Two top terror kingpins of the Islamic State of West African Province, ISWAP, Ali Kwaya and Bukar Mainoka, have been eliminated by the Nigerian military, PRNigeria reports.
They were killed in a raid by Nigerian military fighter jets at Lake Chad on Saturday, PRNigeria gathered.
Messrs Kwaya and Mainoka, who were also key members of the ISWAP Shura (Consultation) Council met their waterloo when the Air Component of Operation Hadin Kai conducted air interdiction missions at Belowa, one of the very few remaining ISWAP/Boko Haram enclaves in the Tumbuns, Lake Chad Region in Abadam Local Government.
PRNigeria gathered from a military intelligence operative that their airstrikes at Belowa became necessary after intelligence revealed the convergence of some ISWAP leaders and fighters from surrounding areas for a meeting with the motive of planning attacks on friendly forces.
According to the operative, who asked not to be named, their Nigerian Air Force, NAF fighter aircraft dispatched to the location of the terrorists’ meeting at Belowa, engaged the ISWAP elements with rockets and bombs in multiple passes.
“An hour after the strikes, 2 vehicles conveying about 13 injured terrorists to another hideout were struck through precision strikes by NAF aircraft.
“Feedback after the strikes revealed that ISWAP kingpin, Mallam Ali Kwaya who is a key member of the ISWAP Shura Council and Mallam Bukar Mainoka were among those neutralized in the strikes,” he said.
Similar strikes, the military intelligence operative said, were also conducted on Friday at Ngwuri Gana in Bama LGA, a location East of Maiduguri.
He said: “The strikes became expedient sequel to intelligence that a group of ISWAP insurgents in 15 trucks was spotted converging on the location.
“Feedback revealed the strike was on point as several terrorists were neutralized and all their structures and vehicles engulfed in fire”.
When contacted, Air Commodore Edward Gabkwet, NAF spokesperson, confirmed the strikes but did not disclosed the names of those killed.
He however said, “Our path to victory in the Northeast and northwest remains on course and we won’t relent until all locations are free of terrorists and insurgents.
“Let’s also not forget that the resilience of our pilots and technicians is in line with the directive of the Chief of Air Staff, Air Marshal Amao that terrorists and insurgents must be denied their hiding places.
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has secured the nod of a Federal High Court sitting in Abuja to publish an order of interim forfeiture of 40 landed properties belonging to the former Deputy Senate President, Senator Ike Ekweremadu.
Justice Inyang Ekwo made the order while ruling on a motion exparte brought by the EFCC in Suit No.FHC/ABJ/CS/1242/2022.
The schedule of properties attached to the forfeiture application listed properties allegedly acquired by Ekweremudu include among others, a London property at Flat 4, Varsity Court, Hormer Street ( WIH4NW), three properties in Florida, United States, a property of approximately 3000 square meter parcel of land consisting of 7 bedroom detached Boys Quarters, swimming pool, enclosed 3 car garage with roller shutter doors, gate house and generator house at No.6 Ilado Close, Ikoyi, Lagos bought for N630million on August 8, 2015; three blocks of six flats each, totaling 18 luxury flats at Plot 904 Durumi, Abuja acquired for N700million and Four Rootown House at Villa No. 148 Maeeni the Lahes Emirate Hill Dubai valued at $250,00 USD.
Newly Promoted US General, Azubuike Gives Open Invitation To Nigerians, Others Willing To Join US Army
She added that anyone who wishes to join the force or knows anyone who wishes to should not hesitate to personally contact her.
The newly designated United States Brigadier-General of Nigerian descent, Amanda Azuibike, has extended an open invitation to anyone passionate about joining the United States army to contact her.
Azubuike was last week promoted from Lieutenant Colonel to Brigadier General.
She was promoted to the rank at a military base in Fort Knox, Kentucky, USA in a ceremony held recently.
According to the senior army officer on her official Linkedin account, there are many opportunities in the U.S army regardless of one’s occupation and profession.
She added that anyone who wishes to join the force or knows anyone who wishes to should not hesitate to personally contact her.
“I feel privileged to serve in USl Army Cadet Command, and contribute to our future Army leaders. We have many opportunities for those looking for a sense of purpose and service. As I found out very early in life, the Army has many opportunities, and many occupations, and we award many scholarships. PLEASE CONTACT ME if you or someone you know wants to be an Army officer. Regardless of how YOU define success, the Army can help you get there – we want to be part of your journey!” she wrote.
Also speaking on her journey in the US army, Gen Azuibike said she was able to join the US military even at a time when she was not yet a citizen of the United States. She added that she feels proud of her Nigerian heritage and roots as much as she is proud of being an American.
“My journey is unique, and you can learn a little about it in my ineloquent, but heartfelt speech (start at min 24:50): https:///g277H6Ub. And as I said in my speech… l
“I joined the U.S. military before I was even a U.S. citizen, but I always knew this country was great, that it was worth fighting for, and that it is truly the land of opportunity — I am very proud of my heritage and ethnic roots, but I am equally as proud to be an American and to serve in the world’s best Army!”
Amanda was born in London, United Kingdom, to Nigerian parents, and joined the US Army in 1994 where she rose to the position of an aviator after passing the Army Aviation Officer Basic Course.
A Nigerian Air Force (NAF) trainer aircraft overshot the runaway of the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja, on Friday morning.
Saturday Sun learnt that the airplane, which took off from Kaduna Airport, suffered a tyre burst on landing in Abuja, leading to its overshooting of the runway. The development forced the runway to be temporarily shut to enable the immediate evacuation of the aircraft by emergency responders led by the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN).
Flight operations were disrupted, but things were brought under control within a few hours.
The Department of State Services ( DSS) has warned that there is possibility of politicians using thugs during the campaign for the 2023 elections.
The DSS Director in Kaduna, Mr Abdul Enachie, stated this in his presentation of a report of security situation for 2nd and 3rd Quarter in the state.
The director said there is a need for government to take the situation seriously by taken steps to sensitise the youths against allowing themselves to be used as thugs in the state and other part of the country.
He also urged the people to help the security agencies to fish out informants that are aiding the bandits and terrorists across the state and country.
He said identifying informants is not the job of security agencies alone, adding everyone ought to participate in identifying informants in communities.
He also urged the military to sustains their operations against the terrorists in areas like Birnin Gwari and other flashpoints.
The DSS Director also urged the Federal Government to complete the Kaduna-Abuja highway and Birnin Gwari highway, saying this will help improve the security situation on the roads.
In his remarks, Kaduna State Governor Nasir El-rufai, urged the security agencies to ensure that all political actors working with thugs are profiled and prosecuted before the general elections.
The police in Kwara State have arraigned a man, Musa Abdullahi, popularly known as Adu, for killing his neighbour, Marenyo Manga (30), while aiming at one Gado Kitako, his relative who is allegedly sleeping with his wife.
Adu was dragged to court on a one-count charge of culpable homicide contrary to Section 221 of the Penal Code.
According to the charge sheet: “The suspect brought out his single-barrel gun during a fight with Kitako, his relative, over an alleged illicit affair with his wife, Ajarah. But while aiming at Kitako, he instead shot his neighbour at Yashikira, Baruten LGA of Kwara State.
“It was after he fired the gun that he realised that the person he shot was not the actual person he wanted to kill.”
Insp Oderinde Abideen, who prosecuted the case, urged the court to remand the suspect.
The Magistrate, B. A. Bareje, remanded the suspect and adjourned to November 14, 2022.
Long after the emergence of Governor Ifeanyi Okowa as the running mate to the Presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party(PDP), Atiku Abubakar, issues of what value he will bring to the table keep popping up. But for his critics, there is a question mark on the complementary role the Delta State governor will play in the Atiku/Okowa ticket.
In the estimation of some people, perhaps the Turaki Adamawa would have chosen someone else. However, many believe that those who hold this view base their arguments on very pecuniary reasons. To people in this school of thought, politics is about interest and not necessarily competence, capacity and integrity.
But to many critical observers, Governor Okowa’s choice by Atiku did not come as a surprise because of his antecedents. In the crowd of aspirants that positioned themselves for the vice presidential slot, Okowa was an easy pick considering a lot of obvious factors.
Many argue that Atiku and Okowa share a lot in common in terms of their liberal disposition to leadership and politics. For instance, Atiku is Fulani but seen as a liberal Nigerian who has relationships across the nation.
In the case of Okowa, there are those who would agree that not much is really known about him; some people even see him as timid or too self effacing.
But for many critical observers, though Okowa is cool headed, he is a good balancing factor in the PDP presidential ticket considering that he is a southerner, practicing Christian and Ibo man.
Those close to him agree that he appears laid back but very patient, quiet by nature, yet very firm.
As a medical doctor of many years standing, there is no gainsaying his erudition with extensive knowledge and appreciation of the Nigerian state.
It is little wonder that in announcing his choice of the Delta State governor, Atiku said Okowa satisfied all the qualities he had outlined.
Atiku, in his speech, said he wanted a vice president with the qualities of a president, who could succeed him at a moment’s notice, that is, a president-in-waiting.
The presidential candidate said in arriving at his decision, he held consultations to seek input and contributions of relevant stakeholders.
He regretted that he had to choose one from the shortlist submitted to him by the party, adding that it was a difficult task to arrive at his decision.
He, however, said he was not afraid to take difficult decisions, saying that he was happy to start his task with a difficult decision such as picking his running mate.
“He is a serving state governor who has demonstrated, in his state and through his conduct, that governance is about service to the people”, Atiku said while introducing Okowa.
“I know that he will not only add excitement to our already energised ticket and campaign, but will also help to bring focus, discipline and stability to our government, come 2023.
“And he will be by my side as I work hard every day to provide our people with security, revive our economy, improve education and unite our country. He has both legislative and executive experiences,” he said of Okowa, who had been Secretary, and Chairman of Ika North Local Government Area, a Commissioner, Secretary to the Delta State Government, Senator, before becoming Governor of Delta State.
Atiku added: “You know him to be a fighter; you know him to care about winning; you know him to care about good governance; and you know him to care about our people.”
Also, speaking during the Northern Christian Youth Assembly Summit in Abuja, the national chairman of the PDP, Senator Iyorchia Ayu said Atiku picked Okowa as his running mate above his Rivers counterpart, Nyesom Wike, because of humility and more excellent performance in office.
His words: “We looked around and we thought we have to give not just a vice president that will assist him (Atiku) but we did our homework to select a man who is highly educated, very humble, and who has done very well as a governor in his home state.
“Okowa is the most qualified running mate. It is on his own personal merit that he was selected by the party as the vice presidential candidate to Atiku Abubakar. I think Nigeria will be very lucky to have two such people who are committed to development who are detribalised who believe in uniting this country.”
On assumption of office in 2015, he met huge challenges ranging from heavy salary burden, huge debts as well as crisis in the oil producing communities across the state. He nevertheless was prepared for the huge task having held sway as Council Secretary, Chairman, Commissioner in the ministries of Water Resources, Agriculture and Health, Secretary to the state government and later as Senator of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. While in Nigeria’s upper legislative chamber, he distinguished himself as Chairman, Senate Committee on Health with the passing of the National Health Act, one of the most important legislation in the 7th Senate.
A young Ghanaian man who is sleeping with a wealthy married woman is seeking help on how to end the relationship, but his fear is that he might return to poverty.
The man, who chose to be called Godwin for the sake of anonymity, said he only knew that the woman who is about twenty years older than him is married after they had had sex many times.
He disclosed his predicament on TV3’s ‘Confessions With Ms Nancy’. According to him, the woman has changed his life, with a better-paying job, mouth-watering cash gifts, befitting accommodation, and a salon car, among other goodies.
“I met this woman when I was working at the Accra Mall. I helped her with her groceries to the car park, and she took my number. So we started talking, and we became lovers. She is about 20 years older than me.
“She asked if I have a girlfriend, and I denied it because even before we became lovers, she was sending money for my lunch. She was giving me Ghc1,000 for lunch.
“At a point, she asked me to stop my job at the mall because it wasn’t paying much, and she got me a better job. She bought me a car. I was perching with my friend, but after I met her, she rented an apartment for me,” Godwin revealed.
He said that he is now uncomfortable with the discovery that his sugar mummy is a married woman who he has been sleeping with.
His fear, however, is that opting out of the romantic relationship with her would catapult him and his girlfriend back into poverty having been used to a luxurious lifestyle thanks to the sugar mummy.
“To play my cards well, I arranged for her to only come to the house on Tuesdays and Thursdays. And then my girlfriend on Friday to spend the weekend.
“I started feeling more for her because she was making me comfortable better than my girlfriend could. My girlfriend started asking questions about the source of my luxurious life. So I told her about the woman, saying she took me as her son because I helped her. Months into the relationship with this older woman, I got to know she is married. The fact that she is someone’s wife worries me. I can’t also tell my girlfriend, or she will leave,” Godwin lamented.
Another thing that has been eating the young man up is the fact that the sugar mummy visited him incognito and caught him and his girlfriend having sex.
According to him, instead of reacting angrily, the woman patiently sat and waited for them to finish the sexual intercourse before speaking with him calmly.
She has since remained silent and wouldn’t talk about the development despite his attempts to address that matter, while she continues to give him all the goodies as usual.
The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) presidential candidate Atiku Abubakar yesterday said the All Progressives Congress (APC) presidential candidate Bola Tinubu waited for when the election is around the corner to espouse solutions to the challenges facing the country.
Atiku stated this while reacting to Tinubu and his running mate, Kashim Shettima, who mocked him (Atiku) during the presentation of the manifesto of the APC to the business community and organised private sector in Lagos on Tuesday.
Shettima, at the gathering, described Atiku as a political tourist, who will be permanently retired to the United Arab Emirates after the 2023 election.
He also said that because Atiku sells bottled water, it does not make him an expert on the economy.
Responding, the PDP candidate, in a statement by his media aide, Paul Ibe, said the APC candidate went on ultra highway of political indecency, rather than use the advantage of such a gathering to talk about solutions that their party, APC, has foisted on the country.
Atiku added that it was shameful that Shettima would denigrate a going business that employs a large chunk of people in the Northeast region, regardless of whether the business is small business or big.
He added, “A gathering of the top echelons of the private sector was supposed to be an avenue for laying out serious policy choices. For Tinubu and Shettima on the contrary, they chose to embarrass their guests, using their audience to play vile political games.
“For someone who self-appoints as the APC national leader, it is ridiculous that the presidential candidate of the APC failed to proffer solutions to the economic woes that his party has foisted on Nigerians in the past seven years.
“Unlike Tinubu who sat idly by and watched his APC ruin Nigeria to the current sorry state, the Presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, Atiku Abubakar has been consistent in proffering solutions to the myriads of ineffective policy options of the APC administration.
“Atiku, it was, who first raised the alarm about the debt burden that the APC has thrown Nigeria into. It was also Atiku who has continued to call the attention of the nation to the need to diversify the economy away from heavy dependence on exploration of crude oil. Atiku, again, was the one who said that the quickest path to lift the majority of Nigerians out of the poverty belt, is for the government to give incentives to the private sector in order for them to create more jobs for Nigerians.
“Even during the COVID-19 pandemic, Atiku pioneered the private donor relief funds, which opened the gateway for other Nigerians of means to follow suit in providing succor to people who were worst hit by the attendant self isolation regulation in the management of the pandemic.
“Tinubu, who has been in hibernation mode for the seven years that his party unleashed the worst moment of economic hardship on Nigerians, has suddenly found a voice because, as it is usual with the APC, the time is here again to hoodwink the people with sugarcoated promises.”
Similarly, the director of strategic communications of the Atiku/Okowa presidential campaign council, Chief Dele Momodu, said Shettima was merely trying to point fingers at the specks in another man’s eyes while studiously ignoring the giant logs in his own eyes.
Momodu in a statement said APC is in total disarray with prominent members of his party openly apologizing to Nigerians for the unmitigated disaster it has foisted on Nigeria since 2015.
“This is one of the reasons APC members have been migrating in droves to PDP. It took almost forever for APC to achieve the simple task of constituting its Presidential Campaign Council, due to the total lack of unity in their party.
“It is very obvious that APC has become completely rudderless and many self-respecting members are jumping ship and being recovered by PDP.
“How can these APC candidates ever unite Nigerians when they’ve shown open disdain for the democratic and voting rights of certain ethnic groups within their domains?”He added that everything about APC and its candidates have been shrouded in secrecy and that they are unable to tell Nigerians the truth about anything.
“Alhaji Shettima alleged that Atiku Abubakar cannot be trusted with the economy of Nigeria. No heresy could be worse than this. Nigerians would want to know what businesses the APC candidates have managed personally and successfully except living outlandishly on government booty and largesse.”
The wife to the Commander of the Commandant General’s Special intelligence Squad, Deputy Commandant Apollos Dandaura, was Kidnapped Wednesday orevening and his younger brother shot in Lafia, the capita of Nasarawa State.
Our correspondent learnt that the younger brother of Deputy Commandant, Apollos Dandaura, is currently receiving treatment at a private Hospital in Lafia and is said to be responding to treatment
The Commander’s wife, Vanguard gathered exclusively was kidnapped around Shenge area of Lafia, the capital city of Nasarawa State.
When Contacted, Public Relations Officer of the Nasarawa State Command of NSCDC, Jerry Victor, who confirmed the incident in a telephone conversation said however that the where about of the victim was still unknown.
Kano court sends 2 TikTok skit makers Uniquepikin and Nazifi to prison for criticizing Ganduje
By Umar Audu
Two TikTok skit makers, Mubarak Muhammad (Uniquepikin) and Nazifi Muhammad, have been remanded in prison custody for allegedly defaming the character of the governor of Kano, Abdullahi Ganduje, in one of their comedy skits.
DAILY NIGERIAN gathered that the duo made a skit depicting the governor of Kano State, Abdullahi Ganduje, as a corrupt politician, who sold every available public plots of land in the state.
They were arraigned arraigned by the police before Magistrate Court 58, Nomansland, presided by Magistrate Aminu Gabari.
When the charges were read to them, the two TikTokers pleaded guilty to charges of conspiracy and defamation of character of the governor.
The magistrate therefore ordered that they be remanded in prison custody and adjourned the case till November 7 for passing of sentence.
In 2018, DAILY NIGERIAN had published videos of the governor stashing bundles of dollars, believed to be proceeds of corruption, into his pockets.
The governor has notoriety for influencing the police and the judiciary to harass and jail opponents, activists and social media influencers.
• ‘Conscience of Yoruba Nation endorsed Tinubu, not Afenifere’
• l remain Afenifere leader, we’re backing Tinubu, Fasoranti insists
• Southwest students ask Adebanjo to set aside grudges, adopt Tinubu
• Tinubu woos private sector, promises double GDP if he wins
• Manifestoes not enough, walk the talk, experts tell presidential candidates
By Muyiwa Adeyemi (Politics Editor), Kehinde Olatunji (Lagos) and Rotimi Agboluaje (Ibadan)
More facts are coming out on why Yoruba leaders are divided over the endorsement of presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, by the leader of Yoruba socio-political group, Afenifere, Pa Reuben Fasoranti, at his residence in Akure, Ondo State, on Sunday.
Fasoranti’s action was a counter to an earlier endorsement of the Labour Party (LP) presidential candidate, Mr Peter Obi, by Afenifere’s acting leader, Pa Ayo Adebanjo, which signaled commotion in Oduduwa fold.
It was gathered that the Akure meeting was not convened at the instance of Afenifere, but by another pan-Yoruba group, Conscience of Yoruba Nation (COYN), which comprises politicians and prominent Yoruba leaders of thoughts.
A copy of the invitation letter, printed on the letterhead of COYN, dated October 24 and entitled: ‘Meeting with Yoruba leadership,’ reads: “We are happy to invite you to a meeting with the leadership of the Yoruba nation. The leader, Chief Reuben Fasonranti, has agreed to host and preside over the meeting, which is called under the auspices of the Conscience of Yoruba Nation Forum.”
After stating the date, time and venue, the letter said the thrust of the meeting was “to discuss the historic 2023 general elections and guide the Yoruba people of Nigeria to take a definite and wise decision in the overall interest of prosterity and also, an interaction with one of the leading candidates, Bola Ahmed Tinubu.”The invitation letter was signed by the Director General of COYN, Otunba Kole Omololu and Dare Babarinsa. HOWEVER, some Yoruba leaders, yesterday, told The Guardian that it was preposterous to use Afenifere’s name in all the proceedings and communiqué of the meeting since the conveners are not executive members of Afenifere.
They accused the conveners of excluding many Yoruba leaders from the meeting, especially Afenifere leaders, insisting that the conveners colluded with Tinubu’s supporters by playing on the old age of Fasoranti for the “pyrrhic endorsement.”
Some members of the forum also criticised both Fasoranti and Adebanjo for being ‘hasty’ in their endorsements without consulting widely among various Yoruba groups. They said they would have expected the leaders to have learnt lessons from Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF) that provided platform for all the leading presidential candidates to address them and extract commitment from them on Arewa’s interest, without endorsing any of the candidates.
One of the leaders asked: “Have they studied the manifesto and agenda submitted to them by Tinubu and were convinced that Yoruba interest will be protected or he was just endorsed because he is a Yoruba man. It is unfortunate that some Yoruba leaders are playing ethnic games and presenting Tinubu as a Yoruba candidate, instead of presenting him as a Nigerian candidate of Yoruba extraction.”
But to some Yoruba leaders who supported Fasoranti in endorsing Tinubu’s presidential ambition, the nonagenarian remains the leader of Afenifere and he has a right to take any decision at anytime. They blamed Adebanjo for not consulting Fasoranti and other Yoruba leaders before endorsing Obi.
They said Fasoranti remains the leader of the Yoruba group and by the tradition of Afenifere, Adebanjo, as the acting leader, must consult with Fasoranti before taking critical decisions on behalf of Afenifere. Also, Fasoranti has insisted that he remained the leader of Afenifere and there is no going back on the group’s endorsement of Tinubu. The Yoruba leader, in a viral video, said the group never endorsed Obi.
He declared: “I am still the leader of Afenifere. Afenifere has not endorsed Obi, we are endorsing Jagaban (Tinubu) for the presidency.
“As you can see, the trend, approval and acceptability, you could see what happened when Tinubu came to meet me in Akure. Media carried the whole thing. Adebanjo does not have the capacity to warn me not to welcome Tinubu. Can he do that successfully?
“What happened was that Adebanjo took a stand and I took a stand. I didn’t call him and he didn’t call me. We never spoke about the visit. As you can see, Jagaban is accepted and we approve of him. Obi has no stand in our mind at all.”
A law lecturer at Lead City University, Ibadan, Prof. Olu Ojedokun, and Dr. Stephen Lafenwa of Political Science Department, University of Ibadan, yesterday, said the presence of Governor Seyi Makinde of Oyo State at Akure during the endorsement of Tinubu was not politically tactful.
The governor, who was represented by the deputy governor, Bayo Lawal, belongs to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). The university dons said that such move might not be wise politically.
Lafenwa said: ‘’The support for the endorsement of Tinubu presidency may seem to be an unwise decision politically speaking, but the governor has no choice given the unresolved political crisis in his party at present.
“His move suggests that voters’ preference would be based on candidates and not the party. He won the presidential and gubernatorial elections for PDP in 2019. Since every action has its consequences, the governor, who also has a re-election battle to face, should be prepared to face the consequence of his action.”
Ojedokun said: “It is still not certain that that is what the governor did. However, the clear indication is that he is not supporting Atiku at this time, which has created a vacuum, which nature abhors, and of course, speculation has become rife.
“It’s akin to political suicide to divide the ticket by refusing to support your own presidential candidate. This could come home to bite the governor.’’
Students across the Southwest region have also called on Yoruba to embrace Tinubu and see his aspiration as not only a Yoruba agenda, but a project to reposition the country. This was disclosed by chairman of the Ogun State chapter of the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS), Simeon Damilola Kehinde.
NANS, in the statement, appealed to Adebanjo not to allow his bias against Tinubu to prevent Southwest from reclaiming power in 2023.
Simeon disclosed that students across the region are set to visit Adebanjo to appease him and intervene in the current crisis in Afenifere.
The statement reads: “This is not the time for Yoruba to be divided. Election is around the corner and as a leading region in the country, we must unite and all work for the success of our own in the election.
“We are not tribalistic, neither are we whipping up ethnic sentiment, but for equity and justice’s sake, we firmly believe that this is the turn of the Yoruba.”
TINUBU, yesterday, said the support of the private sector was needed to implement the reforms in his economic master plan. Speaking during APC’s campaign council townhall meeting with the business community and Organised Private Sector (OPS) in Lagos, Tinubu said his administration would hit a double figure Gross Domestic Product (GDP) if he wins the 2023 presidential election.
He explained that the success of his tenure turned Lagos into a safe and more prosperous place of legitimate ventures irrespective of person, religion, region or ethnicity.
The session had in attendance the vice presidential candidate, Senator Kashim Shettima; governors Babajide Sanwo-Olu (Lagos), Simon Bako Lalong (Plateau), who is also the Director-General of the APC Presidential Campaign Council (PCC); Atiku Bagudu (Kebbi); Abdulrahman Abdulrasaq (Kwara); Abubakar Badaru (Jigawa); Dapo Abiodun (Ogun); Adegboyega Oyetola (Osun); Nasir el-Rufai (Kaduna) and Abdullahi Ganduje (Kano), as well as other party leaders and chieftains.
Others are President of Dangote Group, Aliko Dangote; Jim Ovia, chairman of Zenith Bank, Tony Elumelu; chairman of UBA, Aigboje Aig-Imoukhuede; former Chief Executive of Access Bank, Herbert Wigwe; Group Chief Executive of Access Bank and other business leaders representing sectoral groups such as agriculture, oil and gas, trade, manufacturing, creative sector, among others.
He noted that the nation needs to move from dependence on exporting its raw materials to nations selling the finished products to Nigeria at exorbitant prices, to one that refines its raw materials for upward export by itself.
Commending President Muhammadu Buhari-led administration for its patriotism and commitment, he itemised his administration plans to build on his achievements.
These, he said, include reviving dead industries, promoting agriculture, providing power, produce and use made in Nigeria goods, building infrastructure and most importantly improving the country’s security.
“From its very inception, our political economy has been imbalanced and in need of major reform. Our political economy is much too dependent on the export of raw material or unfinished goods and the import of increasingly expensive finished products. Over the course of time, gains from natural resource exports will prove largely insufficient to meet the rising costs of imports let alone support even the most basic demands of modern democratic governance.
“The time is now to cure this lapse. And time is of the essence for it does not wait for man or nation. We commend the work of prior administrations, especially the present government. This government has performed with patriotism and commitment during trying times.
“We simply must go farther and faster. My experiences in both the private sector and elective office afford me a special appreciation of the economic potency that close collaboration between government and the business community can bring.
“Allow me to share a few ideas that provide some insight into my vision for a more prosperous and secure nation where hope is renewed and despair rebuffed.
“We opened the door for Nigerians to witness the same thing as we work hand in hand with the business community sharing the same goal of prosperity and renewed hope.
“I now stand before you seeking a bigger yet similar job; the similar practical work that improved Lagos is what I want to bring to the nation. The task ahead is difficult but doable and I need you to help this come through,” he said.
Two members of the Organised Private Sector have, however, tasked presidential candidates not to focus on paper works or manifestos, but adopt practical approaches to solving Nigeria’s problems in their campaigns.
A former Publicity Secretary of the Nigerian Association of Small And Medium Enterprises (NASME), Monday-Michaels Ashibogwu; and a former Director General of the Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI), Muda Yusuf, spoke yesterday on Channels Television’s Sunrise Daily programme.
“We have been looking at offers by some candidates, but we are more concerned in seeing something that will become more in practice than just a paper work. We have very novel paper works that have been on the shelf for years, issues that concern the OPS stem from implementation and sincerity of that implementation,” Ashibogwu said.
He added that whoever is going to take up the task has a lot of work to do to solve the problems of insecurity, kidnapping and of recent, issues of food security.
“We have had that experience in power reforms, we have had the experience in energy reforms in terms of oil and gas reforms, so the issue is who is going to walk the talk,” he said.
Also, Yusuf said while manifestos are good, the ability to assemble a competent team is more critical. He said anybody can get a good consultant to put up a manifesto but the capacity to put a competent team together with proper understanding of economic issues and their implementation is what is paramount.
“One of the challenges we have today is not lack of good policy document, we have excellent documents but those document are just gathering dust, nobody is acting on those documents,” Yusuf stated.
Thirteen suspected members of Boko Haram who attempted to attack military cantonment at Wawa in Borgu local government area of Niger State have been arrested.
LEADERSHIP gathered that six of them were arrested at a farmland in Wawa, two in Wawa town and five others at Gada Oli on the outskirts of Wawa town trying to escape to the border of Nigeria and Benin Republic.
It was learnt that the security personnel were also on their trail between Mokwa and New Bussa area as some of them escaped through that area after Saturday’s attack on Wawa military cantonment.
A source at Borgu Emirate Council confirmed the incident as the emirate mobilised vulnerable communities to be vigilant and give useful information to security operatives to apprehend fleeing members of the group.
The military had engaged the group last Saturday during the attempted attack on the cantonment, killing eight and arresting three of the commanders but some of the members flee through different directions following intense military action by the army and the airforce from the Air Force Base New Bussa.
Meanwhile, the spokesman of the Borgu Emirate, Muhammad Kabir said, “Reference to the attack of Wawa Military Barrack by terrorists which is followed by unrest in some of our communities, the Emirates council convene a security meeting today 31/10/2022 (Monday) and resolved that there will be curfew i.e. movement will be allowed from 6am to 9pm, effect from 9pm today.
“All major markets will be suspended till further notice. But you can pick your daily needs in the market around you within the time frame, house to house and street hawking is banned.”
He said the emirate also resolved that cars and motorcycles must obtain their number plate or risk seizure while all okada riders must wear their reflective vest for proper identification.
“I have been sleeping in my Toyota Sienna for two weeks since the flood ravaged the palace."
The traditional ruler of Tungbo town in the Sagbama Local Government Area of Bayelsa State, Amos Poubinafa, now sleeps in his car as floods have sacked him from his palace.
“I have been sleeping in my Toyota Sienna for two weeks since the flood ravaged the palace.
“It reached the knee level and made the palace uninhabitable,’’ Mr Poubinafa, a retired naval officer, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Monday in Tungbo.
“The car is the only safe place for me; the entire building is flooded and there is no safer place for me to sleep.
“My family has been relocated to Yenagoa. As the Captain on board (traditional ruler) this vessel, I cannot abandon my subjects to seek alternative abode outside the town.
“By my training as a naval officer, I am not expected to abandon the crew I am leading in my vessel. I am expected to be the last man standing,’’ he said.
Mr Poubinafa also told NAN that he equally suffered in the floods of 2012 as he could not leave his subjects and relocate and that the situation is worse in 2022.
He appealed to the National Emergency Management Agency, the Bayelsa Emergency Management Agency, and other well-meaning individuals to assist flood victims in Tungbo town.
He also called on the Federal Government to construct dams and dredge Rivers Niger and Benue to end perennial flooding in parts of the country.
Tungbo community is host to the Federal Science and Technical College, a co-educational college founded in 2002, which is on Sagbama-Tungbo Road.
Mr Poubinafa retired from the Nigerian Navy as a lieutenant commander in 2002 before he became the paramount ruler of his community.
Governor of Kaduna State, Nasir El-Rufai has taught the Kashim Ibrahim Fellowship participants key concepts of governance and economy.
For nine hours during the week, the governor held a workshop that took the Fellows through a discourse on McKinsey’s 7-S Framework, a powerful tool and model for Organizational Planning, Analysis, and Diagnosis.
Kashim Ibrahim Fellowship (KIF) is a one-year non-partisan leadership training programme for young Nigerians between the age of 25-35 years.
The one-year Fellowship aims to create a network of high-potential young Nigerians who are expected to rise to top leadership positions in the public and private sectors of the country.
Saraki’s Media Group Dismisses Viral Lewd Video Of Alleged Son Asks Police To Unmask Sponsors Of Cyber-attack
by Chibuzo Ukaibe
The media office of former Senate President, Senator Abubakar Bukola Saraki has dismissed a viral video of an adult male spraying dollar notes on strippers as his son.
The media office advised the public to discountenance the lewd video which it described as “expressions and vanity that hit the social media space earlier today, which mischief makers have purportedly claimed that the individual is a son of former Senate President, Dr. Abubakar Bukola Saraki.”
It further called on the nation’s security agencies to urgently investigate and unmask the perpetrators and sponsors of the cyber-attack on the Saraki family and warned that the culprits have to brace up for legal redress.
A press statement issued Friday from the office of the Director General of the Saraki National Media Group, Earl Osaro Onaiwu, said, that the viral video is handiwork of sneaky and deluded persons, who are probably sponsored by certain failed politicians who are scared of the steadily rising profile of Dr. Saraki as a leading light of Democracy, locally and internationally.
“What I want to tell you categorically, is that, the individual in that video is neither Saraki’s son nor relation and so, he cannot be his son by any means or in any way.”
“Sonship in any family is by consanguinity and birth. In this case, how can someone who’s not even related by blood and was not an adopted child be inserted into a family by rogue media trending?”, Onaiwu queried.
Furthermore, “I enjoin the media to cross-check their facts or do basic information inquisition to determine facts before rushing to ‘break lies instead of wholesome news.”
“This will help to avoid the embarrassing realization that hearsay does not amount to truth, no matter the rumour industry perspectivizations of a blatant falsehood”, he advised.
The statement, therefore cautioned the general public to be wary of uncivilized attempts by unscrupulous individuals and desperate politicians who thought to tarnish the image of the Saraki family, widely renown for respect, decency, discretion and high moral standards that celebrates pious values in all things.
An unspecified number of motorists were feared kidnapped along the Lagos-Ibadan expressway on Friday.
The development generated tension along the expressway as several vehicles aborted the trips to their destination and drove in the opposite direction.
The incident happened around Dominion University City of Faith, KM 24, Lagos-Ibadan Expressway.
An eyewitness who spoke with our correspondent said nobody could ascertain the number of people kidnapped but three private vehicles were affected.
He listed the affected as a Jeep, a Toyota Camry Car and Sedan vehicle whose model could not be ascertained.
The eyewitness who was travelling from Lagos to Ibadan said there was fear among motorists and passengers around the spot.
He said, “I can confirm some motorists have just been kidnapped near Dominion University, Ibadan. Many vehicles had to turn back but the road is free as I am talking to you.
“I saw three vehicles with their doors wide open and not a single person was found inside the three vehicles and there is no trace of where they ran to.
“One of the cars smashed it bonnet on the wall while the one behind jammed it from behind but there no sign of accident. We are sure it was a case of kidnap because the vehicles were empty.
“At first, we taught it was robbery but if it was not. We should have seen those that were robbed. There was nobody at the scene when my vehicle got there.”
The witness said when they moved away from the scene, they saw some hunters and vigilantes heading towards the place the incident happened.
When contacted, the Amotekun Commandant in the state, Coln Olayinka Olayanju said he has no information about the latest kidnapping in the state.
He said, “I am not aware of such development. There is no way such a thing would happen and we won’t be informed. Such thing is strange to me. I will find out and get back to you.”
The Department of State Services (DSS) has confirmed the arrest of a suspected terrorist in an Abuja estate.
Peter Afunanya, DSS spokesperson, said this in an interview with TheCable on Friday.
Afunanya said the operation was, however, not done in collaboration with soldiers from the United States (US).
“No joint operation between DSS and any other country’s military took place in Abuja,” Afunanya said.
Adewale Adenaike, chairman of phase 3, Trademore Estate, Lugbe, had said DSS officers and American soldiers arrested a suspected terrorist in his community.
The estate chairman said the security operatives closed the estate gates on Monday to stop vehicular movement in the area.
Speaking on the development, Afunanya said the DSS operatives carried out the arrest with other Nigerian security agencies.
The US and the United Kingdom (UK) recently issued travel advisories warning their citizens living in Nigeria about the possibility of terror attacks in the FCT.
On Sunday, the US embassy said there is an elevated risk of terror attacks in the FCT and warned against unnecessary travel.
However, in an updated travel advisory, the US ordered family members of its employees in Abuja to leave the area.
A 36-year-old man identified as Mayowa Dele has been arraigned for allegedly killing his girlfriend and removing her private parts in Lagos.
The incident occurred in the Ijegun area of Lagos State.
It was learnt that Dele was arrested while he was cooking the body parts of the victim, identified as Mercy for a concoction.
Police prosecutor, Thomas Nurudeen, an Assistant Superintendent of Police, told the court that the content of the pot was found to be human parts.
“My Lord, three suspects; Oluwakemi Azeez (20), Oyedegun Adewale (27) and Jejelaye Osusola (22) were also arrested for their alleged involvement in the murder of Mercy.
“Apart from putting some of the body parts in the pot to cook, he also put some inside a cement bag and kept it in his room while the remaining parts were wrapped up in bed sheets and buried in an uncompleted building in the area,” Nurudeen told the court.
The police, however, said they were yet to ascertain the motive behind the murder of Mercy, but added that Dele implicated others during interrogation.
The suspects have been arraigned on murder charges.
However, Magistrate P. E. Nwaka ordered their remand at a correctional centre pending the receipt of legal advice from the Director of Public Prosecutions.
The CBN has spent N281.07 billion to print bank notes between 2016 and 2020 and another N3.88 billion to destroy mutilated notes within the same period.
Data from the apex bank showed that N33.37 billion had been used to print new notes in 2016, the amount expended increased to N49.52 billion and N64.04 billion 2017 and 2018. By the end of 2019, N75.52 billion had been spent on printing new naira notes as the amount spent declined in 2020 to N58.07 billion.
Within the same five year period, the central bank spent N3.88 billion to destroy N4.197 trillion. N1.44 billion was spent in 2016 to dispose of mutilated naira notes with a value of N829.94 billion. The amount spent however dropped by almost half to N594.62 million spent in 2017 to destroy N977 billion.
The money spent in disposing N814.59 billion rose to N662.21 million in 2018 and declined slightly to N647.82 million that was used to dispose of N814.43 billion. In 2020, N538.59 million had been used to destroy N698.59 billion.
Recall that the CBN, Wednesday, announced plans to redesign and reissue the N1000, N500 and N200 currency denominations, in an effort to rein in inflation and take control of money supply in the country.
CBN governor Godwin Emefiele, who’d made this known also said the current naira notes will no longer be legal tender from January 31, 2023.
However, analysts have worried that this move is bound to put more pressure on the nation’s economy which is grappling with high fiscal deficit, debt crisis, severe revenue crisis and underfunding of many government projects and programmes.
Hafsat Baba, Kaduna commissioner for human services and social development, says it is important to address the issue of women giving their daughters to bandits for money.
Baba said this on Wednesday at the 22nd meeting of the National Council on Women Affairs held in Abuja.
Speaking as a panellist on girl child development and school safety, the commissioner said parents who offer their daughters as house-helps and hawkers are contributing to the rate of out-of-school girls in the country.
According to the data from the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), 60 percent of the over 10 million out-of-school children in Nigeria are girls.
The commissioner expressed concern over parents’ attitude towards ensuring the safety of their children.
“We have talked about insecurity but we also have a little thing to blame. What about these informants? They are from us, they inform the bandits because they have made it a business. I see women even giving their children to the bandits, to go and sleep with the bandits in order to make money,” she said.
“If you look at our streets, you will see them going about with their little bowls and the most disturbing thing is that the children have now become the breadwinners of the family.
“Even apart from insecurity, we have these children on the street that hawk and engage in all sorts of menial jobs. Our young girls were being taken from their community, from their states to another state to go and become baby nurses, they cook and sweep.
“This also stops them from going to school apart from the insecurity we are talking about because that means that the child is not secured. If a child becomes the breadwinner of a family, what is the essence of the parents? What are the responsibilities of the parents?
“These are all things we need to sit down and look at deeply. How does it affect the girl child? How does it also affect the family collectively? Whatever intervention we are doing, we also need to learn from each other.
“It is our collective responsibility to ensure that we keep our children safe. Safety is very key both in school and at home. With the recent insecurity, it is now a wake-up call for us to be more vigilant as government, parents, community and religious leaders. Security is everybody’s business, without security, children cannot go to school.”
With the presidential campaign kicked-off for the 2023 general election, the All Progressives Congress, APC, will no doubt miss the dexterity of former minister, Chibuike Amaechi.
Things have not remained the same between the presidential candidate of the party, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu and some top shots of the party since after the presidential primary election.
Party leaders such as the Vice President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo and the former Governor of Rivers State, Amaechi have gone hibernating from party activities since the primary election.
Amaechi was the Director-General of President Muhammadu Buhari’s Campaign organisation both in 2015 and 2019 elections. He delivered in the two successive elections.
However, that is not the case as the party prepares for the 2023 polls.
While Osinbajo was conspicuously missing from the Tinubu-Shettima Presidential Campaign Council, Amaechi has neither accepted nor rejected his appointment into the campaign movement.
DAILY POST recalls that after weeks of intrigues and uncertainty, Tinubu polled 1,271 votes to beat his closest contenders Amaechi (316 votes) and Osinbajo (235 votes).
Tinubu was able to get northern governors behind himself after the likes of Simon Lalong of Plateau State, Nasir Elrufai of Kaduna and Abubakar Badaru of Jigawa State had earlier publicly backed Amaechi.
Following the emergence of Atiku Abubakar as the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, the Northern APC governors closed ranks and aligned with Tinubu. They believed that Amaechi had a very slim chance of defeating Atiku.
Badaru, who had openly pledged support for Amaechi, subsequently led the contingent of presidential aspirants who stepped down and asked his supporters to support Tinubu.
And after the presidential primaries, Tinubu claimed he fought to win the ticket, insisting there was a gang-up against his person.
An insider in Tinubu presidential campaign council said the former Lagos helmsman has not yet forgiven all those who contested with him during the presidential primary, especially Amaechi and Osinbajo.
According to him, Tinubu had made it very clear that it was his turn to become President after Buhari. He did everything to ensure that the APC came to power but he was disappointed to see the likes of Osinbajo challenge him to the end.The APC national leader was said to be highly disappointed that Osinbajo did not step down alongside about 8 other aspirants that stepped down for him on that night.
The insider added that Osinbajo sees Tinubu’s emergence as backwardness. He said although the VP knows that his former boss has ideas that could better the country, his age and frail health would be a major drag-back for Nigeria and thus would never pretend to be supporting him.
According to our source, “Most people take it as a mere joke when Tinubu says becoming Nigerian President is a childhood dream. This is something he had dreamt and worked for all his life. He should have been Vice President in 2015 if not this Muslim-Muslim ticket and it would have been easier for him now but he gave that up and nominated one of his boys – Osinbajo for that position
“When the Northern Governors agreed that it was Tinubu’s turn after weeks of intense politicking, he didn’t expect any of the aspirants to contest with him in the primary, that’s the truth. But Osinbajo and Amaechi dragged on and since then, the relationship has not been the same. He’s not the one who included Amaechi in his campaign team.
Tinubu was more interested in bringing Governor Nyesom Wike to his side than Amaechi. Amaechi is one person who does not believe in Tinubu and feels betrayed by the outcome of the primary. Amaechi said something a few weeks after the primary and what he said didn’t sink well with Tinubu’s camp. Anybody expecting the former minister to work for Tinubu’s victory is wasting their time. It’s almost like Wike and Atiku only that Amaechi does not talk or behave like the Governor. Also note that it’s not a coincidence that Osinbajo is not named in the presidential campaign council. In fact, he should be one of the persons spear-heading the campaign.
“Before I end, let me say this, when someone says he’s fine, can’t Nigerians just respect that? It’s his health for Christ sake and no one knows better about your health than you. No doubt in my heart that our presidential candidate will win the 2023 presidential election for our great party with or without the support of these people. He has the structures on ground but the truth is it would be easier for us with their support.”
However, while addressing a group in Kano that worked for Osinbajo’s presidential bid, Tinubu insisted he does not have anything against Osinbajo, saying, “I have nothing against him. I’ve been to his house after the primaries.
“I saw him on the day of the goodwill message [at] the retreat organised by the president. If you cannot give forgiveness, how are you asking from Allah? To me, it is over.”
Indications have emerged that the fuel crisis currently enveloping the country might have been as a result of vessel owners’ refusal to discharge products due to what a stakeholder referred to as ‘financial challenges.’ Findings by New Telegraph revealed that although the nature of financial challenge was not clarified, several other factors have been attributed to the cause of the scarcity, leading to queues at filling stations, especially in Lagos and Abuja.
Among other things, marketers under the aegis of Major Oil Marketers Association of Nigeria (MOMAN), while assuring that the problem would soon be settled, said it was caused by logistics challenge. According to a private depot owner, who spoke with New Telegraph on the condition of anonymity, the scarcity is due to shortfall in product allocation from the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL). She also claimed that a large portion of product allocation was given to MOMAN members because it is believed that they have a large reach of retail outlets.
She alleged that they had some invoices before NNPCL that were still waiting for allocation. According to her, the Petroleum Products Marketing Company (PPMC) is still awaiting cargoes to get supplied, adding that the depot owners had sent many performance invoices to PPMC that were still waiting to be attended to. She said: “We have many invoices before NNPCL that have not been allocated. “Ex-depot price has been between N162 and N163 per litre for marketers within Lagos and its environs, while between N164 and 165 for marketers outside Lagos like Calabar, Port Harcourt, Owerri and so on.
“Some foreign vessels that came into the country refused to discharge, due to financial challenges. “The shortfall in the product can best be explained by NNPC and its agencies.” On his part, the Executive Secretary of MOMAN, Mr Clement Isong, told our correspondent that the queues witnessedin petrol stations in Lagos and some other states of the Federation, including the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, Abuja was caused by supply logistics challenge.
He said they received products and had commenced distribution, adding that the queues as a result of the current scarcity of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) popularly called petrol, would abate or stop within 24hours or 48hours. Isong said: “It is true that MOMAM members are fully integrated, meaning that they have their boats, they havededicatedtransport, and theyhaveusuallyover300,400 stations across the country.
“So whenever there is a problem in supply, it is normal that you will give products to people who have the access in place and the corporate governance in place and the discipline in place to get the products directly to the locations without diversion andtoservethecountry. That is normal. “There may have been some supply hiccups previously.
We have received products in MOMAM, it is true and we are trucking out. We expect queues in Lagos to disappear within the next 24 hours. “The scarcity was caused by supply logistics hiccup. NNPC is addressing it. Supply logistics is getting the product from the vessels to the shore. “Once the product gets to the shore then we are good to go, the same thing as getting producttoAbuja. Therainfall or flood made it difficult. So even when the products get to the depots or the coastline, the flood makes distribution challenging. “Thesupplylogisticschallenge has been resolved.
It has been resolved and we have received the products and we are trucking out. Within 24 or 48 hours, the queue will disappear.” Meanwhile, the Chief Executive Officer, of the Nigerian midstream and downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA), Engineer Farouk Ahmed, had assured that there was enough stock of petrol and urged Nigerians not to engage in panic buying of the product.
Ahmed said that he had confirmed from MOMAN and the NNPCL that they had sufficient stock. He said: “l spoke with the MOMAN’S Executive Secretary this morning and he told me they have sufficient stock. “I have directed them to start evacuating the product immediately to filling stations. “NNPC has also confirmed sufficiency and they have commenced evacuation. “From now till tomorrow the situation will be back to normal.
Nigeria’s tax agency, Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) has announced that it has commenced the direct deduction and collection of taxes at transaction points from online gaming companies using the Sentinal National Payment Gateway and Electronic Solution.
This was made known in a statement by Johannes Oluwatobi Wojuola, the Special Assistant on Media & Communication to the Executive Chairman of the FIRS and made available to journalists on Wednesday.
According to the statement, the Executive Chairman of the Service, Muhammad Nami, while directing full compliance by the online gaming community, explained that the Sentinal National Payment Gateway is a transaction processing system that enables Integrated Payment Services Providers to deduct taxes at the points of transaction and immediately remit the tax deducted to the government's treasury.
The notice read, "The FIRS is automating the administration of tax on online gaming using Sentinal National Payment Gateway and Electronic Solution.
"Sentinal National Payment Gateway is a transaction processing system that enables Integrated Payment Service Providers to deduct taxes at transaction-points and remit the tax deducted directly to government's treasury.
"The deployment of Sentinal National Payment Gateway will simplify tax compliance for companies engaged in online gaming activities."
The Service further noted that all operators offering online gaming services in Nigeria, not later than the December 31, 2022, were required "to connect to the Sentinal National Payment Gateway, deduct tax from online gaming transactions and remit same directly to the relevant government's treasury."
The notice also added that though it was not mandatory for online gaming operators offering online gaming services from outside Nigeria to be incorporated in Nigeria, they are compelled by extant tax laws to connect to the Sentinal National Payment Gateway for the purposes of deducting tax from the gaming transactions of players in Nigeria, and remitting same directly to the government purse.
Also commenting on this approach to tax collection at the point of transaction, Nami stated that Nigeria needed to innovate and harness technology for improved revenue generation from e-commerce as well as for accountability.
Nami said, "The world is entering a challenging time where there is a strong obligation on governments to increase tax revenue as a percentage of GDP so as to provide much needed funding for local infrastructure and public services. Nigeria needs to innovate and harness technology to ensure that online transactions are taxed and accounted for.
"We have been very impressed with the Sentinal platform which allows us to not only collect tax revenues at source, but also provides us with tax reporting and monitoring tools in real time.”
Commenting on the development at a meeting with the tax authority head, the Director General of the National Lottery Regulatory Commission of Nigeria, Lanre Gbajabiamila, described the adoption of the new innovation as a "huge step" for taxation of the gaming industry.
The statement quoted Gbajabiamila as saying that "online gaming continues to grow rapidly in Nigeria, particularly on mobile, and the adoption of E-technologies' Sentinal National Payment Gateway is a huge step for us to allow us to capture gaming duty at source”.
"We are welcoming all responsible offshore gaming operators to apply for a Remote Operator Permit as long as they pass all the relevant criteria including full AML screening and responsible gaming practices. We are proud to be the first country to adopt the Sentinal System and we believe it will bring a real national benefit to Nigeria,” he added.
Not long after the alleged abduction of Okorie broke out last Monday than the LP national chairman, Julius Abure, urged the Inspector General of Police to ensure that the Anambra scenario does not repeat itself.
Abure lamented the systematic and unrelenting attacks on LP candidates in the Southeast, noting that the violent attacks expose the fear by desperate politicians of the rising profile of the party and its incursion into the nooks and crannies of the nation.
In a statement, the LP National Chairman, Abure, stated: “It is no longer news that some political actors in some Southeastern states particularly, Ebonyi and Enugu have vowed that Labour Party and its candidates will not be allowed to campaign freely in the zone.
“This is evident with incessant attacks on members and supporters of the Labour Party and that of our candidates, particularly, our presidential candidate. This night attack is viewed by the party as a furtherance of the determination of these political hirelings to frustrate the progressive incursion of the party across the nation and particularly in the Southeast.”
With his massive grassroots following and philanthropic activities through his Caring Heart Foundation, it is generally believed in the Senatorial District that Okorie would make the election challenge to the outgoing governor.
However, four hours after reports of Okorie’s abduction made the rounds on various media platforms, the Police disclosed that the former federal lawmaker was in their custody.
In a statement with reference No CZ:5200/EBS/PPRO/VOL. 8/229, dated October 17, the Police Public Relations Officer, Chris Anyanwu, a superintendent of Police, disclosed that Okorie refused several invitations by the police.
Captioned “Arrest of Hon. Linus Abaa Okorie over drug-related matters and several other offences,” the statement declared: “Sequel to initial viral rumours renting the air, cum a Press Release accredited to one Dr David Ogbonna of Hon Linus Okorie Caringheart Foundation, purporting that Hon Linus Abaa Okorie, a former member of House of Representatives, was ‘abducted/kidnapped’ yesterday (16/10/2022), the Ebonyi State Police Command swung into action and later traced the said Honourable Okorie (who had evaded many Police arrests/invitations), to the head office of the Ebubeagu Security Outfit at the Old Government House.
“Police detectives were briefed on why he was arrested which includes; his activities and utterances that incited and provoked the violence that engulfed Onicha LGA, which left suspected IPOB/ESN operatives or unknown gunmen to unleash mayhem in the area, leaving seven (7) persons dead at the end of that fracas. Hence, the case has now been taken over by the Police Command for preliminary investigation.”
But, Okorie’s wife, Nkechi, denied that her husband was into drugs, stressing that the governor’s enforcers attacked him for political reasons. Mrs. Okorie expressed apprehension that her husband could be harmed or made to disappear like other high-profile abductions in the state.
ENUGU: Ugwuanyi versus Ezea
further contended that apart from amassing huge wealth from politics in the past 20 years, the outgoing governor has nothing else to present as score card, adding that Ugwuanyi’s ambition to go to the Senate is simply to go an enjoy siesta during plenary.
Yet, Governor Ugwuanyi’s supporters declare that the quantum of development projects attracted to the district by the government compelled the people to commend him with a senatorial seat like other governors.
They list the State University of Science and Medical Studies, massive road infrastructure and General Hospital in addition to massive employment opportunities for Nsukka people as some of the success report cards of Governor Ugwuanyi, maintaining that the governor is a quiet achiever.
On his part, the outgoing governor said those attacking his aspiration are only blinded by envy, pointing out that contrary to their argument of breaching the zoning structure, the power rotation arrangement favours his own federal constituency.
But, as the candidates for the February 25 poll continue to make their cases of why voters should prefer them, at the end of the day, it would be seen how far the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System will be able to ward off vote-buying to ensure that votes count.
However, from fighting off Peter Obi’s vice presidential ticket in 2019, it is obvious that Southeast politicians have another intense electoral battle to contend with in 2023. How to contain the Obidient Movement has become a major task in the zone. And, it is like violent intimidation would feature in great detail as the election draws near.”
The recent abduction of Hon. Linus Abaa Okorie, the Labour Party (LP) Senatorial contender for Ebonyi South Senatorial District, reinforced the simmering challenges confronting outgoing Southeast governors’ ambition to retire to the Red Chamber of the National Assembly in 2023.
In Abia State, Governor Okezie Victor Ikpeazu has the popular Senator Enyinnaya Harcourt Abaribe to contend with. For the Southeast Governors’ Forum chairman, King David Umahi, Labour Party’s Linus Okorie and Peoples Democratic Party’s (PDP) Senator Michael Nnachi are determined to interrogate his popularity in Ebonyi South Senatorial District.
Coming to Enugu State, where outgoing Governor Ifeanyi Lawrence Ugwuanyi picked the PDP Senatorial ticket for Enugu North District, a former serial governorship aspirant on the platform of All Progressives Congress (APC), who is now in LP, Chief Okey Ezea (Ideke) is proving a huge torn on the electoral flesh of the incumbent governor.
If the three outgoing governors succeed in their quest to graduate to the National Assembly, they would have replicated similar ascension by Senators Chimaroke Nnamani, Sam Ominyi Egwu, Theodore Orji, Orji Uzor Kalu and Owelle Rochas Okorocha.
Apart from Nnamani, Orji and Okorocha, other former governors like Kalu and Egwu could not secure immediate progression to the Senate after their tenures due to come political exigencies that cut short their ambitions.
For instance, in 2007, when he served out his tenure, Kalu’s aspiration for the Presidency displaced him from contesting the Senate, just as in 2011 the strong political clout of late Senate Uche Chukwumerije could not secure him another term.
Like Kalu, the former Ebonyi State governor, Egwu, attempted to become the President and national chairman of PDP at the end of his eight years tenure in 2007. His attempt to retrieve the PDP from his former Commissioner for Finance, Senator Tony Agbo, ended in futility as Agbo insisted that he was too big a politician to serve as a placeholder, especially after serving as Speaker of the old Enugu State House of Assembly, long before Egwu joined politics.
It was a similar political incongruity and miscalculation that denied the former Imo State governor in the same class ’99 governors, Chief Achike Udenwa, the opportunity of travelling to Abuja as Senator to represent Imo West Senatorial District.
Udenwa’s decision to plant Osita Izunaso as a placeholder and the plot by late Senator Arthur Nzeribe to return to the Red Chamber, both suffered a setback. The maverick Nzeribe stonewalled Udenwa’s efforts to take the place of Izunaso by insisting that in the event of a voluntary withdrawal by the Senatorial candidate, he (Nzeribe) was the rightful replacement having been returned as the first runner-up in the Senatorial primary.
Out of the five Southeast states, only Anambra State does not have the penchant for governors hurrying to represent their zones at the Senate after their tenures, perhaps due to the convoluted politics of the state. Governor Chinwoke Mbadinuju suffered the political wickedness of being denied an automatic second-term ticket in 2003, unlike his other PDP colleagues. Peeved by that mistreatment, Mbadinuju veered into the Alliance for Democracy (AD), where his second-term aspiration could not bear a successful outcome.
But, Dr. Chris Ngige, who was rigged into office as placeholder governor in Mbadinuju’s place, could not sustain the electoral heist that propelled him into office for four years. In 2006, Peter Obi, the governorship standard bearer of All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) in the 2003 poll, retrieved his mandate as a validly elected candidate.
In 2011 Ngige made it to the Senate, which was his original ambition before the political godfathers imposed him on PDP as governor. Ngige struggled to defeat the former Director General of the National Agency for Food, Drugs Administration and Control (NAFDAC), the late Prof. Dora Akunyili after the Anambra Central Senatorial District election was declared inconclusive.
The make-up election for Umunachi, during which N45million separated the two candidates, showed how far the popularity of opposition candidates can go to make things strenuous for former governors in Senatorial contests.
It is against this background that the sudden momentum being generated by the Labour Party in Southeast after the former Anambra State governor, Obi, emerged as its Presidential standard bearer, is causing some sleepless nights for the three outgoing governors of Abia, Ebonyi and Enugu States.
The three states are chasing history to emerge as states with two former governors in the Senate, which Abia State pioneered in 2019. However, recent, there has been much of citizens’ grumbling about the performance of the outgoing governors as well as the rationale for their desperation to become Senators after eight years of administering the entire states as their constituency.
This subdued protest seems to undergird the campaigns by Labour Party supporters in the geopolitical zone for a new political paradigm, even as they decry the years of electoral malfeasance and lack of accountable governance in the region.
In an interview with The Guardian in 2014, Senator Chukwumerije regretted the quality of persons being supported by Southeast governors to represent various constituencies from the region in the National Assembly. He said some of them do not understand the legislative process and why they should be in the parliament, pointing out that during votes and proceedings some of them had to seek leadership from the governors.
Similarly, LP governorship standard-bearer for Enugu State, Hon. Chijioke Edeoga said the penchant for governors to retire to the Senate disposes them towards skewed appointments and improper distribution of amenities so as to brighten their electoral chances for the Senate.
However, despite such negative observations, the governors insist that the experience they garnered as state chief executives place them to offer excellent representation and legislation to the people.
Consequently, given the ambition of the outgoing governors, the 2023 general elections could present as a sort of referendum on the performance of the affected chief executives’ tenures as far as Senatorial contests are involved.
It is therefore in light of the foregoing that the onslaught of the Obidient Movement, as the supporters of the LP presidential candidate are known, becomes a strong point in the build-up to the February 25, 2023, National Assembly elections in Southeast. The development is expected to impact the governor’s senatorial race in different ways. ABIA: Ikpeazu versus Abaribe ABIA South Senatorial District has two powerful political figures- Governor Okezie Ikpeazu and Senator Enyinnaya Harcourt Abaribe- contesting to represent the zone in the 10th Senate. While Governor Okezie feels that Abaribe has overstayed in the National Assembly, the incumbent Senator declared his intention to succeed the governor.
Although Abaribe insists that the Constitution does not put a term limit to members of the legislature, he contended that since Governor Okezie wants a fellow Ngwa to succeed him, he (Abaribe) was most qualified, having served previously as a deputy governor of the state.
But, the governor argued that a person from the Ngwa axis in Abia Central Senatorial District was preferred to balance the 16 years that persons from the Bende axis, namely Senator Orji Uzor Kalu and Senator T.A. Orji, served the state as governors.
As such, having botched Abaribe’s governorship ambition in PDP, the Senator’s supporters convinced him to move over to the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), where Prof. Gregory Ibe had already announced his gubernatorial ambition, to pave the way for Abaribe’s return to the Senate.
The euphoria of Prof. Chukwuma Soludo’s election as Anambra State governor also raised the perception in Southeast that the people were tired of the two major political parties, APC and PDP, especially given that none of the platforms considered a Southeasterner for its presidential ticket.
As PDP confronts the internal dissension within its structure caused by the disagreements between Governor Nyesom Wike and the party’s presidential contender, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, over Dr Iyorchia Ayu’s insistence on retaining his office as national chairman, Abaribe feels that the stability of APGA would enhance his chances.
Both candidates-Ikpeazu and Abaribe-are campaigning on their records of public service. Abaribe’s supporters push the narrative that the outgoing governor did not perform optimally to warrant election to the Senate. They point to the low-level infrastructure and environmental squalor in Aba to drive home their point that Ikpeazu performed below expectations.
Not long ago, the status of Abia State Polytechnic, Aba, where the National Board for Technical Education (NBTE) withdrew the institution’s accreditation, became a duelling point for the two senatorial combatants. While some commentators loyal to Abaribe accused the governor of nonchalance and failure to take the educational needs of youths seriously, the state government disclosed that the accreditation was politically motivated, as NBTE has never withdrawn the accreditation of any polytechnic.
During a meeting with members of the Federation of Abia Students, Governor Ikpeazu praised the students’ leaders for not lending themselves to be used by politicians to cause problems in the state. The governor pointed out that the state government had never defaulted in remitting its subventions to the polytechnic, adding that the polytechnic is self-accounting and does not remit revenues from tuition or admission fees to the government.
Ikpeazu, who released N450million to the polytechnic to settle its arrears of salaries, however, pointed out that it was not the business of NBTE to intervene in industrial disputes between any institution and its staff. While insisting that NBTE went overboard by withdrawing accreditation from Abia Polytechnic, Ikpeazu said his ambition to represent Abia South Senatorial District in the Senate must have frightened some unnamed politicians into stoking the embarrassing action against Abia Polytechnic, Aba.
Nonetheless, in the wider Southeast, Senator Abaribe is perceived as the conscience of the Igbo nation, even as young people hold him in high esteem for his principled stance against the perceived antagonistic stance of the APC federal government in the region.
How these issues, domestic and foreign would shape the contest for the February 25 Senatorial election remains a source of public conversation.
EBONYI: Umahi versus Okorie
The journey to Umahi and Okorie’s imminent electoral clash preceded the current crisis. Both men were allies even before the then-deputy governor, Umahi, battled his principal, Governor Martins Elechi, for the PDP governorship ticket in 2015.
As state PDP chairman, Umahi had supported Okorie’s aspiration to represent Ohaozara/Onicha/Ivo federal constituency in the House of Representatives in 2011. Umahi knew that he would need strong backers from the federal constituency for his governorship ambition.
And, in 2015, as part of the strategy to keep PDP lawmakers in his corner as he contested the party’s governorship ticket with his unwilling principal, who was supporting a different candidate, Umahi, handed incumbent lawmakers with automatic tickets.
That was how Hon Okorie berthed in the Green Chamber for a second term in 2015. However, in the lead-up to the 2019 general elections, Okorie could not mistake signs that the governor would not support his aspiration for a third term in the House of Representatives, because that would be fortifying Okorie’s arsenal to confront him (Umahi) for the Ebonyi South Senatorial District seat in 2019.
Again, knowing that he had prepared the grounds to cross over to the APC, Governor Umahi, as a calculating political player, was said to have confided in close associates that allowing Okorie to get back to the lower house in 2019 could come back to haunt his Senatorial aspiration in 2023.
But, PDP insiders disclosed that the decision to stop Okorie in 2019 was to maintain the rotation arrangement for the federal constituency among the three local government councils, where they said nobody has represented the constituency for more than two terms.
Having taken the development in his strides, when Vice President Atiku Abubakar selected Mr. Peter Obi as his presidential running mate for the 2019 election, the simmering political unease between Umahi and Okorie boiled over. While Umahi led other Southeast political leaders to agitate against Atiku’s ‘unilateral’ nomination of the former Anambra State governor as his running mate, Okorie joined the list of signatories to Atiku’s presidential nomination forms.
The governor and his former Rep remained at opposing political corners until the 2019 elections were won and lost. After Umahi’s subsequent defection, Okorie’s attempt to pick the PDP senatorial ticket for Ebonyi South Senatorial District ran into a hitch. Former Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Senator Anyim Pius Anyim, and other stakeholders wanted the incumbent Senator, Dr Michael Nnachi to continue in the spirit of party cohesion.
Peeved by the troubled senatorial primaries, Okorie filed a suit in court seeking a determination of which was the valid PDP structure and set of primaries. While the case was pending, Okorie’s supporters prevailed on him to join LP, where he effortlessly picked the party’s senatorial ticket for Ebonyi South.
No sooner than the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) published the list of candidates for the February 25 poll than Governor Umahi, who had prevailed in the contest for APC’s ticket with Mrs Nwanyimma Agom-Eze, started looking forward to the main poll.
Going by the configuration of Ebonyi South Senatorial District, the Senatorial candidates of the front-line political parties, APC, APGA, PDP and LP, all have their catchment areas well carved out, except Umahi and Okorie, who are coming from contiguous communities.
While APGA’s Ifeanyi Eleje hails from the populous Afikpo, PDP’s Nnachi is from neighbouring Afikpo South (Edda). So, the thinking is that given the fact that Okorie represented Ohaozara/Onicha/Ivo federal constituency, his candidacy would eat deep into Umahi’s vote haul.
The governor’s supporters, perhaps frightened by the possibility of an unpredictable outcome in the senatorial contest, were said to have perfected plans to intimidate the former member of the House of Representatives or keep him out of circulation like was done to the Labour Party governorship candidate in last year’s gubernatorial poll in Anambra State, Obiora Agbasimelo.
Jonathan seeks constitutional amendment for selecting vice presidential, deputy governorship candidates
Chuks Okocha and Adedayo Akinwale in Abuja
The vice president, Professor Yemi Osinbajo, yesterday, identified some reasons why hardworking deputies often run into problems with power brokers, saying conscientious seconds-in-command are always thought to be working towards outshining their principals. Osinbajo said this in Abuja at the launch of a book, “Deputising and Governance in Nigeria”, authored by the governor of Kano State, Dr. Abdulahi Ganduje.
Former President Goodluck Jonathan, who chaired the book launch, advocated constitutional provisions to ensure presidential and governorship candidates picked their running mates before the party primaries to reduce the animosity that such choices often caused.
Osinbajo maintained that the efforts of hardworking deputies were often subject to wrong interpretations. He said many believed deputies were spare tyres, but wondered why some people still wanted the job if it was so worthless.
Osinbajo stated, “A great political wordsmith, Kingsley Mbadiwe of the caterpillar and juggernaut fame, once disdainfully described the vice presidency as repeater station of a major station. It was a verdict to convey the very low esteem he held the office. He came to this conclusion, when he lost out in his bid to serve as vice president to Shehu Shagari in 1979.”
However, Osinbajo said the deputy or vice must be hardworking in the government, bringing his own skills and talents in representing his principal as efficiently and as effectively as possible every single day. He said unlike the deputy governors, the vice president had a few more well-defined constitutional roles, like chairing the National Economic Council’s monthly meetings, leading the National Council on Privatisation, and serving as deputy to several other official bodies.
But Osinbajo stressed that the effectiveness of the vice president depended on the trust reposed in him by the president. “I think, personally, I have been more fortunate than others in my relationship with my principal, President Buhari. I believe he also genuinely believes in the world of the vice president,” Osinbajo stressed.
Jonathan, who is also a former vice president, related his own experience, recalling that he was selected as running mate to the late President Umaru Yar’Adua a day after the presidential primary of his party, Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). He called for constitution amendment to address such issues.
The former president said the subject of the book resonated clearly with his experience and that of Ganduje, as they shared a similar political trajectory of serving as deputy governors at the same time, and eventually taking over from their principals.
Jonathan, who stressed that he later got better, because he moved on to become the vice president and later president, decried the frosty relationships between the deputies and their principals. He said the issue was something everyone needed to ponder about.
Jonathan said when they were elected in 1999, there were states where the relationship between the governors-elect and their deputy governors-elect became bitter even before their inauguration.
He stated, “Even if you look back in the current political dispensation, while we are going in for elections, I remember when I was appointed the running mate to (Umaru) Yar’Adua, after the primaries that night, the following morning, I was nominated to be a running mate.
“But if you look at some of the parties, it took a very long time to select running mates, and sometimes after selecting running mates, there are all kinds of issues.
“To me, I’m thinking that the National Assembly should look at it.
“For you to qualify to run for the primaries as a governorship candidate, you should run with a deputy. Same thing at the federal level, for you to run as president, you need to run with a deputy. If the political parties think that the pair is okay for them and when they vote for that pair, nobody will raise issues again after the primaries.
“But here we are in a situation, where issues are being raised after primaries because selection of a vice president is becoming a problem. I believe maybe at the state level, the selection of the running mate to the governor is also becoming a problem. And every country amends their laws based on the challenges they face. This is one area that Ganduje has raised and I believe Nigerians need to have a discussion on it.”
Jonathan, who lamented that deputy governors rarely succeeded their principals, disclosed, “When I left office and we are looking at the whole 36 states, we asked how many states that the governors were able to work for their deputies to take over from them.
“Naturally the deputy governor will look up to taking over from his boss, but I remember at that time, before the Ganduje experience, it was only Zamfara State, when Senator Yerima nominated my friend, Shinkafi.
“Yes, I became a governor by default, you know what happened in my state. It was not a deliberate nomination by my principal. The clear case that I know was Yerima and Shinkafi and, of course, (Rabiu) Kwankwaso and Ganduje.”
He said if the relationship between governors and deputy governors was good, there should be a reasonable number of deputy governors taking over from the governors.
The former president called for constitution amendment to assign clear responsibilities to deputy governors.
He said, “Beyond that, there is always the need for a legal adjustment to assign clear responsibilities, other than the ad hoc functions they perform at the behest of their bosses.”
On his part, Ganduje said the book told numerous experiences relating to principal and deputy relations in the Nigerian political system, reflecting the successful and evil times, the optimistic and the destructive relationships, and their consequences for development, particularly, provision of dividends of democracy. It also suggests practical options for a pleasant working relationship between the two key political leaders, the governor said.
Ganduje stated that he enjoyed working with his then principal, the former governor of Kano State, Senator Rabi’u Kwankwaso, as his deputy during their two tenures, 1999-2003 and 2011-2015.
He stated, “However, the history of relationships between some governors and their deputies in Nigeria since the First Republic has been that of disloyalty, envy, betrayal, mistrust, ambition, which has over the years divided several states of the federation and negatively affected the development of the people who voted the pair into office.
“This should be considered as a matter of national importance, because the resentful relationship is unfavourable to democracy, national peace, stability and development, because when governors clash with their deputies, the state suffers.”
Other dignitaries at the book launch included former Minister of Information, Labaran Maku; Governor of Borno State, Babagana Zulum; Gombe State Governor Inuwa Yahaya; Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq of Kwara State; All Progressives Congress (APC) vice presidential candidate, Senator Kashim Shettima; and former National Chairman of APC, Adams Oshiomhole.
Following heavy bombardments by security operatives in the North East and North West, some insurgents have relocated to the nation’s capital where they disguise as menial workers.
A security source disclosed this to Daily Trust while reacting to the security advisory by the US Mission in Nigeria.
On Sunday, the US embassy warned Americans in Nigeria to be cautious of their movement in response to elevated risk of terror attacks in Nigeria, specifically in Abuja.
“There is an elevated risk of terror attacks in Nigeria, specifically in Abuja. Targets may include, but are not limited to, government buildings, places of worship, schools, markets, shopping malls, hotels, bars, restaurants, athletic gatherings, transport terminals, law enforcement facilities, and international organizations.
“The U.S. Embassy will offer reduced services until further notice. Actions to Take: Avoid all non-essential travel or movement. Stay alert. Avoid crowds,” the advisory read.
The news had reignited fear in the nation’s capital as residents. There was tension in Abuja months ago when terrorists overran the Kuje Correctional Centre and set free 800 inmates, including all the Boko Haram suspects in detention.
After that, troops of the Presidential Guards Brigade were killed in an ambush within the nation’s capital. This heightened worry among residents of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), who eventually moved on with their lives.
However, the situation became worrisome after the recent US advisory.
But security sources told Daily Trust that they were aware that some ISWAP commanders and foot soldiers had melted into the civilian population in and around Abuja, perfecting plans to launch attacks about the same time.
The sources said most embassies in Nigeria were aware of this and therefore the announcement by the US Embassy might just be one of such advisories as others must have told their citizens quietly to be on the watch.
“We have gone far in securing not only the FCT but Nigeria at large…The terrorists have no hiding place anymore because we are tracking and picking them.
“We know all their antics. Many of them are working as mechanics, tailors, carpenters, labourers and even experts in some fields…We know what is happening.”
The Department of State Services (DSS) has allayed the fears of Nigerians, especially residents of the nation’s capital.
A group, Bola Ahmed Tinubu (BAT) Ambassadors, says that the biggest threat to any candidate from the Southwest geopolitical zone becoming national leader has always been from the zone.
Chief Afolabi Ekungba, Interim National Coordinator of BAT Ambassadors, made the remark on Sunday in Lagos during an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN).
Ekungba was speaking on the electoral chances of Sen. Bola Tinubu, the All Progressives Congress (APC) presidential candidate, for the 2023 elections.
According to him, the problem of the zone in national politics is that the zone often pursues ideas that are never realistic.
“The people of Southwest will want to set standards that don’t politically work anywhere as if they are angels.
“They will always come up with different methods to shoot down their own.
“What they did to Chiefs Obafemi Awolowo and MKO Abiola, are good examples.
“We, therefore, need a group that is adequately strong enough to address this,” Ekungba said.
Ekungba, a former governorship candidate in Ondo State, explained that BAT Ambassadors was formed, primarily to address misgivings from the Southwest zone.
He noted that the political support group had devised two major strategies, including mass movement strategy of room-to-room campaign.
“We plan to reach every Yoruba man and woman, boy and girl one-on-one,” he said.
Ekungba said the other strategy was to use the social and conventional media to engage the people.
“This is to meet the challenges of the youth who are always glued to their handset and various social media handles,” he said.
Ekungba said that the Tinubu and Shettima joint presidential ticket represented practical and demonstrable evidence of performance.
He said, if allowed to be replicated at the national level, the ticket will in the shortest possible time produce the desired national growth and development.
“The country needs a man with the courage to steady the ship of the country; sustain achievements of the past and project the country into achieving its full potentials as desired by the people.
“We see in Tinubu, the demonstrable evidence of that type of courage. We mean the courage to take hard decisions where it will hurt for the benefit of the nation.
“We need a man with an unequal passion for the federal system of government.
“It is only when Nigeria returns to federalism that our peaceful co-existence can produce a geometrically exponential social-economic development.
“We see in Tinubu, the unrepentant commitment to the ideas of true federalism
“We need a man that can consistently follow ideas agreed upon, not a fair-weather personality that will jump from boat to boat as it will suit his personal desire or those of his cohorts,” Ekungba said.
He pointed out that more than 90 per cent of the members of the BAT Ambassadors are people that would otherwise not be ready to touch politics and politicking in Nigeria with a very long spoon.
Ekungba said the reality on the ground had forced them out of their shelves.
In what promises to be one of the fiercest verbal encounter in the electioneering season leading to the 2023 polls, the All Progressives Congress (APC) presidential candidate, Bola Tinubu, and his Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) counterpart, Atiku Abubakar, yesterday taunted each other in their ongoing battle of credibility.
In the latest face-off, the standard bearers of the two major political parties were struggling for the soul of Kano State ahead of the 2023 general election.
The APC standard bearer cast the first stone when, in a veiled reference to Atiku’s frequent trips to Dubai, said he would not be a Nigerian president who will spend 50 per cent of his time in the country and the rest 50 percent in Dubai, the United Arab Emirate (UAE).
But hitting back hard at his APC counterpart, Atiku said the empty streets, which greeted Tinubu’s visit to Kano, was a clear indication that he had already lost the support of the people of the state.
Atiku said the development had indicated that he has defeated Tinubu in Kano.
Earlier, Tinubu who spoke in Kano at an interactive session with members of the Tijjaniyyah sect had taken advantage of Atiku’s frequent Dubai trips to let Nigerians understand why they need a president who is on ground with them 100 per cent.
Atiku had been criticised for spending most of his time in Dubai, with some Nigerians insinuating that he relocated to that country after the 2019 general polls.
Implicitly taunting the PDP standard bearer, Tinubu said he won’t be a part-time president who will share his time between living in Dubai and Nigeria, adding that he would concentrate his attention and energy on confronting and surmounting Nigeria’s pressing challenges.
Tinubu was accompanied to the session held inside the African Hall of Kano Government House were his running mate, Senator Kashim Shettima, and at least six governors of the party.
Governors at the session included chairman of Progressives Governors’ Forum (PGF) and Kebbi State governor, Atiku Bagudu, Abdullahi Ganduje (Kano), Abubakar Badaru (Jigawa), Bello Matawalle (Zamfara), Babajide Sanwo-olu (Lagos), former APC interim chairman, Chief Bisi Akande, and some of the party’s National Working Committee members.
A statement by his media aide, Tunde Rahman, noted that at the meeting, members of the Tijjaniyyah sect led by leader, Sheikh Bashir Tijjani Usman Zangon Bareebah, presented a long list of issues the sect wants the APC Presidential candidate to address when he gets to office.
Top on the list are improved electricity, full security, giving agriculture full attention including provision and completion of dams and improved quality education for Nigerians.
While giving their full endorsement and support to the APC presidential ambition, the sect demanded that the Tinubu presidency should ensure inclusion of their members in cabinet and other government appointments, reduction in Hajj fares and assistance in concluding Tijjaniyyah University under construction in Kano.
In his response, Tinubu said the answers to some of the demands contained in his manifesto unfolded to the whole world on Friday by President Muhammadu Buhari, stressing that he is running to be the president because of his commitment to better the lives of all Nigerians.
In a similar development, the APC Presidential candidate met with business leaders from Northern Nigeria Saturday night in Kano where he assured the business community of a better business environment through implementation of well-thought-out policies that will revive dead and ailing manufacturing companies in Kano and across the country.
At a forum to share insights with the Northern business community, business leaders and captains of industry from across the North openly endorsed the APC presidential candidate and his running mate, Senator Kashim Shettima.
At a forum attended by the APC national chairman, Senator Adamu Abdullahi, Vice Presidential Candidate, Senator Shettima, Governor Ganduje of Kano and seven other governors, the business leaders said with his private sector background, Asíwájú Tinubu would drive the nation’s economy well.
Governor Ganduje said Kano and Lagos have always maintained a long standing relationship which will be strengthened under Tinubu whom he labelled a Kano man.
Ganduje said as governor of Lagos State, Asíwájú ran a pan-Nigeria cabinet that grew the state in all indices of governance and economy.
While assuring the northern business leaders of a better business environment with well-thought-out policies that will revitalise industries and open up new opportunities, Tinubu identified the link between Kano as a centre of commerce and his economic plan for Nigeria.
He said: “There is a strong nexus between the place of Kano as a centre of prosperity and my plan for Nigeria. What I pledge is a revamped economy which will renew the hope of our people. Our country needs multiple centres of prosperity, and we intend to achieve that by adding value across all sectors of our economy.
“As I said during my speech at the Arewa House on Monday, Nigeria is sitting on a goldmine. There is no state in Nigeria that is lacking in one resource or the other. We are determined to explore and exploit these resources to the maximum benefits of our people. Kano, for example, has huge agricultural potentials and important mineral resources underneath its ground like gold, silver, nickel, tin ore and columbite. Each of these, if properly harnessed, can add significantly to our economy as a country.
The APC flagbearer added that Kano’s arable land and its comparative advantage in agriculture will be further expanded to make the state and northern region industrial hubs in sub-Saharan Africa.
He stated: “The state’s vast arable land and other agricultural potentials, if added to its population will make Kano a force to reckon with in sub-saharan African agro-market. Those who listen to my speech in Kaduna would have heard about my plan for agriculture. Aside from working with the private sector to make input available that would guarantee greater yield, among other incentives, we will ensure all categories of farmers have easy access to finance through appropriate government and private sector initiatives.
“We have seen the wonders from the CBN’s Anchor Borrowers Programme, and the Presidential Fertilizer Initiative. We will consolidate on those gains. Kano’s famous dams such Tiga, Chalawa Gorge, Thomas, Kusalla, etc that are not being maximally tapped will get special attention from my government. We will invest in the expansion of irrigation land, channelization of the water, among other initiatives that will ensure we cultivate these lands all year round.
“We will not stop in investing and boosting our agricultural potentials, we will add value throughout the value chain.
Through Commodity Exchange markets, we will link markets like Dawanau in Kano and Gujungu in Jigawa with international markets and boost return on investment for our farmers. The overall aim is to move the nation from import oriented to export oriented economy where grains from Kano will be exported to the world market rather than us buying from other countries.
“I know of the commercial exploits of some of you, traders and businessmen in Kwari Textile Market, Sabongari Market, Singer Market and the famous grain market in Dawanau which transacts with the rest of West Africa. These commercial activities alone can provide the state with enough IGR to maintain itself with the right support and policies.
“Beyond trading and commerce, I have a special interest in addressing the problem of the dead or comatose Kano industrial estates in Sharada, Bompai, Panshekara, Jogana, etc, which were vibrant in 70s and 80s. We understand the reason why those companies collapsed and we have a plan to revive them and make them competitive.
“We will provide incentives for industrial development nationwide through institutions like the Bank of Industry. There will be a deliberate policy to create industrial hubs and free zones specific to every region. For Kano, we will give attention to agro-allied industries such as textiles, tomato paste, rice processing, animal feeds, etc, in line with the state’s competitive advantages.”
He promised to rebuild Nigeria and make it far better than Dubai if elected as President in 2023.
He also promised to fight banditry and insurgency, ensure qualitative education, adequate power supply, industralisation, food security, physical security, among other democratic dividends.
Tinubu positioned himself as the best presidential candidate to redeem Nigeria, saying, “we are only three left (in the presidential race), one just failed the most important examination when he was asked: ‘are you a divider or Uniter, and he said ‘I am from the North… ”
Empty Kano Streets Signpost APC’s Defeat – Atiku
But true to type, Atiku who would not shy away from such vetbal confrontation, fired back at Tinubu, saying the empty streets that greeted the presidential candidate of the APC) in Kano, at the weekend, signposts the road to extinction for the APC ahead of the 2023 election.
Atiku who spoke through the spokesperson of the Atiku/Okowa presidential campaign organisation, Kola Ologbondiyan, however pointed out that the huge crowd of Nigerians that received him at his campaign rally in Benin, the Edo State capital, as well as the two separate rallies held in Bida and Jibia in Niger and Katsina States respectively, are manifest proofs that Nigerians are resolute in voting for him as the next president of Nigeria come February 25, 2023.
Atuku observed that the “thoughtless display of opulence” by Tinubu at his flopped Kano visit was completely repugnant and offensive to the people of Kano State who cannot be swayed by pointless material showboating.
The former vice president advised Tinubu to immediately apologise and rescind from such trips and actions.
To this effect, Ologbondiyan, in a statement, said, “Nigerians in Kano watched in awe as a convoy of vehicles paraded the streets of Kano municipal without eliciting any attention from bystanders who went about their normal businesses.
“In a recorded video that has gone viral, one of the bystanders was heard saying; ‘God has shown them clearly that people aren’t supporting them. No one is concerned about them. It is very shameful; Kano people are not with them.”
Ologbondiyan further said unlike the APC’s shameful outing in Kano, Atiku’s campaign was gaining more traction across the country because of his tenacity in addressing the issues and challenges brought upon Nigerians by the APC.
“His determination to revive the economy while making the unity of our nation number one priority sits well among Nigerians.
“He has also sworn to make insecurity a part of our sordid past by making State Police a plank of the security solutions he will introduce when sworn into office on May 29, 2023. Atiku is bringing the light to our dark side. He is creating hope in our state of disillusionment”, Ologbondiyan added.
We Own Kano, You’re Just Fighting In Vain, NNPP Tells APC, PDP
Relatedly, the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP), wrote both the All Progressives Congress (APC) and the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) of, saying they were just fighting in vain over Kano, which is in its conrol.
Speaking with LEADERSHIP last night, national publicity secretary of the NNPP, Major Agbom said both the APC and the PDP are struggling for nothing in Kano.
He said, “When Tinubu was entering Kano, I was leaving the state. Both the APC and the PDP are struggling for nothing. They can’t get Kano because the state is for the NNPP.
“Kano is NNPP. Those following Tinubu are just miscreants and not the real politicians in Kano”.
According to him, Kwankwanso has been commissioning various projects in Kano, adding that Kano is for the NNPP, Kwankwaso and their gubernatorial candidate, Abba Gida-Gida.
“Kwankwaso is totally in control of Kano State. Whatever anybody tells you, do not accept it because the NNPP is winning Kano and Abba Gida-Gida is winning Kano State,” Agbo added.
Mr Tinubu said Nigerians complaining about huge borrowings by the federal government should stop using Mercedes Benz and Lexus vehicle brands.
AHMED OLUWASANJO
In his latest public delivery of incoherence, Bola Tinubu, the presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress for the 2023 elections, says Nigerians against borrowings by the Buhari regime should stop using Mercedes Benz and Lexus brands of vehicles.
Mr Tinubu made the assertion during the presentation of campaign manifestation on Friday in Abuja without providing context or rationale for his charge.
“I stand before you proudly, noting that those who are afraid of the budget, the thoughts of borrowing. Yes, borrowing. If borrowing is a crime, the entire America should be in jail. If borrowing is a crime, stop using Mercedes Benz and Lexus,” Mr Tinubu declared.
Listeners were left in quandary as to the correlation between usage of particular brands of vehicles and concerns for ballooning national debts
The former Lagos governor has been under scrutiny for his mental alertness and general healthiness as he struggles with his frail physicality.
Recently, he has made some incoherent references which have further raised concerns among his watchers, who fear the 70-year-old may be showing signs of dementia.
Last week, Mr Tinubu caused a stir when he said Kaduna Governor Nasir El-rufai’s vision, creativity and resilience in turning “a rotten situation into a bad one” is necessary for the incoming administration.
At another function in Kaduna, when asked how his administration would tackle climate change as being championed by the West, Mr Tinubu answered by saying: “Climate change is a question of how do you prevent a church rat from eating a poisoned Holy Communion.”
In one of his recent public engagements, Mr Tinubu admitted that his handlers had warned him not to speak outside his written script, in an apparent move to curtail his slew of gaffes.
Politics › Military Rockets Kill Top ISWAP Terrorists Ali Kwaya, Bukar Mainoka At Lake Chad by Islie(op): 9:33pm On Nov 07, 2022
