate seats are already angling to become ministers. So, the competition is fierce because all the ministers that left recently also want to come back,” he said.

Despite promptings by journalists, President Buhari had refused to give an idea as to how his next cabinet will look like, or who and who will make the list; but sources said he will most likely expand the cabinet from 36 to 42, while more ministries will be created to accommodate more people.

Our correspondent reports that while Khadijah Bukar Abba Ibrahim who was a former Minister of State for Foreign Affairs left to contest for the House of Representatives seat, Alhaji Ibrahim Usman Jibrin, a former minister of State for Environment left Abuja to become the Emir of Nasarawa.

A group, Nasarawa Concerned Citizens, had few weeks ago kicked against the alleged plot by Al-Makura to pick the ministerial slot of the state.

The group in an advertorial signed by Emmanuel Ezekiel Amadu, captioned: ‘Ministerial ambition: Is Nasarawa for only Al-Makura and his family,’ urged President Buhari to ensure equity and fairness in his next ministerial appointment.

“President Buhari should be the father he has been to all Nigerians by ensuring that equity and fairness governs his next ministerial appointment.

“Al-Makura is not the only qualified person to be appointed minister from Nasarawa state. In fact, having won his senatorial seat, how could he be so self-centred as to covet both openings himself?” he said.

A ranking lawmaker told our correspondent that the ex- governors were leaving no stone unturned to actualize their ambitions to be part of the federal cabinet.

The northern lawmaker, who does not want to be named, said the former governors who are now senators-elect have gone far in their bids to make the president’s ministerial list.

Another source told Daily Trust “Yes, it’s true that former governors that have been elected as‎ senators now want to be ministers. I know of few of them, at least from their body language.

“You know they’re used to a lot of things as governors‎. For example, they’re used to signing contracts, retinue of aides, convoy and a lot of other things.

“But in the National Assembly, there won’t be all that. As a senator, they will even be moving unnoticed. Nobody will give them any attention, they know that, that’s why they want to be ministers.

“At least as ministers, they‎ can sign contracts, have convoy, maintain modest retinue of aides as well as have other pegs of office. That’s what they’re after. They want their lifestyles as governors to continue in a way.

“The truth is that they didn’t want to gamble from the beginning to say that they wanted to be ministers, that’s why they contested for the Senate to ensure that have security of office first.

“Now, even if they don’t get the ministerial appointments, they’re sure of their Senate seats,” he said.

Another source also said Sen. Mohammed Adamu Aliero, who is a former governor of Kebbi State, is also interested in becoming a minister in the next cabinet of President Buhari.

“Yes, I heard that Aliero too is interested. You know he was a minister of FCT, so he knows what it means to be a minister. But I doubt if he’ll get it.‎”

It was gathered that while some of the immediate past ministers believed that they would be considered because of their “outstanding performance,” others were relying on the circumstances that led to their selection in 2015.

“Many of the ministers knew they didn’t perform in the last three and half years but they have their ways, they have people who speak on their half and those people have the listening ears of the president as such they would come back,” a source said.

Read more: https://www.dailytrust.com.ng/ex-govs-ministers-jostle-to-make-buharis-cabinet.html

Good one

The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) has assured candidates of the 2019 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) that results would be ready from April 29. The Board’s Head of Media and Publicity, Dr Fabian Benjamin, disclosed this in an interview with News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Saturday in Bwari. Benjamin said that screening of the results would soon be over and the result released. “We are still screening but hopefully, anytime next week, the results will be ready,” he said. Speaking also on the board’s readiness to screen results of UTME candidates from 2009 to 2018, Benjamin said this would begin after the release of the 2019 results. He said this was part of the board’s effort to address the issues of malpractice in the system. The board had stated that it would only release the 2019 UTME results after undergoing thorough screening to identify and apprehend examination cheats. The process would identify those involved in multiple registration through biometric capturing and also address group registration by some elite schools, who end up mixing candidate’s data. The board said: “Normally, results are expected to be out within 24 to 48 hours as obtained in previous examinations held in 2017 and 2018. “However, the board does not want this to be business as usual. “Hence the programmed delay, which is part of its deliberate effort to properly scrutinize, identify and address all forms of examination malpractice. “The board will continue to act decisively with regards to any irregularity discovered even after results are released. “However, the board has made it a point of duty to screen all activities at all centres via CCTV recordings, to ensure that it does not release results of compromised examinations.” The board, while regretting all inconvenience caused in the process, reaffirmed its commitment to providing equal opportunity to all candidates in order to articulate their aspirations. JAMB said that effective from when it would officially release the results, all candidates can simply send RESULT, via SMS, to 55019 using the same number that was used for registration. The result, it said, would be replied as an SMS shortly after. This process, the board explained, was simplified to eliminate exploitation by business centres and cyber cafés who often take advantage of candidates. It also urged candidates to ignore all messages in circulation on how to check the results as they were all products of deceit. The 2019 UTME was conducted from April 11 to April 18 and over 1.8 million candidates registered for it. (NAN)

Read more: https://www.dailytrust.com.ng/jamb-to-release-2019-utme-results-from-monday.html

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has condenmed President Muhammadu Buhari’s private trip to the United Kingdom, saying it was a wrong move sequel to the worsening security challenges bedevilling the nation. The PDP said it was incumbent on President Buhari who is the Commander-in-Chief of the armed forces to end the rising insecurity in various states of the federation. Addressing a press conferences on Friday in Abuja, the PDP National Chairman, Prince Uche Secondus said Buhari’s private trip was not in the interest of the nation. He lamented the killing of innocent citizens in Zamfara, Benue, Taraba and many other states of the federation and asked the government to stem the tide. Secondus also said the presidency was artwisting the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to stop the PDP presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar’s legal team from inspecting the election materials despite a court order in that regard. Secondus said it was wrong for INEC to disobey court order, adding that it was part of alleged efforts by the commission and the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) to frustrate Atiku and stop the PDP from “reclaiming” the presidential mandate. “Nigerian leaders should speak up for the country before Nigeria slides into something else. People are being murdered everyday and Buhari is going on private visit. Nigeria is in crisis. “The President has embarked on a private trip to the UK to spend 11 days without writing the National Assembly. He has not asked the Vice President to act. We condenm it.” “The presidency is also armtwisting INEC. INEC has no reason to stop our legal team from inspecting the election materials. Our politics and governance here is sentimental,” Secondus said.

Read more: https://www.dailytrust.com.ng/pdp-condemns-buharis-private-trip-to-uk-amid-insecurity.html

Dr. Jamil Isyaku Gwamna is a chieftain of the APC in Gombe State and Managing Director and CEO of Kano Electricity Distribution Company (KEDCO). In this interview, he explains how they joined forces and defeated the PDP in all positions in Gombe, as well as their contribution to President Muhammadu Buhari’s victory. Excerpts:

How has the elections reflected the maturity of democracy in Gombe in relation to the voting pattern in 2019?

Election is the best part of democracy as it presents the opportunity for the people to make decisions as to who leads them with a view to delivering the dividends of democracy. Election is often a test of democratic maturity, that’s why anytime it’s about to be conducted, it catches the attention of the world and observers are deployed and assessments are used to make certain judgmental positions on the political activities in a country.

In Gombe State for example, the elections have proven the maturity of democracy and the people of the state. The elections showed that power has been returned to democracy, and I must sincerely thank Mr. President for allowing the process to work without interference from the centre as it had been the case in the past. As far as I am concerned, the people voted for people that they believe will deliver the goods.

Your advice while in the PDP was ignored by the party, do you think it would have made the outcome of the recent elections different?

Like I said earlier, the people are the custodian of power and because Mr. President didn’t interfere with the process, it was very easy for the wishes of the people to come out clear and loud through the ballot. Since the process had been allowed to function and I having enjoyed the goodwill of the people as the Sardaunan Gombe, it was very easy to tell my supporters to vote for the APC. So, the magic of my influence was just to make a simple demand not by money or compelling them to comply, but through the goodwill I have enjoyed over the years from my interaction with my constituency; which is the people of Gombe State.

What is the political framework that should be sustained from the general elections in Gombe?

The principle of rejecting and resisting vote buying while insisting on the right people to do the job. That should be sustained if we must make headway in the political journey of Gombe as a state that deserves to be served right based on the resources available for development. If vote buying were retained in Gombe, the results would have reflected the opposite, but we are glad the people are now as wise as never.

Also, President Muhammadu Buhari should be commended for jettisoning political sentiment of interfering with electoral processes; it really helped, and that should be sustained too. Political interference from the centre should be abolished. Today we have incumbents losing elections even to opposition parties, yet Mr. President allowed the process to roll. When did we ever have that in the past?

In what area do you think the next administration can focus to give good governance room in Gombe?

I believe the people of Gombe voted the APC because of the credibility of the candidates and based on political sincerity to the mandates that some were given in the past. Some people voted for candidates based on their manifestos; which is democratic. So I will advise the candidates to follow their blueprints. Whatever sector a candidate concentrates on with the people at heart, it will end up succeeding. So, the area I think the next administration should focus would be the people, the people and the people of Gombe.

How would you assess the APC-led government under President Buhari?

Under President Muhammadu Buhari, the APC has been systemic and democratic and not subject to dictatorial tendencies that previous presidents exhibited. Mr. President has done a lot which has been under-reported, but the people at the grassroots have felt the impact of his people-oriented policies through school feeding programmes, N-Power and Trader-moni. I love President Buhari because he loves the people of Nigeria and he is concerned with the poor.

As a chieftain of the APC, what is your advice to the national body as regards the senate presidency of the 9th Senate?

Mr. President needs the support of the legislature to build a strong base for democracy to thrive during his second term and after he must have left office. But like President Buhari that I know, he won’t interfere, so I will advise that the principle of democracy where the people are allowed to bring the popular senator should be applied by the party to avoid internal rancour which may hinder the present administration in terms of policy-related issues.

Taking into consideration your pedigree in Public Private Partnership, in what ways do you think PPP can help to boost the Nigerian Economy?

Partnership has remained the best way of strengthening and integrating an all-inclusive growth anywhere in the world because it avails one opportunity to benefit from collective intellectual wealth of parties involved in the partnership. I still recommend the PPP arrangement for the Nigerian economy because the government is not as buoyant as it used to be. With PPP, a lot can be collectively achieved and the ownership of such will have wider coverage because the people too will be involved.

https://www.dailytrust.com.ng/how-we-defeated-pdp-in-gombe-gwamna.html

Gov. Abdul’aziz Yari of Zamfara says election into the 14 local government areas would hold in spite of the security challenges facing the state.

Yari made this known at a stakeholders’ meeting organised by the State Independent Electoral Commission (ZASIEC) on Monday in Gusau.

The governor was represented by the state Commissioner for Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs, Alhaji Bello Dankande.

He said that the state was ever ready to support the commission to conduct free, fair and peaceful council elections.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the commission had fixed the councils’ election for April 27.

NAN also reports that the tenure of office of the 14 local government chairmen had expired on Jan. 2, but was extended to May 2 by the State House of Assembly.

The governor said: “As we are all aware, both State and Federal Governments are working hard to end banditry in this state and positive results are being recorded.

“We are hoping that before the day of the election more successes would be achieved.

“I want to urge security agencies in the state to redouble their efforts to improve peace and stability in the state.“

Yari said government had provided all that were required by the commission for the elections, urging it to work toward meeting the people’s expectations.

He urged political parties in the state to present competent, credible and qualified candidates for the elections.

Yari appealed to communities in the state to cooperate with the government for successful conduct of the election. (NAN)

The Northern Elders Forum (NEF) yesterday expressed dismay over what it called the recent “cataclysmic collapse of security and colossal threat to lives and property” in many parts of Nigeria.

The convener of the forum, Prof. Ango Abdullahi, told journalists in Kaduna yesterday that the situation was more serious in the north, urging President Muhammadu Buhari to be sensitive to the plight of the people in the region.

According to him, “while the north still lives under horrendous Boko Haram threats, the situation has been aggravated by threats of banditry, kidnappings, armed robbery, marauding youth gangs, herders and farmers mini-wars, and seemingly overwhelmed or indifferent governments.”

He said large swathes of territory in the north were now effectively bandit land; while agriculture is in ruins, stressing that in all these was the cumulative effect of a region whose economy and people, especially the youth, had been abandoned.

Abdullahi cautioned that a dangerous youth bulge is a recipe for crime, violence and wars as poverty and underdevelopment can create a brutish and violent society.

He described as adhoc afterthoughts, the ban on mining in Zamfara.

He noted that illegal mining had been going on in different parts of the country and had nothing to do with the rising spate of insecurity in the north.

He said: “We at NEF cannot in good conscience, remain silent as criminal activities and bloodletting escalate in Nigeria and our region. We have sadly lived with unfortunate violence in the last few years but this should not continue or escalate.

“It would be irresponsible for us to refrain from calling on President Muhammadu Buhari to decisively respond to the existential threats faced by northern Nigerians in particular during these times and beyond. NEF as a matter of social responsibility and tradition, would never shy away from speaking truth to power, irrespective of the partisan, sectional or whatever constellation of political power in the nation.”

“We hereby demand that President Buhari demonstrates higher levels of concern and sensitivity to the plight of traumatized citizens in the country, especially in the states of Zamfara, Katsina, Kaduna, Benue, Niger, Plateau, Taraba and virtually the entire North.

“We demand for decisive, comprehensive and fundamental governmental action against poverty, underdevelopment and insecurity. Above all, we demand that President Buhari shows leadership and compassion which are the reciprocal expectations of the Nigerian people from their president,” he stated.

https://www.dailytrust.com.ng/security-has-collapsed-northern-elders.html

The scarcity of potable water is affecting the day-to-day activities of many Nigerians across the country and exposing them to various health hazards, Daily Trust investigations have shown.

The Minister of Water Resources Engineer Hussaini Adamu had last month during the 2019 water day declared that “there is no state or city in this country that can boast of 100 percent pipe borehole water supply, none.”

He said many states have refused to prioritise the provision of water supply, by refusing to reticulate the bulk water provided in dams and river basins to houses.

According to the minister, constitutionally, the actual provision of water supply to the tap is the responsibility of state governments and local governments.

A report released last year by the Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey (MICS) said 90 percent of households in Nigeria consume contaminated water and other impure substances.

According to the report, 90.8 percent of households in Nigeria drink water contaminated by faeces and other impure substances.

The MICS report was carried out in 2017 by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) in collaboration with UNICEF.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) and UNICEF had in 2012 ranked Nigeria third behind China and India as countries with the largest population without adequate water supply and sanitation coverage.

The acute water shortage is ballooning despite billions of naira budgeted for water resources by the federal and the 36 state governments annually.

Our reporters said many Nigerians, especially those living in the state capitals, have resorted to using water from boreholes “indiscriminately dug without recourse to any health guidelines.”

In Abuja, the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), the Federal Government, last Wednesday, approved a memo for the award of contract for supply of water and field for the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Water Board at the sum of N368 million including five per cent VAT.

But potable water has remained scarce. Even in the city centre such as Maitama, Wuse II, Asokoro, residents rely mostly on boreholes for most of their daily water needs.

Residents spoken to in Jahi, a suburb of the FCT, urged the Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) to tackle the perennial water scarcity in the area.

In rural parts of the FCT also, many residents rely on streams for water.

Taps not running in Gombe for months

The inability of the Gombe State Water Board to provide potable water to residents of Gombe metropolis has thrown most households into untold hardship.

Our correspondent, who went round Gombe metropolis, said for months the taps of the few areas connected to the main water treatment plant are not running. This has forced most residents to rely on commercial boreholes as an alternative, even though at exorbitant prices.

Also, those who cannot afford to buy from the private vendors spent hours on queues at such boreholes which cost less.

The residential areas mostly affected by the scarcity are Tudun Wada, Bolari, Pantami, Herwagana, Kumbiya-Kumbiya, Jekadafari, and Malam Inna area, among others.

In Tudun Wada, for instance, there has been no supply from the state water corporation for months. Even in areas like Jekadafari where the taps run, a check by our correspondent shows that the supply has ceased for the past one month.

Even highbrow areas like GRA, New GRA, Federal Low Cost, Buba Shongo, Shongo Housing Estate, Orji Estate and Abuja quarters are also feeling the impact of the scarcity. The residents who are mostly wealthy rely on commercial water tankers for water.

However, the scarcity-hit most at the newly established residential areas like Arawa, Kagarawal, Riyal quarters, Bomala, Nayi Nawa, Alkahira, Unguwa Uku and Tunfure quarters, because they are not even connected to public water scheme.

https://www.dailytrust.com.ng/water-scarcity-raises-disease-fears-in-states.html

its first test flight in Mojave, California, U.S. April 13, 2019. REUTERS/Gene Blevins

The world’s largest aircraft, a carbon-composite plane, took its first flight on Saturday from California, U.S. over the Mojave Desert in California, in the United States.

The carbon-composite plane was built by Stratolaunch Systems Corp, a company started by late Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen, as the company enters the lucrative private space market.

The white airplane called Roc, nicknamed after a giant mythical bird, has a wingspan the length of an American football field and is powered by six engines on a twin fuselage, took to the air shortly before 7 a.m. Pacific time (1400 GMT).

It stayed aloft for more than two hours before landing safely back at the Mojave Air and Space Port as a crowd of hundreds of people cheered.

“What a fantastic first flight.

“Today’s flight furthers our mission to provide a flexible alternative to ground launched systems.

“We are incredibly proud of the Stratolaunch team, today’s flight crew, our partners at Northrup Grumman’s Scaled Composites and the Mojave Air and Space Port, ” Jean Floyd, Stratolaunch’s CEO, said in a statement on the company’s website.
The world’s largest airplane, built by the late Paul Allen’s company Stratolaunch Systems, makes its first test flight in Mojave, California, U.S. April 13, 2019. REUTERS/Gene Blevins

The plane is designed to drop rockets and other space vehicles weighing up to 500,000 pounds at an altitude of 35,000 feet.

It has been billed by the company as making satellite deployment as “easy as booking an airline flight.”

Saturday’s flight, which saw the plane reach a maximum speed of 189 miles per hour and altitudes of 17,000 feet, was meant to test its performance and handling qualities, according to Stratolaunch.

Allen, who co-founded Microsoft with Bill Gates in 1975, announced in 2011 that he had formed the privately funded Stratolaunch.

Allen died in October 2018 while suffering from non-Hodgkins’ lymphoma, just months after the plane’s development was unveiled. (Reuters/NAN)

President Muhammadu Buhari says his promise to ensure the release of Leah Sharibu and the remaining Chibok girls in captivity of Boko Haram remains valid and will be fulfilled.

The President renewed the pledge in a message by his Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Malam Garba Shehu, to mark the fifth anniversary of the abduction of the Chibok girls.

About 210 school girls of Government Secondary School, Chibok, Borno State were kidnapped on April 14, 2014, with 107 of them later released following successful negotiations between the Buhari administration and the abductors.

Buhari had promised the parents of the kidnapped girls when he met them at the beginning of his first term as president, that he would ensure their daughters returned home.

The President acknowledged that it was this promise that made the people of Chibok vote for him overwhelmingly in the February presidential election.

He said that though his government had so far succeeded in securing the release of 107 of the girls, ”it will not rest until the remaining are reunited with their families”.

The President assured the parents of the girls that his administration is still on the matter.

”Diverse efforts are being intensified to secure the release of the Chibok Girls, along with all hostages in Boko Haram captivity, including Leah Sharibu, who was kidnapped from her school – Science Secondary School, Dapchi, Yobe State, on Feb. 19, 2018.

”On Leah Sharibu’s abduction, the interlocutors have reported encouraging progress so far.

”The report reaching us says her return to her family has unfortunately been hindered by the fear of the militants.

”They worry that heavy military presence in areas where they previously moved about freely could affect their safety after they return her to the government.

”At the same time, the military cannot jeopardise the security of the entire north-eastern region by halting their operations to accommodate Boko Haram’s fears,” he added.

According to him, Leah Sharibu will be reunited with her family as soon as any conclusions are reached on a number of options being considered for her safe transportation.

“The success of the Nigerian military in subduing Boko Haram is evidenced by the large numbers of militants who have surrendered recently, especially in neighbouring Cameroon and Niger.

“A similar mass surrender of militants is expected to happen soon in Nigeria.

“While Nigerian military operations are ongoing, the government is also engaging with the militants but the talks have been affected by the factionalisation of Boko Haram – with one group adopting a hard line posture and intensifying attacks on Nigeria, Cameroon, and Chad, and another group engaging with the government for peaceful resolution,” he said.

Buhari used the opportunity of the commemoration of the Chibok tragedy to commend the girls, now women, saying they had triumphed over it all.

He also saluted the 106 girls sponsored by the Nigerian government to continue their studies at the American University of Nigeria, Yola.

He encouraged them to stay focused on becoming women, who could inspire other girls in Nigeria and around the world to triumph over “the daily battles they face in a world that often unfair to the girl-child”.

The President also extended his best wishes to the Chibok girls in other schools in Nigeria and around the world.

He congratulated Yaga Bitrus, who has excelled beyond expectations in her college in Maine, USA, and who is soon to receive a special ‘Against All Odds Award’ from her school. (NAN)

https://www.dailytrust.com.ng/chibok-girls-there-is-still-hope-for-their-return-buhari.html

The Multinational Joint Task Force (MNJTF) on Friday denied report of recent attack on its troops killing 18 soldiers in its area of responsibility.

Spokesman of the task force, Col. Timothy Antigha, said in a statement on Friday in Abuja, that online media report on the purported attack was false.

The online reports had claimed that 18 soldiers were killed when a faction of Boko Haram affiliated to Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP) attacked a military formation.

According to Antigha, the reported attack and killing are falsehood being orchestrated by the media arm of ISWAP in its desperate attempt to revamp it parlous and deplorable image.

He said that the desperation followed several weeks of devastating operational losses the group suffered in the Lake Chad Area.

“It has been widely reported and it is now common knowledge that sustained offensive actions by MNJTF troops and national forces have resulted in over 200 ISWAP personnel casualties and defections as well as numerous equipment seizures and destruction.

“The claim of killing 18 MNJTF personnel in an unnamed location is, therefore, very strange and completely untrue.

“Consequently, the general public is advised to disregard the ISWAP falsehood in its entirety, ” Antigha said.

He urged the media to remain vigilant in order to frustrate attempts by terrorists to spread falsehood and propaganda in a bid to disrupt public order, peace and civility. (NAN)


https://www.dailytrust.com.ng/mnjtf-refutes-reported-attack-killing-of-18-soldiers-by-iswap.html

Vice President Yemi Osinbajo and a former UK Prime Minister Tony Blair on Friday had a private meeting at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.

There was, however, no interview after the duo emerged from the meeting.

Blair served as Prime Minister of the UK from 1997 to 2007 and Leader of the Labour Party from 1994 to 2007.
He was Leader of the Opposition from 1994 to 1997.

The former UK prime minister runs among other foundations, the Tony Blair Africa Governance Initiative, a nonprofit initiative that works to support effective governance in Africa. (NAN)

https://www.dailytrust.com.ng/osinbajo-tony-blair-meet-at-aso-villa.html

The All Progressives Congress (APC) has assembled four Senior Advocates of Nigeria (SAN) to challenge the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in court over its victory in the just concluded governorship election in Bauchi State, Governor Mohammed Abdullahi Abubakar has said.

Governor Abubakar, who returned to Bauchi on Wednesday evening, told his supporters at his campaign office that the APC as a party would go to court to reclaim its mandate from the PDP.

The video of the meeting which was seen by our reporter was confirmed by the Commissioner of Information, Ibrahim Sade.

Recall that Governor Abubakar had conceded defeat after the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) announced Senator Bala Mohammed of the PDP as the winner of the election.

The governor, who confirmed that he had earlier accepted his defeat as “destiny”, informed his supporters that the leadership of the party would file a suit soon to challenge the election.

“I went to Abuja as a loyal and obedient party member. I met with the National Chairman of the APC, I met with the Vice President of Nigeria, I also met with the President of Nigeria.

“All these three offices said that the APC will file a suit in court to challenge the election results of Bauchi.

“As an obedient member, I accept to go with that decision. Everyone knows when the results of the election were announced, I conceded defeat but I contested on the ticket of the party and the party has refused to accept the outcome,” he said.

Reacting, the state PDP chairman, Hamza Koshe Akuyam, said the decision of the APC to go to court was a welcome development.

“We are ready to meet them in court. The court will reaffirm our victory,” he said.

https://www.dailytrust.com.ng/apc-hires-four-sans-to-challenge-pdps-victory-in-bauchi.html

The assets of all public officials and senior political office holders will soon be open for public consumption, the Director, Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU), Alhaji Modibbo Hamman-Tukur, has said.

Hamman-Tukur disclosed this yesterday in Abuja at a budget defence session with the House of Representatives Committee on Financial Crimes led by Rep. Kayode Oladele (APC-Ogun).

The director said it was part of the conditions lifting the suspension of the NFIU by the Egmont Group of Financial Intelligence Units.

The director told the committee that the suspension, which was lifted in September, 2018 was based on certain conditions that needed to be met by the country.

He said the Egmont Group would want the NFIU to work closely with other agencies of government in fighting terrorism, financial crimes and other related offences.

“With the lifting of the suspension, it is likely that all assets of all leaders, public officials and political office holders will be displayed.

“They want to see us work with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) and the Nigeria Communications Commission (NCC).

“They want us to work closely with the presidency, Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB) and the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC).

“They want to see the assets of all public officials displayed publicly,” he said.

According to him, we believe that National Extractive Industry Transparency Initiative (NEITI) and Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC), are doing a good job.

“But it will be good that the beneficiary owner data base will be domiciled with the Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB), and we will subscribe because CCB has assets declarations of all public officers.”

He said after the suspension was lifted, they faced the task of European Union (EU) listing, which was targeted at blacklisting Nigeria and stopping all her transactions overseas involving European countries.

He added that they were able to block the blacklisting but the EU listing subjected Nigeria to enhanced due diligence in all transactions concerning all EU countries on suspicious transactions.

The transactions, he said, would be through their own agencies within their jurisdiction.

Hamman-Tukur disclosed that the concerns raised by the EU include terrorism, kidnapping and corruption.

On the 2018 budget, he said the NFIU had a total budget of N1.185 billion in 2018 made up of N385.310 million as personnel cost, N600 million as overhead while N200 million was for capital cost.

According to him, the capital release to date stands at N174.946 million out of the budgeted amount of N200.1 million.

He added that utilization percentage stood at about 12 per cent while the balance stood at N154.936 million.

On the 2019 budget, the director revealed that a total of N8.244 billion had been proposed, made up of N1.154 billion for overhead cost, N4.124 billion as capital cost while N2.865 billion for personnel cost.

He explained that in spite of the fact that the government had financial constraints due to dwindling revenue; the NFIU needed to carry out its role of monitoring financial institutions.

This, he said was for compliance as empowered by the NFIU Act of 2018. (NAN)

https://www.dailytrust.com.ng/assets-of-politicians-public-officials-to-be-made-public-nfiu.html

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has hailed the order of the Court of Appeal on Thursday restraining INEC from de-listing its governorship candidate in Kano State.

The Court restrained INEC from removing the name of Mr Abba Yusuf, the party’s governorship candidate, from the list of the state governorship candidates.

The PDP National Publicity Secretary, Kola Ologbondiyan, in a statement on Friday in Abuja, said that the judgment had completely put to rest all controversies regarding the PDP candidate for the election.

He said that Yusuf remained the bona-fide candidate of the PDP for the Saturday’s election.

“The Court of Appeal is commended for delivering justice by upholding the lawful nomination of Yusuf as the PDP candidate for the Kano state governorship election.

“All stakeholders are advised to note the order of the Court of Appeal and be guided accordingly.”(NAN)

https://www.dailytrust.com.ng/pdp-hails-court-judgment-on-its-kano-governorship-candidate.html

…rules out request for forensic analysis

The Presidential Elections Petitions Tribunal in Abuja has ordered the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to allow the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and its presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, to inspect materials used for the February 23 presidential election.

A three-member panel led by Justice Abdul Aboki granted the order yesterday. Other members of the panel are Justices Emmanuel Akomaye Agim and Peter Ige.

Atiku and the PDP had through their lawyers, Levi Uzoukwu (SAN) and Chief Chris Uche (SAN), urged the tribunal to grant six reliefs to enable them institute and maintain their petition against the outcome of the presidential election.

They requested the panel to compel INEC to produce the Voters Register, the Smart Card Reader Machines, Ballot Papers and other sensitive materials used in the election for inspection and scanning.

The ex parte motion was supported with a 12-paragraphed affidavit deposed to by the Director of Contact and Mobilisation of Atiku Abubakar Presidential Campaign Council, retired Col. Austin Akobundu.

But the tribunal, which is sitting at the Court of Appeal in Abuja, rejected the request by Atiku and the PDP to be allowed to conduct forensic audit of the materials.

It stated that by the provisions of Section 151 (1) and (2) of the Electoral Act, INEC is only expected to allow the applicants access to inspect documents, adding that the result of forensic analysis was not admissible as evidence in court.

The panel added that the purport of sections 151 (1)(2) of the Electoral Act is at the stage of pre-hearing, and that the applicant can only be allowed to inspect and certify documents to protect the integrity of the materials.

It added that the applicants should base the substance of their petition on official materials only obtained from the electoral body.

Daily Trust reports that President Muhammadu Buhari of the All Progressives Congress (APC) was declared winner of the February 23 election with a total of 15,191,847 votes. Atiku, who came second with 11,262,978 votes rejected the results and vowed to challenge them in court.

The APC had since signified its readiness to meet the PDP presidential candidate and his party in court.

The Director of Strategic Communications of the APC Presidential Campaign Council, Festus Keyamo (SAN), who disclosed this in a statement earlier in the week, said Atiku Abubakar has a constitutional right to seek redress in court.

“In fact, it is the resort to court that is the only democratic way to ventilate his perceived grievance and any attempt to restrict or discourage the exercise of such right would be an invitation to anarchy.

“In addition, we are very anxious to meet Alhaji Atiku Abubakar in court in order to show the world in a conclusive manner the free and fair nature of the comprehensive defeat of Atiku at the polls.

“An election is not termed ‘rigged’ only by the mere claim of it by the loser. That is what Atiku and the PDP want to ram down our throats. Unfortunately for them, international, continental and sub-regional observers (who can be seen as neutral by all standards) all declared the election to be free, fair and credible. No ego-massaging narrative can change that,” Keyamo said.

https://www.dailytrust.com.ng/atiku-gets-courts-nod-to-inspect-election-materials.html

Chairman of the ACF’s board of trustees, Mallam Adamu Fika who led the delegation, urged president Buhari to pursue oil exploration in the North to its logical conclusion.

Fika, reminded the president of the request made by the forum in 2016 for execution of Baro Port, the Mambilla Hydro power, revival of the agricultural sector, road construction and rehabilitation, and oil and gas exploration.

“In 2016, during a visit of the delegation of the forum, led by late Alhaji Yusuf Maitama Sule, Danmasanin Kano, the forum drew your attention to projects of concern to the North and of benefit to Nigeria at large.

“The projects included the Baro Port, the Mambilla Hydro power, self- sufficiency in agricultural produce, road construction and rehabilitation, and above all oil and gas exploration.

“It is pleasing to note that since then, the Baro port has been commissioned, while all other projects have been reactivated and now being implemented.

“We pray that those organs of Government charged with the responsibility for the implementation will double their efforts to ensure that these projects are executed fully to their logical conclusion within reasonable time,” he said.

https://www.dailytrust.com.ng/pursue-oil-exploration-in-north-to-logical-conclusion-acf.html

The West African Examination Council yesterday released the Senior School Certificate Examination results for private candidates, withholding 376 candidates’ over malpractice.

The private candidate examination tagged the new diet of WASSCE for private candidates, is a new programme introduced in 2017. Its first edition was conducted in January/February 2018; and the 2019 first series examination, concluded on February 4, 2019.

The head of the Nigerian office of WAEC, Olu Adenipekun, said plans were underway to introduce electronic marking (e-marking.

“A total of 3,102 candidates obtained credit and above in a minimum of five subjects, including English Language and General Mathematics,” he said.

https://www.dailytrust.com.ng/waec-releases-2019-results-plans-e-marking.html

Bayelsa State Governor Seriake Dickson has urged the Chief of Army Staff, Lt.-General Tukur Buratai, to identify and prosecute the soldiers who killed a government house photographer. Reginald Dei and one Taribi Seidougha in Southern Ijaw Local Government Area of the state during the February 23 elections.

Dickson, in a statement yesterday by his director of Strategic Communications, Nathan Egba-Ologo, said Buratai has a responsibility to redeem the image of the army by ensuring the arrest and trial of the soldiers.

The governor urged the army to produce the killer soldiers and ensure they face the full weight of the law.

“Buratai should be wary of tying the army to the disgusting disposition of the Bayelsa APC’s violence and criminality by taking the proactive step to investigate the circumstances leading to the murder of the government house photographer and the PDP leader in Southern Ijaw.

“The Bayelsa State Government and Bayelsans would adopt all lawful means to seek justice in this brazen act of terror perpetrated against our citizens by a collusion of thugs and soldiers,” he said.

https://www.dailytrust.com.ng/dickson-to-buratai-prosecute-soldiers-who-killed-my-photographer.html