When 21-year old Okafor Kelechi was selected alongside two of his football team members to travel to Azerbaijan, in Eastern Europe where he was to be signed on to kick-start his career professionally he felt fate had finally smiled on him.
The Anambra-state born started with Lion heart Football Club domiciled in Ayobo community for three years, where he trained and honed his skills as a right full back, and sometimes played as a central midfielder.
Elated at the news which he described as prayer answered, kelechi started shopping for personal effects and other valuables he would travel with, while his club processed all necessary travel documents.
While these preparations were ongoing, never in his wildest imagination did he envisage that fate had another bargain for him.
Unfortunately, his dream came crashing like a pack of cards on August 10, 2021, while he and his teammates were practicing on the training ground at Idowu Fadeyi, Ayobo, Ipaja. Ironically, it was the same day he was supposed to travel.
Sadly, the plane left the tarmac of the Murtala Mohammed international Airport that night, without Kelechi.
As you read this piece, his remains are in the morgue, waiting to be interred this evening.
Tragedy
Explaining how the tragedy occurred, one of his teammates, said, “the incident happened on the very day Kelechi and three others were supposed to travel to Europe.
“We had gone for training that day. He went for an aerial battle. On his way down, he lost balance and hit his head on the ground.
“Immediately, the coaches administered first aid on him, trying to revive him. When it didn’t yield any result, they rushed him to the hospital. But he died on the way.
When we got to the private hospital located in Ayobo area, doctors declared him Brought in Dead.
“From there the coaches went to Ayobo Police Station to report the incident. The police came to the training ground at Idowu Fadeyi, Ayobo, Ipaja where the incident happened. The policemen questioned some of the players, took photographs before going to the hospital”.
“I got so emotional, I couldn’t control myself as I began to cry when I saw the lifeless body of Kelechi being put inside a body bag. His corpse was deposited at the Yaba morgue “
It was learned that, when Kelechi’s uncle, Chukwudi and his elder brother Uche came to pitch, everybody was in a sober mood.
The club Manager was said to have explained what happened, as well as the efforts of teammates and coaches. Thereafter, the relatives went back to the police station, to see the DPO and inform them that they wanted the case closed since it wasn’t a murder case.
Late Kelechi’s elder brother, Uche lamented that “ It’s unfortunate that Kelechi died on the same day he was supposed to travel, his flight ticket had been purchased, the flight was scheduled for 8:45pm and he died before noon. Kelechi is the last born in our family. Our parents are alive and they are devastated by the news. Kelechi will be buried on Saturday September 4,2021″.
The Department of State Services has released two more aides of Yoruba Nation agitator Sunday Adeyemo, The PUNCH has learnt.
The secret police released two of the detained aides of the activist on Friday.
Their lawyer, Pelumi Olajengbesi, confirmed their release to our correspondent.
The PUNCH had reported on August 30, 2021, that the DSS released eight of the 12 aides of the aides of the agitator also known as Sunday Igboho.
Justice Obiora Egwuatu of the Federal High Court sitting in Abuja on August 4, 2021 had granted bail to the 12 detainees.
They had met their bail conditions including the provision of 24 sureties but the DSS lawyer, Idowu Awo, kicked against the bail granted by Justice Egwuatu to four of the detainees, claiming that they were heavily involved in the alleged offence of arms stockpiling and other criminal activities of their boss, Igboho.
Awo had filed a remand application for the four detainees saying their release would affect investigation. He had also approached an Appeal Court sitting in Abuja to revoke the bail earlier granted to the four persons.
The detainees were arrested around 1am on July 1, 2021, when the secret police “raided” Igboho’s Ibadan residence in a Gestapo style, killing two other associates of the activist in a “gun duel.”
The 12 detainees had approached the court to seek their release.
…as Commission records N12.37bn budget deficit in 3 years
The Senate, yesterday, warned that the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) might liquidate by the year 2023, if nothing urgent and drastic was done to rescue the agency from its progressive budget deficits. The apex legislative chamber gave the warning in Abuja, following revelations by the Director-General of the Commission, Lamido Yuguda, at a public hearing organized by the Joint Senate Committee on Finance, National Planning, Foreign and Local Debt; Banking, Insurance and other Financial Institutions; Petroleum Resources (Upstream), Down Stream; Petroleum Sector & Gas. Yuguda revealed that from January 2021 to June 2021, the Commission realized a revenue portfolio of N11.6 bil-lion, while recording a total expenditure of N16.67 billion, leaving behind a balance of N5.17 billion.
He said that the situation was caused by a market meltdown and the COVID-19 pandemic. He pointed out that SEC was overburdened by a staff strength of 544, including pension for retired officers, and a personnel cost of N10.322 billion. According to him, since June 2020, SEC has been paying 25 per cent of its gross revenue of N1.5 billion to the national treasury. Yuguda claimed that the Commission had an investment portfolio of N6 billion with the Treasury Single Account (TSA) including ownership of Government Treasury Bills. However, he could not provide explanations on the sources of the monies used by the Commission to fund its budget deficit.
In his remarks, the Chairman of the Committee on Finance, Senator Solomon Adeola (APC, Lagos State) frowned at the Commission’s unsubstantiated budget remarks, condemning the DG’s inability to provide evidence of how SEC funded the budget gap. Adeola noted that “in the last three years, the personnel cost has been on the increase. Your salary profile, your top half of the profile is talking about 70% of total emolument of N9 billion, only 30% go to lower cadre. We should know what is happening. This is the second year you are coming with a deficit budget.” A member of the Committee, Senator Tokunbo Abiru (Lagos East) lamented that the returns generated by the Commission was far below its expenditures. He said: “As a regulator to businesses making profit and you’re not making profit, it is a challenge. In 2019, you had a deficit of N2.9 billion, 2020 you had N4.3 billion and the returns you are getting from these investment securities are way below what can fund it. So, it is either you are borrowing money somewhere to fund these operations which I honestly think is not the best thing to do.
“So, I think that part of what you should be thinking of is how do you right-size your operations within the limit of the revenue that you can generate.” In his contribution, former Borno State Governor and a member of the Committee, Senator Kashim Shettima, also lamented that the Commission might go bankrupt in the next two years. “In the next two years, you are going to go bankrupt. Right now, you are in deficit and unless you come up with solutions, you will become insolvent; incapable of honouring your obligations, urging the DG to think outside the box and stop giving excuses, he said.
The Islamic States West African Province (ISWAP) faction of the Boko Haram has warned some Borno State residents, particularly in communities under its control against giving out information to the Nigerian Army.
The terrorists conveyed the warning in fliers distributed by members of the group in what seemed to be a market setting in Borno State, according to a report by HumAngle.
From pictures posted, one of the ISWAP terrorists was seen handing out the flier to a driver in a car like a taxi.
The flier’s title reads, “A message from the caliphate’s troops to the people of a new town.”
The terrorists spread propaganda that the Nigerian Army forced the villagers out of their homes and that the military were their true adversaries, not the ISWAP.
“We were not the ones who chased you out of your place from the beginning,” one of the messages in the fliers read. “These people who call themselves the Nigerian Army are the ones who chased you out, killed you, and are the wicked ones.”
ISWAP has recently turned to propaganda to propagate its cause.
The terrorists have also offered aid and money to the people in an effort to entice them to live under their caliphate.
SaharaReporters had recently reported that the Director-General, Centre for Justice on Religion and Ethnicity in Nigeria, Kallamu Musa Ali Dikwa, once revealed that members of ISWAP took over some parts of Borno without any military intervention.
Dikwa had told SaharaReporters that the terrorists stopped vehicles along Maiduguri- Damaturu Road at Mainok and kidnapped motorists and commuters without any disturbance.
It had also been reported that ISWAP introduced mobile courts overseeing the insurgents’ activities and groups under the leadership of the Islamic State Of Iraq and Syria.
The insurgents had also established two Wilaya’s (Caliphates) at Lake Chad and Sambisa Forest to sustain its war against countries in Sub-Saharan Africa.
The terrorist group was said to have lifted the ban imposed on fishing and farming activities in the Lake Chad area, three years after chasing people out of for allegedly spying for Nigerian troops.
It, nevertheless, imposed new taxes and levies in the areas controlled by ISWAP-Boko Haram, to regulate trades and agricultural activities.
Several fishermen, farmers and merchants had returned to the Lake-Chad area to engage in socio-economic activities, under the arrangement of the new ISWAP-Boko Haram leadership.
Over 500 Nigerian doctors turned up for a recruitment exercise the Saudi health ministry organised in Abuja on Tuesday.
The exercise, which commenced at 7am continued way past afternoon.
Our correspondent observed a large crowd of doctors within and outside the building during the exercise.
The Saudi Ministry of Health had earlier called on doctors with different specialties to attend the interview.
The specialties are anesthesia, ICU, pediatric surgery, family medicine, obstetrics and gynecology, ENT, and emergency medicine.
Others are all sub-specialties of internal medicine, orthopedic surgery, radiology, and hematology.
Daily Trust learnt that the recruitment exercise was conducted by an agency on behalf of the Saudi Ministry of Health and that other agencies will still hold recruitment exercise this Thursday in Abuja, and other parts of the country in coming days.
Doctors have said that poor remuneration, inadequate manpower, poor health facilities and insecurity are some of the reasons making them seek greener pastures abroad.
Experts have, however, warned that the mass exodus of doctors portends danger for the country‘s already weak health system.
A gynaecologist, who spoke on condition of anonymity, lamented over the situation.
He said, “We cannot really survive where Mr President goes out of the country for medical treatment, while for the past ten months now, most of us have not been paid, and those who are paid are paid half salaries.
“I need to take care of my family. Why is the government not taking care of the health sector? After going through rigorous training for six years, it is not worth it to come out struggling to feed your family. I have been working 48 hours at a stretch with nothing to show.”
A pediatrician, who also craved anonymity, said the working environment for doctors in the country was pitiable and they had no option but to leave.
He said, “There are more than 500 specialist doctors here wanting to leave the country and they are coming from various teaching hospitals, federal medical centers and specialists hospitals.
“So Saudi Arabia wants the best for her people, the officials come here, collect the best from Nigeria, and put them in their hospitals for their people to benefit from our expertise .”
2023 Presidency: ‘APC govs begging Jonathan, promising to give him automatic ticket’ – PDP youths
Youths of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, on Friday revealed moves of the All Progressives Congress, APC, governors, ahead of the 2023 presidential election.
The National Youth Coordinator of PDP youths, Usman Okai Austin, alleged that APC governors are “lobbying, romancing, and begging” former President Goodluck Jonathan to join the ruling party.
Speaking exclusively with DAILY POST, Okai alleged that APC governors including its Caretaker National Chairman, Mai Mala Buni plans to give Jonathan an automatic presidential ticket in 2023, if he defects to the ruling party.
Okai made the remark while rubbishing claims by the Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed on the fight against insurgency.
Mohammed had claimed that the security situation in Nigeria has improved when compared to what was obtainable during the tenure of Jonathan.
However, Okai dismissed the minister’s comment, wondering why APC governors were begging Jonathan to join them if the party is actually doing well.
According to Okai: “It’s unfortunate that Lai Mohammed who is the Minister of Information is still lying at his age.
“He is still blaming Jonathan while his party is begging same Jonathan to join them, so they would give him the presidential ticket.
“Are you not aware that they are lobbying Jonathan? That APC governor, Mai Mala Buni is romancing Jonathan and begging him to join APC so they would give him an automatic ticket?
“Now they are begging him and claiming that they are doing better; so why are you lobbying him?”
It was learnt that the deceased, David Ogbonna, hanged himself in the university's hostel wardrobe.
A 200 level student of the Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka, Anambra State, has reportedly committed suicide after seeing his last semester result.
It was learnt that the deceased, David Ogbonna, hanged himself in the university's hostel wardrobe.
However, a source said no one had been allowed to get into the room where the incident took place, noting that the roommates of the deceased were being interrogated for further investigation.
Meanwhile, one of the deceased’s close friends stated that the family had issued an official statement that they would like to mourn Dave in peace.
"My dearest David Ogbonna, I got the news of your demise just this morning and it has left me devastated.
“I do not want to believe you took your own life until the management of Nnamdi Azikiwe University of Awka gives a concrete reason as to why this has happened.
"The family has issued an official statement that they would like to mourn Dave in peace. May God rest your merry soul, Dave," he added.
Nigeria expects to lift its ban on Twitter before the end of the year, Information Minister, Lai Mohammed, told Reuters on Thursday, adding that the government was awaiting a response on three final requests made of the social media platform.
Mohammed said the government had reached agreements on seven of 10 requests made to Twitter but was waiting for the company’s response on final issues, including setting up a local office, paying tax locally and cooperating with the government to regulate content and harmful tweets.
“We certainly want to put this behind us before the end of the year,” Mohammed said.
Twitter declined to comment.
The government suspended Twitter on June 4 after it removed a post from President Muhammadu Buhari that threatened to punish regional secessionists.
It was a culmination of months of tension. Twitter Chief Executive Jack Dorsey’s posts encouraging donations to anti-police brutality protests last October and Twitter posts from Nnamdi Kanu, a Biafran separatist leader currently on trial in Abuja, infuriated authorities.
Mohammed said Twitter “made their platform the platform of choice for separatists”, and was suspended because it threatened national unity.
Last month, Nigeria’s broadcasting regulator asked TV stations to curb their reporting of security issues in the country by withholding details of incidents and victims. read more
Mohammed said concerns over deteriorating freedom of speech were the result of misinformation. He added he was currently in Washington, D.C. meeting with journalists and opinion leaders in an effort to counter such misunderstandings.
Bandits May Soon Register With Corporate Affairs Commission, Nigerian Stock Exchange – Atiku Warns
Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar on Thursday said bandits ravaging the country with growing impunity would soon register formally with the Corporate Affairs Commission and the Nigerian Stock Exchange.
Atiku spoke when he chaired the launch of a new book by journalist Chido Onumah in Abuja on Thursday afternoon. ‘Remaking Nigeria: Sixty Years, Sixty Voices,’ was unveiled at the Shehu Musa Yar’Adua Centre, Abuja.
The book collected critical voices from across the country to reflect on the country’s journey since Independence and suggest ways out of the country’s myriad crises.
The book came six years after Onumah wrote ‘We Are All Biafrans’ to demonstrate a metaphor for the mutual disaffection and claims of marginalisation amongst Nigerians of all tribes and ideological persuasions.
Abubakar, who challenged but lost to Mr Buhari at the 2019 presidential polls, said Nigerians should learn from Mr Buhari’s divisive mindset and emulate ideals that promote unity and economic prosperity in order to leave a lasting legacy.
He said, “I find it amusing when people declare Nigeria’s unity as fixed and non-negotiable while doing everything in their power to destroy that fragile unity.
“Nothing in the relationships among peoples is fixed for eternity. You cannot declare your marriage as non-negotiable while doing everything to sow seeds of discord in that same marriage.
“You can whip groups of people into forming a country but you cannot whip them into forming a nation.
“Nations are built through conscious or even unconscious agreement by peoples who believe that being together is, on balance, more beneficial than being apart.”
On the insecurity ravaging the country, Atiku said, “But who would have thought that our country would become a haven for kidnappers and all manner of bandits to the extent that their nefarious activities would become a major industry?
“They have been allowed to operate so openly and brazenly that it would surprise no one if they applied for registration with the Corporate Affairs Commission and listing on the Nigerian Stock Exchange.
“Five years ago, the Abuja – Kaduna Road was not a virtual no-go area. The South-East was not a virtual war-zone, and Amotekun was not needed to protect lives and property in the South-West.”
He also blamed the Northern region and the country for not doing enough to check the encroachment of the Sahara Desert and the drying out of Lake Chad, saying that this was responsible for trajectory of the insurgency in the North-East and the banditry across the Northern states.
The Office of the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation has identified what it called lack of commitment by some permanent secretaries and other directorate level officers as one of the factors that hindered the full implementation of the 2017-2020 civil service plan.
This is as the office proposed to introduce a performance-related payment system for civil servants as part of its goals for the service by 2025.
This was disclosed in the 2021- 2025 Federal Civil Service Strategy and Implementation Plans, Priorities and Targets draft published on the website of the Office of the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation on Wednesday and accessed by The PUNCH.
In the plan, the OHCSF had blamed some permanent secretaries, directors and other civil servants for their non-commitment to the achievement of the 2017-2020 projects.
Recall that the OHCSF, as part of its plans for 2017-2020, had stated that the office would work towards eight priority areas such as the review of salary of civil servants, acceleration of the roll out of the human resource module of the Integrated and Personnel Information System, performance management of civil servants among others.
The draft reads, “Challenges to the full implementation of the 2017-2020 FCSSIP project include: lack of commitment by some permanent secretaries and other directorate level officers, resistance to change, COVID-19 delays, lack of enabling environment and non or late release of funds and other resources.”
For the 2021-2025 plans, the office highlighted the following as parts of its high priorities: “To introduce performance-related pay system, finalise performance measures at the individual and unit level e.g key performance indices and targets.
“To introduce a cadence of regular performance appraisals and dialogues e.g multi-source feedback to introduce a performance monitoring and reporting system.
“Creation of official email addresses for all civil and public servants.” It was also stated that the office would accelerate the verification of public servants and deploy the IPPIS module while also creating and sustaining an enabling environment for the practice of innovation.
Prince Samuel Adedoyin, billionaire industrialist from Kwara State, has lost his daughter, Princess Lola Olabayo. The tragic incident happened two months after Subomi, the...
By Mumini AbdulKareem,
Prince Samuel Adedoyin, billionaire industrialist from Kwara State, has lost his daughter, Princess Lola Olabayo.
The tragic incident happened two months after Subomi, the deceased’s son, took his life under controversial circumstances.
Late Olabayo was the wife of Prince John Olobayo, a socialite from Kogi State.
She reportedly died at a Lagos hospital after seven days on admission over what sources described as COVID-19 complications.
But a member of the family, who didn’t want his name in print, denied that she died from the dreaded disease.
The deceased’s husband confirmed her death, saying the family would meet to announce the burial.
He said, “She died in an hospital in Lagos on Tuesday night. The family will meet to discuss the burial arrangement. A statement will be issued after the meeting,” the bereaved husband said.
When Daily Trust visited the GRA home of the Olobayos on Wednesday, the place was deserted.
Funke, one of the daughters of Adedoyin, died in 2018.
She was a serving member of the House of Representatives when she lost the battle to cancer.
The Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, says the online media report that he “sneaked out of Nigeria to meet with Twitter executive’’ in the U.S. is fake.
In an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Washington on Wednesday, the minister said his official visit to the U.S. has nothing to do with the microblogging and social networking platform.
Mohammed said he was in the U.S. to meet with international media organisations and think tanks on the achievements of President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration and efforts made so far in tackling insurgency, banditry and all forms of criminality.
He said the online report was an example of the danger fake news and unregulated social media portend for the country.
“Can a minister sneak out of Nigeria without people knowing?
“When you say I sneaked out of Nigeria, are you saying I went to board at a terminal where nobody is or I travel to the Republic of Benin to fly out of the country?
“I was at an international airport, where I presented myself openly and I was checked in at the counter like every other traveller of the airline.
“I boarded and passed through the checks by the Immigration Service and Customs.
“How can you come and say I sneaked out of the country?’’.
The minister who had so far engaged with the BBC Radio and TV, Bloomberg and Polico during his visit to Washington DC, said he had no mission with Twitter on his trip.
“You and I have been here, have I met with any Twitter official?
“When you talk about fake news and its danger, we need to take it seriously and I am happy that the entire world has now seen what we saw more than two years ago.
“I can assure you that we will not rest until we regulate the social media, otherwise, nobody will survive it,’’ he said.
The minister reiterated the position that the Federal Government suspended Twitter operations in the country not because it deleted the tweet by the President as being propagated in some section of the media.
He said the operation of the microblogging medium was suspended because of its persistent use of its platform for activities that were capable of undermining Nigeria’s corporate existence.
He also underscored the need for the organisation to register as a business entity and obtain a licence from the National Broadcasting Commission to carry out its activities.
Mohammed said the engagement between Twitter and the Federal Government on how to resolve the issue of the ban had reached an advanced stage.
Specifically, he said the end for the amicable settlement of the ban was in sight.
Mohammed Nami, executive chairman of the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), says a proposal has been sent to the federal government for a law on road tax.
Nami said this on Wednesday at an interactive session organised by the house of representatives committee on finance on the 2022-2024 medium term expenditure framework/fiscal strategy paper (MTEF/FSP) for ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs) in Abuja.
This is coming days after the federal government approved a new policy for tollgates across the country.
At the public hearing on Wednesday, Afolabi Olalekan, a member of the committee from Osun state, asked Nami to explain what FIRS has put in place to tackle tax evasion by people in the informal sector.
“What is your agency doing to extend your tax drive to the informal sector. Because I believe the informal sector is a veritable area where we can get a lot of money, especially this period that the county is relying on borrowing to finance budget deficit,” he asked.
Responding, Nami said FIRS is working on several measures to ensure that the informal sector pay taxes to the federal government.
He said one of the measures include the introduction of road tax.
Nami said when FIRS and the federal government finalises the framework on road tax, the proposed legislation would be sent to the national assembly.
“What we have done on the informal sector at a time was try to propose what we call a presumptive tax to the national assembly, but in the course of doing that we face a bit of challenge and we did not submit the proposal yet, simply because we discover that there is an act of the national assembly that exempted businesses with a turnover of about N1 to N25 million,” he said.
“So if you already have that, you can find it difficult to say come and pay presumptive tax. Presumptive tax is a tax that we just give you form to say based on your own estimate, how much have you generated this year and you say 12 million, then we say pay maybe six percent of that 12 million and you go because you are not an organised sector.
“But there is a law which has exempted every business with a turnover of N1 and N25 million so you find it difficult to implement such a thing.
“The second thing we are doing of which we have already done is to create a department called intelligence, strategic data-mining and analysis department; which the only thing these young boys and girls do on a daily basis is just to gather intelligence on companies and particularly these informal sector, analyse them and then escalate those gap that they identify for the purpose of tax assessment and tax collection.
“Number three thing we are thinking of, and we will surely come back to the national assembly on that, is to introduce road taxes. Road tax is necessary because all over the world there is no way we would see people that will use roads for free.
“As is it today, even if you are able to give an entire N10 trillion to the Federal Republic of Nigeria, it will not be able to fix the roads in Nigeria, just the roads in Nigeria alone.
“So what we have decided to do is to propose the introduction of road taxes to the federal government through our special tax operations department so that at least 50 trucks that would be plying these roads for free at any given point in time, comes across a toll gate or probably somewhere that we are going to use electronic device to collect it without necessarily erecting toll gate.
“We are aware that the owners of these trucks, they don’t pay anything to the government, they don’t get the FIRS certificate. So up to 15 or 20 trucks that will ply the road that is built with personal income tax that I pay and you pay and then they don’t pay taxes. That is what we want to identify.”
The President of Afghanistan Ashraf Ghani fled the falling country with four vehicles and a helicopter filled with cash.
Reuters cited Russia’s embassy in Kabul as the source for the revelation quoting Nikita Ishchenko, a spokesman for the Russian embassy in Kabul.
“Four cars were full of money, they tried to stuff another part of the money into a helicopter, but not all of it fit. And some of the money was left lying on the tarmac,” Mr Ischenko told Reuters.
On Sunday, Mr Ghani, whose current location is unknown, left the presidential palace in Kabul, saying he wanted to avoid bloodshed.
The Taliban swept through Afghanistan last week, claiming most of its large provinces before closing in on Kabul on Sunday and demanding an unconditional surrender of the government.
The Taliban’s takeover of the country in light of the U.S. withdrawal of its military forces marks the end of two decades of war efforts.
The U.S. had set the complete withdrawal of U.S. forces in Afghanistan for September 11 to mark the 20th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks. President Joe Biden’s administration had projected a couple more months before the extremist group took total control of the country.
In light of the unfolding events, Mr Biden warned the Taliban not to interfere with the US evacuation from Afghanistan, threatening “devastating force, if necessary.”
I Wish My 20-year-old Daughter Graduated From School Before Marrying Buhari's Son – Emir Of Bichi
The Emir of Bichi, Nasir Ado Bayero, in Kano State, has said he wished his daughter, Zahra, graduated from the university and stayed with him a little longer before getting married to Yusuf, the only son of President Muhammadu Buhari.
The wedding Fathia of Zahra and Yusuf is scheduled to hold on Friday, August 20 at the Emir’s Palace in Bichi.
However, the Emir told Daily Trust about his closeness to his children, adding that it was a difficult decision to marry off any of them.
He, however, comforted himself with a hadith from the Quran.
“I’m very close to my children, so sending away Zahra is also an issue for me, but we thank God.
“She’s a young girl, only 20; and she’s in her final year in the university studying architecture.
“I would have loved for Zahra to stay and finish her school and live with me a little longer, but we cannot change what God has ordained, we can only pray and wish them a successful married life,” he said.
Perhaps the decision became more difficult for the monarch after having married off another of his daughters earlier in the year.
But the business tycoon turned monarch, who seats as Chairman of the Board of 9mobile as well as several other companies, said he took solace from the Hadiths, especially the part where the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) said, ‘When you successfully raise three daughters and marry them off, Allah will give you a place in paradise”.
“This is my prayer and hope that through them God will give me Aljanah,” he said.
In June, at least seven governors had visited the Emir of Kano, Aminu Ado Bayero, the elder brother of Zahra’s father, to formalise plans for the wedding.
Also, the Emir of Bichi inaugurated a 145-man committee to facilitate a hitch-free wedding Fatiha between his daughter and Yusuf.
The committee will also organise the Emir of Bichi’s coronation, including his presentation of staff of office by the Kano State Governor, Abdullahi Ganduje.
In a statement by the spokesperson for Bichi Emirate, Lurwanu Malikawa, the committee would be chaired by the District Head of Bagwai, Nura Ahmad (Madakin Bichi), with Abba Waziri (Falakin Bichi), as the secretary.
While inaugurating the committee, the emir, represented by the Madakin Bichi, charged its members to use their wealth of experience to ensure the success of the royal wedding.
Also, the statement noted that the wedding would hold on August 20 and the coronation was scheduled to hold on August 21 at the Emir of Bichi’s palace.
The young lovers, Yusuf and Zahra, met in the United Kingdom, where they both had their undergraduate studies.
President Muhammadu Buhari will tomorrow be out of the five-day isolation as directed by the Nigerian Center for Disease Control (NCDC).
The President went into self-isolation last Friday after returning from an 18-day trip to the United Kingdom (UK) where he attended an education summit and kept a scheduled medical appointment.
He had to self-isolate as a precautionary measure required of all international travellers arriving in the country in case they had been exposed to COVID-19.
The presidency yesterday confirmed the President has been taking measures to protect himself while attending to official duties.
Presidential spokesman Garba Shehu said all documents brought to his attention were sanitized before they reach him.
Shehu said: “The President is truly isolating as required following international travel. During this period, which ends on Wednesday (tomorrow), he will be attending to urgent and critical documents.
“It is important to note that all documents coming to Mr President are screened and sanitised with specialised equipment before and after they reached him.
“The PIB (he signed yesterday) passed through the same process.”
The Attorneys General of the 36 states of the country have instituted an action against the Office of the Attorney General of the Federation over the government’s failure to remit funds into the federal account.
In the suit before the Supreme Court and marked as SC/CV/395/2021, the 36 Attorneys General are seeking for “a declaration that by the provisions of Section 162(1) and Section 162(10) of the Constitution of the federal republic of Nigeria 1999 (as amended), all income, returns, proceeds or receipts howsoever described derived from confiscated, forfeited and/or recovered assets constitute revenue of the federal republic of Nigeria, which must be remitted to federation account for the collective benefit of the federal, state and local governments.
“A declaration that the failure and/or refusal of President Muhammadu Buhari, the minister of finance, the office of the AGF, and the accountant-general of the federation, and all other relevant authorities and/or agencies of the federation to remit the receipts, income, returns or proceeds derived from all assets recovered, seized, confiscated and forfeited into the federation account to be distributed in accordance with the provisions of the Constitution” is unconstitutional.”
They also prayed the court to declare that “it is unconstitutional for the President, through the federal Minister of Finance, the AGF, or any other authority whatsoever, to utilise, apply, allocate, expend and appropriate same to itself or distribute same in any other manner howsoever without due allocation from the federation.”
The plaintiffs deposed that “between 2015 till date, the FRN has secured both international and municipal forfeiture, recovery and repatriation of “stolen assets” in the sum of NI,836,906,543,658.73, about 167 properties, 450 Cars, 300 Trucks and cargoes, and 20,000,000 barrels of crude oil worth over N450million”, and had failed to remit same as required by the Constitution.
A Dubai based businessman, Chidiebere Anusiem (32) and his lover, Amara Ehirim (26) have been found dead in their apartment located at Naza in Owerri West Council Area of Imo State.
The Guardian gathered that late Anusiem had recently returned from his base to complete their marriage rites and ceremonies before the incident.
While his lover, a graduate of Business Corporative from Federal Polytechnic Nekede, was a popular herbal tea seller within and outside their area.
The deceased hailed from Ogwa and Mbieri communities respectively both in Mbaitoli Council area of Imo State.
It was learnt that the incident happened last Thursday, after the deceased hung out with friends on Wednesday night in an undisclosed nearby joint.
It was also gathered that the late Anusiem’s friend, (name withheld), who was with them during the night outing has been released from the police detention after he was arrested over the incident.
It was also learnt that the police left their friend after preliminary investigation exonerated him from having anything to do with the death of the intended couple.
However, there are speculations that the lovers may have died as a result of food poison, ingesting harmful substances or inhaled fumes from power generating sets, kept a few distance from their room.
One of the neighbours, who spoke to The Guardian on condition of anonymity said: “This happened last Thursday. They both went to bed that Wednesday night after everything. In the morning, they still stayed indoors till 10:0a.m., which was unusual because the lady usually leaves early in the morning to go about her business.
“She sells tea in the morning around the town and everybody knows her for it because she has been in the business for years. It was also from there that she trained herself in school and still took care of her siblings after their mother died some years back and their father left them to remarry.
“So when their room was opened, they were found still lying on the bed with something like fumes gushing from their mouths and nose. That was when we suspected that something was not right with them and quickly alerted the people who also invited the police from Agbala station. It was with the help of the police that they were rushed to a nearby hospital where they were confirmed dead.”
Debunking the possibility that the lovers died of food poisoning, a friend of the late Ehirim, who did not want her name in print said, “they ate together with others before going to bed that night.”
“And her two relatives who live with them in the apartment ate the same food with them are fine. Nothing happened to them.
“So we are still confused about what could have caused their death. It couldn’t have been fumes from the generator because they have been using that generator a long time before that day and the generator is not even kept anywhere close to the room they slept in.”
When contacted, the state Police Public Relations Officer, Mike Abattam confirmed the incident.
Nigeria Lawmaker In Tears After Seeing Thousands Of Constituents In Refugee Camps In Niger Republic
A member of Sokoto State House of Assembly was moved to tears after he saw thousands of his constituents living in the Niger Republic as refugees.
The lawmaker met his constituents in a sorry state during a recent visit to an internally displaced persons' camp in the neighbouring country.
They were reportedly displaced by bandits and other insurgent activities in Nigeria.
Pictures obtained by SaharaReporters showed the lawmaker in an emotional state.
The Boko Haram insurgency has displaced nearly 2.4 million people in the Lake Chad Basin, a December 2020 report by UNHCR stated.
According to the report, Nigerian refugees totalled about 304,562 while there are about over 2.1 million internally displaced in Nigeria
Meanwhile, the UNHCR spokesperson, Babar Baloch, at a press briefing at the Palais des Nations in Geneva, said since April 2019, 25 per cent of the refugees who fled from relentless attacks by armed groups came from Sokoto, Zamfara, and Katsina states of Nigeria.
He said as a result of insecurity at the border region in Nigeria, an additional 19,000 Niger nationals have become displaced inside their own country.
The official also said the humanitarian agency is concerned about the influx of the refugees, “mainly desperate women and children, following the deteriorating security and attacks inside Nigeria’s Katsina, Sokoto and Zamfara states, also the risk of armed incursions spilling over into Niger.”
Abidemi Rufai, the suspended Senior Special Assistant to Governor Dapo Abiodun of Ogun State, allegedly defrauded Washington State Employment Security Department using 10 different means, a court document obtained by The PUNCH has revealed.
In the document, Rufai was said to have submitted over 100 claims to the Washington Employment Department, and had also submitted additional claims to the state workforce agencies for other states.
The Nigerian reportedly carried out the scheme by using the stolen identities of American workers.
“In so doing, Rufai caused and attempted to cause, the Employment Security Department to pay out federal and other unemployment benefits in excess of $350,000, and fraudulently caused other states to pay out additional benefit payments,” part of the document reads.
Rufai’s fraud indictment, arrest and detention
The PUNCH reports that Abidemi Rufai has been in custody since his arrest on May 14, 2021, at the John F Kennedy International Airport in New York.
He was subsequently charged with defrauding Washington State Employment Security Department of over $350,000.
The indictment subsequently led to his suspension as a Senior Special Assistant on Special Duties, Abidemi Rufai.
Though he applied for bail on Wednesday, May 19, 2021, the application was denied as his brother could not afford the $300,000 “surety” bond.
The suspect was later detained at the Western District of Washington from where he is attending further court proceedings.
However, the 42-year-old Nigerian had denied the criminal charges filed against him.
The scheme Rufai allegedly manipulated
The suspended Ogun governor’s aide allegedly attempted to defraud the US agency using a Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act enacted on March 27, 2020 in the United States
The CARES Act authorised approximately $2 trillion in aid to American workers, families, and businesses to mitigate the economic consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The CARES Act funded, and authorised each state to administer new unemployment benefits. These benefits include: Federal Pandemic Unemployment Compensation (FPUC), which provided a benefit of $600 per week per unemployed worker in addition to existing benefits.
Others are Pandemic Unemployment Assistance, which extends benefits to self-employed persons, independent contractors, and others; and Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Assistance , which extends benefits for an additional 13 weeks after regular unemployment benefits are exhausted.
CARES Act unemployment benefits are funded by the United States government through the Department of Labor, and administered at the state level by state agencies known as state workforce agencies (SWAs). The Washington Employment Security Department is the SWA for the State of Washington.
CARES Act unemployment benefits are authorized, transferred, disbursed and paid in connection with a nationwide emergency declared by Presidential Proclamation 9994 (effective as of March 1, 2020) and a Presidential declaration of a major disaster for the State of Washington concerning the COVID-19 pandemic that was issued on March 22, 2020.
The conspiracy
Among the charges levelled against the 42-year-old Nigerian is a conspiracy.
The document stated that Rufai and other co-conspirators began their moves no later than on or about April 27, 2020, and continuing through at least on or about June 2, 2020, at Olympia, within the Western District of Washington, and elsewhere.
“Rufai, a/k/a Sandy Tang, together with others known and unknown to the Grand Jury, did conspire, confederate and agree, together and with each other, to commit the offense of wire fraud in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 1343.
“That is, ABIDEMI RUFAI, together with others known and unknown, with intent to defraud, knowingly devised a scheme and artifice to defraud, and to obtain money and property, by means of materially false and fraudulent pretenses, representations, and promises. To execute and attempt to execute the scheme and artifice to defraud, ABIDEMI RUFAI, together with others known and unknown, knowingly transmitted, and caused to be transmitted by wire communication in interstate and foreign commerce, writings, signs, signals, pictures and sounds,” part of the document added.
Manner and means
The court document revealed that 10 conducts were part of the conspiracy used by the suspended governor’s aide to engaged in the alleged wired fraud.
The manners and ways were listed as:
– RUFAI and his co-conspirators unlawfully obtained, possessed and shared with one another the PII of residents of Washington and other states, including their names, dates of birth, and Social Security numbers.
– RUFAI and his co-conspirators created email accounts, including an account administered by Google Inc., (“Google”) with the address “sandytangy58@gmail.com,” for the purpose of participating in fraudulent transactions while obscuring their identities.
– RUFAI and his co-conspirators, using foreign and interstate wire transmissions, accessed ESD’s SAW portal, as well as similar portals of other SWAs, including SWAs for the states of Hawaii, Maine, Michigan, Missouri, Montana, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, and Wyoming. Each time RUFAI or a co-conspirator accessed the Washington SAW portal, he or she caused wire transmissions terminating and originating at the State Data Center in Olympia, Washington.
– To establish SAW accounts, RUFAI and his co-conspirators provided the sandytangy58@gmail.com email address to ESD as the designated email address to receive activation emails. Each time RUFAI or a co-conspirator input this email address into the SAW system, an activation email was sent to the sandytangy58@gmail.com email account.
– Each of these emails was sent via an interstate wire transmission originating from the State Data Center in Olympia, Washington and passing through a Google data center outside the state of Washington.
– To prevent ESD and other SWAs from recognizing that the same email account was being used to file multiple claims, RUFAI and his co-conspirators used dozens of variants of the email address by placing periods at different locations within the email address for each claim. For example, RUFAI opened SAW accounts and submitted claims using the variants “san.dyta.ngy58@gmail.com,” “sa.ndyt.a.ngy58@gmail.com,” and “san.d.y.t.an.gy58@gmail.com.”
– In routing emails to a Gmail account, Google disregards periods within the email address (e.g., “john.doe@gmail.com” is routed to the same account as “johndoe@gmaiLcom”). As a result, Google delivered all of these emails (and any similar “dot variants” of the same address) to the sandytangy58@gmail.com account. By using these email address variants, RUFAI and his co-conspirators were able to file multiple claims using the same email account, without BSD and other SWAs detecting that they were doing so.
– When completing the applications, RUFAI and his co-conspirators directed that some of the benefits be paid to online payment accounts, including accounts administered by the Green Dot Corporation. In other cases, RUFAI and his co- conspirators directed that the fraudulent benefit payments be made to bank accounts controlled by persons known as “money mules,” who withdrew and transferred the funds according to instructions given by RUFAI and his co-conspirators.
– RUFAI and his co-conspirators directed the money mules to send a portion of the proceeds to the residence of RUFAI’ s brother in Jamaica, New York, where RUFAI was then staying.
– The wire fraud that was the object of this conspiracy occurred in relation to, and involved, benefit payments authorized, transmitted, transferred, disbursed, and paid in connection with the presidentially declared major disaster and emergency.
Married woman leaves husband to live with her rapist while the case is still in court
A woman who was allegedly raped by her customer has abandoned her husband to live with the rapist before the court hearing the matter could give a ruling.
Nigerian lawyer, Malachy Odo who shared the mind-blowing development said the alleged rape victim’s husband reported the case to the police after she informed him about her ordeal.
According to the woman, she was raped by a customer in a hotel, an ordeal she complained to her husband about and he decided to deal with the said rapist legally.
However, interestingly, before police investigations into the matter could end for the court to make a ruling on the matter, the rape victim has left her husband's home and moved in with the rapist.
Lawyer Malachy Odo who lamented the new development to the rape case said it brings an end to the court proceedings too.
“As lawyers, the things we see and the stories we hear on a daily basis, can be mind-blowing.
“A wife claims she was raped by a customer in a hotel. The husband reports to the police and in the middle of the investigation, the wife moves in with the alleged rapist.
Nigeria’s Central Bank Governor, Emefiele Hosts Lavish Birthday Party In Jamaica, Dangote, Bank Executives Show Up In Private Jets - Sahara Reporters
The crème de la crème in the Nigeria’s banking and finance industry as well as Africa’s richest man, Aliko Dangote, gathered at the weekend in a frontal display of wealth at a private birthday ceremony in Jamaica organised by the Central Bank of Nigeria’s Governor, Godwin Emefiele.
SaharaReporters learnt that the bank executives, who flew private jets to the South American country, stormed the party to impress Emefiele, who turned 60 last week.
The lavish display of wealth by Emefiele and the bankers is in sharp contrast with the sorry state of the Nigerian economy reeling under more than $33billion foreign debts and the unstable banking sector which Emefiele superintends.
“Some big boys and Emefiele were at Montego Bay City, Jamaica, last weekend to celebrate his 60th birthday. They flew there quietly with their private jets. The party was organised and held in secret to keep it away from prying eyes,” a source stated.
“Those in attendance included the usual suspects; Dangote, Nduka Obaigbena, Herbert Wigwe, Tony Elumelu and Adesola Adeduntan and so on,” the source added.
President Muhammadu Buhari had last week sent a congratulatory letter to Emefiele, having celebrated his birthday on August 4.
Emefiele served as the governor of Nigeria’s apex bank since June 3, 2014.
In March 2016, Emefiele was appointed first by President Goodluck Jonathan and was reappointed to the position in May 2019 by Buhari, shortly before the expiration of his first tenure.
Under Emefiele, Nigeria has experienced rising inflation, jumping to 17.33 percent at the end of February 2021 from 16.47 percent in January 2021, according to the governor himself.
The governor had also been accused of engaging in underhand dealings and fraudulent practices which continued to frustrate the activities of the bank and the country’s banking sector.
SaharaReporters in 2016 for instance obtained a list of at least 91 people tied to influential or highly placed Nigerians who were at that time offered juicy appointments by the CBN under Emefiele.
The list of beneficiaries of the CBN’s job largesse had included a daughter of former Vice President Abubakar Atiku, a son of Mamman Daura, a nephew of President Buhari and one of the closest members of the president’s inner circle, a son of the then Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Emmanuel Ibe Kachikwu, a daughter of former Speaker of the House of Representatives, Ghali Na’aba, also daughter of former Inspector General of Police, Solomon Arase, and at least 86 others.
Interviewed Abuja residents have expressed mixed feelings over food cooked with firewood when compared with food cooked with gas.
So, we want everyone input on this topic on which type of cooking methods does he/she loved his food to be cooked and why?
The residents in separate interviews with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) said the use of firewood was old-fashioned and there was no need for comparison.
While some believed that food cooked with firewood tasted better.
Emmanuel Ogbonna, a trader, said that he preferred to cook food with gas because it was more hygienic and had no smell of smoke.
“I personally prefer food cooked with gas, because when you cook with firewood, you can feel the taste of smoke when you eat the food and I do not like it,” he said.
Another resident, Ibrahim Musa, a civil servant, said he used gas for cooking and was comfortable with it.
“ If you are eating food cooked with gas, it tastes nice because there’s no taste or smell of smoke,” he said.
Mrs Veronica Akpan, a banker, said although she enjoyed food cooked with firewood because it had a special taste, she preferred using gas, because it’s stress-free.
”You can’t compare the taste of food cooked with firewood to gas, because, cooking with firewood gives a special taste to your food.
”But one cannot continue like that because of the stress involved, using gas is stress-free and the smoke from firewood affects the eyes,” she noted.
Mohammed Sani, a businessman, said that food cooked with firewood tasted better, adding that there was no need for comparison.
“You cannot compare them, because firewood-made food tastes better, the smoke makes the food more delicious, so you cannot even compare them.
”If I have my way, I will want my wife to be cooking my food with firewood but you know women of today, she will tell me it is archaic,” he said.
Mrs Ugochi Okigbe, a trader, however, said that the world had moved beyond firewood, so cooking with it was irrelevant.
”When we have innovation every day, no point going back in time.
“Before, we cooked with firewood and we enjoyed it, but when gas came into the picture, we all ran away from food cooked with firewood and started complaining about the smoke,” she said. (NAN)
Residents of Babban-Tunga, a community off Abuja/Kaduna highway in Niger State are still in shock following the abduction of the state Commissioner for Information,...
By Adam Umar And Romoke W. Ahmad
Residents of Babban-Tunga, a community off Abuja/Kaduna highway in Niger State are still in shock following the abduction of the state Commissioner for Information, Alhaji Muhammed Sanni Idris.
Alhaji Idris who hails from Babban-Tunga was whisked away in the early hours of Monday, according to the Secretary to the Government of Niger State (SSG), Alhaji Ahmed Ibrahim Matane.
He was said to have been abducted from his residence in the community on Sunday night by gunmen said to number about 20, who whisked him away through a nearby bush.
When Daily Trust visited Babban-Tunga community on Monday morning, the mood of his immediate family members, as well as the community was that of grief.
A younger brother of the victim, Salisu Idris, while speaking to our reporter on the incident, said the kidnappers called him on phone twice around 10am on Monday, using the victim’s contact number, to confirm that he was in their custody.
“They said they would think about the ransom amount and call back when they are ready,” he said.
The commissioner’s first wife, while responding to an inquiry about the incident, said she was with him on Saturday before returning to Minna on Sunday evening. “He called me on phone around 11 pm to hear about my journey and bid me good night.
“Later around 12-midnight while I was already asleep, another call came in from the family home, informing me about the abduction, but not specifically detailing the victim. My children were the ones that first got wind of the incident, but decided not to inform me,” she said.
The commissioner’s first wife, who is based in Minna, said she had to return to Babban-Tunga on Monday morning following the incident.
She was about to return to Minna when she accepted to spare some time to speak with our reporter on the incident.
She said the commissioner’s second wife, who is based in the community, was with their husband in their residence when the attackers struck and whisked him away.
Effort to speak to the second wife was, however, not successful as she was preparing to join the other wife for the trip to Minna.
However, a family member who spoke to Daily Trust said the woman had to be taken to a clinic on Monday as a result of slaps she received from the attackers in the cause of their operation.
It was gathered that, after seizing a number of phones from the house, including that of the commissioner and his wife’s, they kept asking for more phones which she insisted there was none but they kept on slapping her, and later threatened to take her along, but that she pleaded with them that her newborn baby was ill.
“At that juncture, one of the kidnappers grabbed the baby by his hands and shook him continuously, saying ‘is this the baby that you say is not feeling well?” She said she was grief-stricken and almost passed out, as she couldn’t bear the unsettling situation.
“However, they later changed their mind as they would not want her to be a liability to them.”
Also speaking to our reporter, the vigilante commander of Tafa Local Government Area said he became aware of the gunmen’s arrival from the sporadic gunshots they fired as they fled with their victim.
“I came out immediately, but after realizing that they have overwhelmed the area and taken position at different angles, I withdrew and mobilized other vigilante members.
“I also informed the DPO in Tafa, DSS and the commanding officer of Zuma army barracks. And within few minutes about eight military vans arrived and we moved into the bush along with the police. Unfortunately, we could not locate them up till 6 am today when some of us decided to withdraw to re-strategize, while others were still in the bush trying to locate the kidnappers.”
The vigilante commander said that was the third time a kidnapping incident was taking place in the district of Iku, which Babban-Tunga town serves as headquarters.
“The first time, about four years ago, was at a nearby herder’s hamlet where four children were abducted. Then about three years ago, three vigilante members were abducted at their duty post within this community,” he said.
At the palace of the district head of the community which is located close to the commissioner’s family home, sympathisers were seen trooping in, among them the House of Representatives member from the area, Abubakar Lado. Security men including those in plainclothes were also seen stationed in the area.
N500m ransom demanded
Meanwhile, a government source said the abductors have demanded N500m million ransom for his release.
The source, who does not want to be mentioned, disclosed this to our correspondent in Minna.
It was also gathered that a security meeting was convened from Monday morning which was presided over by the Deputy Governor of the state, Alhaji Ahmed Ketso.
“The kidnappers are demanding for N500m ransom while a marathon security meeting presided over by the deputy governor has just ended at the government house but there are no details of the meeting yet,” he said.
The abduction of the commissioner is the second in the last five days as the Zone C chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC) was also kidnapped a few days ago without any information about his whereabouts as at press time.
Although the state police command said investigation into the incident was ongoing, while effort to rescue the victims and arrest the suspects in being intensified, nothing has been said about the politician’s abduction before the commissioner’s incident.
It would also be recalled that the 136 children of an Islamiyyah School in Tegina area of the state who were kidnapped three months ago are still in captivity despite payment of ransom by their parents.
The state government has said it is not ready to pay ransom for the release of those abducted but promised to engage the abductors in dialogue so that they lay down their arms and get something legitimate to do.
Daily Trust learnt that the commissioner usually visited his village every week to see his aged mother and monitor his farm in the area.
Another issue of concern raised by the source close to the commissioner was that informants working for the bandits may have been the ones that gave information about the commissioner’s movement.
A busty Nigerian lady stole the show at a wedding as she danced erotically to the music played at the wedding. She danced so much her boobs almost popped out of her dress. See the video below
A Nigerian lady identified as Paris Oma has taken to social media to reveal what her male friend made her do for urgent two thousand.
According to Oma, via her Facebook page, she had reached out to her bestie needing an urgent 2k, which he turned her down, revealing he doesn’t have it.
Oma added that when she insisted that he looked for the money for her, her male friend, asked her to come down to the site where he made her work for an hour before giving her the money she had asked for.
Sharing photos of her working on a construction site, she wrote;
‘I asked my male bestie to find me something (money). He told me he doesn’t have it and i insisted he must so he told me to come to his working place so he could give me. I never knew he had the plan to give me a shovel to work. I work for 1hr and he gave me 2k. I nearly fainted. Omor e no easy oh.’
ABUJA – The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) is presently enmeshed in a convoluted crisis which – according to inside sources – was precipitated by an overriding pursuit of personal interest by party big wigs.
Unfortunately, the crisis – if not well-managed – could prove to be, the sources noted, the party’s biggest undoing.
According to Sunday Independent sources, the internal wrangling in the PDP, which once described itself as the biggest party in Africa party, has its roots in the political manoeuvres being orchestrated by party gladiators ahead of 2023.
It was gathered that the battle to remove the National Chairman of the party, Prince Uche Secondus, is intended to pave the way for some politicians ahead of the 2023 presidential election and also to ensure that he doesn’t preside, nominate, or appoint members of committee for the national convention due to hold in December.
Aside this, the battle is also to ensure that he doesn’t fulfill his ambition of coming back for a second term as National Chairman of the party for some reasons.
But what began like a joke soon snowballed into a national row of immense proportion by Tuesday when about seven national officers put in their resignations while some members of the National Working Committee (NWC) threatened to resign, citing bad treatment and incompetence in the management of the affairs of the party.
Even though they have recanted their initial moves to resign, it was reported that those members who earlier put in their resignations and others who threatened to resign were financially induced by an influential governor.
Secondus, according to some party members at the national secretariat, who was plotting to come back for another term, had not been managing the party very well.
The party members claimed that Secondus’ handling of the party’s funds was not transparent, and that there was no proper documentation.
The sources added that no one could actually account for how the party’s money was spent, including money realized from elections, especially from the purchase of nomination and expression of interest forms, amongst others.
It was also gathered that part of this was what the governor of Rivers State, Nyesom Wike, narrated during the Board of Trustees peace meeting held on Thursday to address the crisis rocking the party.
According to a source at the meeting, Wike explained how he had been spending money on the party.
Some staff of the party agreed with Wike’s submission, adding that the governor had been their saving grace with regard to salaries.
The staff told our correspondent that it was a lawmaker who paid their June and July salaries, while the party money was allegedly being mismanaged.
It was further gathered that Wike had expressed bitterness over the way things were being handled in the party, noting that issues concerning Secondus had polarized the PDP governors.
According to the source, each time Secondus’ matter was mentioned, the PDP governors would be divided.
The Source also revealed that Wike had said he brought Secondus as the National Chairman, but that Secondus had succeeded in dividing the governors who now find it difficult to speak with one voice.
A source close to the PDP Governors’ Forum gave credence to the submission by Wike, noting that while some governors supported his removal to give way to a caretaker committee to organize the party’s national convention, others said he should be allowed to complete the remaining three months, as the tenure of the present NWC would expire by December.
Perplexed by the lingering debate over Secondus, some stakeholders and staff of the party, who spoke with our correspondent, wondered why Secondus should be allowed to continue in office as National Chairman.
Although, the Board of Trustees (BoT) of the party had succeeded in setting up a committee to look into the crisis rocking the party, the question on the lips of many is, how far the committee can go in ensuring that peace returns and that the Secondus-led NWC is able to complete its tenure.
Observers are also concerned about the PDP governors that will meet on Monday – whether they would be able to speak with one voice, knowing that the ambitions of some of them are at stake.
The President may be stripped of his exclusive powers on the appointment, removal and elongation of tenures of the service chiefs in the ongoing amendment to the Armed Forces Act 2004 by the House of Representatives.
Instead, it is being proposed that the Armed Forces Council will determine the qualification.
This is being proposed in the legislation titled ‘A Bill for an Act to Amend the Armed Forces Act, Cap. A20, Laws of the Federation of Nigeria, 2004 to Foster Collaboration between the Armed Forces and Other Security Agencies in the Provision of National Security and Establish the Armed Forces Human Rights Unit to Provide a Reporting Channel for Civilians Whose Human Rights Are Violated by Members of Armed Forces.’
It was one of the eight bills passed for second reading on July 14, 2021, which were recommended by the House’s Special Ad Hoc Committee on National Security chaired by the Speaker, Femi Gbajabiamila.
The bills, which were introduced following the House’s Special Summit on National Security held earlier in May, were also to fill lacunas in the country’s laws on security and address the crisis often caused by the overlapping mandates among the various security-related agencies.
The House, on July 13, 2021, considered and adopted the report from the summit, while Gbajabiamila presented the report to the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), for prosecution.
Buhari had nominated the present Chief of Army Staff, Lt. Gen. Farouk Yahaya, and sought the National Assembly’s confirmation based on Section 18 (1) of the Armed Forces Act.
Yahaya (then a major general), who is a member of Regular Course 37, as army chief.
After lawyers criticised the unilateral nomination of Inspectors-General of Police, the Nigerian Police Council is to nominate and confirm the appointment of a new IGP.
The NPC, which is chaired by the President, comprises the 36 state governors and the chairman of the Police Service Commission.
Sports › Okafor Kelechi, Footballer Dies Few Hours To Leave Nigeria For Europe by ijustdey(op): 11:07am On Sep 04, 2021
