₦airaland Forum

Absolutely correct

A man who saw his new wife for the first time without make up is reportedly SUING her for trauma, after being shocked at her appearance.

The unnamed couple had just got married in Algeria and after spending the night together, the husband woke up to find his wife bare faced.

But rather than admire her natural beauty, instead the man REFUSED to believe the woman was his wife, believing her to be a thief.

Finally realising that this was in fact the woman he loved, the man is now allegedly suing her for fraud and “psychological suffering”.

A source told Emirates 247: “He said he was deceived by her as she used to fill up her face with make up before their marriage.

“He said she looked very beautiful and attractive before marriage, but when he woke up in the morning and found that she had washed the make-up off her face, he was frightened as he thought she was a thief.”

The price of the husband’s “suffering” is £13,000.

http://news.yahoo.com/groom-sues-new-wife-for-fraud-after-seeing-her-075109260.html

Analysis: The most dangerous nuclear nations are the U.S. and Russia, the ones with nearly all of the weapons.



“Every man, woman and child lives under a nuclear sword of Damocles, hanging by the slenderest of threads, capable of being cut at any moment by accident or miscalculation or by madness.” — President John F. Kennedy

Seventy years after the first atomic explosion lit up the New Mexican desert and nearly 25 years after the collapse of the Soviet Union, both Russia and the United States retain nuclear postures from the darkest days of their rivalry. There are almost 16,000 nuclear weapons still in the world today, and the U.S. and Russia possess 94 percent of them. Worse, 1,800 of these Russian and American weapons sit atop missiles on hair-trigger alert, ready to launch on a few minutes notice.

Few people are even aware of these dangers. Most have forgotten about the weapons. They think the only nuclear threat is the chance that Iran might get a bomb. Or that plans are in place that effectively prevent or contain nuclear threats. They are wrong. On any given day, we could wake up to a crisis that threatens our country, our region, our very planet.

There is good news. The size of these arsenals has decreased dramatically in the last 30 years. When Ronald Reagan and Leonid Brezhnev squared off in the 1980s, pouring new nuclear missiles into Europe, there were more than 70,000 nuclear weapons in the world. Mass protests and the wisdom of Reagan and his negotiating partner Mikhail Gorbachev, who succeeded Brezhnev as the head of the Soviet Union, led to arms control treaties that slashed arsenals by 50 percent.

The restraint of the two nuclear superpowers rippled to other nuclear aspirants. More countries gave up nuclear weapons or nuclear weapons programs in the past 30 years than tried to get them. And these were tough cases, including Brazil, Argentina, South Africa, the nuclear successor states to the Soviet Union: Belarus, Ukraine and Kazakhstan, and Iraq and Libya.

In turn, the American and Russian arsenals were cut 50 percent further under Presidents George H.W. Bush and George W. Bush. President Barack Obama, early in his term, trimmed them a bit more. And the entire interlocking network of global treaties and security arrangements has gone a long way to providing tougher inspections, more rigorous export controls on nuclear technologies, better security over “loose nukes” and nuclear materials, and more formidable barriers to new states getting weapons.



Indeed, while people talk of “states like Iran and North Korea,” there actually are no states like Iran and North Korea. Apart from the eight countries with established programs there are no other governments racing to get the capability to build nuclear weapons.

And here, there is more good news. The nuclear agreement with Iran is a major step in stopping the spread of nuclear weapons. If we can contain North Korea’s program, or strike a similar deal, it then becomes possible to talk about the end of the wave of proliferation that began 70 years ago. Global intelligence officials are clear: There is no other nation looming on the new-nuclear-state horizon.

Even as proliferation risks decrease, however, the risks of accident, miscalculation or intentional use of one of the existing nuclear weapons is unacceptably high. Indeed, since the end of the Cold War, we have come closer to Armageddon than many realize.

In January 1995, a global nuclear war almost started by mistake. Russian military officials mistook a Norwegian weather rocket for a U.S. submarine-launched ballistic missile. Boris Yeltsin’s senior military officials told him that Russia was under attack and that he had to launch hundreds of nuclear-tipped missiles at America. He became the first Russian president to ever have the “nuclear suitcase” opened in front of him. But Yeltsin trusted U.S. officials, and he was confident that there was no hidden crisis that might prompt a surprise attack by the U.S. With just a few minutes to decide, Yelstin concluded that his radars were in error. The suitcase was closed.

American nuclear weapons, too, have often come within a hair’s breadth of detonation.

In 1958, a B-47 crew accidentally dropped an H-bomb that exploded near Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. Luckily, only the weapon’s conventional explosives detonated, but the crater can still be seen.

In 1961, a B-52 carrying two armed weapons broke apart over Goldsboro, North Carolina. Two bombs dropped from the bomb bay. One bomb’s parachute deployed and carried it safely to the ground. The other fell all the way down. All of the weapon's safety mechanisms failed, save one. A single low-voltage switch, the technical equivalent of a light switch, prevented a hydrogen bomb from destroying a good portion of North Carolina.



As the numbers and deployment of U.S. nuclear weapons declined, accidents also decreased, but they did not end. In 2007, a B-52 flew from Minot Air Force Base in North Dakota to Barksdale Air Force Base in Louisiana, carrying 12 cruise missiles on its wings. Unbeknownst to the crew, six of the cruise missiles were armed with nuclear warheads.

The missiles traveled across the nation and spent the night sitting on the tarmac guarded by just a few security officers and a barbed wire fence before their true nature was discovered. The really bad news? No one at Minot ever noticed that they had gone missing.

One has to be a true optimist to believe that we can leave 16,000 nuclear bombs in fallible human hands indefinitely and nothing will go wrong.

It could get worse. The world’s nuclear weapons are aging. Bombs, like cars, wear out and eventually have to be replaced. We are now in a generational transition, when the weapons built during the terrifying Cold War rivalry of the 1980’s are ready for retirement. This could be a good time for Russia, the United States and other nations to close down these obsolete arsenals and save billions of dollars.

Instead, the nuclear nations are raiding their treasuries to build an entire new generation of the deadliest weapons ever invented. As Hans Kristensen and Robert Norris point out, “nuclear nations have undertaken ambitious nuclear weapon modernization programs that threaten to prolong the nuclear era indefinitely… New or improved nuclear weapon programs underway worldwide include at least 27 ballistic missiles, nine cruise missiles, eight naval vessels, five bombers, eight warheads, and eight weapons factories.”

The world doesn’t need more nuclear weapons. Russia currently has the largest nuclear arsenal, with a total of approximately 7,500 warheads. The United States is second, with roughly 7,100 warheads. Other nuclear weapons states have far fewer. France possesses 300, China 260, and Great Britain, 225. Pakistan has about 120 weapons and India 110. Although Israel has never acknowledged its nuclear weapons stockpile, it is estimated to have nearly 80 weapons. North Korea has enough material for less than 10 bombs but has not deployed any.


Current global nuclear arsenal
Country Warheads
Russia 7500
U.S. 7100
France 300
China 260
Great Britain 225
Pakistan 120
India 110
Israel 80
North Korea <10



Nuclear weapons are not cheap. According to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office, U.S. nuclear weapons spending alone is estimated to reach $348 billion over the next decade, while arms control experts estimate that it could reach up to $1 trillion over the next 30 years. Russia is also increasing the role of nuclear weapons in its strategy. But why?

It is difficult to think of a military combat mission that requires the use of even one nuclear bomb. There has not been one in 70 years. Perhaps there is a mission that might someday require one bomb. Or ten. Or an arsenal of 500. But the United States has 7,000. This is beyond all logic and military need. Clinging to these obsolete weapons is a vestige of Cold War thinking propped up by contracts and the desire of those with nuclear bases to keep the few thousand jobs they provide. Pandering to these parochial motives and flawed strategies risks catastrophes whose financial and human costs dwarf any conceivable benefits.

Pope Francis told a conference on nuclear threats in Vienna this year that “spending on nuclear weapons squanders the wealth of nations.” He questioned the morality of maintaining these huge arsenals for any purpose. These horrific weapons, he said, must be “banned once and for all.”

Seventy years after it was born on the sands of Alamogordo, there is a growing global sense that it is time to retire the Bomb.
http://america.aljazeera.com/articles/2015/8/4/the-real-nuclear-danger-doesnt-come-from-iran-or-north-korea.html

Analysis: The most dangerous nuclear nations are the U.S. and Russia, the ones with nearly all of the weapons.



“Every man, woman and child lives under a nuclear sword of Damocles, hanging by the slenderest of threads, capable of being cut at any moment by accident or miscalculation or by madness.” — President John F. Kennedy

Seventy years after the first atomic explosion lit up the New Mexican desert and nearly 25 years after the collapse of the Soviet Union, both Russia and the United States retain nuclear postures from the darkest days of their rivalry. There are almost 16,000 nuclear weapons still in the world today, and the U.S. and Russia possess 94 percent of them. Worse, 1,800 of these Russian and American weapons sit atop missiles on hair-trigger alert, ready to launch on a few minutes notice.

Few people are even aware of these dangers. Most have forgotten about the weapons. They think the only nuclear threat is the chance that Iran might get a bomb. Or that plans are in place that effectively prevent or contain nuclear threats. They are wrong. On any given day, we could wake up to a crisis that threatens our country, our region, our very planet.

There is good news. The size of these arsenals has decreased dramatically in the last 30 years. When Ronald Reagan and Leonid Brezhnev squared off in the 1980s, pouring new nuclear missiles into Europe, there were more than 70,000 nuclear weapons in the world. Mass protests and the wisdom of Reagan and his negotiating partner Mikhail Gorbachev, who succeeded Brezhnev as the head of the Soviet Union, led to arms control treaties that slashed arsenals by 50 percent.

The restraint of the two nuclear superpowers rippled to other nuclear aspirants. More countries gave up nuclear weapons or nuclear weapons programs in the past 30 years than tried to get them. And these were tough cases, including Brazil, Argentina, South Africa, the nuclear successor states to the Soviet Union: Belarus, Ukraine and Kazakhstan, and Iraq and Libya.

In turn, the American and Russian arsenals were cut 50 percent further under Presidents George H.W. Bush and George W. Bush. President Barack Obama, early in his term, trimmed them a bit more. And the entire interlocking network of global treaties and security arrangements has gone a long way to providing tougher inspections, more rigorous export controls on nuclear technologies, better security over “loose nukes” and nuclear materials, and more formidable barriers to new states getting weapons.



Indeed, while people talk of “states like Iran and North Korea,” there actually are no states like Iran and North Korea. Apart from the eight countries with established programs there are no other governments racing to get the capability to build nuclear weapons.

And here, there is more good news. The nuclear agreement with Iran is a major step in stopping the spread of nuclear weapons. If we can contain North Korea’s program, or strike a similar deal, it then becomes possible to talk about the end of the wave of proliferation that began 70 years ago. Global intelligence officials are clear: There is no other nation looming on the new-nuclear-state horizon.

Even as proliferation risks decrease, however, the risks of accident, miscalculation or intentional use of one of the existing nuclear weapons is unacceptably high. Indeed, since the end of the Cold War, we have come closer to Armageddon than many realize.

In January 1995, a global nuclear war almost started by mistake. Russian military officials mistook a Norwegian weather rocket for a U.S. submarine-launched ballistic missile. Boris Yeltsin’s senior military officials told him that Russia was under attack and that he had to launch hundreds of nuclear-tipped missiles at America. He became the first Russian president to ever have the “nuclear suitcase” opened in front of him. But Yeltsin trusted U.S. officials, and he was confident that there was no hidden crisis that might prompt a surprise attack by the U.S. With just a few minutes to decide, Yelstin concluded that his radars were in error. The suitcase was closed.

American nuclear weapons, too, have often come within a hair’s breadth of detonation.

In 1958, a B-47 crew accidentally dropped an H-bomb that exploded near Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. Luckily, only the weapon’s conventional explosives detonated, but the crater can still be seen.

In 1961, a B-52 carrying two armed weapons broke apart over Goldsboro, North Carolina. Two bombs dropped from the bomb bay. One bomb’s parachute deployed and carried it safely to the ground. The other fell all the way down. All of the weapon's safety mechanisms failed, save one. A single low-voltage switch, the technical equivalent of a light switch, prevented a hydrogen bomb from destroying a good portion of North Carolina.



As the numbers and deployment of U.S. nuclear weapons declined, accidents also decreased, but they did not end. In 2007, a B-52 flew from Minot Air Force Base in North Dakota to Barksdale Air Force Base in Louisiana, carrying 12 cruise missiles on its wings. Unbeknownst to the crew, six of the cruise missiles were armed with nuclear warheads.

The missiles traveled across the nation and spent the night sitting on the tarmac guarded by just a few security officers and a barbed wire fence before their true nature was discovered. The really bad news? No one at Minot ever noticed that they had gone missing.

One has to be a true optimist to believe that we can leave 16,000 nuclear bombs in fallible human hands indefinitely and nothing will go wrong.

It could get worse. The world’s nuclear weapons are aging. Bombs, like cars, wear out and eventually have to be replaced. We are now in a generational transition, when the weapons built during the terrifying Cold War rivalry of the 1980’s are ready for retirement. This could be a good time for Russia, the United States and other nations to close down these obsolete arsenals and save billions of dollars.

Instead, the nuclear nations are raiding their treasuries to build an entire new generation of the deadliest weapons ever invented. As Hans Kristensen and Robert Norris point out, “nuclear nations have undertaken ambitious nuclear weapon modernization programs that threaten to prolong the nuclear era indefinitely… New or improved nuclear weapon programs underway worldwide include at least 27 ballistic missiles, nine cruise missiles, eight naval vessels, five bombers, eight warheads, and eight weapons factories.”

The world doesn’t need more nuclear weapons. Russia currently has the largest nuclear arsenal, with a total of approximately 7,500 warheads. The United States is second, with roughly 7,100 warheads. Other nuclear weapons states have far fewer. France possesses 300, China 260, and Great Britain, 225. Pakistan has about 120 weapons and India 110. Although Israel has never acknowledged its nuclear weapons stockpile, it is estimated to have nearly 80 weapons. North Korea has enough material for less than 10 bombs but has not deployed any.


Current global nuclear arsenal
Country Warheads
Russia 7500
U.S. 7100
France 300
China 260
Great Britain 225
Pakistan 120
India 110
Israel 80
North Korea <10

The Redeemed Christian Church of God has announced the retirement of 20 senior pastors who have attained the retirement age of 70. The announcement was made at the conclusion of this year’s ministers conference.

Six of the pastors received awards for Excellence while 14 others bagged award for Fruitfulness. They also got a plaque and some undisclosed amount of money for their meritorious service.

Similarly, the church gave Long Service award to some of its pastors who have put in 20 years and more years to the work of God. Pastor Boniface Okenwa, a regional pastor was among the beneficiaries.

During the church’s convention, which kicks off today, 9,170 deacons and deaconesses will be ordained by the General Overseer of the church, Pastor E.A. Adeboye.

Meanwhile, Adeboye has advised his pastors not to break their fast with solid food. He told them that pap is best for breaking fast, noting that, it takes a while for the body to begin to absorb solid food.

The advise may not be unconnected with the incident of breakdown of some pastors who had consumed solid food after fasting for days.

The actor who recently got married to a young bride, Taiwo Hassan, died on Friday, July 31st, 2015 in his residence at Oko-Oba, Agege, Lagos, following injuries he sustained from a motorcycle (okada) accident two weeks ago.

His death was confirmed to E24-7 MAGAZINE by the President of The Golden Movie Ambassadors (TGMA), Saidi Balogun. In his tribute to the deceased, Saidi told E24-7 MAGAZINE, “Ajigi Jaga’s death is a big loss to the movie industry, especially to members of The Golden Movie Ambassadors. Just last week, he called me to explain why he couldn’t attend our last monthly meeting. I can recall that he mentioned that his absence was due to injuries he sustained in a motor-bike accident about two weeks ago. I was shocked this morning to get a call from one of his children that he has passed on. We shall miss his useful contributions to discussions on how to move the movie industry forward and instil discipline and professionalism in our members. May his soul rest in peace.”

May his soul rest in peace.

My Fathers Words To Me About Marriage

1. My son, if you keep spending on a woman and she never asked you if you’re saving or investing, and she keeps enjoying the attention, don’t marry her.

2. My son, a woman could be a good wife to you, some could be a good mother to your children but if you’ve found a woman like a mother to you, your children and your family, please don’t let her go.

3. My son, don’t confine the position of your wife to the kitchen, where did you get that from? Even in our days, we had farm-lands where they worked every morning . . . that was our office.

4. My son, if I tell you that you’re the head of the house, don’t look at your pocket; look if you will see a smile on your wife’s
face.

5. My son, if you want to have a long life, let your wife be in-charge of your salary, it will be difficult for her to spend it when she’s aware of the home needs and bills to pay but if it’s in your care, she will keep you asking even when all has been spent.

6. My son, don’t ever beat your woman, the pain in her body is nothing to be compared to the wound on her heart and that means you may be in trouble living with a wounded woman.

7. My son, now that you’re married, if you live a bachelor kind of life with your wife, you will soon be single again.

8. My son, in our days, we had many wives and many children because of our large farm-lands and many harvests, there are hardly any land for farming anymore, so embrace your woman closely.

9. My son, under the cocoa tree that I did meet your mother could be your eateries and restaurants of nowadays, but remember, the closet thing we did there was to embrace each other.

10. My son, don’t be carried away when you start making more money, instead of spending on those tiny legs that never knew how hard you worked to get it, spend it on that woman that stood by you all along.

11. My son, when I threw little stones or whistled at the window of your mother father’s house, to call her out, it was not for sex, it was because I missed her so much.

12. My son, remember, when you say your wife has changed, there could be something you’ve stopped doing too.

13. My son, your mother, Asake rode the bicycle with me before I bought that tortoise car outside there, any woman that won’t endure with you in your little beginning should not enjoy your riches.

14. My son, don’t compare your wife to any woman, there are ways she’s enduring you too and has she ever compared you to any man?

15. My son, there is this thing you people call feminism, well, if a woman claim to have equal right with you in the house, divide all the bills into two equal parts, take one part and ask her to start paying the other part.

16. My son, I met your mother a virgin and I took more yams to her father, if you don’t meet your wife a virgin, don’t blame her, what I didn’t tell you is that our women had prestige.

17. My son, I didn’t send your sisters to school because I was foolish like many to think a female child won’t extend my family name, please don’t make that mistake, the kind of female achievers I see nowadays has made the male-gender an ordinary tag.

18. My son, your mother have once locked up the cloth I was wearing and almost tore it because she was angry, I did not raise my hand to beat her because of a day like this, so that I can be proud to tell you that I never for once beat your mother.


19. My son, in our days, our women had more of natural beauty, though I wouldn’t lie to you, some had minor painting of their appellation mostly on their arms, the ones you people now call tattoo, but don’t forget that they didn’t expose any part of their body like your women of nowadays.

20. My son, your mother and I are not interested in what happens in your marriage, try to handle issues without always coming to us.

21. My son, remember I bought your mother’s first sewing machine for her, help your wife achieve her dreams just as you’re pursuing yours.

22. My son, don’t stop taking care of me and your mother, it’s a secret of growing old and having children to take care of you too.

23. My son, pray with your family, there is a tomorrow you don’t know, talk to God that knows everything, everyday.

24. My son, don't forget to COMMENT and SHARE this with your friends. Do it now

A leader of the All Progressive Congress, Bola Tinubu, Tuesday, said President Muhammadu Buhari was still in the honeymoon period of his office.

The former Lagos state governor explained that the honeymoon is the president’s first 100 days in office. He asked that Mr. Buhari be allowed to go through the period, which is needed to plan, examine, rejig and re-evaluate the situation of the country.

Mr. Tinubu met with Mr. Buhari on Tuesday at the Presidential Villa, a day after the president had tried to wade into the crisis in the House of Representatives.

He said the president was taking his time to avoid the mistakes of the past.

“It is an international norm all over the world; there is a honeymoon period, at least minimum of 100 days honeymoon,” Mr. Tinubu said. “And you won’t allow honeymoon at all? You said change is not coming. Change is not by magic, it is driven by the people, the spirit and the character and the planning.

“You see, we have had so much problem in this country in the past because we run into policy blind folded without adequate and effective planning. You don’t have results unless you plan well. The time it takes you to plan, examine, rejig, re-evaluate is more important than the time you just rush into taking action because you are either being sentimental, being emotional and being driven by other forces that are not expected. There must be time to plan, to review and even listen to people.”

He said there was a separation between a campaign period, “articulating your vision, expressing the promises to Nigerians,” as well as a “time to look holistically at what you inherited, analyse it, distill and then take action.”

“Even in 100 meters race, there is a time to say on your mark, set, ready, go,” he said. “So you don’t even want a time to be on your mark, set and go?”

Mr. Tinubu also said Mr. Buhari’s meeting with the APC Representatives on Monday, the reason for which he visited the president, was not deadlocked.

He said it was a political process that needed to develop its own life to be worked upon so as to stabilize and continue to serve the interest of the populace.

“As a matter of fact, when the National Assembly starts the job of lawmaking in earnest, the president needs to step in once in a while as he did to let people to understand the import of the expectations of the public and particularly of the international community on various programmes and institutions,” Mr. Tinubu said.

He said institutions need to be built, made virile and effective for the entire country.

“To step in to douse any conflict is not a wrong thing; or do you think it is wrong?” he asked journalists.

The crisis in the House of Representatives stems from disagreements over the nominations for principal officers.

The matter seemed to have been resolved Tuesday with the emergence of new principal officers.
http://www.premiumtimesng.com/news/top-news/187390-buhari-still-on-honeymoon-tinubu.html

Politics in Kwara State has been under the control of Saraki family for years. It is normal for a politician’s son, wife, brother or other kinsman to run for the same or other government office. This is known as political dynasty. In political science, the equivalent is oligarchy.

In 1979, Dr. Olusola Saraki, father of Senator Bukola Saraki, was elected Senator in the Second Republic and became Senate leader. In 1983, he was re-elected into the Senate on National Party of Nigeria (NPN) platform. In the 1980s, Olusola Saraki founded Societe Generale Bank of Nigeria (SGBN) an offshoot of the Societe Generale Bank of France. Based on 2013 data, SGB is France’s third largest bank by total assets and the sixth largest in Europe. Founded in 1864, SGB France is one of the oldest banks in France.

Once his political tentacles were firmly entrenched in Kwara and in the Senate, Olusola Saraki wasted no time to launch the Saraki family corruption dynasty. As the powerful and influential national vice-chairman and Kwara State chairman of NPN, he became the kingmaker in Kwara politics and decide who gets what. With his political connections and the SGBN in his kit, the elder Saraki got better in the corruption business. The entire Saraki family was baptized with catechism of corruption, anointed with extreme shamelessness and greed. The family became polluted and degenerated. Corruption was the glue that kept the Saraki dynasty together. The family became a center of licentiousness and depravity of corruption and influence peddling.

The SGBN became the nominally powerful institution that fostered official and family corruption. Members of the family clan – Bukola Saraki, Gbemisola Saraki, and Toyin Saraki – were instrumental in the demise of the SGBN. They are well known for their legendary reputation for financial as well as political corruption.

To the Sarakis, honesty in business doesn’t matter. Efficiency doesn’t matter. Progressive vision doesn’t matter. Corruption, greed, and power matter. Olusola Saraki and other directors of SGBN crippled SGBN.

Nuhu Ribadu, former EFCC chairman and his team were to launch an investigation and arraign Saraki and nine others – Robert Mbonu, Hafiz Bakare, Toyin Idowu, G.A. Oyenola, Yinka Fagbemi, Kennedy Izuagbe, Dele Iluyomade, Noah Olopoenia, and Lana Haastrup as accused persons.

Ribadu intended to prosecute Bukola Saraki but could not because he enjoys the immunity clause bestowed on serving governors by the Nigerian Constitution. The trial of Olusola Saraki and other accomplices would have commenced pending the expiration of his son’s term as governor, but because Bukola Saraki was a member of President Umaru Yar’Adua’s kitchen cabinet, the suit got buried and Ribadu was disgraced and forced out of EFCC.

Bukola Saraki was elected Kwara Governor in 2003. He replaced his father’s former political godson, Mohammed Lawal. It was under his watch as the vice-chairman of SGBN when the bank collapsed. Ten months into his tenure as governor, the House of Reps summoned the then Central Bank Governor Joseph Sanusi to explain how SGBN overdrew its capital base by N1 billion. While SGBN was in financial distress, on November 29, 2001, Bukola Saraki bought a mansion in London for four million, two hundred and fifty thousand pounds. The house with title number NGL 805616, located on 70 Bourne Street, London SW1W8JW, is not far from Buckingham Palace road. The three-story edifice has been described as “a house worthy of a king.”

On March 20, 2003 NDLEA and EFCC were drafted to investigate some allegations of fraud at SGBN perpetrated by Saraki family. Olusola Saraki, his wife Florence, son Bukola and daughter Gbemisola and other shareholders were accused of money laundering. They were accused of using depositors funds to buy shares in the ailing SGBN contrary to the Banking and other Financial Institutions Acts (BOFIA). The presidency intervened and the case never saw the light of day. By early 2004, the bank and its top management were accused of defrauding the bank of N37 billion.

Barely two months after Bukola Saraki and his criminal gang in the Senate forged Senate Standing Order that got him elected as the Senate President, his wife, Toyin was invited by EFCC. Toyin Saraki scheduled to appear at the commission’s headquarters in Abuja July 28, is wanted in relation to “questionable inflow of funds into companies where she has interest.” The question on every lip of right thinking Nigerians should be: “How could Bukola Saraki from the well known corruption dynasty got away with many murders so many times without being caught, prosecuted, and punished? How could he have spearheaded the forgery of the Senate Standing Order and installed himself Senate President? Is the Senate the den of robbers, Zombies and Bozos?

With Buhari in Aso Rock, the chickens are coming home to roost. Until now, the Sarakis – a byword for corruption – seemed unassailable despite their conspicuous greed and soaring ill gotten wealth. There is no question that the Sarakis are outright thieves and that the dynasty has a series of reoccurring scandals. After flourishing for decades, with the possibility of Toyin Saraki being convicted for money laundering and Bukola Saraki going to jail for forgery of the Senate Standing Order, certainly, this is the beginning of the end of the Saraki corruption dynasty.

Billions of Naira were swindled by the Sarakis from Nigerian depositors and from the general public. Like many complicated systems, the Saraki corruption dynasty grew brittle and inflexible. It could not adjust to new realities. Addicted greed, out sized fraud, outlandish personality, pride, unrestrained appetite for graft and corruption and power will ultimately eclipse the dynasty sooner than expected. Corruption patterns in Nigeria have become more complex, sophisticated, and deep-rooted. One case leads to another. But it might also reflect the resistance from those who have benefited from the existing system and face losing everything.

The anxiously awaited police report on the forgery of the Senate Standing Order has been submitted to President Buhari. The police report confirmed that Standing Rules used to elect Saraki and his deputy Ike Ekweremadu on June 9, 2015 were forged. The culprits in the Senate gate scandal – David Mark, Saraki, Ekweremadu, Victor Ndoma-Egba, Ita Enang and the National Assembly clerk Salisu Maikasuwa – must be prosecuted without delay. They should receive the maximum jail sentence for the crime to serve as deterrence to other lawbreakers operating as lawmakers in the National Assembly.

We have no doubt that the Buhari administration is genuinely concerned about the challenge that corruption poses to its credibility and the country’s ability to function. Corruption entrenches and widens economic inequality. It disproportionately affects the poor. Watching a parade of officials like Dasuki, Saraki, Yar’Adua, etc., being shamed offers at the least a sense of vengeance, at best a hope of future justice.

We love to see corrupt officials being brought down. But the system that makes corruption possible remains unaffected by the crackdown. We need powerful investigators something that would be anathema to Nigerians. We need a strong court system with judges that money cannot buy. We need to prune and purge corrupt judges who are allies of the criminals. We need efficient and professional state and local government police charged with the 21st century community policing in terms of crime prevention, detection, and prosecution.

Let’s have the first casualties of war on corruption!

A Nigerian Governor met Obama last week, then this happened

The oil bandit who calls himself Government Ekpemupolo, alias Tompolo, should by now have realized that the game has changed in Niger Delta and that the state pampering enjoyed for his villainy and that of other members of his gang, during the Jonathan years, is over.

If Tompolo does not yet know: this was the message delivered resoundingly in the 28 March presidential election that ousted Goodluck Jonathan from Aso Rock: a message that our much abused nation has had enough of rubbish and was casting its lot with a 72 year old war veteran to turn the page of history.

There is no nation, worth its name that would have tolerated the affront that Tompolo and co were about to inflict on it by their much advertised meeting in Izon House in Yenagoa on Saturday. One expected nothing but a crackdown, which came with truckloads of soldiers from the Joint Task Force, taking over the venue and by so doing, sounding the unmistakable warning that it would not be business as usual.

It should never be any way, as the Nigeria we hope to rebuild under Muhammadu Buhari cannot allow outlaws such as Tompolo co-exist.

Former president Goodluck Jonathan ceded so much space and latitude to the banditry of a few of his Ijaw kinsmen while in power, and in the process emasculated the apparati of the state, such as the Navy and the Army. He unconscionably gave Nigeria’s maritime security to Tompolo and in his last months gave out the security of the nation’s oil pipelines to the militants and the Yoruba group, Oodua Peoples Congress, when Nigeria had security structures on ground to perform such roles. Instead of strengthening the institutions, the former leader, often derided for his naivety, was empowering outlaws. I had never seen anything so anomic in my entire 59 years living in Nigeria.

The ex-militants were so much empowered that they were emboldened in dabbling in the affairs of state. Incumbent Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers had to lobby them in Rivers to support him into power, not surprising the record violence that marred the elections in the state. In Delta state, Tompolo nominated the deputy governor. And in the same Delta, Tompolo and gang demonstrated who was more ‘government ‘ than Jonathan’s presidency, by unilaterally scaring Jonathan from commissioning a multi-billion oil company over location wrangling.

There must be a time for everything. The age of militant licentiousness had ended with Jonathan. It’s time to re-establish the sovereignty of Nigeria over all its territory, from Niger Delta to the Sahelian northeast area where Boko Haram is on rampage.

I am certain, many Nigerians are supportive of Buhari’s plans to regenerate Nigeria, to imbue it with its old values, make it a strong nation all over again.

One was thus worried by the reaction of the Ijaw Youth Council to the JTF response to the illegal, treasonable meeting, dubbing the action as an infraction of the people’s right to assemble and a throwback to ‘military dictatorship’.


There must be a time for everything. The age of militant licentiousness had ended with Jonathan. It’s time to re-establish the sovereignty of Nigeria over all its territory, from Niger Delta to the Sahelian northeast area where Boko Haram is on rampage.

IYC clearly missed the point. Tompolo and co. was not in the class of Adaka Boro or the illustrious writer, Ken Saro Wiwa, the true champions of a better deal to the Niger Delta people. Tompolo and co. are simply oil bandits? And the meeting he had convened was not going to be an ordinary assembly of law-abiding citizens, but a meeting of warlords, who had once earned amnesty from the Nigerian state, and who now wanted to regroup under their old banner. This is nothing but treason.
In my view, President Buhari’s response was apt and appropriate. I even expected the military to have done more, by arresting the gang for having the effrontery to call the meeting, when Nigeria is being steered away from being a lawless Republic.

The Niger Delta ought by now have realized that Tompolo and co. are only champions for their deep pockets. If previous experience is anything to go by, we have all seen how the oil gangsters used the generous government amnesty to enrich themselves. Tompolo and several other warlords acquired private jets and amassed billions of dollars in government contracts and patronage. We have also seen how illogical was government’s belief that oil theft would be reduced by outsourcing maritime security to a company founded by the warlord. From about 100,000 barrels a day, the theft rose phenomenally to 400,000 barrels, about a quarter of Nigeria’s daily production. At the moment, Nigeria is said to have over 200 cargoes of crude oil stranded on the Asian waters waiting for buyers. Most of the cargoes were said to be proceeds of massive theft. Under Tompolo’s watch, it was not uncommon that fully loaded ships with refined products would suddenly disappear from our waters, giving Nigeria, a bad name in sea piracy.

A sign that Nigeria is marching towards change was that significantly, in the month of June, there was no single case of piracy in the Gulf of Guinea, according to new statistics by the International Maritime Bureau. This could have happened because the Niger Delta pirates knew that their tolerant, protective father, Goodluck Jonathan was out of power. It could be because they knew the game has changed, that Nigeria is in the hands of people who genuinely want to create a wide departure from the past of state condoned brigandage on the oil fields and the high seas.

* Onanuga is the editor-in-chief of www.thenewsnigeria.com.ng
http://www.pmnewsnigeria.com/2015/07/27/news-analysis-time-to-smash-tompolo-and-gang/

When it comes to romance, Nigerian men are known to be actively engaging. Apart from their culture of carrying the financial burden of relationship with women, they harness every opportunity to appeal to their lovers, be it on social-network sites, in their respective offices, religious organizations, gym centers, parks, clubs among others.

Marriage-Men

Despite the many romantic attributes that could be said of men in Nigeria, women still hold a contrary account about them. Predominant among the contrary views women hold against men here is that no matter how romantic they are, getting them to the altar for marriage could be very challenging.

So, what are those factors that scare Nigerian men away from marriage? We have tried to compile some reasons that make most men feel jittery to converse on ‘Marriage’ as topic, feel free to add yours if not in our list.

1. No wife materials

Common among some men is the reservation that there is scarcity of ‘wife-materials’ in Nigeria. In this case, they are not referring to ladies not being in quantifiable distribution among men, what they are complaining about is that most ladies of this generation lack the necessary attributes that will qualify them for the lifetime commitment called marriage. If this is the case, time of quality search can help heal the wound of such man.

2. They get sex freely without marriage than in time past

Realizing now that they can get sex more easily than in times past, when ‘virginity’ for women was a pass value to marriage, some men now feel lot of women today have lost it when it comes to keeping themselves whole. But, this might not be the fault of women as promiscuity is not an exclusive act than can be carried out without the consent of either gender.

3. Nigeria weddings are expensive

In a country where a man is expected to marry a woman in three different kinds of wedding- Religious, Traditional and Court, the cost of marriage no doubt is something men find very intimidating. As of last year, the average Nigeria wedding cost something like N500,000 and the it goes upward from that to more unimaginable cost. For most people, especially in this economy, that’s a lot of money. But all we advise is that men should try and cut their coat according to their material

4. In search of a ‘working class’

Today, most Nigerian men are in search of a wife capable of sharing financial responsibilities with them. Gone are the days when men marry ‘full-house-wives’, the increasing cost of living has tilted most men in favor of ladies who have a means of livelihood and willing to share with their man, the burden of building a home.

5. Fear of freedom

There is a common belief among some men that marriage puts an end to one’s freedom. Single men today are much more proud about not being dependent and being on their own. They fear marriage because they will become answerable for every action they take to their spouse. That is one big responsibility some men are not ready to take up.

6. Career

One of the predominant question most men will secretly ask themselves before making the decision to marry are, Will my partner make agitated about me being in office for long hours? Will he or she understand my love for my career? These are cogent questions and answering these questions could slow the decisive actions to be taken on marriage plans.

7. Unrealistic Expectations from In-laws

Some parents have set certain standards for anyone who will marry their child, either way be it that such expectations are from the groom parent’s or bride, the regulations sometimes affect relationships. If the expectations are behavioral, the challenge might be little but e are some discouraging situations where parents decide the profession qualifications, properties, etc that must be acquired by the suitor before they can give out their child to him in marriage.

8. Trust issues

Most times, people fear to get committed into a relationship because of trust issues. Some men have been bruised in their past relationships and therefore they don’t want to put themselves out there.

9.Bad Testimonies from Married couple

Generally, most men get intimidated by marriage as a result of the testimonies they hear from those in marriage. Before getting into marriage talks, it is a common thing among men to ask their brothers, friends who are already married on how the social institution is and the testimonies they get are most times discouraging, as such they fear their marriage will be a replica of the testimonies they have gathered.

10. Cultural limitations

Nigeria is a country with diverse culture and The diversity sometimes create challenges for men who are in search of women with similar culture. The good thing though is that those who endeavor to explore inter-cultural relationships get the opportunity to gain an in-depth appreciation of other customs.




- See more at: http://www.vanguardngr.com/2015/07/10-reasons-nigerian-men-run-from-marriage/#sthash.Ukz3d5om.dpuf

The seven Senators seeking the removal of Senate President Bukola Saraki and Deputy Senate President Ike Ekweremadu by the Federal High Court, Abuja, are arguing that the inauguration of the 8th Senate based on Standing Orders 2015, was strange, irregular and unknown to the Red chamber.

Senators Abu Ibrahim, Barnabas Gemade, Ahmad Lawan, George Akume, Kabir Marafa, Suleiman Hunkuyi and Gbenga Ashafa are also insisting that the subsequent conduct of business and proceedings in the Senate on June 9,2015 were similarly out of place.

They are, therefore, asking the court to declare Standing Order 2015 (as amended) as illegal, null and void.

The plaintiffs in their suit said that since the election of Saraki and Ekweremadu on June 9 was based on the faulty Standing Orders 2015, there was no way they could remain in office.

They are seeking the following reliefs:

“A declaration that the Senate Standing Orders 2015 as amended is inoperative, void and lack of legislative competency for having not been made by due process of law in accordance with the provision of Section 60 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 (as amended) and Order 110 of the Standing Orders of the Senate 2007(as amended).

“A declaration that the Senate Standing Order 2015(as amended) is unconstitutional and ultra vires and the maker(s) for violating the provisions of Section 60 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999(as amended) as well as Order 110 Standing Order of the 2007(as amended) made pursuant to the said Section 60 of the Constitution.

“A declaration that the Standing Orders of the Senate 2007(as amended) is the extant Order of the Senate having not been altered and or amended in accordance with the due process of law.

“An order of court annulling and voiding all legislative business or businesses carried out by the 8th Senate predicated on the use of the said Senate Standing Orders 2015 (as amended).

“An order of injunction restraining the defendants by themselves, agents, servants and privies from using the Senate Standing Orders 2015 and or refusing to use the Standing Orders of the Senate 2007 (as amended).”

The affected Senators urged the Court to ask the Clerk to the National Assembly, the President of the Senate to explain when the Senate Standing Orders was amended.

They said paragraph 110 of the Senate Standing Orders 2007 (as amended) was explicit on the procedures for an amendment to the Orders.

They said: “For ease of reference, the procedures are set out below: “110(1) Any Senator desiring to amend any part of the rules or adding any new clause shall give notice of such amendments in writing to the President of the Senate giving details of the proposed amendments.

“The President of the Senate shall, within seven working days of the receipt of the notice, cause the amendments to be printed and circulated to members. Thereafter, it shall be printed in the Order Paper of the Senate.

“The Mover or Movers of the amendments shall be allowed to explain in detail the proposed amendments. Thereafter, the Senate shall decide by simple majority votes whether the amendments should be considered or rejected.

“If the decision is to consider the amendments, then another date shall be set aside by the Rules and Business Committee whereby opportunity would be given to Senators to further propose amendments but must strictly be confined to the original amendments.

“Two-third majority shall decide the amendments and such amendments shall form part of the rules of the Senate.”

The aggrieved Senators asked the court to determine five issues including the determination of the fact that the Senate Standing Orders 2015 was “strange, manipulated and illegal.”

Whether in the light of the provision of Section 60 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999(as amended) which donated power to the Senate to regulate its procedure, donates or confers on any other body or authority power to amend the Senate Standing Orders 2007 the extant Standing Order (as amended) contrary to or in clear violation of Order 110 Standing Order 2007(as amended).
Whether in the light of provision of Section 60, Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 (as amended) Senate Standing Orders 2015 as amended which was and still being used by the 8th Senate is not invalid for violating the provisions of Order 110 of the Standing Orders of the Senate 2007 (as amended) made pursuant to the said Section 60 of the said Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 (as amended).
Whether in the light of the combined effect of Section 60 of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999(as amended) and Order 110 Standing Order of the Senate 2007(as amended) the Senate Standing Orders 2015(as amended) is not unconstitutional, unlawful, and ultra vires the maker or makers and consequently null and void.
Whether in light of all of the above, all parliamentary business of the 8th Senate predicated and conducted with the use of the Senate Standing Orders 2015(as amended) is not unlawful, illegal, ultra vires, null and void.
Whether all proceedings conducted with the use of the Standing Orders of the Senate 2015 (as amended) are invalid and illegal having not been made pursuant to the Standing Orders of the Senate 2007 (as amended) which was in use by the 7th Senate and remained the extant Rules of the 8th Senate having not been amended.

No date has been fixed for the hearing of the suit which was filed yesterday on behalf of the plaintiffs by Chief Anthony A. Adeniyi; Ibrahim Muhammed Sani; Adetunji Oso; I. K. Olarenwaju; Umar Abdulhameed; Rotimi Olorunfemi; Alabi Lawal; S. B. Oladeinde; K. Kokowei; and Kester Oyibo.

The courts are currently on vacation, but the lead counsel, Chief Anthony Adefuye, has filed an affidavit of urgency to enable a vacation judge to take charge.
http://thenationonlineng.net/why-we-want-saraki-ekweremadu-sacked/

Ortom: From a school dropout, motor park tout, bus conductor, taxi driver, now Gov.of Benue State

I remember sleeping on the mat and waking up to find larva and ants on your body and you battled to pick them out. I remember going to pick bones from the slaughter slab with which we made soup to eat. I remember the difficulties of going to the farm to make heaps for people in order to make money, carry heavy load on the head to make money in order to live. I remember when school uniforms were our Christmas wears

Guided by biblical principles and injunctions I was very faithful as a motor park tout in Gboko

Dr. Samuel Ioraer Ortom is the Governor of Benue state. On Wednesday, 6th July, 2011, during his screening on the floor of the Senate as a Minister of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, he told Senators a moving story of his life which compelled them to ask him to take a bow and go.

Senators were stirred by an account of his background as a school dropout, a motor park tout and one who struggled to attain education through very difficult means. After running through his curriculum vitae, Senator Ehigie Uzamere, moved a motion, asking the Senate to allow him to take a bow without further questions because of his sincerity in uncovering his background. Senators described him as a veritable bridge between the poor and the rich.

In this exclusive interview with Saturday Vanguard, he spoke more about his life. Excerpt:

So much have been heard about your life and your rise from grass to this enviable positions, how did all begin?

Well, I want to give glory to God. I was born on the 23rd of April, 1961 in Guma Local Government Area of Benue State. My father , now late, was a retired Police Sergeant, David Ortom Adorogo of Mbabegha Clan, Nzorov District, Nongov, and my mother, late Wajina Ortom Adorogo. I was enrolled into the St. John’s Primary School, Gboko, in 1970 but moved to St. Catherine’s Primary School, Makurdi in 1974 where I completed my primary education in 1976. I was admitted into Idah Secondary Commercial College, Idah in Kogi State in 1976.

Just like every other child. I had an aspiration to be a medical doctor right from my primary school and secondary school days. But unfortunately, my secondary education was truncated in form three in 1979 due to my father’s retirement from the Police. I came back to Gboko on holiday just like every other child from Idah, which was then part of the present day Benue, for holiday but couldn’t go back to school because there was no transportation fare.

But instead of idling away or taking to social vices, I decided to join the motor park business. It was at the park that a Good Samaritan taught me how to drive a car perhaps because of my honesty and dedication to duty. But just before that move, I must confess that I came in contact with the Lord Jesus Christ. I accepted Christ and gave my life to God completely, I became a born again Christian. In fact, the turning point in my life was that singular move and decision to embrace Christ.

And that was the time I completely embraced the precepts of the Book of Job: 36 verse 11 which says “If they obey and serve Him, they shall spend their days in prosperity, and their years in pleasures. And verse 12 which also says, “But if they obey not, they shall perish by the sword, and they shall die without knowledge.”

From this passage I found that the recipe for success and failure was imbedded in the scriptures. God made it clear to me that if I desired to succeed I must have faith in Him and also be determined and work hard, because God can make it happen. I remember that the Bible also says ‘seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness and all other things shall be added unto you.’

So guided by these biblical principles and injunctions I was very faithful; as a motor park tout in Gboko. I was distinct and different, I was decent in my conduct and behaviour because of my christian background. And as a motor conductor every driver clamoured to work with me. I later found myself as a taxi driver. I did well. I was disciplined, I conducted myself as a Christian. While there I found myself working with a Christian brother, Pa Samuel Ihugh, an elder in Gboko who loved the Lord and was doing a lot for the Christian community there.

He employed me as a driver, I worked with him, and the job excited me because I could use his Peugeot vehicle at that time to move around to preach and propagate the gospel. He was very good and kind to me. I was excited working with him and I eventually got married and had a family. And he was able to take care of us and we continued with life.

But one day, I remember that even after close of work, I usually waited behind in case there was any errand I could run for him, just as I was waiting outside, I noticed that the wind blew part of a newspaper towards me, in my eagerness to read something while waiting, I picked the paper, and in it, I read an advertisement of the National School of Salesmanship Manchester, England, by correspondent.

That was the beginning of my being launched into academics. I went through it and I was interested. I applied, and within two weeks I got a reply and received a brochure; of how people went through the school, even people who dropped out of school but made up their deficiencies got their masters and Ph.d degree and everything; and were working in prestigious places.

I got interested, and I wrote and applied and within two years I earned a Diploma in Salesmanship, and that inspired me. In two years, precisely in 1984 I studied hard and got it. I was indeed inspired to sit for tutorials to get my GCE. It may amaze you to know that I sat for GCE once and made four credits.

I kept toiling on, and continued working with my boss. But after sometime, with my Diploma I searched for greener pasture, so I went ahead and by the grace of God started work with Pepsi Cola International, then Gyado Foods in Makurdi, as a Salesman Driver; and within one one year, I got four promotions and rose to a substantive Sales Manager, chauffeur driven. It was God. I couldn’t imagine that I, who was a sales man, driving all those big trucks and trailers was being chauffeur driven.

It was amazing. But I gave all the glory to God. And after in 1989 I resigned from the work as sales manager and joined partisan politics. I won elections on the platform of the Social Democratic Party, SDP, to become the Chairman of Guma Local Government Area. I was there from 1991 to 1993 when the military truncated democracy and took over governance.

At the time I felt like upgrading my knowledge, I applied and secured admission at the Ahmadu Bello University, ABU, Zaria and earned a Diploma in Journalism. And later enrolled to read political science at degree level, but before then, because the prerequisite for degree programme in the university was five credits passes including English and Maths; since I did not have Maths, I enrolled for GCE and got my credit in Maths.

So I got all prerequisite for admission to the university. But I could not continue with the Degree in Zaria because of family burden at home and again, I was sponsoring myself. There was no assistance from anywhere so I came back to Makurdi. I went back to politics again. Eventually I was elected the state publicity secretary of the Center Party. That process too was truncated by the military in 1996. The new parties came on board and I emerged the state treasurer of APP and eventually I defected to the PDP and was elected secretary of the PDP in Benue state, an assignment I did for six years.

The opportunity I had while serving as secretary was that I was able to enroll and studied for an Advanced Diploma in Public Admin. I also enrolled for a Masters programme in Public Administration; in 2004 I graduated. And I continued to search for more knowledge, I enrolled for Masters in Development Studies, this was around 2006. Eventually I was elected the National Auditor of the PDP.

So I could not continue with the Programme in Benue State University because it was a full time programme. So when I got to Abuja as National Auditor of the party, I saw this online programme that was convenient for me from Commonwealth University Belize. I applied and did it through distant learning. So that was how I got a Phd in Conflict Management in the year 2010.

You also know that In 2011 I was appointed Minister of State, Industry, Trade and Investment and later in 2014 the Supervising Minister of Aviation and much later same year when I resigned to contest in the governorship elections which I won. And so that is how the journey of my life has been. And God has been very gracious. I must say that the Bible is complete. When you serve God faithfully, God also demonstrates his faithfulness to you. That is what has been my story.

All along I’ve depended on God, I’ve looked up to God. And He has been gracious. I’ve always told my story to all the people that come my way. And I’ve also made it clear that it’s not about me, but it also applies to everyone that obeys and serves God faithfully. He would do the same to you. He will open the way and clear hurdles for you. I appreciate God because where I am today was made possible by Him. It is not by any other means.

I remember when I started the aspiration to be Governor of Benue state, many people came to me to tell me that, look this is the way to go. Some showed me how to become Governor and how I must pass through certain rituals and some concoction and so many other things. I refused and told them that the same God who elevated me from nowhere, who lifted me from the grass and the lowest ebb of life is still capable of making me Governor.

I maintained that, and I believe that everybody in Benue state can conveniently say that it was God that did it. How I emerged with all the forces that were against me and how God took me through all the rigors was amazing. So I give him all the glory for where I am today. And I believe that I’ll surpass all the challenges I met on ground because I still have my faith in God. I believe that God will show me how to surmount the challenges.

Interesting. So how would you describe growing up? How would you remember your family?

It was challenging and tasking. Some people may see me today and say I’m a lucky chap. Yes, but I went through difficulties. It wasn’t easy. I remember, times in our family, my father had two wives and we were about sixteen in the family and it wasn’t easy, especially when he retired and I remember that my mother had to work day and night to ensure that we ate food.

Several times we had to stay for a whole day without food. There were days we had to live on 0-0-1, and even that once that we ate was not a complete meal. I remember when we had to eat from corn meal without soup but just salt and pepper to keep life going. I remember when school uniforms for the year were my Christmas wears and that was same with my brothers and sisters.

When children were going out in their Christmas clothes we were in our school uniforms. It was quite humiliating but we passed through all those. I remember when we went everywhere without shoes. Going to school without sandals, though others had, but we just went barefooted. I remember life was pretty difficult. I remember sleeping on the mat and waking up to find larva and ants on your body and you battled to pick them out.

I remember going to pick bones from the slaughter slab with which we made soup to eat. I remember the difficulties of going to the farm to make heaps for people in order to make money, carry heavy load on the head to make money in order to live. But one thing that I must appreciate God for is that despite these difficulties, I never went into any form of anti social vices, like we have today in the society.

That is what I keep telling our young ones today. The determination to succeed and the faith in God. It’s not by a wayward life, it’s not by taking to these vices that can lead you to prison or even untimely death. It is a matter of being focussed and being determine to succeed. God will always make a way for you especially when you know God. And so I appreciate God that all those have passed away and we are here.

In my little way, I have provided a better platform for my children and many other families that I can also reach because I do not want the children of others to pass through the harrowing experience I went through. I believe that with this privilege God has provided me I will add value to people’s lives and make life better for them than what I went through.

What is your message to the less privileged and downtrodden who are looking up to you as a role model.

Please I want appeal to them that the Bible says ‘seek yea first the kingdom of God and it’s righteousness and all other things shall be added unto you.’ When you seek God and His kingdom, you seek to do the right thing. You’ll seek to sow the right seed. And as you do, it will germinate and bear good fruits as it had happened to me.

When you give yourself to God, God will give you protection, God will provide and supply all that you need. And so I want our people who are down there to arise and join God who is our maker. He knows our challenges and problems, he is our creator who knows how and when to address our challenges.

He knows our needs, and he has the capacity to take away the challenges that we face. So my appeal to our people is that instead of going the other way, or going wayward, please come to God and find peace. The Bible says ‘come unto me all ye that labour and are heavy laden and I will give you rest.’

That is the way to go, it is not by fighting, it is not by gossiping, it is not by envying, it is not by strive , it is not by might, it is not because you come from a particular place. Otherwise if you consider where I come from, a minority, obscure place in Tiv land, in fact one of the minutest tribes in Benue state where nobody is known, but today God has made me Governor of Benue state. So it can also apply to any other person, once you are faithful in serving God.

Remember I earlier quoted Job: 36 verse 11 which says “If they obey and serve Him, they shall spend their days in prosperity, and their years in pleasures. And verse 12 which also says, “But if they obey not, they shall perish by the sword, and they shall die without knowledge.” this is the recipe for success and failure.

Verse 11 talks about success and verse 12 talks about failure. And if you go to Deuteronomy 28 from verse 1 to 14, it talks about the reward for one who serves and obeys God, but for those who disobey God, verse 15 to 68 talks about the curses. That is what I have applied my life to in order to be where and what I am today.

Who were your schoolmates, are you still in touch with them?

I have so many school mates across the country, the ones from Idah Secondary Commercial College, my classmates and schoolmates from there will soon pay me a courtesy call. The group in my MBA class in BSU here will also soon come to show solidarity with me, the ADPM class has already paid me courtesy call, the ones in ABU have also done that already.

They are all proud of me and excited. And I have promised to make them proud . So that at the end of my tenure and Benue people are looking for my successor, they could identify one of my classmates to take over from me. They will definitely say that this man has done very well so we want one of his schoolmates to take over from where he stopped.

I am married with 10 children and four grand children. My hobbies include badminton, reading, philanthropy, farming, aerobics and evangelism. “ Governor Ortom’s parents are late now. How proud they would have been to see their son as governor of their state. His first wife left when things were tough for him.
- See more at: http://www.vanguardngr.com/2015/07/ortom-from-a-school-dropout-motor-park-tout-bus-conductor-taxi-driver-now-gov-of-benue-state/#sthash.orn6z2Ak.dpuf

May Allah make it easy

Friday Du'a!
The Sun, Moon, & Stars have their glories; May d triple glories of long life, gud health, & Allah's blessings b upon u & ur family. Amin!
Jum'@ Mubarak!

1. Some one who steals a Bible from Church to read at home


2. Some one who steals Money at home and give Offering in Church,


3. Some one who steals Offerings in Church to give to poor & Orphanage?

Oya some one should tell me o.......

I do not admire Tinubu because he is a saint.

I do not admire Tinubu because he is from the south.

I do not admire Tinubu because he is a Yoruba.

If I want saints, I will proceed to heaven not on earth. Every human is fallible.

I admire Tinubu because:

He saved Nigeria from the danger of falling into “one-party state“.

He has nurtured many renowned National successors.

He listened to the voice of the masses to surrender his personal ambition at the most critical moment.

He strategically terminated PDP’s projected 60 years life spa in 16 years.

The robust critic and critique we are enjoying today is because Tinubu aligned himself to the masses to return the power to them.

Tinubu has the option of joining the PDP elites to hold us hostage for another decade but he gave his all to the masses to dethrone the elites.

Political juveniles believed that APC won because of the votes from the North. No!!!

APC victory was cemented the day PMB and Asiwaju resolved to work together.

Asiwaju and PMB almost became a Nomadic by visiting every human that can help midwife Nigeria salvation.

Those Nomadic Almajiri walk later brought salvation to us.

God willing, PMB is the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

Asiwaju changed GMB and gave us PMB wiping off GEJ from our political lexicon in 2015.

Anybody, any cabal, any Viju milk activist, attempting to humiliate Asiwaju must have me to contend with.

An average PDP man is sad with Asiwaju because he brought them to their knee.

If anyone thinks that Bringing down Asiwaju is his project, that mission will not only crash but it will boomerang.

Don’t tell me he is overbearing because your “underbearing” mentors were nowhere to be found when this country was lying critically at the intensive care of the universe.

Recall my first line, Asiwaju is not a saint. Stop demonising what you admire out of envy. Even your mentors admire him.

He owns Lagos! I hear you! Ask your grand father and parents how they acquired your so called “family land”. Is it God that allocated it to them?

You are terrorizing your neighbours and village with your kpof-kpof kobo yet you criticise a man that is naturally addicted to technocrats irrespective of their tribe or Religion.

Hmmmmm. I don talk am ooo, Asiwaju is not a political office holder oooo.
Please let him be.

He is evil, I agree, but we need more of him than your saintly specie.

Dear Asiwaju,

Good Morning!

The gentle stride of a tiger is not a symbol of cowardice.

The Presidency has rubbished claims that there is a misunderstanding between Nigeria’s President Muhammadu Buhari and a national leader of the All Progressives Congress (APC) Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, over the leadership crisis in the National Assembly.

Malam Garba Shehu, Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media, told newsmen in Abuja, Nigeria’s capital that the challenge before the APC goes beyond the leadership tussle in the National Assembly.

“There is absolutely nothing like that, Shehu said, noting that, “The President maintains excellent relationship with his friends and who are these people? They include Baba Bisi Akande, one of the most respected individuals that you see around the President; Asiwaju Bola Tinubu who, a week or so ago, was in Aso Rock and had a hilarious discussion with the President. Just two days ago, they were inquiring about former Vice President Atiku Abubakar to attend the Ramadan breakfast. The President keeps his friends.

“Sometimes, the things we read in the press amuse us because, as far as the personal relationships are concerned, nothing has dented the political family that the President keeps. All these persons I have mentioned realise they have a political party to build and they have work to do. They have obtained the mandate and they know they need to fulfill certain obligations to Nigerians. The expectations are high. So, they are not mistaken about the assignment,” Shehu asserted.

Shehu then stated that the perception by some Nigerians at home and abroad that the President is slow in effecting change is misunderstood as he was taking his time to sort out the huge mess left behind by the Jonathan administration.

He said Buhari had been busy working out an action plan that would include “taming the monster of corruption, assets recovery and making the power sector functional”.
http://www.pmnewsnigeria.com/2015/07/13/no-quarrel-between-buhari-tinubu-presidency/

To be alive is to know the fear of death, and to be human, fear of every kind. From the womb, we are conditioned and excited by it, ashamed of it, yet ultimately governed by it. This is why fear is the main tool of any dictatorship.

A sage once said, “It is not life that matters, but the courage you bring into it.”

On the surface, this statement seems paradoxical; after all, the dead are incapable of courage, so how can courage be more important than life? But it is true. Any man or woman can live a life hidden in the darkness of fear, but every accomplishment in life demands courage, and courage demands self-sacrifice. To achieve success, one must risk failure. To win, you have to submit yourself to the possibility of defeat. Does this then mean that our lives matter only as much as goals and accomplishments or how much we have sacrificed? Of what value is the courage of a thief, a murderer or a dictator?

Once again, “it is not life that matters, but the courage you bring into it.” If your courage inspires fear in others, then the impact of your life is a negative one and it is the lives of others you have sacrificed for your own gain. If, on the other hand, you show courage, and your courage and self-sacrifice inspire the same in others, then your life is of great value. We know of men and women like this throughout history: Jesus, Joan of Arc, Mandela, Martin Luther King, people whose courage led them to great exploits, whose sacrifice etched their names in history, heroes for their just cause.

If Nigerian democracy is a just cause, then Bola Ahmed Tinubu is one of such heroes.

He was a chieftain in NADECO, resisting the Abacha regime, going into exile in order to provide logistical support for Radio Kudirat, then the mouthpiece of the opposition.

In his first term as Governor of Lagos, Tinubu warned his fellow party members in AD against cooperation with the PDP in 2003. His advice went unheeded and, as a consequence, he was the last of the AD governors left standing in the wake of the Obasanjo political tsunami.

Alone, but undaunted, he pressed forward with political reforms in his second term, despite every attempt of the Obasanjo administration to lay political siege to his Governorship. When the statutory allocations for Lagos State were denied, Tinubu improved the State’s Internal Revenue Collection service, harnessing the economic strength of Lagos to deliver on the ambitious promise of progressive governance.

Not content with the vindication of his stewardship of Lagos State, Bola Tinubu once again fought to build a new progressive party from the ashes of AD. Despite resistance from the Afenifere, who mischaracterized his political vision as an attempt to hijack Yoruba leadership, his courage nevertheless inspired leaders and voters alike in Ogun, Oyo and Osun states to abandon the PDP and pitch their tent under the ACN banner.

But it was the joint effort with Muhammadu Buhari and Ogbonaya Onu to integrate their parties and midwife the APC that would turn the tide in Nigeria’s democratic journey in a manner never seen before, producing Buhari, himself a man of courage, as the President of Nigeria.

There is no question as to the greatness of Bola Tinubu’s political acumen and skill; Nigeria never fails to produce individuals of remarkable talent.

But he stands alone today as a National Political champion and leader of the Yoruba people because of his uncommon courage and his willingness to make personal sacrifices so that the cause of good governance might go the distance. Like all heroes, he has faced betrayals, insinuations and stigma, maligned by those whose personal ambitions are threatened by his prominence.

But those who seek to demystify do so in vain, for there is nothing mysterious about courage.

A Federal High Court in Lagos on Tuesday ordered the forfeiture of multi-billion naira assets allegedly owned by former Enugu State Governor Dr Chimaroke Nnamani, to the Federal Government.
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The forfeited assets are undeveloped properties and transmission equipment of Rainbownet Nigeria Limited; properties of Hill Gate Investment Limited/Cuena Phones Limited; assets of Cosmo 105.5FM, and 22 duplex buildings at Ebeano Estate (now Fidelity Estate). ‬

Other assets to be forfeited are Rainbownet shares in Zenith Bank and Guaranty Trust Bank, with a combined account balance of N4.6 million; as well as monies in its bank accounts.
‬
The balances in different accounts with GTBank (total of N313,700); Sterling Bank (N986,958); Ecobank (N24.5 million); First City Monument Bank (N3.8 million) and Zenith Bank (N761,156) are also to be forfeited.
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The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) which is prosecuting Nnamani for alleged money laundering, said it is awaiting details of balances in Rainbownet’s 10 accounts with Access Bank.

‬The former governor who later became senator of the Federal Republic of Nigeria was arraigned alongside his former aide, Sunday Anyaogu, and six companies Rainbownet, Hillgate Nigeria, Cosmos FM, Capital City Automobile Nig Ltd, Renaissance University Teaching Hospital and Mea Mater Elizabeth High School.‬

Justice Mohammed Yunusa later split Nnamani’s trial from his co-accused due to constant excuse of receiving treatment abroad.

EFCC re-arraigned them before the court on 105 counts of money laundering and economic crimes involving about N4.5 billion state funds. ‬

‪Part of the alleged laundered money was from the Excess Crude Oil Funds meant for some local government areas, including Aninri, Enugu South, Agwu, Igbo Etiti and Isi Uzor, which was allegedly transferred to Nnamani’s bank account in the United States.‬

‪The crime was allegedly committed while Nnamani was governor between 1999 and 2007. The defendants pleaded not guilty.‬

‪However, after the trial was split, four of the companies on May 19 pleaded guilty to a 10-count amended charge through their counsel. ‬

‪The companies are Rainbownet, Cosmos FM, Capital City Automobile and Renaissance University Teaching Hospital. ‬

‪They were alleged to have failed to comply with lawful inquiry made by the Commission.‬

‪On 11 June, Justice Yunusa adjourned till 7 July (today) after EFCC’s lawyer Kelvin Uzozie told the court that he was still working to get a list of all the companies’ assets.

On Monday, 6 July (yesterday), he prayed the court to convict the companies in view of their plea.

He also urged the court to make an order of the assets’ forfeiture, and for the EFCC to be involved in their management. ‬

‪Justice Yunusa held: “It is hereby ordered that the properties listed in the schedule be forfeited to the Federal Government.”‬

‪He adjourned till 12 November 12 for the trial of the remaining accused persons.‬

President Muhammadu Buhari has sacked the Director General of the State Security Service, Ita Ekpenyong.

In his place, the President appointed Lawal Daura as new head of the agency, which serves as Nigeria’s secret police.

The removal of Mr. Ekpenyong and appointment of his replacement was announced Thursday by the Head of Civil Service of the Federation, Danladi Kifasi, via a statement by the Director of Communications in his office, Haruna Imrana.

According to the statement, Mr. Daura was born in Daura on the August, 5, 1953.

He attended Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria from 1977 – 1980.

He started his carrier in the State Security Service in 1982 and rose to the rank of Director.

He was at one time the Deputy Director, Presidential Communication, Command and Control Centre, at the Presidential Villa Abuja between 2003 and 2007.

He also served as State Director of Security Service at various times in Kano, Sokoto, Edo, Lagos, Osun and Imo States.

He attended various professional courses both home and abroad including the National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies, (NIPSS) Kuru.

The appointment is with immediate effect, the statement said.

The removal of Mr. Ekpenyong, who was appointed DG of the agency on September 8, 2010, has long been expected.

Under him, the SSS became openly partisan, especially in the run-up to the 2015 general elections.

Rather than gathering intelligence necessary to make the country safe, the agency busied itself more with harassing and arresting opposition figures, ransacking firms and offices with ties to the All Progressives Congress and appearing on television to disparage opposition politicians and their party.

On July 25, 2014, operatives of the SSS descended on the corporate headquarters of TNS-RMS, a Lagos-based research agency, holding its staff hostage, ransacking its offices and premises and whisking away three of its personnel.

The company’s offence was that it was, at the time, conducting an opinion poll on the August 9, 2014 governorship election in Osun state. The SSS struck because it got intelligence that the poll would indicate that Rauf Aregbesola of the APC would win the election. Mr. Aregbesola later won that election.

On November 21, 2014, the agency raided the APC data centre in Lagos, arresting its staffs and accusing the party of “cloning INEC Permanent Voters Card with the intention of hacking into INEC data base, corrupting it and replacing them with their own data”. The SSS is yet to prove that allegation till date.

The SSS also consistently disparaged the APC in the media, accusing the party and its leaders of being behind the deadly Boko Haram insurgency.

And after the Osun election, the agency’s spokesperson, Marilyn Ogar, rushed to the media, claiming that some opposition APC politicians offered the Service’s personnel 14 million naira bribe.

The SSS is yet to substantiate that allegation and no one has been charged to court for bribery.

Perhaps due to its brazen partisanship during the Goodluck Jonathan era, President Buhari has related with the agency with suspicion since his assumption of duties at the presidential villa.

Mr Buhari ordered a reorganization of the security arrangement at the presidential villa, an exercise that saw the SSS sidelined, and its operatives removed from key beats and restricted to guarding only the “outer perimeter” of the State House.

Several top officers of the agency had repeatedly pleaded with Mr. Buhari to sack Mr. Ekpenyong rather than continue to humiliate the Service and all its personnel.
http://www.premiumtimesng.com/news/185978-breaking-buhari-sacks-sss-dg-ita-ekpenyong-appoints-replacement.html

The National Industrial Court of Nigeria presided over by Hon. Justice J.T. Agbadu-Fishim in Yenagoa, Bayelsa state has granted an order of interim injunction against the Governor of Rivers gtate, the Rivers State House of Assembly and the Attorney-General of Rivers State and their agents from dissolving, suspending, sacking terminating or in any manner whatsoever interfering with the tenure of office of the 23 Local Government Councils of Rivers state.

The order, in Suit No: NICN/YEN/26/2015, which was granted on Monday, 22nd June, 2015 followed a motion ex-parte and affidavit of extreme urgency filed by the 23 Local Government Council Chairmen on behalf of themselves and the 23 Local Government Councils of Rivers state.

The order also restrained the Inspector-general of Police or his agents and privies from enforcing any purported action detrimental to the existence of the 23 Chairmen and Councils in Rivers state.

The party said the order will remain in force until the hearing and determination of the motion on notice for interlocutory injunction.

The APC recalled that the Governor of Rivers State, Nyesom Wike, the Rivers State House of Assembly and the Hon. Attorney-General of the State have been hatching all manner of schemes to do away with the elected 23 local Government Councils in Rivers state.

APC said that, despite the presence of a few bad eggs, the judiciary remains the last hope of the oppressed. “Therefore, we hail this decision by the Yenagoa High Court Order.”

Governor Wike has vowed that the 22 local government councils would be dissolved because the court had allegedly restrained the Rivers state Independent Electoral Commission, RSIEC, from conducting local government council election but former Governor Amaechi administration went ahead to conduct the election in disobedience of court order.

Unknown gunmen, Monday, shot dead Lagos State Coordinator of The Lord’s Chosen Charis-matic Revival Ministries, Pastor Chukwuemeka Okpokpo, at Apple Junction, Amuwo Odofin area of the state.

The gunmen, said to have used a motorcycle, reportedly trailed the deceased from a Diamond Bank branch, where he had gone to withdraw N3 million for the church.

They reportedly fired shots into the air, which sent other road users and passers-by scampering for safety.

Reports said Pastor Okpokpo tried to escape when it became obvious that he was the target.

He reportedly slowed down on reaching a bad spot in the road, and the hoodlums shot at the tyres of the Chosen vehicle he was driving, bringing the vehicle to an abrupt halt.

One of the gunmen then alighted from their motorbike, walked to the vehicle and shot Pastor Okpokpo in the stomach.

He was said to have waited to ensure that Okpokpo was no longer breathing before he took the nylon bag containing the money, went back to his two colleagues in the motorbike and they zoomed off.

Fear-stricken residents were said to have rushed to the scene and raised alarm on discovering that the victim was wearing the Lord’s Chosen reflective jacket.

Some of them were said to have alerted members of the church, who rushed him to the church’s clinic at Ijesha.

When news of the tragedy filtered in, those who knew him wept uncontrollably, dispelling the report as rumour, while some said he was still in Ogun State, where he had gone to organise a crusade.

Resurrection prayers

A prayer session aimed at resurrecting him reportedly held between 12.30p.m. and 8p.m.

Some of the church members were, however, of the view that the gunmen could have been hired assassins and not robbers.

We’re investigating—POLICE

Meanwhile, Lagos State Police Command said it had begun investigation into the killing. The command said it was too early to say if it was a case of robbery or assassination.

A police source, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told Vanguard: “We are leaving all avenues open in our investigation.”

Church members thronged Okpokpo’s Iju home to commiserate with his family.

The family members hinted that Okpokpo’s body had been taken to his home town in Amizi, Ikwuano Local Government Area of Umuahia of Abia State.
- See more at: http://www.vanguardngr.com/2015/06/lords-chosen-pastor-shot-dead-in-lagos/#sthash.G5xWsK8e.dpuf

IN a manner that was sufficiently self-indicting and far from being evocative of a painstaking commitment to the business of lawmaking, members of the last Senate hurriedly passed 46 bills on a day before the end of the Seventh National Assembly.

These were bills that had long been passed by the House of Representatives and were pending at the Senate.

To say the best, that Seventh Senate was an embarrassment not only to Nigeria, but to democracy as a form of government.

In the reckoning of the citizens whose taxes sustained the senators at the National Assembly for four years, that action of the lawmakers is a stark illustration of how much they shirked their responsibility of making laws for the society.

The bills were not debated for the lawmakers to know their contents and clarify details. Yet, they suspended their Order 79 (1) of the Senate Standing Orders which requires that a bill passes through the first, second and third readings before being passed into law.

The senators were definitely wrong if they expected Nigerians to hail their passage of the 46 bills in about 10 minutes as a hallmark of legislative genius.

Rather, Nigerians consider their action as rank irresponsibility that should not have been allowed in the hallowed chamber of the last National Assembly.

To the credit of the House of Representatives, these are bills that have immense potential to improve the lot of the citizens. The Sexual Offences Bill, Witness Protection Programme Bill, Whistle-blower Protection Bill, Anti-torture Bill and Nigerian Oil and Gas Industry Content Act Amendment Bill are great legislations to reaffirm the dignity of the citizens and generally improve their well-being.

However, the long delay and their eventual hurried passage rather distracted from the merit of each of these bills. For instance, because the bills were not subjected to a thorough debate, the senators did not consider the fact that some of the sanctions for violating some of these bills which are now laws may be too harsh.

Sadly, the senators kept the bills unattended to almost till the end of their tenure because they were never available to do their duties.

They were preoccupied with their selfish pursuits and jostling over positions and perks at the expense of effective lawmaking. And this was at a time when the country was hemmed in on all sides by threats to its development.

On the elastic list were a wobbly economy, rampaging terrorists, failing infrastructure and a rapidly declining standard of living for the average citizen.

The senators have indeed failed to justify their huge remunerations. And they have lent credence to the advocacy by this newspaper that the nation’s lawmakers should be engaged on a part-time basis; and should be paid per sitting.

For it is clear that the lawmakers of the Seventh National Assembly barely spent any remarkable time on legislative matters. When the Senate added these 46 bills to what it had passed earlier, it claimed to have passed 100 bills in its four years of existence.

This is an embarrassment. For the sad fact remains that they could have done much more if they had devoted their time to the business of lawmaking for which they were elected into the National Assembly.

For Nigerians, the attitude of the senators is a sad reminder of the need for them to be more careful about those they elect to represent them. For them to have effective representation that would better their lot, Nigerians must choose those with the right qualities, those who understand and have the capacity for the rigour of lawmaking that would redound to national development and bring an improvement in the lives of the citizens.

The current set of lawmakers should see the attitude of their predecessors as a shame that should never be brought upon Nigerians again. The country’s dire situation requires lawmakers who are genuinely committed to finding solution to problems and making life worth living for the citizens. The new lawmakers in both chambers of the National Assembly must be true agents of change for good.

The All Progressives Congress governorship candidate in Akwa Ibom at the last general election, Umana Okon Umana has described former governor of the state, Godswill Akpabio as the author of rigging.

Umana who finished second to Peoples Democratic Party’s Emmanuel Udom Gabriel, polled 89,865 against Udom’s 996,071 and believes that the election was grossly rigged by Akpabio in tandem with the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and security agencies including the police, NSCDC and others.

Umana stated this in Lagos and urged all citizens of Akwa Ibom to fight for their votes by supporting him at the tribunal.

“The rigging template used in Rivers State for Nyesom Wike was manufactured in Akwa Ibom by Godswill Akpabio. He is the author,” Umana Umana said, adding that, “the number of accredited voters in Akwa Ibom for the governorship election were 437,128 but PDP’s Udom Emmanuel won by 996,071 votes.”

He noted that elections did not take place in Akwa Ibom and that APC agents could not sign the voters sheet because the results were written by PDP and INEC. “I wish to tell the world that election did not take place in Akwa Ibom on April 11. What we had was enthronement of the candidate imposed by ex-Governor Godswill Akpabio,” he said.

“Take Lagos for instance, results were announced as they were announced at the polling units. That way, the winner and the loser gradually knew what to expect at the end of the day.

“But in our case, people were intimidated. In cases where it looked like election would be conducted, security agencies fired tear gas claiming some persons were unruly.

Umana who is optimistic that the results of the election will be overturned said INEC was frustrating his team by denying them access to election materials. “To cover their tracks, INEC decided to pour all the election materials from the presidential and governorship election in one big Ghana Must Go bag in a bid to frustrate us.

He noted that he would have congratulated Udom Emmanuel if he had lost in a free and fair election.

Similarly, Nsima Ekere, former deputy governor of AKwa Ibom and a member of the PDP said he was calling for a change in Akwa Ibom because the state is in the hands of a cabal. “It is not about me or PDP but about Akwa Ibom. The state is bigger than me and we want to redeem it from a cabal led by Godswill Akpabio,” he said.

He added that: “The whole of Akwa Ibom is determined to make sure that democracy, true democracy exist.”

Not many Nigerians considered the possibility of General Muhammadu Buhari ever becoming the President. The tribe of the die-hard doubting Thomases failed to reckon with the man who stood staunchly behind the dream of the CHANGE that was to come the way of Nigeria.

While some of his political colleagues were still weighing their options whether or not to leave the PDP, former Governor Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi of Rivers State had long made up his mind to move to the APC with or without them. And as soon as he got there, he “locked” his eyes on Buhari as the one who should fly the party’s presidential ticket even though the party had not begun the process of choosing its flag bearer.

Therefore, for Amaechi, it was Buhari, Buhari, Buhari. Amaechi threw his heart and mind right into the project. The Rivers State Lodge in Abuja practically replaced all other earlier places of party meetings as party faithful trooped in and out on daily basis.

The first major challenge in delivering Buhari was the inability of the APC to agree on him as a consensus candidate. The problem dragged until the party decided that primary should be conducted. Amaechi strongly felt that left on his own, Buhari will not emerge as the flag bearer. He joined others to build a coalition that will deliver Buhari at the primary. The process did not only deliver Buhari, it was adjudged a spectacular success by Nigerians. Given his big push role in the emergence of Buhari as the APC flag bearer, Amaechi was logically picked to be Director of the Buhari Campaign Organization.

Meanwhile, as Amaechi was busy pushing the Buhari project with all he had, things were smoldering in his home state of Rivers. The state’s branch of the PDP had parted ways with Amaechi way back in 2013, opening him to fighting on many battle fronts simultaneously. His defection to APC blew the confrontation wide open.

He was accused of illegally moving a PDP mandate to the APC.

The Presidency descended on Amaechi like a ton of bricks by trying to scuttle his re-election as the Chairman of the Governors’ Forum, distorting the security situation in the state and using the state PDP branch under the leadership of Nyesom Wike, the current governor of the state, to take on Amaechi in an open warfare.

Amaechi was, therefore, torn between the deteriorating situation in Rivers and helping to deliver Buhari and APC at the centre with the likely consequence of losing the state to the PDP. Amaechi knew that winning both battles would be an uphill task but he was iron-willed to take a shot.

Meanwhile, the battle to deliver Buhari and APC at the centre was both contentious and acrimonious. It was perhaps the most hate-filled campaign in recent memory. There was clear risk to the life of Amaechi from the South-South as he was considered a ‘traitor’ who was planning to ruin the chances of a Niger Delta’s son and his own ‘brother.’

Despite the odds, Amaechi trudged on not knowing exactly what the outcome of his efforts would be. He was confident that given a level playing field, Buhari would win the election.

Amaechi hardly had time to support his state’s APC in their feisty battle over the elections there- even with a personal approval rating of over ninety percent. He appeared to have put most of his hope on ensuring a Buhari-win. He rightly believed that Rivers people were ready for change, but grossly underestimated how desperate his enemies – within APC and PDP – were.

Buhari won the March 28 presidential election. But he lost Rivers more to official mischief. In what turned out to be a bloody and vicious election, Amaechi’s people ‘lost’ all senatorial seats, House of Representative seats, House of Assembly seats (except one) and the gubernatorial election. It was a huge price that Amaechi had to pay just to ensure that Buhari wins at the centre.

Amaechi had delivered as a Campaign Director the first ever opposition victory in a presidential election in a spectacular manner, but he had become a broken man having lost everything in Rivers. He did it for the sake of his country. He bagged a red card so his team could win.

As Amaechi licks his wounds and carries the burden of his trauma, speculations as to what will be his role in the President Buhari’s government will continue to be a topic for both political and academic discourse for a long while to come. Nevertheless, no matter what that position may be, Amaechi will continue to carry some deep emotional scars and remain the man in a silhouette, a shadow in the mix of national sacrifice.
http://www.vanguardngr.com/2015/06/chibuike-rotimi-ameachi-the-man-in-the-silhouette/

In Nigeria, there are different views about women from various tribes.

While women from some tribes are believed to have certain skill sets, some are generally believed not to measure up to the standards of others because of a perceived trend. Many people analyse these behaviours based on their experiences with one or two women from the same tribe they have come across in their lifetime.


However, it should be noted that although some special behaviours have been attached to women from various tribes, it DOES NOT WORK TOTALLY FOR all the women in the tribe. The assumptions are just based on the common thing you will see most women from the area do. Naij.com has however put together 4 reasons why you should consider marrying an Igbo lady.

1. Igbo Ladies Are Very Industrious

It is generally believed that Nigerians who are Igbos (both male and female), tend to do business more, compared to other tribes. Igbo ladies are not left out in this trend. When an Igbo lady fails in the first business venture, she does not relent, instead she tries other ways, just to bring money into the house. Amazingly, lots of these women do not like sitting down without supporting their husbands. For a true Igbo lady, consistency is key and being financially dependent is out of the picture!

READ ALSO: How To Get Your Friend To Fall In Love With You

2. Igbo Ladies Love Unconditionally

When a true Igbo lady is in love, she loves not minding the odds involved (that’s if there are any). Igbo ladies take their time to do things in order to make their man not fall out of love with them. They take care of the home front including the children and are always ready to give good sex any time of the day just to show how committed they are to their men.

3. Igbo Ladies Stay True To Their Men

Yes, there are lots of wayward ladies in the country but Igbo ladies seldom cheat on their men. Igbo girls are faithful to the core.

4. Igbo Ladies are Extra Smart, Intelligent and Beautiful

Looking around, most of the popular ladies leading the pack both in and outside the country are Igbos. They are not just beautiful and brilliant, they are extra smart. They know their onions, they do not try to outshine themselves and they make the art of being a woman so beautiful!

In Nigeria, there are different views about women from various tribes.

While women from some tribes are believed to have certain skill sets, some are generally believed not to measure up to the standards of others because of a perceived trend. Many people analyse these behaviours based on their experiences with one or two women from the same tribe they have come across in their lifetime.

However, it should be noted that although some special behaviours have been attached to women from various tribes, it DOES NOT WORK TOTALLY FOR all the women in the tribe. The assumptions are just based on the common thing you will see most women from the area do. Naij.com has however, put together 5 reasons why you should consider marrying a Yoruba lady.

1. Yoruba Ladies Are Very Respectful

The moment a child is born in Yorubaland, the onus of training is on everybody around the baby, not just the parents. This has made it very easy to inculcate habits like being respectful in the young child. Yoruba ladies are brought up to totally give obeisance to whoever it is due. The Yoruba culture opines that when a youngster meets an elder, she must kneel down to greet as a sign of respect. All these and more are why Yoruba ladies top the list of respectful tribes in Nigeria.

2. Yoruba Ladies Are Highly Enlightened

Education, they say, is light. A high percentage of ladies from Yoruba tribe take school seriously, which gives them an edge over other ladies from other tribes in Nigeria. A typical Yoruba lady would prefer to go to school, get certified before thinking of marriage, which is rare in some tribes. This help them strategise their lives well enough; get prepared for the future before jumping into it.

3. Yoruba Ladies Are Family-Oriented

The same way every young child is taught how to be respectful no matter the situation is the same way a Yoruba ladies are taught how to always put their immediate families first no matter what. They are brought up with the notion that a friend will one day leave but family will forever be family. This trait can make a man fall in love over and over again with the same woman who has perfected the act of keeping her family together.

4. Yoruba Ladies Age Gracefully

Because most Yoruba ladies keep themselves before marriage, there are better chances for them to look way younger than their real age. They are ever agile even in old age to tend to their family. Just like fine old wine, Yoruba ladies get stronger as they grow older. This has been an unexplainable trait.

5. Yoruba Ladies Are Hardworking

A lot of Yoruba ladies grew up with the teachings of self-reliance. This is because at a tender age, they get taught about how to do major household chores and how to exceptionally take care of the house, the man of the house and the children. Every man want attention….

Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers state has explained why he has applied for a N10 billion loan less than a month after he was inaugurated as governor of the oil-rich state.

Wike stated his reasons at Government House shortly after signing the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between Messrs Julius Berger PLC and CCECC Nigeria Limited to rehabilitate roads in the state on Thursday.

Wike dismissed the war of calumny against his administration as malicious, frivolous and a futile attempt to sully his reputation.

“I am poised to complete all the important ongoing projects in the state, he said, explaining why the state government applied for the loan.

He further disclosed that the loan will be used to complete the following projects: “the Law Faculty Building in the State University of Science and Technology, the renovation of the judiciary complex and the Rivera State House of Assembly buildings which are all derelict as a result of the their closure for almost two years by Rotimi Amaechi. The loan, he further revealed, will be used to complete the Akpajo/Woji Bypass, the Eagle Island link Road and the Rivers Mall started by Sir Celestine Omehia.”

“There is no need frittering away resources by abandoning projects. Government is a continuum”, stated.
http://www.pmnewsnigeria.com/2015/06/19/why-i-took-n10-billion-loan-wike/

Senator Rabiu Kwankwaso immediate past governor of Kano State in this interview with newsmen in Abuja gives his views on the crisis arising from the National Assembly leadership contest. Excerpts:

By Kingsley Omonobi

You were one of the senators at the ICC when the leadership contest started in the National Assembly?

Honestly speaking, it was on the morning of that day that I saw a text message that we should go to the ICC, unfortunately for me I had so many people who came from Kano, so I was trying to receive them when I got a call that members and senators were waiting at the ICC. As I was moving out of Hilton Hotel, somebody called again that they were at the National Assembly and were just about to start election. So I diverted the driver, instead of going to the ICC I thought now that election was taking place, I said instead of going to ICC, it was more important for me to go the National Assembly and in any case I was sure that those who were at the ICC will not want to stay there when election was taking place. So I drove straight to the National Assembly, moved straight to the chamber. It was when I entered that I saw Bukola being sworn in as Senate President. So I wasn’t at the ICC, I was at the National Assembly but I arrived after the election and I was there calling them to come unfortunately they didn’t come so I had to follow them to ICC and other places. That was what happened that day.

Did the president summon that meeting?

Nobody told me but I saw a text message that we were going to be addressed by the President but the message did not come from the President himself but from the officials of the party.

Did you suspect mischief by the party leaders?

You see I told you the party missed some vital steps and gave ample opportunity to the Bukola group and they used it effectively using all the advantages that had to do with the mistakes of our leaders.
Gov kwakwanso

Kwakwanso

One, I am aware that the G-7 group and their supporters were interested in seeing one of them being relevant, I am aware of that group within the APC. I am also aware that there are some people within the party who also believe that my brother, Senator Bola Tinubu has taken so many things and they thought it was time for them to put a brake so that he does not have to go with that election because they have the perception that Tinubu was supporting another candidate.

There are other groups of senators who believe that Bukola had given them so many things, they believe he supported them in the party, maybe he had taken advantage of some supporters of the party who channelled a lot of support through him and many senators believe they were supported by him and therefore went all out to support him.

I think all these things were not taken into consideration by the party leaders. There were many other senators and members that very much believe that the consultation between them and the party was not good enough, that the party could have done more in terms of the relationship in terms of closeness and even in terms of letting them know precisely the direction of the party. Some of these things are correctable like making consultations with members of the National Assembly etc.

I’m sure you know that I’m in the group of Ahmad Lawan and Akume, but before then I was one of the supporters of Akume because under normal circumstances he should get the seat, he is the natural owner of the seat for many obvious reasons.

One he is probably the most senior among all of them, he was the minority leader and I have not heard anybody pass a vote of no confidence on him and now that the party is the majority party, under normal circumstances he should have been Senate President and his state did very well for the party and all these put together qualify him to be the Senate president.

I supported him from the beginning but when the decision was made by some other people that two of them should come together, in fact he called me 4 a.m. one day, I was in Kano, he said this was what was happening in Abuja; what is my opinion because he doesn’t want to do anything that will go against our collective interest.

It is sad that they didn’t get it because under normal circumstances all members of our party should toe the party line that is how it should. But here we are with the situation where party is on one side and some members of the party are on the other side.

So are you saying the party is divided?

Well I think the party unfortunately is divided but it is not too late to correct many things but the party should take certain steps to ensure such things do not happen again.

I am one of those who advised Bukola that he shouldn’t go too far with that ambition under the circumstances. At his level people should be more careful and cautious in what they do and what they don’t do especially as the situation is even worse than the case of Tambuwal because during the 2011 elections, the Tambuwal case was a case of going out of the zoning but all the positions went to the members of the party but this time because of the ambition of these members of our party, they went and connived with people who are not only opponents nut enemies of the party to fight the party after the people of this country have discarded these people. Now because of ambition, these people were made relevant. I don’t think that is the best way to go.

Members of the party should have limitations, they should know where to start and stop, I think this is going too far romancing members of the PDP, as far as we are concerned PDP was dead, until recently when ambition brought certain people to do what they should not do in a democracy and party politics and now we are about to create another line for them to the extent that some of them are surfacing again and making all sorts of statements.

Just yesterday I was reading Ekweremadu talking rubbish

saying they have reasons to speak again and I think this has to do with the mistake of our own members. I believe at the end of the day the party members must get a way of coming together and behave well. I think that is the only way we can make progress.

Some have justified Ekweremadu’s emergence as compensation for the South-East?

There are ways the APC can carry the South-east by way of appointment. I’m sure our party had it in mind to carry the South-east but not with the position of the Senate president. That position doesn’t belong to the PDP and that is the mistake Ekweremadu is making, he said he was elected deputy senate president yet he reduced himself to a zone and to a tribe which is not good enough.
- See more at: http://www.vanguardngr.com/2015/06/nass-election-sarakis-ambition-has-resurrected-pdp-sen-kwankwaso/#sthash.lSndCxCB.dpuf

As part of efforts to recover all its properties, the Bauchi State government has seized a total 22 vehicles in the possession of the wives of former governor of Bauchi State, Isa Yuguda.

The Chairman of the Transition Committee, Senator Mohammed Mohammed who spoke yesterday at the Government House in Bauchi said that the recovery of the vehicles was in tandem with the mandate of the committee to recover all items confirmed to have been allocated against due and return them to the government.

He said:” we have so far, recovered a total of 22 cars from the wives of the former Governor, Isa Yuguda. We recovered 11 cars from his first wife, seven from the second wife and four from the third wife. We are yet to recover the remaining cars from his fourth wife who is currently out of the country.

“We will ensure that whoever is in possession of government properties will be forced to return them. We urge public servants and the general public, especially those involved in the disposal and allocation of the property in question to cooperate with the committee for the effective discharge of its assignment.”

Governor Mohammed Abubakar had vowed that he would employ all measures to trace funds and property allegedly looted during the tenure of the immediate past administration under Yuguda in the state.
- See more at: http://www.vanguardngr.com/2015/06/bauchi-govt-seizes-22-vehicles-from-yugudas-wives/#sthash.r4xr0Vcf.dpuf

Nigerian Democracy Is A Time Bomb And Bukola Saraki Is The Judas Iscariot Of Nigeria By Hon Ak

I have cited the above examples to show that neither the PDP, nor the APC that dethroned the PDP for the first time in more than 55 years in Nigeria has anything other than selfish interest at heart. It is a complete outrage that Bukola Saraki, who destroyed the PDP for his own selfish gain is attempting the same thing in the APC. Saraki is just like his twin brother in crime, Ayo Fayose, the current Governor of Ekiti. He is the Judas Iscariot of Nigerian Politics.
BY DR. WUMI AKINTIDEJUN 09, 2015
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Senator Saraki

President Buhari‘s insistence that he was not going to interfere on the affairs of the Parliament is a major gaffe any way you slice it. The Parliament, as stipulated in the Nigerian Constitution, would determine whether or not his change agenda would fail or succeed in Nigeria. As a Political Science major with a deep passion for politics, I can tell you that.

The PDP began to irredeemably fall apart the day their own Speaker of the House, Tambuwal began to show more loyalty and favoritism for the opposition party, and there was nothing the PDP could do to bring him to order before the situation got out of control. Only in Nigeria is that kind of disloyalty tolerated in a party official. It is true that the Speaker of the House must be neutral in his dealings with members as much as humanly possible, but the ‘river that forgets its source or origin’ as reminded us by Elemure Ogunyemi, the Ekiti country music idol, is bound to dry up sooner than later.

Tambuwal got away with his disloyalty because he figured out that he could only be removed as Speaker by a majority of members in his Chamber, and nobody else, as stipulated by the obnoxious Nigerian Constitution. Unwritten ‘laws of decency’ should have required the Speaker to do the right thing without being told, but because politics in Nigeria is all about self rather than the ultimate interest of the Nation and the institution, Tambuwal got away with his perfidy. Not only that, he went on to be called a hero and a consummate politician in a country where corruption has become a virtue and a way of life.

Everybody in the PDP knew he was to all intent and purposes an APC member, but the PDP and President Jonathan were in total denial. Tambuwal kept that advantage until the very last moment when he publicly admitted he was going to be the APC Governorship candidate in Sokoto since he could not run for President. He won the governorship election by a landslide. That could only mean he had been rooting for the APC long before he made it official.

Even though Goodluck Jonathan tried to shake Tambuwal up by using the Inspector General of Police, Abubakar Abba by withdrawing his security details and the official cars and drivers assigned to him as Speaker. Tambuwal went to Court to challenge the move and won on legal technicalities. The PDP went into the last elections totally embarrassed and humiliated by their own Speaker, legislators like Bukola Saraki and Governors like Kwankwanso and Amaechi who openly decamped into the opposition APC. In his own case, Tambuwal only stopped short of openly crossing carpet into the APC. He was widely known to have been holding nocturnal meetings with the APC Caucus while still claiming allegiance to the PDP.

The House of Assembly in Abuja under the PDP was a House of Commotion, Intrigues, Horse-trading and Bribery if you get my point. Even though Nigerians massively voted for change on March 28 and April 11, I can assure you that nothing has changed and nothing is going to change in Nigeria for two important reasons.

First, neither of the two major political parties in Nigeria today have any verifiable ideology that explains their value system and political leanings. Neither of them operates the kind of party supremacy that is so critical in every Democracy. Once the Party takes a decision, no member, however powerful or rich can change it, whether on the floor of the Parliament or anywhere else in Nigeria

The Action Group under Obafemi Awolowo became the powerhouse that made the Western Region the pace setter in Nigeria among its peers like the NPC and the NCNC. Rich individuals like Pa Alfred Rewani, late Pa Ajao and Pa Shonibare of Lagos were moneybags in the same Action Group, but they all had to abide by what the Party says. Even Awolowo, arguably the most conscientious politician and strategist among our leaders, knew he could not achieve anything as party leader without party discipline and supremacy.

Awolowo initially wanted to make free education in the Old Western region both ‘universal’ and ‘compulsory’ but the party settled for universal only. Awolowo had no other choice because the party was supreme. If Awolowo, the party leader, could do that, no other member could challenge the party and remain in the Action Group. Awolowo was that strict. It was not like the “animal farm” of today where a deserter from the PDP like Bukola Saraki would not take no for an answer because he is hell bent on becoming Senate President to gain immunity from public prosecution for atrocities he committed with “Societe-Generale Bank“ a public institution he plundered. 

I don’t blame the APC for accepting “leprous” Saraki into their fold. The APC was like a drowning man that would cling to a snake at the time it accepted Saraki, and the gamble paid off big time in Kwara State, if not the whole of Nigeria. They must now deal with and tame the monster or suffer the same fate as the PDP suffered in Kwara. Saraki is a true son of his father. He is in politics not to help humanity but to laugh all the way to the Bank for his own benefit.  As Saraki has become Senate President, forget it. That is the end of Buhari’s anti-corruption agenda.

I have cited the above examples to show that neither the PDP, nor the APC that dethroned the PDP for the first time in more than 55 years in Nigeria has anything other than selfish interest at heart. It is a complete outrage that Bukola Saraki, who destroyed the PDP for his own selfish gain is attempting the same thing in the APC. Saraki is just like his twin brother in crime, Ayo Fayose, the current Governor of Ekiti. He is the Judas Iscariot of Nigerian Politics.

Ayo Fayose, the outlaw Governor has got away with murder in Nigeria, so to speak, because Goodluck Jonathan’s policy was to join the rotten eggs of Nigerian Politics rather than beat them. Fayose openly encouraged the PDP members in the new Senate and the House of Representatives to muddy the waters for the APC and cause confusion by voting en masse for Sola Saraki as Senate President.

He has the effrontery to do that because, under the Jonathan government, he completely outmaneuvered the 19 APC legislators he drove out of Ekiti so that the 7 PDP legislators could continue to do as they liked with him as the overall boss. One would have expected the new APC Government to have paid more attention to Fayose and what he was doing in Ekiti prior to the APC’s victory in the last election. The APC dropped the ball on Fayose, who took advantage of the APC’s silence and ineptitude to wait out the 19 legislators till June 6th when his new set of PDP legislators took over the Ekiti House of Assembly.

I have completely lost confidence in the APC and President Buhari for being so sluggish and slow at doing what was expected of them. I could not understand the strategy of the APC to put Ayo Fayose on notice that his antics in Ekiti would no longer be tolerated by Buhari. They were supposed to hit the ground running, but grew so careless that Ayo Fayose treated them like amateurs in Politics. The man beat the APC arms down in Ekiti, if the truth must be told. He definitely put “Okaraba Baba Edi“ on the APC and juggernauts like Ahmed Tinubu. The wizardry of Ahmed Tinubu has been rubbished by Ayo Fayose.

I agree that it is true that there are more urgent problems to tackle than facing Ayo Fayose, but I condemn the APC, President Buhari and Vice-President Osinbajo for completely taking their eye off the ball in reference to Ayo Fayose and the ugly developments in Ekiti.

I am also amazed, if not totally shocked, that one week after Buhari’s inauguration he still has not found the time to issue a statement on the 60 Nigerian officers and soldiers awaiting execution for not fighting Boko Haram with their “bare hands”. Boko Haram was fighting Nigeria with tanks, armored vehicles, AK-47 rifles and other deadly improvised bombs like what Biafrans call “Ugbunigwe” during the 1967 to 1970 civil war. These soldiers were expected to face this people with prayer and fasting. That is just wicked.

It is unconscionable that Buhari, a retired 4-star General has not seen the need to issue a statement on the fate of those brave soldiers within a week of his inauguration. The cowardly Chief of Defense Staff and the other heads of the Army, the Navy, and the Air Force who worked with Goodluck Jonathan are still there, enjoying their loot from Jonathan. Buhari looks insane to me right now to keep quiet and not say a word. Many, if not all, of those officers should have been let go immediately.

It also beats my imagination that the same Buhari, up till now, has not said a word on the fate of Captain Sagir Koli, who blew the whistle on the covert operations that helped Fayose rig the election in Ekiti on June 21. Brigadier-General Aliyu Momoh, the commanding officer of the operation is still in the Military, while Sagir Koli has had to runaway from Nigeria to avoid assassination or victimization by his commanding officer. Yet, Buhari still wants Nigeria to believe he is the Messiah, coming to save Nigeria. If you believe that crap, I have an island to sell to you in the Pacific. Time is of the essence. Buhari is damaging himself irredeemably in the court of public opinion for all of the above.

I was one of the strongest supporters of General Buhari during the election and I still support him, but disillusionment has set in for many of his supporters across Nigeria and for me. I am not so sure any more from what he has done in his first two weeks in office. I am more worried today about his silence than anything else. I know there is a limit to how much he could have done in 2 weeks but he should at least have issued some statements to assure Nigerians that he is not totally lost or overwhelmed by the sheer enormity of the problems he has to confront.

I suggested to him more than a year ago, that he needed to set up a Rapid Response Team to draw attention to many of these lapses, since he was not avid reader of briefs sent to him. He should have had somebody looking into social media to compile information and advice he needs. The Sahara Reporters of New York is a major resource that he cannot afford to ignore. If he is in any doubt, he should talk to his friend, Pastor Tunde Bakare, who visits the website every day before breakfast. Buhari is losing momentum and I deeply regret that.

Buhari has told us enough about Nigerian problems. What Nigerians want to hear now are his solutions to these problems. I am not talking of solutions that would require the involvement of the Senate or the House of Representative or the Judiciary. I am talking of solutions that he is able to do with executive orders. He should make himself and his Vice President a shining example of the change he wants to see in Nigeria just like El Rufai and his Deputy Governor have done in Kaduna State. They both declared in their inaugural address that they would both accept a 50 percent salary cut until further notice.

That Buhari is yet to name a single member of his cabinet and principal officers close to 2 weeks after inauguration is proof that the man is not ready for prime time. I am saying it out loud because I want the man to succeed. I can tell you right now that what Buhari has promised to do in Nigeria cannot be achieved with the level of sloppiness and lethargy he has shown in his first two weeks in office.

He offered Nigerians a sartorial list of the problems he wants to tackle but he has not articulated the ends, the ways and the means for solving those problems with any comprehensive strategy. What he is trying to do cannot be done with his current level of commitment and drive. It is sad to say but it is the truth.

I fully understand that Buhari is trying to convince his critics he is no longer the maximum dictator he used to be as a military ruler but he is doing it the wrong way by looking weak and incompetent. By openly telling Nigerian he would not interfere in what is going on in the Parliament, he became spineless.

I would not be complaining this much if I saw some convincing evidence he really wants to strengthen the supremacy of the APC. I see no evidence of a guiding ideology that should influence all of Buhari’s decisions. I see none of that and I think the observation should be of concern to all Nigerians like me who voted for change on March 28 and April 11.

The APC won 59 seats in the Senate and the PDP won 49 in the new Parliament. The APC won 213 out of the 360 seats in the House of Representatives leaving the remaining 147 to the PDP, the APGA and the other parties in Nigeria.  If you compare that margin of victory with what normally obtains in stable Democracies like the United States, Britain and the State of Israel, you will all see that the APC has a majority that is comfortable enough to be able to effectively and successfully govern Nigeria.  What if the margin of victory for the APC was much smaller? The APC has no excuse to give right now. If it fails it will have nobody but itself to blame.

I don’t care about the horse-trading currently going on in the Parliament. The bottom line is that the legislators sponsored by the majority party must be seen to have won. That it did not happen is a bad omen for Nigeria’s nascent Democracy under the APC.

I don’t care how the APC and Buhari do it, the duo of Saraki and Ekweremadu as Senate President and Deputy President is as a major humiliation and defeat for the APC, and more so for Buhari and Osinbajo, and a bad omen for the interest and future of Nigeria.

I rest my case.