₦airaland Forum

ABUJA —Former Head of State, General Yakubu Gowon (retd), has said there was nothing wrong with restructuring the country, provided it was done within the context of one Nigeria.
Gen. Gowon
Gowon said this, yesterday, when Shehu Sani, Vice-Chairman, Senate Committee on Foreign Affairs, paid him a courtesy visit in Abuja.
He recalled that Nigeria was restructured under his leadership as the head of state with the creation of states in 1967.
He said: “We can restructure within one Nigeria context. I did it in 1967; we created states to stop eastern Nigeria from seceding. We had to do something to ensure the fear of their seceding did not exist; a serious issue of a part of the country wanting to breakaway when we already lost a part to Cameroon.
"If we had allowed the eastern region to go away, the map of Nigeria would have looked funny; it would have been tilted one way. So, we decided overnight to break the fear through the creation of states. If we had to save the country, that was the only way to do it. We also ensured that no state was too big or too small to threaten the unity of the country.”
On his time as the number one citizen in the country, Gowon said: “Accident of history made it possible for him to become head of state. What happened was the accident of history. When you have lost your leadership and there was crisis and you don’t know what to do and it happened that those within your constituency chose you, what would you do?
“I was lucky enough within the military at that time and all the officers knew me by reputation. I had no intention to become head of state but it is the opportunity, if opportunity presents itself and people ask you to do it then do it.
“What I have achieved is (because of) God. I had never thought of becoming head of state but there was a coup and all my senior colleagues were killed and I was the only one that survived.
“My plan was to rise in my profession and hopefully become a head in my profession but that did not happen. I didn’t know what happened but I had the duty and responsibility to ensure the coup in Lagos did not succeed.”
He advised younger Nigerians to prepare themselves academically and morally to take advantage of opportunities when they presented themselves.

Nigeria will be hugely depleted for Saturday’s U17 AFCON qualifier at home against Niger after a staggering 26 players out of 60 failed the mandatory MRI screening conducted last week.
A top official said that what is disturbing is not only the high number of those who failed the age test, but the quality of those who will not be eligible as the Eaglets starting XI have been completely wiped out with only two surviving players.

“It is a disaster,” exclaimed one devastated official.


“Virtually the first team the coaches have been working on have been disqualified. It’s a serious problem.” We have exclusively gathered that top NFF officials have now gone into panic mode with blames being traded over “this mass failure”.

Several of the players were in tears and total shock when the final results came through this morning.
The affected players have since quit the team’s training camp in Abuja for their various bases.
Among those who flung the age test was a star striker, who came through the national U15 team and has been outstanding in training leading up to Saturday’s AFCON qualifier.

Another promising player disqualified only recently forced his way into the starting XI of coach Manu Garba’s team after a late call-up.

As first reported only by AfricanFootball.com, the Confederation of African Football (CAF) have moved swiftly to ensure a much more transparent management of this MRI test by deploying independent doctors to the various member-associations.

In the case of Nigeria, an Egyptian doctor supervised the screening exercise last week.
Nigeria have won the FIFA U17 World Cup a record five times – 1985, 1993, 2007, 2013 and 2015

Lagos State University has expelled 69 students for their involvement in cultism, examination malpractices and other gross misconducts during examinations within the school premises.

This came barely four months after 25 students were suspended for various offences pending their appearances before the constituted panels.
The document further stated that over 15 of the 69 students expelled were final year students of the institution.

This was contained in the Official Bulletin published by the Centre For Information, Press & Public Relations of The Vice Chancellor’s Office on Tuesday, August 2, 2016 and made available to Vanguard yesterday.

Of the 69 students expelled by the school management, 21 were involved in use of fake docket, a card containing the bio data of the student and the courses registered for the semester by the student.

Bitterleafsoup:
BeeBee0oh my Baby I love you more! Sex in the work place hummmm!

MissMonalisa:
Beebeeooh you promised me o, you didn't include my candidate... This is monalisa185

laurel03:
ds one can't work for money ritual again... Babalawo will tell u dt dey dnt hv any aura again.. #na real end time tinz..

Doncharlie:
LOLS..Seriously i doubt if he can survive this storm

The Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), Federal Operations Unit (FOU) Zone ‘C’, Owerri has continued to effectively checkmate the excesses of smugglers of contraband goods in the country following the latest seizure of a total of 24,273 cartons of imported frozen poultry products with a Duty Paid Value (DPV) of N 256,264,200.
In a press statement released by the Public Relations Officer of the Unit, Onuigbo Ifeoma, the Customs Area Controller, Comptroller Haruna Mamudu said that the items which were cleverly and deceitfully concealed in a Scania truck with an inscription ‘DHL’ were seized on the Benin axis in Edo State.

Compt. Haruna, who disclosed this while briefing newsmen at the Customs Warehouse in Benin said that the Duty Paid Value (DPV) of the items impounded stood at N256,264,200 just as three suspects were arrested by the eagle-eyed Customs men on duty in connection with the illegal business.
The Customs Comptroller, who spoke of the consequences usually associated with the consumption of foreign frozen poultry products preserved with chemicals meant for the preservation of dead bodies, regretted that a number of untimely deaths had occurred as a result of this.

He said that the NCS had continued to ensure maximum media publicity in respect of the dangers posed to human health by imported frozen poultry products and warned those still engrossed in the illicit business to desist forthwith in their own interest or face the full weight of the law.

angels09:
Only in Uganda again .....we should flush these Ugandans out and take over our lands...

ademoladeji:
I gave up on NPF yesterday

Airyprince:
cc.lalasticlala

The controversy surrounding the padding of the 2016 Budget at the House of Representatives continued yesterday with the alleged sealing of the office of the House Committee on Appropriation by some people suspected to be operatives of the Department of State Services (DSS).

The controversy blew open after the immediate past Chairman of the House Appropriation Committee, Hon Abdulmumunu Jibrin, alleged that he rejected moves by principal officers of the House, led by Speaker Yakubu Dogara, to pad the 2016 Budget to the tune of N410 billion.

Jibrin has been replaced by Hon. Mustapha Dawaki.

Also, yesterday, Jibrin said he had reported Dogara to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) for alleged corrupt practices, even as the anti-corruption unit of the National Youth Council of Nigeria (NYCN) petitioned the EFCC to ask the commission to probe the former House Appropriation Committee Chair for alleged fraud.
Meanwhile, reacting to the alleged sealing of the House Appropriation Committee’s office, Dawaki said it was safe and open and that all the documents in the office, including computer system, were intact.

But the Clerk of the committee, Dr. Abel Ochobi, who tried to take journalists to inspect that the office was not shutdown, could not gain access to his office, prompting him to say that the security operatives seen in the place was on the order of the Clerk of the National Assembly, Sani Omolori.The Clerk had, in a letter to the CNA, titled, ‘Alleged shutdown, seizure, packing/relocating of Committee system and records/documents and harassment of staff’, had claimed that the report was false.

Saying, yesterday, that he had reported Dogara to the EFCC, Jibrin made it clear that the Deputy Speaker, Yusuf Lasun; the Chief Whip, Ado Doguwa, and the Minority Leader, Leo Ogor, were also joined in the petition to the EFCC, alongside eight other chairmen of committees.

According to the document he made available to journalists, he said, “Yesterday we recorded huge success in our mission to get the Speaker of the House, Yakubu Dogara and his cohorts to face prosecution.

“On the request of my lawyers, the security agencies have promptly protected the appropriation secretariat, my office and the House”.
A coalition of media and civil society organisations also said, yesterday, that the nation’s democracy was under trial following what it described as the alleged plot to destabilise the leadership of the House of Representatives by external forces.
The CSO, in the statement, signed by Omoluabi Olabode Adeyemi, Executive Director of African Media Roundtable Initiative and convener, Coalition of Analysts and Media and Civil Society Organisations, and Opeyemi Duke, Executive Director, Centre for Legislative Advocacy, said it was the responsibility of the legislature to make appropriation, adding that there was nothing like padding in legislative terms.

The NYCN, in its petition to EFCC, signed by its coordinator of the anti-corruption unit, Ifeanyi Okonkwo, accused Jibrin of being involved in multi-million naira contract and called on the anti-graft agency to investigate him.
The group accused Jibrin of orchestrating the alleged padding of the 2016 budget.