₦airaland Forum

Which One Is Childless Mother Again?

The apex Igbo socio-cultural group, Ohanaeze Ndigbo Worldwide, has said that an Igbo presidency in 2023 will end the security challenges bedevilling the country.

In a statement signed by its Secretary-General, Mazi Okechukwu Isiguzoro, and made available to journalists on Friday in Kaduna, Ohanaeze Ndigbo consoled the victims of Kaduna train attack, adding that Nigerian would emerge a peaceful nation in 2023 with an Igbo presidency.

“We console Nigerians and President Buhari-led government on the demise of the victims of the Abuja-Kaduna train, the politicised attacks on the train should be discouraged.

“We applaud the Minister of Transport for his bravery and heroism exhibited in the line of duty to calm the nerves of families and friends who lost the lives of their beloved ones in that ill-fated Abuja – kaduna train,” it said.

The group also cautioned a group by the name Kaduna Community for Social Justice over its attack on the Minister of Transportation, Hon. Rotimi Amaechi, on the train attack.

“Chibuike Amaechi is only a minister of the federal republic not security personnel, but we know that the an Igbo man as president will end up with northern security challenges in the north by 2023,” it noted.

Mazi Isiguzoro blamed the leadership of the North for allowing insecurity to escalate in the region.

He added, “Ndigbo are proud to announce that Amaechi is one of the leading lights of the Igbo Nation.”

Operatives of the Department of State Services, DSS, on Friday, barricaded all roads leading to the premises of the Federal High Court in Abuja, ahead of the resumed trial of Nnamdi Kanu, leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB.

The DSS is believed to have barricaded the roads to tighten security around the court premises.

Kanu is expected to appear in court before Justice Binta Nyako to resume the 15-count charge bordering on terrorism and felony.

The charges were levelled against him by the Nigerian government.

However, reports had it that the Chief Judge of the Federal High Court, Justice Tosho, ordered a secret trial of all terrorism cases.

To this end, Kanu’s trial may be shifted to the Code of Conduct Tribunal, CCT.

Meanwhile, Justice Nyako is expected to rule on Kanu’s fundamental human rights suit against the Federal Government.

Minister of industry, trade and investment, Otumba Adeniyi Adebayo, yesterday told the House of Representatives Committee on Public Accounts that several African countries were lobbying companies registered and operating in Nigeria to relocate to their countries.

The minister who led other agencies under the ministry to appear before the committee to respond to queries from the auditor-general of the federation said the Nigerian government was doing everything possible to ensure that such companies don’t leave again.

He said many of the countries, including Ghana has increased their capital allowances to companies and have taken away lots of investment from the country, adding that what is keeping some companies in the country today is Nigeria’s population.

He said the government was looking for ways of increasing the level of new investment in the country and sustaining existing ones, saying “our duty is to support investment growth In Nigeria. It is public knowledge that getting this investment is increasingly becoming difficult today.”

Earlier in his remarks, the chairman of the committee, Oluwole Oke, said several companies g in the country were in the habit of not paying the required revenue to government leading to lack of funds for government services.

Oke said, “Nigeria is bleeding. We are borrowing daily to finance our budget and the minister of finance has said the reason we are borrowing is because we are not collecting the revenue we are supposed to collect.

“The Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment has issued some instruments which earned companies tax breaks and tax holidays. But this scheme has been abused by the companies.

“When some of these companies appeared before this committee, we noticed from their presentation elements of tax invasion. For example, China Habour got a waiver of N5 billion to import nails and wire nets. In my village, we have a company that manufactures nails, but cost of manufacturing nails locally is higher than those imported. So, how do we encourage local production?

President Muhammadu Buhari has asked the House of Representatives to adjust the Medium Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF) to accommodate the projected N4 trillion for petroleum subsidy in 2022.

The president, in a letter read by the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila, on Thursday, is seeking an increment of $11 to the oil benchmark to accommodate subsidy consumption and other expenses.

According to Mr Buhari, N442.72 billion was earmarked for fuel subsidy in the 2022 budget (January-June), but because of the hike in the price of crude oil, Nigeria is paying more for PMS subsidy, therefore, the country will require an additional N3.557 trillion for subsidy.

The current MTEF contains $62 BPD. If this is approved, the benchmark will now be $73 per barrel.

However, the government is planning to reduce daily production by 283,000 barrels because of the activities of vandals. This means the daily production will be 1.6 million BPD instead of 1.83 million BPD.

Mr Buhari blamed the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war and the activities of the oil vandals for the proposed fiscal adjustments.

“Spikes in the market price of crude oil, aggravated by the Russia-Ukraine war. Significant lower oil volume due principally to production shutdown as a result of massive crude oil theft between production platforms and terminals” are the two main factors responsible for the adjustments.

Oil subsidy

The federal government had in January suspended the removal of subsidy after the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and Trade Union Congress (TUC) threatened to embark on mass protests.

The Minister of Finance, Zainab Ahmed, had announced that the government will spend N3 trillion on subsidies in 2022.

Mr Buhari subsequently sent a supplementary budget to the National Assembly to adjust the 2022 Appropriation Act accordingly.

However, the invasion of Ukraine by Russia and the corresponding sanction by the international community led to an increase in the price of crude oil in the international market.

As a result, the prices of refined products also increased. The landing price of petroleum also increased.

For weeks, there were long queues at filling stations across the country due to shortage in the supply of the products which are largely imported as a result of the bad state of the local refineries.

With this proposed amendment to the MTEF, the government is adjusting the estimate to be spent on subsidies for the second time in 2022.

Highlights of the proposed MTEF

This adjustment will reduce the allocation to the total money to be remitted into the Federation Account (Main pool) by N2.4 trillion. By implication the amount available to the budget will decline by N772.9 billion.

The government is planning to spend N187 billion to cater for police with a total deficit standing at N7.3 trillion.

Mr Buhari urged the lawmakers to pass both the supplementary budget and the amendment to MTEF.

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Honestly betting ruin me even with 2 odds I lost over 5m in 6 months

The Federal Government has said that it was not being overwhelmed by the strikes of the terrorists in the country maintaining that the outlaws were suffering heavy casualties that were deliberately not being made public by the military.

Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, made this disclosure Wednesday while responding to questions from newsmen after the weekly Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting chaired by President Muhammadu Buhari at the Presidential Villa.

The minister, who blamed the media for providing oxygen for terrorists by publishing their activities on the front page of every newspaper, also confirmed Tuesday’s attack on the military base in Birnin Gwari area of Kaduna State insisting that the terrorists were repelled and suffered heavy casualties.

He said: “Yes, there was an attack on a military base in Kaduna State but what was not reported was the very timely and efficient manner it was repelled, and the huge casualty suffered by the bandits/terrorists. I also have a video of the area interdiction by the military.

“I keep saying that this is an asymmetrical war in which we are not at liberty only to tell you in detail how the camps of the bandits are being decimated daily. It is a war of attrition, but our military is living to the billing, our military is working day and night to ensure that the terrorists are neutralized. We will continue to give information on the progress we are making in our fight against terrorism but we can assure that we are on top of this matter.”

Asked why the government had refused to take the fight to the terrorists if actually their locations were known to the military as alleged by the Kaduna State Governor, Mallam Nasir el-Rufai, Mohammed said: “I know that on Monday, there was a very successful area interjection, where scores of not hundreds of bandits/terrorists were eliminated.”

He, however, explained that the military may choose to not attack the terrorists at their location because of the fear of collateral damages to innocent civilians.

He insisted that the nation’s security agencies, including the police and military, were in control having taken delivery of sophisticated weapons needed to decimate the terrorists with more personnel recruited to boost their strength.

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O ka na e bido.

phemmyfour:
We LL come back in Madrid

The All Progressives Congress (APC) has tentatively fixed primaries to pick its presidential candidate for May 30, 2022.

Governorship primaries is also billed to hold May 24, per a document obtained by Peoples Gazette on Wednesday.

The Senator Abdullahi Adamu-led National Working Committee has hardly had time to settle into office having just emerged at the party’s national convention held of March 26.

Nonetheless, the party is pressed for time as it hurries to get in tune with electioneering timeline set by elections regulatory body, INEC.

INEC had directed that all party primaries be concluded by mid June and in accordance with Section 84 of the amended Electoral Act.

Top contenders for the post of president include Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, CBN governor Godwin Emefiele, former Lagos governor Bola Tinubu and Kogi State governor, Yahaya Bello.

It remains unclear if political appointees would relinquish their present positions before contesting as stipulated in the yet-to-be deleted section 84(12) of the Electoral Act.

Deputy senate president Ovie Omo-Agege on Tuesday through his chief of staff Otive Igbuzor called for the resignation of all political appointees vying to contest positions at the 2023 polls.

Meanwhile, the ruling party’s primary election for House of Assembly candidates has been slated for May 17 while House of Representatives primaries would be held on May 19 and May 21 was also fixed for senate primary elections.

Soldiers from the 32 Artillery Brigade, Ondo State and operatives of the State Security Network dubbed as Amotekun Corps, on Tuesday evening, clashed over the seizure of over 100 cows by the latter in Akure, the state capital.

The cows were seized for allegedly violating the state’s anti-grazing law.

According to sources, Amotekun operatives seized the cows after receiving distress calls from farmers.

Farmers in the Oke-Aro axis of Akure metropolis neighborhood had cried out over the invasion of their farms by the cows and herders where crops were destroyed.
One of the sources said the military invaded the location and stopped the cows from being taken away.

The soldiers were said to have claimed that the cows belonged to their superiors in the barracks.

The situation was said to have led to firing of gun shots in the air as well as shouting march among the security operatives with two operatives of Amotekun said to have been taken away by soldiers.
“As Amotekun personnel were marching the arrested cows to their office in the Alagbaka area of the state, troops numbering approximately ten invaded the area with Hilux vehicles and stopped the arrest of the cows,” the source said.

“The troops urged that the Amotekun men not take the cows because they belonged to their military barrack’s officers.”

A former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar; Governor of Sokoto State, Aminu Tambuwal, and other politicians who were kicking against the zoning of the Presidency to the South-East lacked conscience and could not be trusted, Igbo Elders Consultative Forum said on Tuesday.

According to them, it was ridiculous and hypocritical of the politicians, including a former Senate President, Bukola Saraki, to promote power-shift to the North in 2015 and then turn around to demonise zoning ahead of the 2023 general election.

The Chairman of the IECF and former governor of Anambra State, Chief Chukwuemeka Ezeife, said these in Abuja during a condolence visit of Igbo leaders of thought and traditional rulers, following the demise of his wife, Njideka, whose burial had been scheduled for April 20, 2022.

He said God has decreed that the next President of Nigeria would come from Igbo land.

The ex-governor insisted that an Igbo man must succeed the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), after his second tenure elapses in 2023.

Ezeife said, “Everything (in the country) is a comprehensive failure, including our leadership and the politicians. The political parties are not serious about zoning and power rotation, because the conscience is dead; justice, equity and fairness are far fetched. This is what is wrong with us.

“God knows it and has decreed that the next President of Nigeria will come from Igbo land. The problem now is how to allow God’s destiny to manifest for Nigeria.”

Ezeife also said that the socio-economic situation in Nigeria had been worsened by the failure to successfully tackle corruption in the country which, according to him, would have placed the nation on the path of progress.

“Comprehensive corruption has taken over. That is why in security, progress, power supply and welfare, we are taking giant steps backwards.

“The resources God gave us is not for nothing. It is for us to generate development and become a superpower, and from that make every African proud, and with dignity,” he said.

The IECF, however, said that despite the current realities in the country, a new Nigeria was possible.

“For so long, Nigerian man has been messing up the design of the creator, but God is taking over. A new Nigeria is coming and will be led by someone from the South East. Only an Igbo man will be president after Buhari,” Ezeife said.

Earlier, the Secretary of Ime-Obi Ohanaeze Ndigbo, Prof. Charles Nwekeaku, lauded the contributions of the Ezeife family to the restoration of Nigerian democracy.

He said that Ezeife and his late wife risked their lives when they joined forces with other compatriots in the National Democratic Coalition to chase out the military and pursue the restoration of late Moshood Abiola’s presidential mandate.

The Attorney General of the Federation (AGF) Abubakar Malami has cautioned a Federal High Court in Abuja against granting bail to suspended Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP), Abba Kyari in his ongoing extradition proceedings, The Nation reports.

The AGF’s position is contained in a counter-affidavit he filed in opposition to a bail application by Kyari.

The AGF last month applied to the court for among others, an order permitting the surrender of Kyari to the United States authorities for prosecution in relation to a criminal indictment said to be pending against him.

Before the April 27 fixed by Justice Inyang Ekwo for the hearing of the extradition application, Kyari applied for bail, claiming ill-health.

But, in his counter-affidavit, the AGF argued that, not only is Kyari untruthful about his claim to ill-health, the medical reports he is parading were issued on an examination carried out about three years ago.

The AGF added the application for bail was a ploy by Kyari to abscond before the conclusion of the extradition hearing.

He said: “The medical reports attached in support of the affidavit of the respondent are issued in respect of a medical condition that occurred in 2019 over three and half years ago.

“There is nothing to show that the respondent still suffers from the same ailment today.

“There is nothing to guarantee that the respondent/applicant will not interfere with the case as he may abscond before the outcome of the case.

“The issue before this court is simply to determine whether or not the respondent/applicant should be extradited to face trial in the United States of America based on the evidence before this honourable court.

“The applicant/respondent (AGF) asserts that the respondent/applicant (Kyari) will jump bail at the slightest opportunity and will frustrate this honourable court from determining this application justly, judiciously and speedily,” the AGF said.

In a supporting written address authored by the Head, Central Authority Unit (CAU) of the Federal Ministry of Justice, Akutah PIus Ukeyima, it was noted that the offence in respect of which Kyari is facing extradition bothers on his indictment.

He added: “It is a felony and a serious offence at that: conspiracy to commit wire fraud, conspiracy to commit money laundering, aggravated identity theft and aiding and abetting.

“The maximum punishment for these offences upon conviction in the United States carries a maximum of 20 years each as contained in the various United States laws.

“In Nigeria, if is for a term of ten years with an option of a fine or both fine and imprisonment. His assets and properties, on conviction, are liable to forfeiture as provided under the Cybercrime (Prohibition, prevention, etc) Act, 2015.

“A cursory look at the extradition request and the affidavit evidence in respect of the extradition application shows that the evidence against the respondent/applicant are so overwhelming that the court’s discretion should not be exercised in his favour,” he said.

Ukeyima argued that since extradition cases are purely affidavit evidence cases and may not really require lengthy time to conclude, the court should refuse Kyari application for bail in view of the risk involved, but instead, order parties to submit all written arguments to enable the court proceed and conclude the substantive case.

Meanwhile Justice Donatus Okorowo (also of the Federal High Court in Abuja) has rescheduled hearing for June 14 in a suit by a group, the Incorporated Trustees of Northern Peace Foundation (NPF), seeking to stop Kyari’s extradition.

The group, in the suit marked: FHC/ABJ/CS/854/2021, filed by their lawyer, Kayode Ajulo, argued that Kyari’s planned extradition was violation of his rights.

At the mention of the case on Monday, parties were absent. They were also not represented by any lawyer.

Justice Okorowo, who had on the last date threatened to strike out the suit for lack of diligent prosecution, said he would grant one more adjournment.

The judge then adjourned till June 14 and ordered the service of hearing notice on all the parties.

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sweetonugbu:
So tinubu and oshiomole are agemate?, is our lord not wonderful.