Borno State Governor, Professor Babagana Umara Zulum has within 100 days of his second term executed 77 projects, programmes, key releases and interventions.

Secretary to the state government, Malam Bukar Tijjai announced this on Monday, September 11, 2023, in a report.

The report, released to the public, enumerated all projects and their locations as well as other activities carried out from May 29, 2023, to September 6, 2023, which make up 100 days of the second term.

The SSG highlighted that Zulum delivered 10 projects in the education sector which include the establishment of three Mega schools namely Alakaramti community primary school with 30 classrooms, administrative block and sporting facilities, Government Day Secondary School, Gamboru also with 30 classrooms, administrative bloom and sporting facilities renamed after late Borno’s former SSG, Usman Jidda and Shuwari II primary school with 20 classrooms, staff quarters and other facilities.

He recalled that the three schools were commissioned by Vice President Kashim Shettima on Friday, during his two-day official visit to Borno State.

Tijjani noted that also in education, there is recruitment of 4,000 thoroughly examined teachers for public primary and secondary schools (3000 for primary & 1,000 for secondary).

He also listed the construction of 30 houses for teachers in Gubio, Briyel & Dikwa (10 flats in each town) and payment of scholarship allowances to 14,284 Nigerian based students and 30 students on foreign scholarship.

On healthcare, the SSG said, there are five projects and these include the establishment and construction of four primary healthcare centres each of them with 30 beds capacity and nurses quarters.

These primary healthcare centres are located at Limankara in Gwoza, Kaleri in Mafa, Zarmari in Konduga and Shuwari II in MMC which was also commissioned by Vice President Kashim Shettima on Friday.

There is also the distribution of drugs worth N800m to general hospitals, he added.

Bukar Tijjani noted that on governance, there is the release of N2 billion for disbursement of non-interest loans to civil servants.

There is also the doubling of gratuities payment from N1.2 Billion annually to N2.4 Billion. There is also the release of N1 billion additional support to victims of Maiduguri Monday market fire victims, the SSG noted.

On infrastructure, Bukar Tijjani said there is the construction of roads in Monguno town, COE, Waka-Biu, and Abuja-Sheraton in MMC, there is a construction of a tunnel-like pedestrian underpass in MMC among others.

On security, there is the procurement of 50 brand new patrol vehicles and 300 brand new motorcycles for security outfits.

On transport, there is the procurement of 30 city buses, and 25 coaster buses allocated to civil servants.

On agriculture, there is the procurement of 471 ploughs and harrows for 312 tractors allocated to farmer cooperatives across the 312 wards in our 27 LGAs.

There is also the distribution of 100 trucks of fertilizer to farmers across the state, and the distribution of livestock feeds to 300 farmers in Jere, Konduga and Mobbar LGAs.

On humanitarian response, there is distribution of food palliatives to 120,000 households across Gwoza, MMC, Jere, Kukawa, Mafa, Bama and Damboa LGAs.

There is also resettlement of IDPs from Bukarti and Jibrent villages at Molai 500 housing estate.

There is also phase II reconstruction/rehabilitation of Mallam Killumuri village in Konduga, and Bama town.

On housing, there is the ongoing construction of 72 units of two bedroom flats in 12 blocks of storey buildings around Ramat Polytechnic.

On human empowerment, there is the completion and equipping of 4 Vocational Training Institutes in Biu, Shani, Mafa and Magumeri towns. There is also the construction of 2 ICT centres with 100 computers each in Gajiram and Gubio towns.

On water supply, there is the construction of 44 new Hybrid boreholes with overhead tanks, water reticulation and array of taps across 16 LGAs.

There is also the rehabilitation of 40 solar powered boreholes across MMC, Jere, Konduga, Mafa and Marte LGAs.

On electricity supply, there is the electrification of six villages in Bayo, rehabilitation of electricity (I.T.C) lines from Benishiek through Auno, Jakana, Mainok to Maiduguri; Maiduguri- Mafa and Maiduguri-Dusuman I.T.C lines.

The General Overseer of the Mountain of Fire and Miracles Ministries, Dr Daniel Kolawole Olukoya, has cautioned prophets who are fond of predicting elections in the country to desist from the despicable act.

Olukoya said the pulpits in the House of God are for saying truth to the children of God, and should not be manipulated for political campaigns for politicians.

The revered deliverance pastor made this known during the sermon on Sunday, at the headquarters of the church, while lamenting how many Christian clerics that predicted the outcomes of the 2023 elections failed.

He said the so-called prophets brought shame to the religion of Christianity by declaring unfounded predictions on their preferred politicians in the build-up to the electrons.

He said, “You see what happened in Nigeria during these last elections, disgraced the religion of Christianity very well. This prophet said this person would win, and this would not win,” Olukoya said.

“‘If this one wins, I will become a herbalist, if this one wins, let them cut off my hand, if this one wins this, this one will die before his wish.’

" All did not come to pass, and they call themselves prophets. Prophets of where? It is madness when you begin to say what God does not ask you to say. The pulpit in the house of God is the pillar and ground of truth. It is not for political campaigns,” he added.

The 2023 elections saw many Nigerian clerics coming out to predict who would be winners, a move that caused confusion among the populace.

The presidential election which took place on February 25 produced President Bola Tinubu as the winner.

Last Wednesday, the Presidential Election Petition Court, in Abuja, dismissed the petitions filed by the three opposition parties and upheld Tinubu’s victory.

Anambra State Governor, Prof. Charles Soludo, has said his administration will demolish many properties in the state capital to build a state capital of people’s dream.

Soludo stated this on Saturday after participating in the monthly Solution Walk For Healthy Living held at the Anambra State stadium in Awka.

According to Soludo, after the demolition of some properties, Awka will be built to the status of a real state capital every body would be proud.

“Those living in Awka, we will demolish Awka and build a befitting capital for us. We will also build fly over across the high way in Awka.

Awka will be the real capital and by next year, when Anambra state will be 33 years, the governor of the state, for the first time will live in Awka, in the government house,” he stated.

Soludo also stated that “every kobo” the state government under him generate would be judiciously used to build sustainable development for the good of the people.

According to him, he is very passionate on building sustainable human capital development.

The governor urged youths to work hard to earn a decent living. He also urged youths undergoing training in the state government’s ongoing “one youth two skills programme” to take the training seriously, saying it could be their breakthrough in life

The Lagos State Government has dissolved its Park and Garages Committee to allow the National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW) to coordinate activities across motor parks and garages in the state.

The dissolution was made on Friday after the state governments lifted the indefinite suspension placed on NURTW barely one year and a half ago over internal leadership wrangling between members.

It is also coming 24 hours after the former Lagos State Parks and Garages Chairman, Musiliu Akinsanya, popularly called MC Oluomo, publicly returned to the NURTW with thousands of his members in the state.

The decision to dissolve the LASPG was approved by the State Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, who was said to have instructed the Ministry of Transportation to dissolve the committee and return the NURTW.

The Transport Permanent Secretary also lauded the executives of the Lagos State Parks and Garages Committee for holding forth while urging the union to maintain peace and operate within the ambit of their constitution as they commence transition back to NURTW.

The Lagos State Government, Former National President of the Union and Chairman Transition Committee, Najeem Yasin, applauded the efforts of the state government and the ministry in the resolution process.

At the union headquarters in Lagos, formal re-introduction into the union was done to absorb the Lagos State Parks and Garages back into NURTW.

Ahead of the delivery of the judgment of the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal in Abuja on Wednesday, the military and the police have said they will not condone any unlawful action by troublemakers.

The Director, Defence Information, Brig. Gen. Tukur Gusau, warned those who might be planning to cause violence on that day to discard the idea.

The tribunal, in a statement on Monday, announced it would on Wednesday deliver judgment on the petitions challenging the declaration of Bola Tinubu as the winner of the 2023 presidential election by the Independent National Electoral Commission.

The Chairman of the INEC, Prof Mahmood Yakubu, had on March 1 declared Tinubu the president-elect because his party scored the majority of votes cast in the poll.

The tribunal justices who will deliver the verdict on Wednesday are the Chairman of the tribunal, Justice Haruna Tsammani; Justice Stephen Adah of the Court of Appeal (Asaba Division), Justice Monsurat Bolaji-Yusuf , Court of Appeal (Asaba Division), Justices Moses Ugo (Court of Appeal, Kano) and Abba Mohammed of the Ibadan Division of the Court of Appeal..

In the 2023 poll, the former Lagos State governor polled 8.8 million to defeat the Peoples Democratic Party standard bearer, Atiku Abubakar, who scored 6.9 million, Labour Party candidate, Peter Obi, who polled 6.1 million votes, and 15 other candidates.

However, five of the 18 political parties that participated in the elections turned to the court to contest the declaration by the electoral body.

Leading the charge against Tinubu’s electoral triumph are Atiku and Obi who have asked the tribunal to nullify the ex-Lagos governor’s victory in the February 25 presidential election.

Besides the PDP and the LP, other aggrieved parties included the Action Alliance, Action People’s Party, and the Allied Peoples Movement.

In the course of the tribunal proceedings, the five-member panel headed by Justice Tsammani dismissed the petitions of the AA and the APP.

The dismissal was a sequel to a formal withdrawal of the petitions by the parties.

Atiku in his 66-page petition urged the court to cancel the election and order a fresh poll due to alleged irregularities that marred the exercise in thousands of polling units.

The ex-vice president in his joint petition with the PDP marked: CA/PEPC/05/2023, applied for the withdrawal of the certificate of return that was issued to Tinubu by INEC.

He maintained that the declaration of Tinubu as the winner of the presidential election was “invalid by reason of non-compliance with the provisions of the Electoral Act, 2022.”

Atiku further argued that Tinubu’s election was invalid because of corrupt practices and prayed the court to nullify his election and declare him the winner of the presidential election, having secured the second-highest number of lawful votes cast in the election.

He insisted that the APC candidate did not meet the constitutional threshold and “is constitutionally disabled from contesting for the office of President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.”

However, in a reply he filed through his team of lawyers led by Chief Wole Olanipekun, SAN, Tinubu questioned the legal competence of the petition.

He described Atiku as a consistent serial loser who had since 1993 crisscrossed different political parties in search of power.

Obi in his petition argued that the election was flawed by irregularities, citing also the alleged non-qualification of Tinubu and his running mate, Kashim Shettima, to contest the election.

He also alleged that Tinubu failed to win a majority of lawful votes and also one-quarter of lawful votes cast in the Federal Capital Territory.

He alleged that the election was conducted in substantial non-compliance with the provision of the law.

Bishop David Oyedepo, Founder of the Living Faith Church Worldwide AKA Winners Chapel has opened up on why he acquired a fleet of private jets.

According to him, the reason is because God has blessed him richly.

In a recent sermon at his church, also known as Winners Chapel, Oyedepo stated his church is now changing planes like bicycles because of God’s blessings.

The popular pastor disclosed that when God first told him that he was going to fly, he and his church never pursued it with human energy.

He said: ”God told us we are going to fly; if He left us to plan to fly, it won’t enter our budget in the next ten years. We are just changing planes like we change bicycles because His blessings make us rich and add no sorrow.

“We didn’t confess; we didn’t pray, pray for the plane to do what? They asked me, which kind of plane and I said any kind. I don’t know the name of any because I wasn’t shopping for it.”

On the Ark Project, Oyedepo said the church had not announced any offering in Canaanland or branches of the church.

The bishop said: ”The dollar-to-naira rate has tumbled and tumbled, but the blessings have tumbled too. There is no forex input from outside Nigeria on the Ark Project, yet there is no pressure on anybody.”

On tithes, the Bishop said people who pay their tithes don’t lack, stressing that tithe payment is biblical.

He said ”John D. Rockefeller was a tither, and he ended up the first American billionaire in history. People don’t lack what they give; they only lack what they keep. He was tithe raised, tithe groomed and tithe sustained.”

Some parents in Kubwa, a suburb in the Federal Capital Territory, have called on the federal and state governments to develop bicycle lanes on roads for students who have bicycles to ride to schools and other places safe.

They made the call at the second edition of a 10-kilometre cycling competition organised for students Abuja.

The competition tagged “Bikers Race: Cycling is Fun”, was organised by Apexdotcom in collaboration with Dynamic Women on Point.

Mrs Marian Oluwapidan, a parent and one of the organisers of the competition, said that the competition would encourage children to take themselves to school or go on errands.

She explained that the competition would also build confidence, stamina and a better mental capabilities of the students.

“With this fuel subsidy removal, they will not need school bus, with their bicycles, they can actually ride to school.

“When they get to school they can park their bicycles and when they are done, they take their bikes and go back home.

This will reduce the stress on the parents trying to pay for school bus or trying to pay for commercial motorcycles, but once they have a proper bicycle, they can ride to school,” she said.

Another parent and one of the organisers, Mrs Gloria Eloho-Uduokhia, observed that the initiative was to enhance the wellbeing and physical fitness of the students.

"The economic situation in the country is something else as fuel price is on the high side.

We organised this competition so that the students prefer to ride their bikes to schools.

With this, we are also calling on the government to create lanes on the roads for students to be able to ride their bicycles safely,” she said.

Master Dominion Caleb, who emerged over all winner of the competition, appreciated the group for coming up with the competition.

It was a good experience and I want to thank God for making me come first,” he said.

At the end of the competition, prizes were given to the winners and runner-up participants in each category.(NAN)

President Bola Tinubu, on Wednesday night, assured the leaders of the organised labour that the Port Harcourt refinery will commence operations by December 2023.

The organised labour revealed this in a statement on Wednesday night.

The labour centers also noted that the president made a series of promises following which they agreed to return to the negotiations table.

The national presidents of the Nigeria Labour Congress, Joe Ajaero and Trade Union Congress, Festus Osifo in the statement also hailed Nigerians for supporting the nationwide protest.

"It is pertinent to inform Nigerians that the extent of the success of the protest is underlined by the request of the President of the federal republic of Nigeria; Senator Ahmed Bola Tinubu to meet with the leadership of the NLC and TUC in a closed-door session.

“The engagement was fruitful that immense mileage was obtained with regards to the issues that bogged down the work of the Presidential Committee on Subsidy removal and necessitated the protest viz; He committed to an immediate restructuring of the framework for engagement in line with the input of the Labour leaders.

He let out a certainty that the Port Harcourt Refinery will commence production by December this year. He pledged to ensure that Agreement is reached on the Wage Award for Nigerian workers immediately.

“He promised to unveil a workable roadmap to the CNG alternative next week. On the strength of the president’s pledge and commitment, we have decided to return to a new and reinvigorated dialogue process to allow for full implementation.

“Once again, we thank Nigerians while we wait for the Government to fulfill its own part of the understanding as agreed with His Excellency; the President.”

Former Governor of Rivers State, Nyesom Wike says he has no regrets about his choice of who to support in the 2023 general election.

He defended his political decisions when the Inter Party Advisory Council visited him at his home in Port Harcourt.

From the primaries and the campaign up until Election Day, the former governor of Rivers State took positions that caused controversy not just within his party but also across the country.

At that time, members of the Inter Party Advisory Council were counted amongst groups that were vocal and visible in their support for him.

If given a chance to go back in time, the former Rivers governor, says he would form the same alignments and fight the same cause.

Now that the election is over, other political parties who rallied support for the Peoples Democratic Party believe that there is still a lot for them to contribute to the Similayi Fubara government.

Mr Nyesom Wike commended the group for endorsing the PDP during the campaigns.

He added the State government would not turn its back on anyone who can add value to the administration.

The Inter Party Advisory Council commended Mr Wike for what they described as his outstanding performance in the development of Rivers State as a 2-term Governor.

The Presidential Candidate of the Labour Party in the February 25, 2023 election and first petitioner in the ongoing case at the Presidential Election Petition Court, PEPC, Peter Obi, has in his response to the legal team of President Bola Tinubu, declared that anarchy only reigns where the rule of law is trampled upon.

Obi said this through his legal team in response to the written address by Tinubu’s lawyers who had argued that an interpretation of the law requiring 25 percent of the total lawful votes cast 24 states and the Federal Capital Territory could lead to anarchy.

According to Obi’s media team, in a release on Friday, the LP candidate through his legal team has given a principled response to the threat of Anarchy from the Presidential Candidate of the All Progressives Congress, APC, and the 2nd and 3rd Respondents in the petition, Bola Ahmed Tinubu and Kashim Shetimma, “that if the Court interprets the Electoral Act section 134 against them it might lead to breakdown of law and order.”

The release read in part, “Recall that Tinubu’s legal team, led by Wole Olanipekun, had in their final address to the court threatened that, “Any other interpretation different from theirs will lead to absurdity, chaos, anarchy and alteration of the very intention of the legislature.”

However, “Peter Obi’s lawyers led by Dr Livy Uzoukwu and Onyechi Ikpeazu disagreed saying instead that what will lead to anarchy is where the rule of law is trampled upon or truncated, that in such situations anarchy reigns supreme!

According to Obi, “A sentence in the 2nd-3rd Respondents’ address alarmed the Petitioners and millions of Nigerians. The 2nd-3rd Respondents went too low and abandoned discretion when they claimed as follows: “Our submission is that the Petitioners are inviting anarchy by their ventilation of this issue of non-transmission of results electronically, by INEC.”

“Obi’s legal team noted that they found Tinubu’s outburst as “a cheap, misguided, and destructive blackmail clearly intended to target the country’s judicialism and constitutionalism. It also aims at cannibalizing our democracy.

“The legal team also noted that the careless and absurd statements of the 2nd and 3rd Respondents intend to raise the issue of insecurity if the Petitioners were to emulate the bad example of the 2nd-3rd Respondents but remarked that such will never happen because of the petitioner’s discipline and peaceful disposition and believe in the rule of law.

“Still underscoring the pointlessness and the supererogatory of the Respondent’s threat, Obi’s legal team wondered, ‘When has it become offensive for Petitioners to canvass a ground prescribed for the challenge of an election in section 134(1)(b) of the Electoral Act 2022?

Edwin Clark has condemned the comparison between Niger Delta agitators and bandits in Northern Nigeria.

In a Thursday press statement, the Convener of the Pan-Niger Delta Forum (PANDEF), called out Islamic cleric Ahmad Gumi and a former Zamfara State governor, Ahmad Yerima, for repeatedly demanding that the Federal Government should grant amnesty to bandits just as the late President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua did to the Niger Delta agitators.

According to him, the Niger Delta agitators had legitimate demands contrary to the bandits whom he described as “murderous, bloodthirsty villains”.

“Sheikh Abubakar Gumi, Alhaji Ahmed Yerima and their cohorts, who seem to be ignorant and envious of the Amnesty granted by late President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua, in August 2009, and which was opened for embracing until 4th October 2009, by the then Niger Delta agitators, are advised to go back to history.

"The case of the Niger Delta agitators is quite different from the case of these murderous, blood-thirsty villains, who have taken up arms against the state, using different names, whether as Boko Haram, bandits, killer herdsmen, kidnappers, etc.

"What is it they are demanding? Initially, we were told that as Boko Haram, they were against Western education; they started killing, maiming, and destroying properties. Then they changed and we were told that some of them have changed to answer bandits, and all sorts of names,” Clark said.

He added, “I reiterate again, that the attempt to equate the Niger Delta Amnesty with the northern bandits is not only criminal, but obnoxious and unconscionable.

“The whole idea of comparing the Niger Delta militants who are exposed to all kinds of diseases, illnesses and deprivations, as a result of oil exploration, with people whom we are told are not Nigerians, who enter into the country illegally, thus violating the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) protocol, is very inhuman.”

The elder statesman also disagreed with a statement he said was credited to the Chief of Army Staff, Major Gen. Taoreed Lagbaja, where he suggested that the amnesty programme has failed in Zamfara and other states, insisting rather that the programme has succeeded in Niger Delta.

“The statement of the Chief of Army Staff comes across to me as a proposal for the scrapping of the amnesty granted to legitimate agitators for a better life and environment by the Niger Delta youths. If my understanding is correct, I seriously disagree with the Chief of Army Staff.

“I will rather advise him to consult through the past records of his former colleagues since the inception of the Fourth Republic in 1999, viz Lt. Gen. Victor Malu, Lt. Gen. Alexander Ogomudia, Lt. Gen. Martin Agwai, Lt. Gen. Owoye Azazi, Lt. Gen. Luka Yusuf, Lt. Gen. Bello Dambazau, Lt. Gen. Azubuike Ihejirika, Lt. Gen. Kenneth Minimah, Lt. Gen. Tukur Buratai, and his predecessor in office, Maj. Gen. Farouk Yahaya, the state of insecurity in the Niger Delta before the granting of the Amnesty, and what it is now.

“I am confident that the Niger Delta Amnesty Programme has succeeded in bringing peace to Niger Delta particularly the vandalisation of oil pipelines and oil platforms. He should note that “Operation Crocodile Smile” could not stop the insecurity in the Niger Delta,” Clark stated.

The apex Igbo sociocultural organisation, Ohanaeze Ndigbo, Arewa Consultative Forum and some leaders from the South-East have faulted the call by a former Niger Delta agitator, Asari Dokubo, asking President Bola Tinubu to let the Igbo secede from Nigeria.

The Nnamdi Kanu-led Indigenous People of Biafra had demanded that the Igbo be allowed to break away from Nigeria over allegations of discrimination and neglect by the government of former President Muhammadu Buhari.

In July 2021, Kanu was arrested in Kenya and was brought back to Nigeria to face prosecution bordering on terrorism.

In a viral video on Thursday, Dokubo urged Tinubu and the National Assembly to see to the amendment of the constitution to allow the Igbo breakaway from the country in accordance with Kanu’s demands.

He said he would gather the signatures of one million citizens in support of his idea.

Dokubo stated, “Please, in the name of God, why do we allow this vicious cycle of irritation of people who claim to be victims when they are the oppressors and the people offending others? Let the Igbo go so that there will be enough resources for other people to manage.

"They don’t even need a referendum. The President and National Assembly should meet and someone courageous enough should sponsor a bill at the National Assembly. There should be a constitutional amendment. The five Igbo states and any group of people who want to join them should go.

"We have a lot to gain if we let these people go and turn their country into heaven on earth. Please, National Assembly, President Bola Tinubu, I am begging you, let the Igbo go so that we will rest and they too will rest and they should be barred from entering into our country.”

In its reaction, the spokesperson for Ohanaeze, Chief Alex Ogbonnia, said well-meaning Igbo people did not consider Dokubo an individual to attract the attention of the group.

Ogbonnia said he could not comment on the matter at the moment until a decision was reached by the body, stating that the group could only respond if such a statement was made by other recognised socio-cultural groups.

He added, “For various reasons, we don’t want to comment on self-government now. There will be a time Ohanaeze will take a decision on that but if you watch what is going on, we have kept our comments on what is going on in government. Until we have a meeting, that is when I can comment on it and Ohanaeze cannot be drawn to that level of responding to Dokubo as an individual."

Also, the Director-General, Voice of Nigeria and founding member of the All Progressives Congress, Osita Okechukwu, in an interview with one of our correspondents, described Dokubo’s comments as null and void.

He added, “Asari Dokubo should understand that Nigeria is under constitutional democracy, governed by the rule of law. Under which section of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria is he mandating President Tinubu to act? If none, then his admonition is ultra vires.

Please, if Asari has grouse with a few Igbo, he should go and sort it out with them. Otherwise, he should desist from the ancient fallacy of generalisation. The Ndigbo live and invest in every nook and cranny of our dear country; which gazette that we love our dear fatherland. Nobody should use the agitation of a few to paint all Ndigbo black.”