₦airaland Forum

Adherents bellowed and bawled while pitching for Muhammadu Buhari to become President of Nigeria last March. During the electioneering, some of us lost old friends and quickly made new ones because of the political viewpoints we expressed. We were hated by some, and loved by a few more as a result of the political tent we chose to camp in. Pastors had disdain for pastors who refused to shout “Alleluia” behind the candidate many big pastors pulled for. Those who shared the same views about Buhari went on a joy-ride together on what was perceived as Buhari’s speed-train that’s now ascertained a slow-coach. We did what we still believe was the right thing to do at that crucial juncture in Nigeria’s unfurling history.
Bickerers against this government are innumerable. They believe that the breeze of change is not hitting them hard and fast enough. They are only banking on hope which, I was taught, makes not ashamed. “Nigeria is broke”; “the treasury is empty”; these are annoying statements we now hear. It may be the fact, but, it’s no news. This line was a singsong in numerous political songfests during and after the campaign and election. Step-by-step, Vice-President Yemi Osibanjo had once told the horror tale. The quoted figures of Nigeria’s debt and near-bankruptcy state statistics are still in our heads. What we knew and still know about the malodour of the economy was why a new President was elected. Those of us who hungered for change knew how badly we needed a fresh breath. There is nothing interesting in hearing over-and-over again what we already know. The relief we deserve now is how those horror stories we know will be no more.
Yes, we know that in the last three years, the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation withheld and spent N3.7tn oil revenue without budgetary provision and approval. Yes, we know that out of N8.1tn generated, only N4.3tn was remitted to the federation account. Yes, we know that Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala allegedly spent $2bn from the Excess Crude Account between November 2014 and May 2015 “without approval.” Yes, we know that the cost of running the NNPC is much more than running the Federal Government. We know that many have stolen from Nigeria black-and-blue; and we heard some of them are returning their loot. Thanks for the information about yesterday. Friends, yesterday is not cash, it is a cancelled cheque!
We have been made to believe that the country is so broke that paying the salaries of public sector workers, who do not constitute 10 per cent of the population at both federal and state levels, has become a mountain too high to climb. We were also told that Nigeria is so broke that states are raking in debts they can’t repay in decades, and yet projects are not completed and salaries aren’t paid in 23 states of the federation. We know that the adopted palliative measure is to keep borrowing more money as we, for years unending, continue to sheepishly neglect and ignore other sectors of the economy that can generate more revenues. We are in a debt-boom especially in the domestic debt market, and the Debt Management Office seems always excited and eager to put seals of approvals on all applications. Much of these reckless debt escapades are perpetrated only to fund excesses of politicians and their political parties, not capital projects.
Those who have been telling us for years that we must fasten our belts because things are so terrible don’t live in the world an average Nigerian lives. They do not feel the pangs of persistent pain that millions feel. Government officials fly over the deplorable Lagos-Ibadan Expressway to conduct business and attend worship services in Lagos; and one wonders how they can make an accurate assessment of the people’s plight driving on potholes and valleys on Nigerian roads if they themselves don’t travel on them.
Read more..
https://www.today.ng/blog/34578/if-its-broken-mr-president-fix-it

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The All Progressives Congress (APC) has dismissed claims by the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) that it was deceiving Nigerians.
The Deputy National Publicity Secretary of the APC, Timi Frank, stated this in Abuja, on Thursday, while reacting to a statement credited to the PDP in which the opposition party accused the ruling APC of deceiving Nigerians on its promise to pay N5,000 stipend to unemployed Nigerians.
Frank told The PUNCH that his party won the 2015 elections largely because Nigerians were tired of the deceit of the now opposition PDP which lasted for 16 long years.
He said, “Nigerians can testify that the APC administration under President Muhammadu Buhari has started delivering on its promises.
“In less than six months, the administration has demonstrated its seriousness in bringing about positive change.
“I can tell you clearly that the APC under our President will deliver on all of the promises made during the campaigns. The PDP which is yet to get over its electoral defeat will be put to shame at the end of the day.”
https://www.today.ng/politics/34342/well-deliver-all-promises-made-during-the-campaigns-apc

Governor Akinwunmi Ambode of Lagos State said he reads and listen to the criticism against his administration by residents on issues affecting their lives and property in the state, saying soon, their worries would be over.
Ambode in a response to residents complaint through his twitter handle, @AkinwunmiAmbode, said he understand that the residents actions.
His words “I read and listen to all the criticisms. I try to learn from the positive criticisms and try not to let the abuse get to me because I know that soon enough this will change as our plans and projects unfold.
“It is a challenge and it keeps me on my toes. I also receive a lot of emails. Some complaint, some commend and some make suggestions. That comes with the job. Managing Lagos is a difficult task and it is difficult to make everybody happy at the same time.
“It comes with the territory. We know what we signed up for and we are committed to delivering on our development agenda for Lagos,” the governor added.
It will be recalled that at the end of the four-day retreat for commissioners, Special Advisers and Permanent Secretary, Ambode unveiled the state development plans. They were: Economic Development, Infrastructural Development, Social Development and Security and Sustainable Environment.
read more..
https://www.today.ng/news/34019/ambode-to-lagosians-i-read-listen-to-your-criticisms

The UK High Commission in Nigeria in a statement on Tuesday said the British government does not support the agitation for a separate nation of Biafra.
Joe Abuku, the High Commission’s Press & Public Affairs Officer, asserted that the position of the UK Government during the Biafran War is a matter of historical record.
“The UK Government’s position, which reflected the Charter of the Organization of African Unity, was to recognise the borders laid down at Independence,” he said.
“The Biafran War caused great suffering and the UK supported the reconciliation work that followed the conflict. The UK supports the territorial integrity of Nigeria and President Buhari’s commitment to work for a secure and prosperous Nigeria for all Nigerians.”
The expressed position of the British High commission tallies with a widely-circulated letter written by UK Minister of State, Grant Shapps, affirming a similar position concerning Biafra agitation. That letter was written in response to MP Micheal Meacher, following an inquiry by one of Mr. Meacher’s constituents who had written to inquire about the detention of Nnamdi Kanu of Radio Biafra.

read more...
https://www.today.ng/news/32121/british-govt-does-not-support-biafra-agitators-uk-high-commission

The Senate President, Bukola Saraki, on Tuesday formally presented the list of 36 ministerial nominees screened and confirmed by the Senate to President Muhammadu Buhari at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
Saraki arrived the seat of power about 3:00pm along with the Special Adviser to the President on National Assembly Matters (Senate), Ita Enang and the Special Adviser to the President on National Assembly Matters (House of Representatives), Suleiman Kawu.
https://www.today.ng/news/31611/saraki-delivers-list-of-confirmed-ministers-to-buhari

Vice President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, has sounded it loud and clear to vendors and producers of pirated and counterfeit products that Nigeria is not a dumping site for such products.

And as such, he hinted of a strong legislation that would provide comprehensive protection of rights and stringent penalties for violators as “Nigeria can no longer be treated as a dumping ground for counterfeit and pirated products”.

The Vice President disclose this in Lagos on Monday in a keynote address at the Copyright Society of Nigeria (COSON) lecture delivered on his behalf by the Director General, Nigerian Copyright Commission (NCC), Mr. Afam Ezekude.

“It is obvious that technology will continue to play an important role in the production and dissemination of of creative work. As a country whose creative industry is gaining global prominence, therefore waxing stronger in its economic potentials, it behooves us as a nation, to begin to articulate strategies that will transform the fortunes of the creative industries to impact more positively in our national development efforts.

read more....
https://www.today.ng/news/31542/nigeria-not-dump-site-for-counterfeit-and-pirated-products-osinbajo

Jose Mourinho is to be the subject of an individual legal claim from former Chelsea team doctor Eva Carneiro.
It was gathered that Dr Carneiro’s lawyers have named Mourinho as a respondent in the ongoing legal wrangle. The news suggests that Carneiro holds Mourinho responsible in part or in full for her departure from Stamford Bridge.
Details of the claim have been lodged with the Employment Tribunal and Chelsea are now aware of the details in the claim.
It means the Portuguese manager will have to appear in person at an employment tribunal unless the case is settled out of court beforehand. Under employment law, an individual can be personally liable for damages if victimisation or discrimination can be proved.
Part of the case will focus on the events back in August and the final moments of Chelsea’s 2-2 draw against Swansea. With Chelsea down to 10 men, Dr Carneiro and the team physiotherapist were called on to the pitch by the referee to treat Eden Hazard. In the post-match press conference, Mourinho described his medical staff as “impulsive and naive.”
He went on to say: “Even if you are a kit man, doctor or secretary on the bench, you have to understand the game.”
The two sides could well settle before the claims and counter-claims are aired in public at a tribunal, but Monday’s developments – and the naming of Mourinho as a main respondent – will do little to ease the pressure on the beleaguered Chelsea boss.
Mourinho has seen his side lose six out of 11 matches in the Premier League so far to leave the reigning champions in 15th spot in the table.
https://www.today.ng/sport/31171/eva-carneiro-takes-legal-action-against-jose-mourinho

Nigeria needs no fewer than 237,000 medical doctors to meet the World Health Organisation (WHO) standard, according to the Chairman, Association of Colleges of Medicine of Nigeria, Prof. Folashade Ogunsola.
Ogunsola disclosed this at the opening of a three-day Capacity Development Programme for Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery (MBBS) Academic Staff in Nigerian Universities organised by National Universities Commission (NUC) yesterday in Abuja.
According to her, WHO’s ratio for any country to have enough doctors for its population is 1:600 (one doctor for every 600 persons), but Nigeria falls short of it.
“We will need about 237, 000 medical doctors and we have about 35,000 working in the country today.
“We have trained more than that, many of them have left the country while many others are in different professions — banking, music and so on.
“Medicine is about life; it is the duty of the medical schools to produce people with competences; skills to manage patients.
“Assuming no doctor leaves this country after being trained; going by the number coming from our medical schools every year, it will take us about 100 years to have the number of doctors we need.’’
Ogunsola, who lectures at the College of Medicine, University of Lagos, said numbers apart, the quality of doctors was crucial.
According to him, medical schools have quotas at present on the number of students they can admit because they can only train with the facilities they have.
The professor said the Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria and NUC are interested in the quality of doctors produced in the country.
“The council makes sure that the people it registers as medical doctors have been adequately trained; NUC makes sure that universities turn out the kind of doctors that we need.
“Right now, we have quotas and for that quota to change, we have to re-think how we are training medical doctors and how we are funding our medical schools.
“Medical school is not all about lectures; the minute they leave, lives are entrusted in their hands.
“Government really has to think about how to fund medical schools in the face of dwindling resources so that they are not left at the vagaries of universities,” she said.
According to her, to stem the tide of exodus of medical doctors, there is the need to have a policy on healthcare in order to detach politics from healthcare.
She said globally, a doctor is the head of the medical team, adding that it did not mean that others were subjugates as they all must work together.
Ogunsola advocated a joint training of doctors and other medical workers at medical schools so that they learn how to work together from the onset.
She also identified lack of job satisfaction as another reason why doctors exit the profession and called for a review of working conditions and upgrade of hospitals.
Earlier, Prof. Julius Okojie, NUC’s Executive Secretary of the Body, had said the essence of the workshop was to revisit the Bench Mark Academic Standard (BMAS) for medicine.
He said the workshop aims to fashion out ways to improve the skills and competences of medical doctors by improving the teaching and practice of medicine.
No fewer than 25 colleges of medicine were represented at the workshop, reports said.
https://www.today.ng/news/31506/nigeria-needs-237000-medical-doctors-experts

Three years ago, I travelled to the United States for the annual convention of Mbaise people living there. The convention, which is usually rotated among the states in the U.S., held in Dallas, Texas, that year.
Former Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Emeka Ihedioha, a proud Mbaise son, and President General of Ezuruezu Mbaise, the umbrella association of Ndi Mbaise in Nigeria, Okey Aguwa, who lived in the U.S. for many years before coming back home, were also in attendance.
That was the first time I was attending the convention that had become a landmark event for our people in the U.S. every year. And it was like a homecoming of sort for me.
A very good percentage of Mbaise people living in the U.S. was there because, as I was told, many of them live in the twin cities of Dallas and Houston in Texas.
I met many friends, some of whom were school mates, who left the shores of Nigeria immediately we left secondary school.
What surprised me most was that most people who graced the ceremony had the titles of chief or lolo prefixed to their names. Many were adorned in elaborate traditional regalia with heavy beads around their necks and wrists and oversized fans in their hands.
And you dare not call anybody by his first name without first pronouncing the word chief.
I remember telling someone who sat beside me at the gala night that there seemed to be more chiefs and lolos of Igbo extraction in the U.S. than we have in Nigeria. The guy smiled and said I had not seen anything yet. “Wait until you see the Eze Ndigbos. These ones are the small fries in the bourgeoning chieftaincy industry among Ndigbo in the U.S.”.
As it is in the U.S., so it is in almost every part of the world where the Igbo live and, of course, Nigeria their country is not an exception.
The jury is still out on the question of whether it is right for some Igbo sons to crown themselves Eze Ndigbo in any part of the world outside their ancestral homeland.
A few years ago when Eze Cletus Ilomuanya was the Chairman of the South East Council of Traditional Rulers, the council frowned at the idea of having Eze Ndigbo in the Diaspora.
In fact, the council banned anyone from bearing the title of Eze Ndigbo outside Igboland. The case went to court because the association of Eze Ndigbos, particularly those in Lagos, kicked against the ban.
Unfortunately, I don’t even know what became of that case.
But the fact of the matter is that these men who gave themselves the title of Eze Ndigbo are not Igbo kings. They are not recognised by any serious minded Igbo. They don’t go home as Igbo kings because they don’t have kingdoms.
As an Igboman, I have never stepped into anyone’s “palace” in Lagos in the name of paying homage to a traditional ruler. I have never consciously addressed anyone as such.
So, what is the noise about Eze Ndigbo in Yoruba land and the usual stereotyping of Ndigbo by the Yoruba elite all about?
Penultimate week, the Deji of Akure, Adelusi Aladetoyinbo, had misunderstanding with the self-styled Eze Ndigbo of Akure, Gregory Iloehika, over the lingering leadership crisis at Mojere market, the biggest spare parts market run mainly by Igbo traders in the Akure metropolis.
Then, on Friday, October 16, a Yoruba socio-political group, Afenifere Renewal Group (ARG), issued an inciting statement against Ndigbo as it has become the tradition in recent times.
What is disturbing is not ARG’s demand that all traditional rulers in Yoruba land, as well as state governments, derecognise Eze Ndigbo. Neither is the decision of Aladetoyinbo to “dethrone” the Eze Ndigbo of Akure.
As I noted earlier, the Council of Traditional Rulers in Igbo land took the decision a long time ago not to recognise them, and even banned them. I am also not sure that any state government in the South East gives them any recognition.
They have no staff of office, no kingdom, no subjects and they are not paid stipends by any state government. So, of what use is any traditional ruler who has no kingdom, no subjects, and no legal paraphernalia of office?
These are only leaders of their Igbo communities in the Diaspora as we have the Sarkin Hausawa (leader of the Hausa) n all the nooks and crannies of Nigeria.
So, when ARG claims that it is an unrelenting desecration of Yoruba culture by the Igbo communities’ obsession with having a crowned king in Yoruba domains, the question is, who crowned them? How were they crowned? Where and when were they crowned?
If Afenifere says the title of Eze Ndigbo in Yoruba land is not backed by any customary law and is therefore considered alien, it is only saying the obvious and the group is not alone in that thinking.
That was why the Council of Ndieze in Igbo land kicked against the trend long before ARG did.
But to claim that “the evolution of this structure has forced us to consider it as an expansionist agenda as the structure is only rampant in Yoruba land,” is to stretch falsehood to its very limits.
The truth is that there are as many Eze Ndigbos as there are Igbo communities around the world.
Kunle Famoriyo, publicity secretary of ARG and other purveyors of this hateful statement know that there is Eze Ndigbo of New York, Dallas, Houston, Philadelphia, in the U.S., as there is in London, Glasgow, Cardiff, in Great Britain; Johannesburg, Kimberley, Pretoria, in South Africa; and Accra in Ghana; as there is in Kaduna, Maiduguri, Kafanchan, Kano, Yenagoa, et cetera, here in Nigeria.
But, of course, ARG needed to use that allegation as the foundation on which to erect the next invidious block of ethnic batting, which is its claim that the idea of Eze Ndigbo sprouted and started spreading connoting territorial influence and even ownership.
Perhaps, the most absurd reasoning embedded in the Afenifere argument is the assertion that a people can be labelled migrants in their own country simply because they chose to live in a part of the country other than their “ancestral homes.”
How low must we descend in a bid to accentuate our national faultlines for ethnic supremacy?
As sad as this development is, it is also a wake-up call to those who are still cocooned in the illusion that the Nigerian project is a settled issue.
Scapegoating Ndigbo and setting them up for another round of ethnic cleansing – which is what Afenifere did hiding under the smokescreen of the so-called Eze Ndigbo and the Deji of Akure brouhaha – is a rather disingenuous and duplicitous attempt at solving the lingering national question.
Nigeria has become a country where citizenship confers no rights and privileges but only obligations on a few of its people.
Fifty five years after independence and over a century after the birth of the country, those who ought to know by virtue of their standing in the society still believe that a nation can actually be nourished on the diet of its fault lines.
Or that peaceful coexistence and tolerance can be achieved in a society where the potentials of its citizens are grossly limited by boundaries drawn by ethnic jingoists and tribal flag-waivers rather than the laws of the land.
https://www.today.ng/blog/31140/ndigbo-as-migrants-in-nigeria

Rivers State All Progressives Congress (APC) and its governorship candidate, Mr. Dakuku Peterside, on Thursday, at the Court of Appeal sitting in Abuja lost their quest to reinstate all paragraphs containing allegations of electoral crime against named and un-named security agents and alleged political thugs in an interlocutory appeal they filed against the ruling of the Rivers State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal expunging same from the tribunal’s record.
The Court of Appeal finally expunged from Judicial records of the Rivers State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal all the evidences against named and un-named security agents and named and un-named political thugs in the petition filed by the Rivers State APC Governorship candidate, Mr Dakuku Peterside, against the election of Governor Nyesom Ezenwo Wike.
Also on Thursday, the Court of Appeal dismissed an application by the Rivers State APC asking the President of the Court of Appeal to constitute a New Panel to hear the appeal that would flow from the judgment of the Justice Suleiman Ambrosa-led Rivers State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal.
The Rivers State APC had appealed an interlocutory ruling of the Rivers State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal wherein all the evidences against named and un-named security agents and named and un-named political thugs were struck out from the records of the tribunal because the Rivers State APC failed to join the said security agents and political thugs in their petition.
The tribunal, however, took into consideration the evidences against the security agents and alleged political thugs in their judgement, relying on them despite the earlier interlocutory ruling of the tribunal.
Today’s session of the Court of Appeal was Presided over by Justice Datti Yahaya JCA while Justice Tanim Yusuf (JCA) and Justice Mustapha Mohammed (JCA) were members of the panel.
According to the Court of Appeal, evidences that were led against security agents and political thugs whether named and un-named in the course of the hearing of the petition filed by the Rivers State APC Governorship Candidate against the election of Governor Wike where the said security agents and alleged political thugs were not joined as parties should be struck out.
The Court of Appeal further directed that all the criminal allegations contained in the petition against the said security agents and alleged political thugs be expunged as they had no opportunity to defend themselves at the tribunal.
The Court held that in cases where criminal allegations are made against institutions, agents and individuals, they were expected to be joined as parties to the suit.
On the application brought by the Rivers State APC asking the President of the Court of Appeal to constitute a New Panel to hear the appeal on the Justice Suleiman Ambrosa-led Rivers State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal, Counsel to the PDP, Chief Wole Olanipekun, SAN, urged the Court to disregard the application as it was tantamount to disqualifying itself from hearing the appeal for no just reason.
Counsel to Governor Wike, Mr Osima Ginah said the application for the re-constitution of the Appeal Court Panel via a letter written by the Rivers State APC on October 28,2015 and brought to the attention of the Court on Thursday should be dismissed by the court.
It would be recalled that Justice Suleiman Ambrosa had in his judgment at the Rivers State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal relied copiously on the testimonies of soldiers, mobile policemen and DSS operatives who alleged electoral crimes in the course of the April 11 governorship election in the state.
https://www.today.ng/news/29823/rivers-guber-apc-loses-appeal-to-wike-pdp

Twin bombs have hit a mosque in Maiduguri, the Borno State capital, killing and injuring many worshipers during the early morning prayer session, witnesses have said.
The blasts occurred in the Jiddari Polo area at about 5am with Muslims gathered to perform the first prayer session of the day.
PRNigeria, an agency which distributes press statements on behalf of Nigerian security and rescue agencies, said rescuers from the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) had so far evacuated six dead bodies from the scene of the attack.
The agency gathered that the incident occurred during the early Morning Subhi Prayer at a mosque behind Magistrate Court Polo Area in Maiduguri.
The agency said “the explosion was carried out by a suspected lone suicide bomber whose two accomplices escaped, when some vigilant members of the community accosted them on their suspicious movements”.
It quoted a senior health official as confirming that six bodies had been deposited in the mortuary, while about 17 other injured victims were being treated at the Specialist Hospital and the University of Maiduguri Teaching Hospital.
https://www.today.ng/news/27481/many-feared-dead-as-twin-blasts-hit-maiduguri-mosque

Former Rivers Governor Rotimi Amaechi, appeared before the senate for screening as a ministerial nominee, condemning acts of corruption and revealed that had never taken bribe in his life either as a private person or public official.
Amaechi who was asked to define corruption said, “Corruption is very difficult to define. If you are a public officer and you don’t take bribe, I’ve never taken bribe in my life but if they send a girl to you and you sleep with the girl and do her favour, you are corrupt.”
According to him, “Corruption is a very wide concept. If people are contesting for a position and you offer your son, brother or sister an opportunity to hold that position, probably the person is not qualified, you are corrupt. So, it is difficult for me to define corruption.”
https://www.today.ng/news/27299/ive-never-taken-bribe-before-amaechi

In what seems to be a recurring evwnt, the Governor of Ekit State, Mr Ayodele Fayose has once again attacked President Muhammadu Buhari by describing him as sectional leader, who sees himself mainly as leader of the Hausa/Fulani, and not that of the entire people of Nigeria.”

He said this following the appointment of yet another northerner, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu as Chairman the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC)

The governor, who said he had expected that the new INEC Chairman will be chosen from one of the three Southern geo-political zones, especially the South Western part of the country being the only zone yet to produce chairman of the nation’s electoral umpire, posited that; “Nigeria has entered a one chance bus and it remains to be seen who will save the country from its sectional President.”

Reacting to the appointment of Prof Yakubu as the new INEC chairman, Governor Fayose said, in a statement signed by his Special Assistant on Public Communications and New Media, Lere Olayinka that even the Yoruba leaders who promoted and made the Buhari’s Presidency possible had been short-changed.

The governor asked; “Shouldn’t he have considered someone from either South-East, South-South or South-West as Chairman of the Electoral Commission now that we have a President from the North?

“For reasons of perception, equity and fairness, don’t we have credible people from the Southern part of Nigeria that can conduct credible elections as INEC Chairman? Or do we assume that the 2019

elections have already been won and lost by the appointment of this Hausa/Fulani professor as INEC chairman? Or isn’t it regrettable that even in 2015, it is only in PDP controlled States that elections are being upturned?”

He said he was worried that the three arms of government; namely Executive, Legislative and Judiciary were being headed by northerners, leaving the three zones in the Southern part of the country with nothing.

Speaking further, Governor Fayose said; “When Chief Olusegun Obasanjo was the President, he never appointed a Yoruba man as INEC chairman. Dr Goodluck Jonathan too did not appoint an Ijaw man as INEC Chairman.

“Former President Shehu Shagari too did not appoint a Hausa man like himself as Chairman of the Federal Electoral Commission (FEDECO). Rather, he appointed late Justice Victor Ovie Whisky.

“During the Ibrahim Babangida and Sani Abacha regimes, no Hausa/Fulani man was appointed as Chairman of the National Electoral Commission of Nigeria and General Abdulsalami Abubakar who established the current INEC did not also appoint his fellow Hausa man as chairman.

“How then can we have a President from the North and at the same time have INEC Chairman from the Hausa/Fulani Northern Nigeria?

“Obviously, what is being witnessed is more like a situation where it appears the President is more interested in having someone malleable to him than serving the interest of Nigeria and its people.”
http://www.theheraldng.com/we-have-entered-one-chance-bus-under-buhari-fayose/

The first Nigerian to come out on national TV is appealing to British MPs in London to speak to Nigerian officials and politicians about a draconian law that makes even befriending a gay person a crime punishable by 10 years in jail.
Bisi Alimi told The Associated Press on Thursday that he has been tortured and persecuted, has lost his home, his job and his country because of his sexual orientation.
The Berlin-based university lecturer said he is using his story to explain the plight of gays in his homeland where most people believe homosexuality is evil.
https://www.today.ng/news/27240/bisi-alimi-appeals-to-uk-mps-on-anti-gay-law

A shocking footage has emerged on WSHH showing a woman who obviously got high on illicit drugs and then proceed to rip off her clothes.

The woman, who seems like she had lost her mind, was recorded playing with her private parts while speaking gibberish.
watch here>https://www.today.ng/entertainment/3741/incredible-woman-gets-high-strips-in-restaurant

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The imminent deployment of 300 US soldiers in Cameroon is intended to provide nations around Lake Chad with what they most lack in the battle against Boko Haram: reliable intelligence.
On Thursday and Friday, suicide bombers from the Islamist sect slew dozens of people in attacks on Maiduguri in northeast Nigeria, where the radical movement first emerged. The insurgency has claimed at least 17,000 lives since 2009.
Cameroon, Chad and Niger, which all have borders with Nigeria in the Lake Chad region, have formed a military alliance with Nigeria and Benin to battle the extremists, who this year declared allegiance to the Islamic State.
Nigeria’s neighbours have each been hit by bombers, often women or adolescent girls, who detonate their devices in crowded places such as open markets. Bans on concealing clothes, searches and close scrutiny have prevented some attacks, but others come without warning.
National intelligence services are historically best known for monitoring the activities of the domestic opposition, rather than tackling threats from the likes of Boko Haram, whose violence has uprooted about 2.5 million people.
Heads of state in the Lake Chad region have several times pleaded for international assistance to the multinational task force created this year to take the war to the enemy.
France already provides some forms of intelligence. Paris has deployed a strong military presence on the ground, including Operation Barkhane, with its headquarters in the Chadian capital N’Djamena, set up to fight jihadists in the Sahel.
– ‘Stay until no longer needed’ –
Last year, Washington provided Nigeria with intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance expertise in the hunt for more than 200 schoolgirls abducted by Boko Haram from their school.
Analysts have seen alleged military abuses such as arbitrary detention of Boko Haram suspects in both Nigeria and Cameroon as having hit their ability to gather on-the-ground intelligence from civilians.
The US meanwhile has reservations about selling arms to Nigeria over concerns of rights violations by its military.
The US military is also active in Niger, where it uses drones to watch over the broad strip of Sahel territory on the southern side of the Sahara. The pilotless aircraft will now also be monitoring Boko Haram.
The first 90 men out of 300 US soldiers arrived on Monday in Cameroon, where they will be stationed at the northern town of Garoua, which is already a base for the Cameroonian air force to fly sorties to bomb Boko Haram infiltrators.
“It will be part of a broader regional effort to stop the spread of Boko Haram and other violent extremist organisations in West Africa,” White House spokesman Josh Earnest said Wednesday.
The US forces will carry out surveillance and airborne reconnaissance activities, with intelligence duties, but will not take part in combat, Earnest added.
When President Barack Obama announced the move to Congress on Wednesday, his aide stressed that the deployment did not arise from a big change of strategy on Washington’s part.
But in Cameroon, a senior army officer who asked not to be named said that the arrival of US troops “marks a development” on the ground.
Until now, US assistance was limited to training, notably in tackling mines and defusing explosives carried by would-be suicide bombers, the officer said. The United States has military training agreements with several African countries.
“This announcement in fact marks a development in the type of support given to Cameroon by the Americans,” the officer said, particularly since there is no time limit on the mission.
The troops will stay “until their support is no longer needed”, Obama said in his letter to the leaders of both houses of Congress.
Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari, who made the struggle against Boko Haram a priority as soon as he took up office in May, has given the armed forces until the end of the year to crush the Islamist movement.
On Wednesday, Buhari said the military was “well-positioned to meet the December deadline which they have been given”.
Campaigns by the armies of the region since the beginning of 2015 have taken back most of the territory held by the insurgents.
But Boko Haram maintains strongholds in areas that are difficult to access, such as the Sambisa forest, the Mandara mountains and the numerous islands of Lake Chad, where it will call for lengthy military operations to rout the Islamists.
https://www.today.ng/news/25557/us-steps-up-intelligence-aid-to-fight-against-boko-haram/

The Rivers State Chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, has described the defense of former Governor Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi’s ministerial nomination by the All Progressives Congress, APC, as baseless.
The PDP State Chairman, Bro Felix Obuah said the APC in an attempt to protect the embattled former Governor amounts to glorifying corruption.
According to Bro Obuah, with the historic woeful defeat of the APC in the State, which it ran to total bankruptcy and near collapse notwithstanding the huge internally generated revenue and accruements from the federal allocations, it is commonsense to fathom why they insist in remaining in office to cover up their loots.
Failure to do so explains why the APC in the State and those strangers who assisted in the looting spree, are wrapped in total confusion that is ravaging the party, leaving their members disorientated as being expressed in hollow press statements and ranting.
“Amaechi wouldn’t in anyway be an asset to President Muhammadu Buhari and lacks the integrity and morality to speak for Rivers people”, Obuah revealed.
According to the State Chairman of the PDP, Amaechi’s record of betrayal is evident and available and need not be repeated that he cannot in anyway be an asset to President Buhari.
https://www.today.ng/politics/25561/attempt-to-protect-amaechi-amounts-to-glorifying-corruption-pdp-tells-apc/

A Ghanaian government delegation is holding emergency talks in Nigeria to avert a drastic gas supply cut threat, a government spokesman said, thus avoiding a potential political crisis.
The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation said it will cut gas supply by 70 per cent to Ghana’s main power generation company by Friday due to unpaid debts of $181 million. Ghana already suffers power shortages and Nigerian gas meets about 25 percent of its needs.
“They are already in Nigeria. They left Ghana last night. We are praying that they are able to negotiate … so that it doesn’t come to a cut in supply,” a spokesman for the power ministry told Joy FM radio on Thursday.
Power cuts have raised the cost of doing business and angered voters at a sensitive time for President John Mahama’s government ahead of what is expected to be a tough re-election battle next year.
Mahama has vowed to end the power cuts by the start of next year and the minister for power has said he would resign if the problem has not been fixed by then.
The government’s room for manoeuvre is limited, however, under the terms of an aid programme with the International Monetary Fund it is following to restore balance to its economy.
Ghana was for years one of Africa’s economic stars but falling global commodity prices have blunted the value of its gold, cocoa and oil exports.
Its fiscal problems include inflation of up to 17.4 percent in September, a currency that has fallen sharply in the last two years and a debt-to-GDP ratio of around 70 percent with what economists say are high debt service costs.
The Nigerian threat is a sign of budgetary stress and the strain of energy sector reform in Ghana, experts said.
“It is extremely embarrassing for the government. It touches on credibility … Every investor will be looking at that and saying, ‘Is this a country to do business in?’” Ben Boakye of the Africa Centre for Energy Policy think tank told Reuters.
Nigerian gas flows to Ghana through the West African Gas Pipeline Company’s pipe that runs via Benin and Togo. VRA buys the gas to fire power plants mainly in the east of the country.
Hydro supplies around 50 percent of Ghana’s power with the rest from its own gas and other sources.
The power crisis stems from a fall in supply from Ghana’s dams, government underpayment to the Electricity Company of Ghana, residents’ illegal consumption and tariffs too low for VRA to recoup its costs.
https://www.today.ng/news/24975/ghana-delegation-begs-nigeria-not-to-cut-off-gas-supply/

The Vice President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, SAN, has assured that no corrupt person will be spared by the government of President Muhammadu Buhari in the fight against corruption, stressing that Nigerians would like the rules to be enforced as long as it is not enforced on them.
The Vice President made this known yesterday at Day Two of the ongoing 21st National Economic Summit in Abuja on the topic: “Reforming Public Institutions to Ensure Competitiveness And Accountability” in Abuja.
“There is always a sense that it is someone else that will effect this desired change. I think we must be one in deciding in this country that we want a change,” he said, regretting that ethnic and religious considerations and interpretations attributed to the fight, saying it clogged the wheel of justice.
Osinbajo further pointed out that, “If we pick up somebody here and want to try him, I know how many calls I will get from people in this room. I’ve had the experience in public service and I don’t mind being the tough guy. I’ve sacked people that needed to be sacked. So there are no sacred cows, the rules will be applied anyway.”
While expressing the view that it was possible to achieve the reform of the nation’s public institutions against any known cynicisms or challenges, he said: ‘’I think that an important message which we have taken from this discussion, is that it is entirely possible to reform our public institutions, to turn our country around. I perfectly have no doubt in my mind about that”.
The Vice President also charged the elites in the country, including the participants at the event to play a more significant role in attaining such a national objective, especially in upholding existing rules and regulations.
Talking from his previous public service experience as former Attorney-General of Lagos State, he said: ‘’I find that everybody will like the rules to be applied so long as it will not apply to himself. We can’t apply the rules except we apply the rules to all of us; there should be no sacred cows.”
Osinbajo noted that the reform of public institutions was critical for efficient and transparent use of public resources as well as sustainable delivery of public goods at national and sub-national levels.
He further disclosed that Government was embarking on the reform of public institutions with the fundamental objective to enhance their capacity and capability effectively and efficiently in response to the needs and demands of the citizens.
He went on to state that, ”the key element of our institutional reform agenda, first is transparency and accountability. The whole idea is participatory governance, checks and balances which invariably will ensure policies and outputs of public institutions response to the needs and wants of citizens.”
The specific reform agenda currently being implemented by the Federal Government, according to the Vice President were focused at achieving fiscal discipline, revenue diversification and efficient collection of government revenue.
Some of the on-going specific initiatives outlined by Osinbajo include the Treasury Single Account, TSA, Integrated Personnel Payroll Information System, IPPIS, Government Integrated Financial Management Information System, GIFMIS, adoption of zero-based budgeting, bottom-up economic planning model, the Anti-Corruption Committee and capacity building for public servants.
https://www.today.ng/news/24923/no-corrupt-person-will-be-spared-in-anti-graft-war-osinbajo/

France says it has granted 170 million dollars aimed at increasing the power supply for the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).
The French Ambassador to Nigeria, Mr Denys Gauer announced this on Thursday in Abuja in a remark at the Nigeria Alternative Energy Expo 2015.
Represented by Mr Georges Vanin, First Counsellor, Political Affairs and Communication, Embassy of France, Abuj, the ambassador said the power sector was one of the three priority sectors identified by the French Development Agency (AFD) in its 2014-2016 strategy in Nigeria.
“The AFD is contributing to the development of the electricity transportation network by supporting the public company Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN).
“On the occasion of a first project aiming at increasing the power supply for the Federal Capital city, Abuja, the AFD has granted 170 million of dollars to the Federal Government in 2013.
“This project is on-going. A second one is being considered for 2016,” he said.
He explained that Nigeria was one of the first African countries targeted by the Sustainable Energy for All initiative.
“In September, Nigeria has indeed presented its objectives and plan of action for this initiative.
“The federal government has declared the access to power as its first development priority and has asked the AFD to play a role in addressing this challenge, especially in terms of transporting electricity.
“The AFD is willing to improve the efficiency of the private supply networks through a 150 million U.S. Dollars soft credit facility granted to two local banks.
“The credit facility is under final assessment by AFD for funding Distribution Companies investments.”
According to him, in addition, AFD is working on another 150 million dollars credit facility to support the private sector initiatives in favour of clean and renewable energy.
“This model of credit facility, called SUNREF, has been very successful in East Africa.
“I have no doubt that it will also be a success in Nigeria where the private sector is pro-active,” he said.
The envoy said AFD was also willing to support the reform of vocational training in the power sector through financing the National Power Training Institute of Nigeria (NAPTIN).
He identified the lack of labour force and qualified technicians as an obstacle to the success of the power sector reform.
Gauer, however, said NAPTIN was now keen to change its culture and governance models in order to satisfy needs of training from private and public operators.
He said the AFD Group would continue to be active in three key sections of the Nigerian power sector, namely, production, transmission and distribution.
https://www.today.ng/news/25055/france-grants-170m-for-improved-power-supply-in-fct/

Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho has described his £50,000 Football Association fine as a “disgrace”.
Mourinho was given the fine, and a one-match suspended stadium ban, on Wednesday evening after accepting a misconduct charge from the FA in relation to post-match media comments he made in the wake of the 3-1 loss to Southampton on October 3.
But, speaking at Waterstones Piccadilly to promote his book MOURINHO, he expressed his displeasure at the punishment he has received.
“I’m happy that I don’t have an electronic tag,” said the Chelsea boss. “£50,000 is a disgrace. The possibility of getting a stadium ban is astonishing.”
Mourinho felt aggrieved Arsene Wenger went unpunished for calling referee Mike Dean “weak” and “naive” following Arsenal’s defeat to Chelsea last month.
Yet Mourinho was sanctioned for his criticism of Robert Madley, the official in the loss to Southampton. After the match, Mourinho claimed that “referees are afraid to give decisions for Chelsea”.

full story...
https://www.today.ng/sport/25093/mourinho-says-fa-fine-is-a-disgrace/

The Governorship Election Tribunal sitting in Kaduna, Thursday, upheld Governor Nasir El-Rufai’s election.
The All Progressive Grand Alliance governorship candidate, Polycarp Danladi Gankon, had, on May 28, 2015, petitioned the court seeking the cancellation of the results and nullification of El-Rufai’s election.
But in the judgement which took over six hours , the Chairman of the tribunal, A.A. Adebara dismissed the case of APGA governorship candidate for lack of evidence and failure to provide proof to substantiate the issue of exaggerated election results brought before the tribunal.

full story...
https://www.today.ng/politics/25099/tribunal-upholds-el-rufais-election/

It seems President Muhammadu Buhari is in love with lawyers if the numbers of lawyers in his proposed cabinet is anything to go by. At the last count about nine lawyers have been nominated by President Buhari for confirmation as by the Senate as Ministers of the Government of the Federation.
This is the first time in the political history of the country that there will ten lawyers in the highest hierarchy and the Cabinet is packed full with top class lawyers such as Raji Babatunde Fashola, SAN; Abubukar Malami, SAN; Ocholi James, SAN; Adebayo Shittu; Senator Aisha Al-Hassan; Jeffrey Onyema, a top class intellectual Property Lawyer; Dr Emmanuel Ibe Kachukwu, a first class investment and corporate lawyer; Oxford trained Senator Udoma Udo Udoma; Senator Heineken Lokpobiri; and Lai Mohammed.
These are well tested professionals and managers! It is beyond dispute now that the discipline of law has the largest representation in the forthcoming cabinet! It is also worthy to note that the Vice President, Yemi Osibanjo, SAN, is another top lawyer and academic!

read more.....
https://www.today.ng/blog/24697/president-buharis-cabinet-of-lawyers/

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has urged President Muhammadu Buhari and the All Progressives Congress (APC)-led administration to ensure that the conduct of free, fair credible governorship elections in the Kogi and Bayelsa governorship elections.
The party said it was summoning a meeting of the National Executive Committee (NEC) on Thursday to deliberate on keys issues of concern to it.
Also, the leadership of PDP used the occasion to announce the postponement of the flag-off of the Kogi State governorship election campaign scheduled for tomorrow has being postponed due to security reasons.
Also the party said it was postponing the take- off of the campaign for the governorship election in Bayelsa State because the state is still mourning the death of the former Governor, DSP Alamieyesegha who died last weekend.
Although the agenda of their meeting was not made known, the governors elected on the platform of the PDP said they would be meeting later tonight to deliberate on important issues.
Speaking while inaugurating the PDP Campaign Committees for the forthcoming Kogi and Bayelsa governorship elections, the Acting National Chairman of the party, Chief Uche Secondus, said it has become pertinent to urge the APC-led administration led by President Buhari following the high standards PDP set at the last general election.
He said the party was making the demand for credible poll knowing that the two states firmly belongs to it and that the people will vote massively for the PDP.
Uche Secondus said the NWC has introduced a new standard by including more women and youths in the campaign committee.

read more...
https://www.today.ng/sport/24561/pdp-charges-buhari-apc-to-ensure-free-fair-polls-in-kogi-bayelsa/

Nigeria’s Under-23 coach Samsons Siasia has cried out that his plans are being frustrated by local clubs refusal to release their players for preparation.
The Dream Team VI will take part in the African under-23 championship in Senegal in November. The championship will also serve as a qualifier for the Rio 2016 Olympic games as the top three teams would fly Africa’s flag in Brazil.
Siasia lamented that only 10 players have reported to camp as that yesterday despite inviting 30 players in total.
A frustrated Siasia complained to reporters last night in Abuja that his programme was being hampered by local clubs who have refused to free their players for national duty apparently because of the crucial stage of the Glo Premier League.
“Our preparations for the African Under-23 Championship are being compromised because of the refusal of clubs to release the players invited to camp. I am not impressed at all because our chances of qualifying for Rio 2016 now look dicey. You can’t expect us to qualify at the expense of other teams that have emphasised on good preparation. Those days are over,” Siasia fumed.
He pleaded with the club sides to release the players in question, promising that he would ensure they are allowed to leave camp to play league fixtures for their clubs during the week.
https://www.today.ng/sport/24530/siasia-laments-clubs-refusal-to-release-players/

The National Assembly Petition Tribunal in Ilorin has affirmed the election of Dr Bukola Saraki as a senator representing Kwara Central.
The Chairman of the tribunal, Justice Josiah Majebi, upheld Saraki’s election when he delivered judgment in the petition filed by Alhaji Abdulrahman Abdulrasaq of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) on Tuesday.
Abdulrasaq had challenged the victory of Saraki in the March 28 election.
The tribunal also upheld the election of Sen. Rafiu Ibrahim as duly elected to senator for Kwara South.
The petitioner, Lola Ashiru, had challenged the victory of Ibrahim in the March 28 polls.
Majebi, in the judgment, held that Abdulrasaq had failed to prove the reliefs sought against Saraki and also failed to prove that he scored the highest number of votes cast in the election.
He also agreed with Saraki’s counsel that the petition was incompetent as it was filed outside the stipulated 21 days allowed by the Electoral Act 2010.
The tribunal said the tribunal lacked jurisdiction to hear the petition based on the fact that it was filed out of time.
He, however, said the tribunal went ahead to look at the grounds of appeal and merit of the matter.
Majebi noted that the oral evidences of four witnesses called by the petitioner failed to proof the case beyond doubt.
He said that the evidences of the two witnesses were “mere hearsay’’ as the first witness failed to identify the polling units where over voting took place, declaring the hearsay as mere speculative.
He said that the Forensic expert called by the petitioner also failed to demonstrate any academic qualification on Forensic Science.
Majebi said the witness did not demonstrate any knowledge relating to election expertise.
He held that oral evidences adduced by the three witnesses rendered all the documents tendered in evidence useless.
The chairman held that witnesses have failed to prove the petitioner’s case in identifying polling units, wards where multiple thumb printing took place and identify INEC officials that perpetrated the malpractices.
Majebi held that the tribunal was convinced that Saraki scored the highest number of valid votes cast in the election, and therefore, upheld the election.
On Ashiru’s petition, the tribunal also agreed with the first Respondent counsel that the petition was filed out of time.
He said that evidence before the tribunal revealed that election results were signed on March 28 and not March 29, while the petition was filed on April 19.
Majebi declared that claims of irregularities, ballot stuffing and over voting, ballot snatching were based on hearsay through telephone calls and radio reports.
He held that the petitioner had failed to prove the case of over voting, ballot snatching and stuffing.
The tribunal, therefore, dismissed the petition against Ibrahim of the APC as incompetent.
Speaking with journalists after the judgment, Personal Assistant (PA) to PDP Senatorial candidate, Alhaji Abdulrasaq said his principal would surely contest the judgment at the Court of Appeal.
https://www.today.ng/politics/24358/tribunal-affirms-sen-sarakis-elections-in-kwara/

The National and State Assembly Election Petition Tribunal in Umuahia has dismissed the petition against the election of Senator Theodore Orji for Abia Central senatorial zone.
A member of the tribunal, Justice Imeh Umannah, while delivering judgment in the petition filed by the candidate of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), Chief Ahamdi Nweke, said that the tribunal upheld the preliminary objections raised by Orji of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP).
Umannah explained that the petition was incompetent, considering that Nweke failed to provide the scores polled by him and the respondent during the election.
He further said that the petitioner did not specify the wards and units where there were substantial irregularities, corrupt practices and non-compliance with the cited sections of the Electoral Act.
Consequently, the tribunal dismissed the petition for lack of competence and affirmed Orji’s election.
In a related development, the tribunal also upheld the election of Chief Sam Onuigbo also of the PDP, for Ikwuano/Umuahia North and Umuahia South Federal Constituency.
The tribunal Chairman, Justice Adeniyi Onigbanjo, who read the judgment, said that the petitioner, Chief Collins Onyeama (APGA), failed to prove the allegation of non-compliance.
Onigbanjo further said that Onyeama could not tender evidence to prove his allegations of mutilation and alterations of the result sheets.
He said that the tribunal relied on the certified true copies of the result sheets tendered by the Independent National Electoral Commission.
This, he said, was because the petitioner could not prove beyond reasonable doubt that the pink copy of the result was issued to him by the commission.
The tribunal also discountenanced the petitioner’s allegation that fictitious results were produced in areas where election did not take place for lack of evidence.
The tribunal upheld the election of Onuigbo, saying that it complied with the sections of the Electoral Act.
The tribunal declared the result of Arochukwu State Constituency inconclusive and ordered a rerun in 25 units in the area.
A member of the tribunal, Justice Bello Tukur, who read the judgment in the petition filed by Mr Chijioke Okoro (PDP) against the election of Mr Luke Okara (APGA), said that the petitioner proved beyond reasonable doubt that election did not take place in those units.

read more...
https://www.today.ng/politics/24618/tribunal-upholds-sen-ta-orjis-election/