₦airaland Forum

* President using power to keep govs at bay – Prof Odion

* It negates party growth – Prof Baba

The inability of governors to rescue one of their colleagues, Godwin Obaseki of Edo State, from being forced out of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) has further exposed how powerless, the once-powerful and influential forum in the country has become.

Under different fora, governors in the country until this administration wielded enormous powers, dictating who gets what at both state and national levels; directing party affairs and dictating for the president as the case was under previous administrations.

From pillar to post, governors of the APC under the aegis of the Progressive Governors’ Forum (PGF), chaired by Kebbi State Governor Atiku Bagudu, made frantic efforts to save Obaseki. From their respective states, seven governors, on a rescue mission led by Bagudu went to Lagos to seek the intervention of the leader of their party, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu. From Lagos to Abuja, the governors met Adams Oshiomhole and the mission was crowned with a visit to the Presidential Villa, Abuja.

All efforts by the governors, however, didn’t yield needed result as Obaseki was disqualified from participating in the party’s primary over discrepancies in his certificates. A development that led to the governor’s sojourn to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). Obaseki is on the verge of picking his new party’s ticket. Will his colleagues back in the APC support him to actualise his second term bid in another party? Pundits are watching.

Obaseki was not the first to be treated in such manner, former Lagos State Governor Akinwumi Ambode, got the same treatment in 2018. Following his rift with Tinubu, Ambode was edged out of the governorship race when he was defeated by the anointed candidate of his godfather, (Tinubu), Babajide Sanwo-Olu, at the party’s governorship primary.

From the Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF) which was birthed in 1999 with Abdullahi Adamu (Nasarawa) as pioneer chairman, governors now have many fora to champion and advance their interests including the PGF for governors elected on the APC and the Peoples Democratic Party Governors Forum (PDPGF) for those elected on the platform of PDP. Regional fora of the governors also exist.

During the 16 years reign of the PDP, governors were not only influential in states, their influence was extended to the federal level. Ministerial, board and other federal appointments were decided by the governors. Through the party, the governors nominated those to be considered for appointment by the president.

The trend changed when President Muhammadu Buhari came on board. As president-elect, Buhari jettisoned the tradition which was embedded in the polity by the PDP when he told governors elected on the platform of APC that he would not consider nominees from them for ministerial appointment.

Before Buhari was sworn-in in 2015, the then PGF chairman, Rochas Okorocha, led members of the forum to visit him. During the visit, they reportedly submitted names of their preferred ministerial nominees to Buhari.

He, however, rejected them, and he was quoted to have jocularly asked the governors whether he appointed their commissioners for them. Pundits believe that, by that action, the president laid the foundation for whittling down the governors’ powers.

In March, a gang up of more than half of the APC governors to oust Oshiomhole failed when Tinubu, a former governor came to the rescue of the former labour leader regarded as his stooge.

The Federal Government on Monday in Abuja admitted that about 12,000 N-Power beneficiaries are yet to be paid their three- month stipends. The Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development, Sadiya Umar Farouq confirmed this at the media briefing of the Presidential Task Force on COVID-19.

FG not employing N-Power beneficiaries into Civil Service on June 12 It would be recalled that the federal government recently announced that it would be disengaging 500,000 beneficiaries of the scheme who were enrolled between 2016 and 2018. The minister attributed the delay in the payment of the 12,000 volunteers to administrative issues, saying her ministry was working with the office of the Account General to resolve it.

“As far as the ministry is concerned, we have paid N-Power beneficiaries that have been verified and recommended for payment. We have 500,000 N-Power volunteers. “Those who are claiming that they have not been paid, we are looking into these issues with the Office of the Account General of the Federation.

“We have had issues around migrating from the platform that we used to operate to the Government Integrated Financial Management Information System (GIFMIS) platform. “So, these are the administrative issues that have hindered the payment of some of the volunteers.”

“There are about 12,000 of them based on our record and as I am speaking with you, the permanent secretary of the ministry is in the office of the accountant general to sort out these issues and once we get the report, we will make it available to all.”

Zamfara State government in collaboration with the state Police Command, and 1 Brigade, Nigerian Army, Gusau, have constituted and deployed a joint operational squad comprising the Police, Army and Civil Defence to Bindin District of Maru Local Government Area of the state to fight bandits. The deployment of the operational team, according to the spokesman of the state police command, SP Muhammad Shehu, was to complement the existing security in the area.

The joint squad was unveiled by the Commissioner of Police in the state, Usman Nagogo, and the Brigade Commander, Brigadier General O. M. Bello. Shehu said it was part of efforts to stem the tide of criminal activities especially atrocities committed by the unrepentant bandits who refused to embrace the culture of peace.

The Peoples Democratic Party, PDP has told the All Progressives Congress, APC and the Nigeria Police to stop fighting a lost battle, saying they can’t stop mass defection of APC members to its fold across the country.

Condemning Police attack on the Ondo deputy governor, Agboola Ajayi, the PDP in a statement Sunday, by its National Publicity Secretary, Kola Ologbondiyan called on the Inspector General of Police (IGP), Mohammed Adamu, to caution his men against dabbling into partisan politics.

The deputy governor is having irreconcilable differences with his boss, Governor Rotimi Akeredolu, and is said to be perfecting plans to dump the ruling APC for the leading opposition, PDP. But Police officers led by the Ondo State Commissioner of Police, Mr Bolaji Salami, reportedly stopped him from moving out of his official quarters at the government house on Saturday, following his frosty relationship with Akeredolu.

The PDP in a statement said, “The thoughtless and rude attempt to use the Police to stop the Ondo Deputy Governor from leaving the disorganized APC is symptomatic of the last kicks of a degraded and derelict political party that is now clutching at straws and can only resort to use of compromised security agents as face-saving measure.

“The APC is unnerved because Nigerians are no longer ready to stomach the deception and lies of 2015 as well as the impunity, political brigandage and the electoral fraud of 2019.

“The IGP Adamu must note that Nigerians have not forgotten and are no longer ready to accept the kind of atrocities that characterized previous elections under the APC, including the use of Police helicopter to assault and chase away voters in the November 16, 2019 Kogi state governorship election.

“Moreover, Nigerians are aware that despite the exposed ignoble roles played by unscrupulous security agents in the Kogi and other elections under the APC, no redressing action has been taken till date by the current hierarchy of the police to reassure the people. “The PDP therefore calls on the Police IG to immediately rein in his men and be on the side of the people, particularly in the forthcoming Ondo and Edo states governorship elections,” the party added.

A video trending on the Social Media showed the state police commissioner, Bolaji Salami, stopping Hon Ajayi from leaving the premises of the government house on Saturday night. However, Governor Akeredolu said allegations that he was responsible for the action taken by the Police against his Deputy was false.

A statement by Akeredolu’s Chief Press Secretary, Segun Ajiboye, described the report as a complete falsehood intended to play victim by the principal actors involved. Ondo State Police Commissioner said he is apolitical and his job entailed him to protect lives and property of citizens of the state.

The Ondo CP in a statement signed by the Police spokesman, ASP Tee-Leo Ikoro, explained that he went to the Ondo State Government House on Saturday night because policemen on ground could not settle the dispute between aides of Governor Oluwarotimi Akeredolu and the Deputy Governor.

He said he was informed that both aides of the Governor and the deputy were having a face off over the number of cars the Deputy could move out of the place at night.

The Gombe State Task Force committee chairman on COVID-19, Professor Idris Muhammad has confirmed that another executive member and one member of the state House of Assembly have been confirmed to be COVID-19 positive.

Professor Idris Muhammad confirmed at a daily press briefing by the committee that 3,668 have been tested, while 410 turned positive.

He said like Lagos State, Gombe has embarked on massive testing as a result of the number of confirmed cases.

Four commissioners, five members of state House of Assembly and a Special Adviser to the governor were earlier confirmed to have contracted COVID-19

Daily Trust had also reported that the speaker, Ibrahim Sadiq Abubakar also tested positive for the virus.

Kaduna State Government on Monday directed that all roadblocks at the various boundaries of the state be dismantled and replaced by barricades that enforced the ban on interstate travel.

A statement issued by Governor Nasir El-Rufai’s Special Adviser on Media and Communication, Muyiwa Adekeye also directed that all boundary patrols undertaken by state government officials as part of the quarantine regulations be stopped forthwith.

It said the decision which was based on the recommendation of the State Taskforce on Covid-19 that following a review of the situation in the state boundaries had directed that henceforth, the only roadblocks authorised within the state are those that are mounted to enforce the 8pm-5am curfew. It said the state government had received reports of persistent extortion of vehicles conveying essential goods by some security officials, thus complicating an already challenging period.

“While non-essential travel has been wantonly indulged at the state boundaries, there are reports of continued extortion by some security agents of vehicles transporting essentials goods,” it stated. “Clearly, the prohibition of interstate travel by the Federal Government as part of Covid-19 containment efforts has largely been observed in the breach by the people charged with enforcing it,” it further stated.

The statement explained that the ban on interstate travel has been consistently implemented only when state government officials have been deployed to the entry points, stressing that, “officials on boundary duty consistently reported at best lacklustre or perfunctory cooperation by security agencies in enforcing the interstate travel ban.”

Daily Trust report in April had captured how security agents help commuters sneak in and out of Kaduna while an interstate travel ban was in force but the Kaduna State Police Command had then stated that it was not aware of such illegalities and warned that any officer caught will be dealt with appropriately.

President Muhammadu Buhari has approved the payment of $318m (about 123bn) as counterpart funding to the Chinese Government for the Ibadan-Kano standard gauge project.

The Minister of Transportation, Mr. Rotimi Amaechi who disclosed this said work on the Ibadan-Kano segment of the Lagos-Kano line may commence by the end of August.

It would be handled by the China Civil Engineering and Construction Corporation (CCECC). Amaechi who spoke in a Democracy Day interview monitored on Channels Television on Friday night commended the Chinese Government which he said had been very helpful in funding the railway modernization projects of the Federal Government.

He however added that the Federal Executive Council (FEC) had approved the opening of an account where some of the profits being generated from the standard gauge train services would be secured for repayment to the Chinese government. Amaechi disclosed that the flagship Abuja-Kaduna train which started with 300 daily passengers now records over 4000 passengers.

He said when the service first started, the government was making a monthly loss of N46m but now generates between N109m to N110m monthly profit.

Amaechi added that by the time the Ibadan-Kano train service comes on stream with cargo operations added to the service, more profit would be generated to ease the repayment of the loan.

He said: “We must attribute our successes in the rail operation to the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

The Abiola family in Abeokuta, Ogun State yesterday demanded an official recognition of late Chief M.K.O Abiola as a former president of Nigeria. The head of the family, Chief Olanrewaju Abiola, made the demand on President Muhammadu Buhari at the family house in Abeokuta. What The late M.K.O Abiola was believed to have won the June 12, 1993 presidential elections. Abiola said the recognition had become necessary for Nigerian leaders to rule in peace.

He commended Buhari for conferring a posthumus highest national honour of the Grand Commander of the Order of the Federal Republic (GCFR) on late Abiola and recognising June 12 as Nigeria’s authentic Democracy Day.

He urged the president to actualise the mandate that Nigerians gave to his late junior brother, Moshood, on June 12, 1993, by conferring an official status of an ex-president of the nation on him. Abiola also demanded that all the entitlements that should have accrued to his late brother from 1993 to date should be fully paid to the family. He called on Buhari to liaise with the National Assembly to debate the issue and subsequently pass it as a law.

“On June 12, last year when I spoke with the president, he said he had given him the honour, but we want it in black and white. Let the members of the National Assembly debate it and pass it into law. “Moshood was the bread winner of the family and since his death, the family members have been suffering,” he said. (NAN)

World heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua told a Black Lives Matter march on Saturday that protesters were the “vaccine” to the “virus” of racism. “The virus I am referring to is called racism,” he said, comparing its effects to the damage done by COVID-19.

Meanwhile the British boxer asked: “How long are we going to allow racism to spread through our communities?” Worldwide protests under the banner of Black Lives Matter took place Saturday in response to the death of George Floyd, a black American man who died in Minneapolis last month while being arrested by police officers.

“You are the vaccine, I am the vaccine,” the 30-year-old Joshua told a rally in his home town of Watford. “Killing a person outright is unforgivable, but stripping them of their human rights, oppressing them, mocking them, insulting them, placing glass ceilings above them… is just a slower way of killing them and taking the life out of their soul.” Joshua was on crutches at times on Saturday and was also seen wearing a knee brace, but a spokesperson insisted that was just a “precautionary measure”.

Joshua, the reigning WBA, IBF and WBO title-holder, felt a “slight twinge” in his left knee in a training session earlier this week. But his camp insisted there was no cause for alarm.

“Anthony felt a slight twinge in his knee whilst training,” the spokesperson said. “The brace is a precautionary measure on the advice of physios. It will be further checked by his doctors but there is no immediate concern.”

Joshua was due to defend his belts against Kubrat Pulev at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on June 20 only for the bout to be postponed because of the coronavirus pandemic. (AFP)

The Minister of Health, Osagie Ehanire, on Thursday spoke about various test kits said to be in use in Nigeria for the control of the COVID-19 pandemic, especially antibody-based test kits. He was speaking in Abuja during the briefing of the Presidential Task Force on COVID-19.

* ‘No rapid test kit approved for COVID-19 in Nigeria’
* We bought 5,000 COVID-19 test kits — Kogi govt

The minister said all the four kits had been evaluated by the Medical Laboratory Science Council of Nigeria and that they all failed the validation tests. He said that no antigen test kits had yet been evaluated and “this means that results obtained from these tests are not tenable for diagnostics, being deficient in sensitivity and specificity and are likely to give false results and mislead people.

“The NCDC certified laboratories in Nigeria use WHO recognized PCR testing methods which give reliable result. “Though expensive, this option is right and we have 30 laboratories deployed, with the aim of establishing at least one laboratory in every state.” He said that despite the rising cases of COVID-19 in the country, comparing the figures with those of other countries would be a great mistake.

He said that Nigeria currently had a total of 11,166 confirmed COVID-19 cases in 35 states and FCT out of which 3,329 had been treated successfully and discharged, while there were 315 sadly recorded deaths.

“The daily epidemic curve of confirmed cases shows a consistently rising trajectory with a corresponding increase in fatalities, but nothing compared with what is observed in some foreign countries. “To rest on our oars for that reason, would be a serious mistake.

“COVID-19 is real and we have explained that the increase in cases is due to improving testing capacity and of activities of other response pillars, such as surveillance, community mobilization, coordination, contact tracing improved awareness, demographics and other factors,” Ehanire said.

He also said that the Federal Ministry of Health team to Kano, Sokoto, Jigawa, Borno, Katsina and Gombe States would submit their final report on today and that preliminary reports showed that the goals of the intervention were met.

Police in Plateau has put two more people on parade on suspicion of being involved in the killing of a lecturer Nandi Drenkat of University of Jos, who was shot dead at his home and his seven-year-old daughter abducted on May 15.

It comes after police paraded Ali Muhammad as one suspect on May 17. Plateau State police commissioner Edward Egbuka said the two more suspected were tracked down by Department of State Security on a tip-off. Both have confessed to being members of the gang that killed the lecturer.

He said the suspects “took the operatives to their hideouts, where two firearms were recovered—an AK 47 rifle with two rounds of ammunition and a Baretta pistol with seven rounds of ammunition.”

The commissioner however, revealed that the “pistol found with the kidnappers was stolen from late Sergeant Jonathan Danladi ‘m’ of Laranto Division who had an encounter with this same dreaded gang of kidnappers in the early hours of 4th May 2020, at ECWA base Jos. The Police Sergeant, in a bid to rescue an 18-year-old female victim of this gang was shot dead and his Barretta pistol stolen. “The same gang killed a DSS personnel on 30th December 2017, along Dong-miango/Rukuba road in Jos North LGA.

The suspects have confessed to several other kidnapping incidents, armed robberies and killings within Jos metropolis and Bassa LGA of the State from 2017 to date, ” he added.

The commissioner also paraded a fake soldier, John Nanzing Ladong, of Gero area in Jos South LGA of the State. He said, “The fake soldier dressed in full military desert camouflage uniform with a captain rank driving an Army green coloured Peugeot model 206 vehicle. Upon interrogation, it was established that the suspect was not military personnel.”