₦airaland Forum

Looting: Turn Back Your Children If They Bring Back Unaccounted Goods – Buhari

President Muhammadu Buhari has asked parents and guardians not to encourage their children and wards to partake in the nationwide looting, destruction of property.

“Families must turn back children who bring home unaccounted goods, in the same way, wives must ask their husbands to return looted items brought home,” the President said.

This statement is coming just as the judicial panel of inquiry set up by the Lagos State Government and other states start sitting on Monday to look into the pillage that ensued following a rather abrupt halt to the #EndSARS protests across the country.

President Buhari in a statement on Sunday expressed his full support and optimism that it will assist the nation to give justice to peaceful protesters who lost their lives, security men who were murdered, and property owners whose assets were vandalized and looted.

The President, who said he had all along avoided going into a debate about the Lekki Toll Gate incidents until all the facts are established, appealed to the people all over the country to maintain peace and brotherhood as the machinery of the government and the wheel of justice turn against the perpetrators of murder, arson, stealing, rape, assault and malicious damage to public and private property.

The President advised that peace, brotherhood, and inter-communal harmony are central to our ethos and urges Nigerians “not to turn against one another in hate.”

He said it is important that the police and other security agencies move everywhere to restore calm and normalcy as quickly as possible.

President Buhari said his administration is working hard through many pragmatic ways to reduce the hardship of the millions of unemployed, poor citizens and those whose lives have been thrown into disarray by the harsh economic effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.

He warned that resort to widespread attacks and the organized looting and plundering of public and private property in many states are inimical to the public good and stand condemned.

“A government that has launched a massive crackdown on corruption, brought in strong laws for a decisive battle against corruption, pursues loot recovery at home and abroad, and taken strong decisions against those who thought they were above the law, will not fold its arms when an otherwise legitimate and peaceful protest is turning into free-for-all vandalism and looting.

“While the administration has, for its part, blocked so many means of looting public money in a war against corruption, it is the expectation that all civil authorities, community, and religious leaders in the country must rise against the organized looting and plunder we are witnessing in parts of the country.

“Families must turn back children who bring home unaccounted goods, in the same way, wives must ask their husbands to return looted items brought home.

“What is more, is that criminal actions as we have so far witnessed can weaken and erode the confidence of our people and that of foreign businesses in investing in the economy. Looting and vandalism will hurt trade and investment growth in our country, both large and small industries, as well as our hardworking people in the informal sectors of the economy.

“These incidents do not reflect well on any society. They are wrong and condemnable and should not be supported by reasonable members of society,” the statement partly read.

In line with this, President Buhari commended the decision of the Lagos State Ministry of Justice to prosecute 229 suspects arrested by the police for allegedly using the #EndSARS protest to destroy and loot public and private property.

The President said he and his administration have taken note of the grievances of the people.

“We have heard you loud and clear,” he said.

President Buhari added that his administration has shown a clear determination to take all necessary measures to address the complaints.

He however stressed that “the violence must stop”.

President Buhari also condemned hate messages and eviction notices to ethnic and religious groups asking Nigerians to take pride in the fact that our diverse people have been living with one another in harmony for ages.

He said the right of all citizens to live and work in any part of the country is a constitutional right and will be defended by the government.

As the Judicial panel of inquiry set up by the Lagos State Government, one of the more dozen states to do so, starts sitting on Monday, President @MBuhari has expressed his full support and optimism that it will assist the nation to give justice to peaceful protesters who lost their lives, security men who were murdered and property owners whose assets were vandalized and looted.

The President, who said he had all along avoided going into a debate about the Lekki Toll Gate incidents until all the facts are established, appealed to the people all over the country to maintain peace and brotherhood as the machinery of the government and the wheel of justice turn against the perpetrators of murder, arson, stealing, rape, assault and malicious damage to public and private property.

The President advises that peace, brotherhood, and inter communal harmony are central to our ethos and urges Nigerians “not to turn against one another in hate.”

He said it is important that the police and other security agencies move everywhere to restore calm and normalcy as quickly as possible.

President Buhari said while his administration is working hard through many pragmatic ways to reduce the hardship of the millions of our unemployed, poor citizens and those whose lives have been thrown into disarray by the harsh economic effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, he warned that resort to widespread attacks and the organized looting and plundering of public and private property in many states are inimical to public good and stand condemned.

A government that has launched a massive crackdown on corruption, brought in strong laws for a decisive battle against corruption, pursues loot recovery at home and abroad, and taken strong decisions against those who thought they were above the law, will not fold its arms when an otherwise legitimate and peaceful protest is turning into free-for-all vandalism and looting.

While the administration has, for its part, blocked so many means of looting public money, it is the expectation that all civil authorities, community & religious leaders in the country must rise against the organized looting & plunder we are witnessing in parts of the country.

What is more, is that criminal actions as we have so far witnessed can weaken and erode the confidence of our people and that of foreign businesses in investing in the economy.
Looting and vandalism will hurt trade and investment growth in our country, both large and small industries, as well as our hardworking people in the informal sectors of the economy.
These incidents do not reflect well on any society.

They are wrong and condemnable and should not be supported by reasonable members of the society.
In line with this, President Buhari commends the decision of the Lagos State Ministry of Justice to prosecute 229 suspects arrested by the police for allegedly using the #EndSARS protest to destroy and loot public and private property.

As mentioned in two successive statements on the issues, the President and his administration have taken note of the grievances of the people. “We have heard you loud and clear,” he said, and has shown a clear determination to take all necessary measures to address the complaints

Nevertheless, the violence must stop.
President Buhari also condemned hate messages and eviction notices to ethnic and religious groups asking Nigerians to take pride in the fact that our diverse people have been living with one another in harmony for ages.

The right of all citizens to live and work in any part of the country is a constitutional right and will be defended by the government.

…’They want to use Igbo head to break coconut’
…Says Peter Obi, Charles Soludo can be President
…‘Only Ndigbo man can weld Nigeria together in unity’

In the second part of his interview with Sunday Vanguard, Senator Enyinnaya Harcourt Abaribe, Minority Leader of the 9th Senate, speaks on the state of the nation and the 2023 zoning controversy.

Let’s discuss the state of the nation. The government campaigned on three issues of fixing the economy, tackling insecurity and corruption. Have they met the expectations?

I did an interview a short while ago at Radio House in Abuja, it was done before the NBC came up with their five million Naira fine and they became the National Assembly that makes laws and the judiciary that imposes penalty, and so they became a part of everything: The executive, the judiciary and the legislature.

So, when I granted that interview and they asked this same question, I said I will answer using an allegory from Fela Anikulakpo Kuti; that Fela sang a song called ‘Confusion break bone’ and, in the opening part of the song, he spoke about mismanagement and stealing by government; saying “everything na old news be that”.

So, what you’re just talking about sounds like old news, sounds like a broken record repeating itself and that is the most pitiful part of everything.

The same things that this government complained about when they came in 2015 have even got worse and, of course, when they were getting worse before the last elections, we complained and people were also complaining and pointing out to them that “you guys are doing exactly the same things that you complained about and nothing seems to be getting better”.

And at that time the APC government always had a fallback position and that fallback position was that “PDP left this place in shambles and we are coming in to repair it”. Fine! It is now five years after PDP and they have left the place in even worse shape than they complained about, and so we are now looking at them and remembering Fela saying “old news”. There is nothing you can do, this government has lost it. So, when we talk about the state of the nation today, I think what we actually ought to pray for, which was what I called for on that day, is that it is about time patriots step in. By the time they finish, there will probably be no Nigeria left and we will continue to say it. There will be none and if there is no Nigeria, then all these things that we are doing, all the running around, all the ups and downs become an exercise in futility.

Many people think the National Assembly is collaborating with the executive. A good example is the suspension of investigative hearing into some of the MDAs being carried out by the House of Reps. Tell us your perspective?

We also have to take this in perspective. When this government came to power in 2015 and the first set of leadership at the National Assembly at that time led by Bukola Saraki and Co came in, what we heard from the executive was that the National Assembly was hampering whatever efforts they were putting in; that they were antagonistic and all the things they wanted to do, they couldn’t do them.

Now fast forward to 2019 and the present National Assembly and, on the day we were to choose our leadership, all the lawmakers of the APC showed up and there were efforts to ensure that they toed party line. Now after getting what they wanted, we still have not seen any change in the circumstances of Nigerians, rather things are worse.

So you can now see that even with a National Assembly that is collaborating with the executive, they are still unable to do well and that is why I said you must put this in perspective so that you don’t look at the National Assembly and say “oh, the National Assembly is collaborating with them”. When the National Assembly didn’t “collaborate” with them, they will now explain their failure away from themselves by blaming the National Assembly.

It is just like I told you before that they were also explaining their failures away by blaming PDP which had left office and who they said they were coming to change. And in fact, one of the very funny things that we always got was a default position where they said “after all, PDP did it”. I mean, that never made sense.
And I always came out to point it out to them by saying “how can you say PDP did it and therefore that is why you are doing it?” You came into office saying those bad things that PDP was doing you were going to eliminate them and that is why you were carrying a big white flag and so what do we get?

But you have almost same number of senators as APC. You could have checkmated some of these things
…
No, we don’t. We have more senators in APC than in PDP. We have never had equal number.
Isn’t there anything that you can do as the opposition?

Our job as the opposition is to oppose and say “no” which we will continue to do on the floor but the provisions of our rules and democratic ethos say on the floor of both chambers, voice vote and cast votes determine where you go and so, despite your opposition, the votes still say that they should toe the line of their party. We have no options left.

Going forward, 2023 is almost here and parties are clamoring to grab the most powerful seat at the federal level. Where do you think the pendulum will swing because the APC is out there trying to retain power and your party, PDP, is also strategizing?

Well, I think the verdict is already out. 2023 is not almost here, it is three years away; we are in 2020. The other day the President came, trying to find a lame duck way to say “I will leave some legacies”. What legacy is he going to leave?
He is just going to leave a legacy of debts, a legacy of difficulty and the most important legacy which the President has left or will leave will be a legacy of making things totally impossible for whoever takes over from him to govern and I will tell you how it goes. This government has been the only government that has gone against the laws of this country.
It has gone against Section 14 (3) of the Constitution which talks about Federal Character. It has gone against the Federal Character principles that were even brought by previous governments before us in order to weld us together in terms of unity.

Even the Federal Character Commission itself that is supposed to be the ombudsman that would check the breaches of the law by government was also compromised by this government where today both Chairman and Secretary are manned by people from the northern part of the country.

Before now, you had a Chairman from the northern part and you had the Secretary from the South and this is what I am talking about that this government is going to make it extremely impossible for whoever takes over from them to do well.

Assuming somebody takes over and he is from the South-West, will he follow what this government has already instituted, for example, by putting all security agencies, the 14 or 16 of them, under people from the South just like the Federal Government has done today by putting all under people from the North?
How is it going to function? Assuming it is somebody from the South-East, will he put everything under people from the South-East?
Will this country take it? So, what this government has done is to lay landmines that will destroy this country and when we were shouting and telling some elements that they are laying conditions to make this country rupture, they said the President needs to work with only those that he is comfortable with and now you can see the consequences of that.

Now that he has instituted nepotism as a fundamental part of the architecture of government, somebody coming after him, supposing his own people come to him and say “it’s been done before” just like they are telling us “oh PDP did it before” and so, if I become President and I decide that all my brothers from the South-East will take over everything and so, I retire everybody and put my people because it has been done before and, if you talk, I will say, “listen, Buhari did it”.

You set dangerous precedents you don’t even know. What happens in a country, how do you build a country? You build a country in a way that even things that you want to do against your natural instincts, you think of others and you think of tomorrow.

You have a holistic view of everything, but we have a very narrow-minded and provincial person who just does not care. And so, it is the implications of what these things are going to bring that we have continued to talk against and that is why we are in this conundrum today. And coming to the question of APC; APC is dead today.

APC swallowed its own Chairman and brought a Caretaker Committee and what will the Caretaker do? They will just be modeling along but when the time comes, they will now say “let’s do a convention and bring up a Chairman”, where are they going to get the Chairman that will not trigger the same things driving APC apart?
That is the first issue that APC will have to confront. The second issue that APC will have to confront is, where will the presidential candidate come from? Any which way it goes, APC is in trouble.

So, you find that when we talk about the future, we want to go from today to tomorrow and be sure that there is even a country and that is why my very good friend, Peter Obi, some people were asking him the other day, “do you want to be Igbo President?” and he said, “listen, why can we be talking about that when we have existential problems right in front of us?” Can this nation survive?

We have the Covid-19 pandemic which, combined with the drop in oil price to zero, now led the country to go into a borrowing spree to fund recurrent expenditures and so, a few days down the line, where do you think we are doing to go?

So, the debt situation calls for concern?

I do not even think that the truth about the debt situation is very open and you will notice that every time they are questioned, they flare into a rage. The question is, you are a public official and you are acting on our behalf.
We elected you into office and we raise legitimate questions and you don’t settle to even answer us in a very supercilious manner. You now say we ought not to have even asked that question. And one of the unfathomable things I heard from a minister was that even this loan you are talking about, it was signed under PDP. Can you imagine? So, if PDP signs a MoU and you come in and the thing.

Nigerian politicians are shamelessly situational "patriots." They're irredentists when they're outside the orbit of power and exaggerated "patriots" when they have access to the public till. A man who didn't believe in Nigeria when he didn't have his way now wants to lead it. Ha!

The National Bureau of Statistics has finally released data on the nation’s unemployment rate after an 20-month interval, saying the unemployment rate rose to 27.1 per cent in the second quarter of 2020 from the 23.1 per cent recorded in Q3 2018.

The NBS, in its ‘Labor Force Statistics: Unemployment and Underemployment Report’ released on Friday, said underemployment rate increased from 20.1 per cent in Q3 2018 to 28.6 per cent in Q2 2020.

It said, “For the period under review, Q2 2020, the unemployment rate among young people (15-34 years) was 34.9 per cent, up from 29.7 per cent, while the rate of underemployment for the same age group rose to 28.2 per cent from 25.7 per cent in Q3 2018.

“These rates were the highest when compared to other age groupings.”

The NBS said the number of persons in the economically active or working age population (15 – 64 years of age) increased to 116,871,186 from 115,492,969 in Q3 2018.

It said, “The number of persons in the labour force (i.e. people within ages 15 -64, who are able and willing to work) was estimated to be 80,291,894. This was 11.3 per cent less than the number persons in Q3 2018.

“Of this number, those within the age bracket of 25-34 were highest, with 23,328,460 or 29.1 per cent of the labour force.”

The statistics office said the total number of people in employment in Q2 2020 fell by 15.8 per cent 58,527,276, compared to Q3 2018.

“Of this number, 35,585,274 were full-time employed (i.e. worked 40+ hours per week), while 22,942,003 were under-employed (i.e. working between 20-29 hours per week),” it added.
According to the report, Imo State reported the highest rate of unemployment with 48.7 per cent, followed by Akwa-Ibom State and Rivers State with 45.2 per cent and 43.7 per cent respectively.
It said Anambra recorded the lowest rate of unemployment at 13.1 per cent.

The NBS said, “For underemployment, the state which recorded the highest rate was Zamfara with 43.7 per cent, while Anambra State recorded the lowest underemployment rate, with 17 per cent in Q2 2020.

“A total number of 2,736,076 did not do any work in the last seven days preceding the survey due to the lockdown but had secure jobs to return to after the lockdown

Beirut explosion: Video of church altar's survival brings hope


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5GaErcwBycA

St Dimitrios Greek Orthodox Church in Achrafieh is less than a kilometre away from where the Beirut explosion took place.

Father Youil Nassif rushed to the church to check for damage, finding the nave completely ruined. But the sacred altar space, protected by the "iconostasis" (wall of icons), was almost unscathed - including an oil lamp that had remained lit throughout the blast.

Patrioticman007:
Like Dump Trumpet like PMB they both hate protests as angel death is to mankind.

Let Nigerian youths rally around in 2023 for a realistic change, on the ballot papers, not these skirmishes.

Afam4eva:
Let this current regime do and come and be going before they destroy this country beyond repair. They have done enough damage to an already damaged country.