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Now he's on the verge of becoming the next President of Nigeria

PRESIDENT BUHARI DEPARTS FOR NEW YORK TO ATTEND UNITED NATIONS GENERAL ASSEMBLY

President Muhammadu Buhari departs Abuja Sunday for New York, to join other world leaders at the 72nd Session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA 72).

The high point of the President’s visit will be his participation in the General Debate during which he will deliver the country’s National Statement.

The theme for this year’s Debate is: “Focusing on People: Striving for Peace and a Decent Life for All on a Sustainable Planet.”

President Buhari will join other world leaders at the welcoming reception to be hosted by the UN Secretary General, Antonio Guterres, and also hold a bilateral meeting with the UN scribe.

Equally, the Nigerian leader will hold a lunch meeting with President Donald Trump of the United States of America, along with other world leaders.

During the General Assembly, Nigeria will participate in high level meetings on ‘Prevention of Sexual Exploitation and Abuse: Building Momentum for Change,’ the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting, a High Level Event organized by the African Union under its Theme of the Year: ‘Roadmap on the Demographic Dividend: from Commitment to Action,’ among others.

At the events, President Buhari and members of his delegation will strive to project Nigeria as a strong moral force and responsible member of the international community.

Nigeria’s commitment to global peace, security and development will also be reaffirmed and where necessary, the need for increased international cooperation in the fight against corruption.

Other priorities for the Nigerian delegation at UNGA 72 include strengthening human rights institutions; the rule of law; support for Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) as a result of terrorist acts and recent flooding, and mitigating the effects of Climate Change.

The Nigerian delegation will also canvass the support of UN member states for the Buhari Administration’s efforts towards combatting illicit financial flows in order to foster sustainable development.

The President will be accompanied by the governors of Zamfara, Ebonyi and Ondo States, and key cabinet ministers.

President Buhari will transit through London on his way back to the country.

FEMI ADESINA
Special Adviser to the President
(Media & Publicity)
September 15, 2017

Former Vice President, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar has finally reacted to the clash between the Nigerian Army and members of the Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB, in Abia State.

Atiku, who enjoys the Turakin Adamawa title, said dialogue remained the best option for the looming war in eastern part of the country.

Report had it last night that a combined team of the Nigerian Army, the Police and the DSS had invaded the home of Nnamdi Kanu, the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), abducting his parents and siblings.

Reacting to the clash, Atiku called on governors from the south and the north to reach a truce on the nagging crisis.

He said, “I join my party, the APC to call for restraint from all sides in the aggression happening in Abia State.

“We hear each other better if we speak peacefully. Everyone, please stop escalating the situation. Let us dialogue and listen to each other.

“I appreciate our governors both North and South, for their efforts to maintain calm. Meeting with stakeholders is important and should continue.”

Meanwhile, the Biafra National Guard (BNG) has lambasted President Muhammadu Buhari for sending Nigerian Army troops to south-east.

The group said the military occupation was to carry out massacre and urged Igbos by all means necessary defend themselves against soldiers deployed to the region.

Emir of Kano, Muhammadu Sanusi ll has said that Nigeria will remain one and indivisible country.

He appealed to those agitating for the country’s split to have a rethink.

Sanusi said this on Monday when he received the newly installed Garkuwan Hausawa in Ogun, Otunba Rotimi Paseda, in his palace.

Emir Sanusi said if Nigerians respect each other, they would continue to remain as one entity irrespective of their tribes, religion and cultural differences.

“This is what we, the traditional rulers are promoting among our subjects. So, we should ignore our difference and help in building one country.”

He called on Hausa community residing outside the North to respect the culture, tradition and norms of their host communities for peaceful co-existence.

“You should be good ambassadors of the north and ensure that you leave in peace and harmony with your host communities. Nigeria will remain one and indivisible country and Nigerians will continue to be one family".

“I was delighted when I learnt of your goodwill to Hausa people in Ogun state. I am not surprise of the good testimonies I hear about you taking cognizance of the fact that you are from a ruling house.

“Oba Awujale of Ijebu Land is my personal friend. We have enjoyed a long-standing relationship; and I feel happy for the role you are playing as the Garkuwan Hausawa to ensure cordial relationship between my people and the Yorubas.”

The Garkuwan Hausawa, Otunba Rotimi Paseda, said he was at the palace to pay homage to Emir Sanusi and receive his blessings as the newly crowned Garkuwan Hausawa.

Paseda, also the national leader of Unity Party of Nigeria (UPN) said, he had enjoyed fruitful relationship with the Hausa people living in Ogun state.

“They are my brothers. I ensure that they are happy and I can testify to you that they have remained good ambassadors of the Hausa race in the state.

“They live in peace with us and I will ensure that the status quo is maintained,” he added.

Eighty-two Chibok schoolgirls who were released after being held for more than three years by Boko Haram will be reunited with their parents next week, according to Nigeria’s minister for women.


Aisha Alhassan said the students’ parents will travel from the remote northeastern town in Borno state to meet their daughters in the capital, Abuja.

“Any parents that identified their children will be brought next week to see them,” she told AFP at the staff quarters of the Department of State Services.

The 82 have been staying at the domestic intelligence agency facility on the outskirts of the city since their release in a prisoner swap deal on Saturday after months of negotiations.

The Islamist militants seized 276 girls in April 2014, triggering global condemnation and drawing attention to the bloody insurgency.

Fifty-seven escaped in the immediate aftermath. Of the 219 who did not manage to flee, 106 have either been released or found, leaving 113 still missing.

First Lady Aisha Buhari, whose husband President Muhammadu Buhari was elected on a pledge to defeat Boko Haram, met some of the Chibok girls on Wednesday.

The girls, dressed in colourful traditional ankara print dresses, sang songs and danced in front of the cameras.

The women’s minister said the recently-released 82 would be reunited at another facility in the capital with 24 of their classmates who were released or found last year.

They will receive “psycho-social therapy” and “vocational training” to help them reintegrate into society.

Campaign groups and families have criticised the government for keeping the previously released girls away from their parents but Alhassan said they were free to come and go from the centre.

Most chose to stay in the capital, she added.

The government’s goal is to have all the girls back in school at the start of the new academic year, she added, without specifying where.

“I believe from now to September, these other ones (the recently released 82 girls) would have stabilised and we will be able to ‎take all of them back to school in September.”

Thousands of women and young girls have been abducted in the eight-year insurgency, which has left at least 20,000 people dead and displaced more than 2.6 million.

Information minister Lai Mohammed meanwhile indicated talks with Boko Haram about the release of the remaining 113 girls could pave the way for a possible end to the conflict.

“We are looking beyond the release of these girls. We are looking a something much more comprehensive, which is the cessation of all hostilities,” he said.

The national leader of All Progressives Congress (APC), Senator Bola Ahmed Tinubu, wednesday disclosed that former President Goodluck Jonathan spent huge amount of money to stop Lagos State Governor, Mr. Akinwunmi Ambode, from being elected in the 2015 elections.

Despite Jonathan’s sustained struggle to take over the state, Tinubu acknowledged that party members stood by Ambode and the APC during the election.



He described the period as the most challenging since he left his flourishing career in a multinational oil company for active politics.

He gave an account of how Jonathan struggled to take over the state at a stakeholders’ meeting he addressed at the APC secretariat, Ogba alongside Ambode, Speaker of the state House of Assembly, Hon. Mudashiru Obasa, and the party Chairman, Chief Oladele Ajomale, among others.

The party convened the stakeholders’ meeting, which was the first of its kind since the 2015 elections were concluded to chart a new path for the local government election scheduled to hold on July 22 and resolve all issues that might give rise to disaffection and internal rift ahead the electoral process.

At the meeting the party faithful attended across the state, the national leader specifically, commended all party members for supporting Ambode in the 2015 election, noting that the candidates of the party for the forthcoming local government elections should also be supported.

He said the 2015 elections were the most challenging, recalling how the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and Jonathan moved “to take over the state by all means including spending huge cash, but the APC members resolutely stood their ground and ensured the victory of the party.”

With the support of the people, the national leader said Ambode won the election and had not let the APC down in any way, thereby citing the governor’s sterling performance.

Tinubu said Ambode “has not let us down. He is doing a fantastic job, in an environment where there is economic recession is a big challenge. Initially, they said he might not be able to do it, but he is doing it and doing it perfectly. He has a very good team of performers. It takes a leader to lead a team to victory and a leader to think and dream. He thinks and performs and he is doing a great job, we are very proud of him.”

On the council elections, the national leader urged party members to accept the decision, which he said, had been taken by the party leaders at the state and local government levels with respect to the forthcoming election.

He said 18 chairmen, who were promised automatic ticket for their efforts in the party and the state, would be allowed to return, while all sole administrators who took over from executive secretaries of 20 local government areas and 37 local council development areas would not be allowed to contest.

Also, the national leader urged party leaders and members in all the 57 councils to give special concession to youths and women and party leaders in Surulere to give peace a chance and drop all forms of public disorder.

However, he said the party would not disallow members, especially executive secretaries from pursuing his/her aspiration, noting that doing such would amount “to denying them their rights having left office more than a year ago. It is just like saying Ambode or senators and other party leaders should not be allowed second term.

Also at the meeting, Ambode charged all party members in the state “to ensure that the party wins all available elective positions in the forthcoming council elections.”

He said it was important for the party to come out top in the elections, adding that it would go a long way to ensure that the state continues to make steady progress.

The governor attributed his success in the 2015 governorship elections to the dedication of party members and chieftains of the party, especially the national leader, thereby charging them to rally round the party yet again to ensure victory for the APC in the polls.

“Almost two years after, we have caused to thank God. I am able to look back that the confidence you give me two years ago and all of you working together to make sure I defeated the PDP candidate was no small feat. I have come here not only to attend this meeting but to say a big thank you to all of you.

“I want to thank you for being the first set of people that believed in me and thereafter God has been so gracious, he has not allowed me to disappoint u. I want to say a big thank you to Tinubu, the state APC Chairmen and Exco members for supporting that course.

“If there is any party remaining in Nigeria today, that party is manifested in all the good things coming out of Lagos State. Why are we here? We are here to count our blessings and renew the course of unity to move forward as one great party.

“I want to implore all of us, whatever it is that would have transpired, it is very clear that the next council elections is all in your hands; just the same way we have done in the last two years. My call to all members of our great party is that all 57 councils must be won by APC without exception,” Ambode said.