₦airaland Forum

The Minister of Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola, on Wednesday, confirmed that the construction of the 2nd Niger bridge is now completed and will soon be released to the public for use.

He stated this at an ongoing press briefing to present the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari’s (retd.) scorecard in Abuja.

According to him, the only factor delaying the commissioning of the road is the construction of the link road which the recent surge of flooding has impeded.

He said, “I can confirm that the second Niger bridge itself is finished. People can walk through the bridge now unimpeded. What remains is the four-kilometer link road on the Asaba side.

“Right now, our dredger is in place, we have to rebuild the road by reclaiming sand, the recent surge of flood has slowed us down. On the Onitsha side, there is a 7kilometer road that links the bridge and the Onitsha-Owerri interchange.”

The Nigerian government has approved the sum of $2.59billion for the development of the Badagry Deep Seaport project under a Private-Public Partnership.

The project is being promoted by a company, Badagry Port Development Limited.

However, checks by SaharaReporters revealed that Badagry Port Development Limited, the promoter of the project, is owned by the Adewale Tinubu and Olakunle Tinubu.

Adewale is the nephew of Bola Tinubu, a former governor of Lagos State, and the Presidential Candidate of the All Progressives Congress.

According to the Minister of Transportation, Mu’azu Sambo, under a Build-Own-Operate-Transfer delivery system, the port will be operated by the private sector for 45 years after which it will be reverted to the government.

Approved on August 3, the minister said the project would generate $53.6bn in revenue and create about 250,000 jobs; while making Nigeria a maritime hub in West Africa.

The minister had said, “I presented a memo today at council with respect to the development of the Badagry Deep Seaport under the public-private partnership arrangement, where the private sector will inject money for the development of the port and at the end of the concessionary period, the port reverts to the Federal Government of Nigeria through the Nigerian Ports Authority.

“The project cost as contained and approved in council based on the final business case as approved by the Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission in line with extant laws stood at $2.59bn. It has to be developed in four phases with milestones and a concessional period of 45 years. Reversion is, like I said, to the Federal Government of Nigeria.

“This is to further the government’s goal of making Nigeria the maritime hub of the West and Central Africa sub-region. This project, it may interest you to know, will also generate total revenue of over $53.6bn over the concession period. It will create about one quarter million jobs and also attract foreign direct investments to the country and help in improving Nigeria’s economy in general and the wellbeing of Nigerians.”

The company with registration number 1068718 with the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) of Nigeria was registered October 2, 2012.

Meanwhile, a source told SaharaReporters that the promoter of the project had another hidden agenda.

He described it as a move to forcefully take over their land and forced displacement of the people of Badagry West.

“In recent time there has been a lot of apprehension in 13 communities in Badagry West, with regards to the proposed Badagry Deep Sea Port project which was first brought up around 2012/13,” he told SaharaReporters.

“The project is understood to be a public/private partnership (developmental) arrangement to establish a deep seaport, (which covers an expanse of a rather uninhabited area of Badagry coastline) that will ease the congestion on Apapa/Tin Can – a development which all the people of Badagry West welcomed and accepted whole heartedly.

“Along the lines, they kept expanding and changing details of the coverage area. The initial ask was 228,083 hectares of land, which surprisingly is bigger than the most familiar ports around the world and the number keeps changing every time in a very opaque arrangement.

“Also, 13 actively inhabited communities are currently being asked to vacate their ancestral homes without any concrete arrangement as to relocation or compensation, neither has there been any direct consultation or meetings between these private business partners and the landowners, talk less of any architectural drawing of the actual proposed project, detailing the coverage area.

“This is an agenda for forced displacement and a formula for making the landowners IDPs on their ancestral land by strangers conducting their private business with a good measure of greed. Only a portion of the proposed land coverage is needed for the project while the remaining huge expanse has already been shared on paper by the promoters of the project and Lagos state officials. This is not surprising though, as it has been their usual style of land grabbing from the poor and uniformed people of Lagos state (especially rural dwellers).

“The project is being aggressively promoted by a company called Badagry Port Development Limited owned entirely by the Tinubu. Badagry Port Development Limited had told a huge lie to their partners, as contained in their executive summary, claiming that there are no land dispute issues on the proposed area.

“Apparently, this lie was told as they know these partners of international repute will not want to soil their image with the land grabbing endeavour being pushed by Tinubu and cronies. A short description of the consortium partner structure is provided below:

“Quinn Mcgrath Marine & Environmental Services Limited (QMMESL) is the Maritime Investment subsidiary of the Quinn Mcgrath Group. QMMESL has expertise in the management and operations of multimillion dollar maritime projects across several industry segments.

“Arise Ports & Logistics (Arise P&L), a UK-based company that manages Arise’s ports and logistics operations in Africa; the platform is owned by three major shareholders: A.P. Møller Capital (APMC – 43%): an affiliate of AP Møller Holding, founded in 2017, established to manage stand-alone funds focusing on infrastructure growth markets.

“Olam International Limited (Olam – 31%): a worldwide leader in the food and agribulk segment, and the biggest milling company in Nigeria. Africa Finance Corporation (AFC – 26%): is a pan-African Multilateral Development Financial Institution, providing financial support to large-scale infrastructure projects on the continent. To date, the AFC has invested more than US$6.6billion in projects across 30 African countries.

“Access Bank is a Nigerian multinational commercial bank, owned by Access Bank Group. Access Bank is presently one of the five largest banks in Nigeria.

“Contrary to the lie told their partners, one of the affected communities has taken them to court and the matter is still in court as we speak. To this end, there have been several subtle and direct threats to the Baale and people of this community to yield their ancestral land. Sometimes these threats come from the king of Apa in Badagry.

“Having a sound understanding of how Denmark respects the rule of law, and how it is one of the least corrupt nations of the world, can one then imagine that AP Moller one of the foremost private companies representing the image of Denmark will be involved in this act of corruption and land grabbing targeted at forced displacement of people? A thorough investigative endeavour may help expose some lies in this corrupt arrangement.

“It is rather unfortunate, that many Badagry indigenes (including the traditional rulers) are hugely misinformed and unaware of the danger of letting Tinubu and his cronies destroy their heritage and steal their land, therefore the need to expose what is going on before these indigenes become strangers on their own land. There is need to cry out and help the helpless.”

The former Secretary to the Katsina State Government (SSG), Dr. Mustapha Muhammed Inuwa, alongside his 627 support groups have defected to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) after six months of consultation with different political parties in the state.

A pioneer state chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC) also ordered the immediate renaming and decoration of all his campaign offices across the 361 political wards in 34 local government areas of the state with PDP logos and flags.

Inuwa announced his defection from the ruling APC to the opposition PDP after a meeting with representatives of the 627 political groups on Sunday at his campaign office in Katsina.

The erstwhile SSG, who contested the governorship primary on the platform of APC but lost to Dr. Umar Dikko Radda during the party’s primaries, said he has been sidelined and intimidated by the APC hence his defection.

He explained that citizens of Katsina State and other Nigerians are not happy with the APC government for the past seven years because of insecurity and economic hardship bedevilling them, especially those in rural communities.

According to him, all Nigerians are victims of deteriorating insecurity, condition of living and lack of employment opportunities for the youths orchestrated by the ruling APC government in the state and at the national level.

Inuwa noted that many schools in the state have been shut down due to security challenges and “even where they are officially open, activities are not going on because teachers, pupils and students cannot go there”.

He said: “Today (Sunday), myself and 627 different political organisations who are my supporters have left the APC to PDP our new political party because both the candidate of the APC (Radda) and the party are not interested in us as a group.

“In fact, the assumed spokesperson of the party (APC) has been castigating and condemning us and even threatening anybody who associates with us, saying they will be dealt with even if you have a ticket they will use INEC to ensure that you are either disqualified or withdrawn.

“Also, the candidate (Radda) has not done anything to bring us on board. In fact, I reliably learnt he rejected the person he was advised to pick as running mate simply because the person supported me during the primaries.

“So, it is very clear that not only me as a person but even my followers are not needed in their journey That is why we left the party (APC). We will work for the victory of PDP at all levels.”

Asked about the chances of PDP in winning the 2023 election, Inuwa said: “I assure you this time around history is going to repeat itself. We rejected PDP in 2015, now we rejected APC and I believe PDP will emerge victorious.

“Moreover, it is very clear, what is the situation now on ground?. It is not only me and my supporters but I believe that the majority of the people in Katsina and Nigerians generally are not happy with what happened in the last seven years, especially here in this part of the country.”

Meanwhile, the state chapter of the PDP has described the defection of Inuwa to the party as a welcome development that will ensure the party’s victory in 2023.

The chairman of the party, Hon. Salisu Yusuf Majigiri, told THISDAY in a telephone interview that: “Inuwa is an astute politician that will usher in victory for us. His defection is a welcome development to our party.”

But, when contacted, the state deputy chairman of the APC, Bala Abu Musawa, said the party will soon make its position on the defection of Inuwa to the PDP known in no distant time.

The group of five Governors (G5) in the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) seeking justice, equity and fairness in the party have travelled to Spain for a crucial meeting.

It was gathered that the group led by the Rivers Governor, Nyesom Wike, left the country for Madrid on Friday night.

Others in the team are the Governors Seyi Makinde (Oyo); Okezie Ikpeazu (Abia) and Samuel Ortom (Benue).

It was learnt Enugu Governor, Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi, might join the team later.

The G5 has been calling for the resignation of the PDP’s National Chairman, Dr. Iyorchia Ayu, as their minimum condition for peace in the party and to join the presidential campaign council of the party’s Presidential Candidate, Atiku Abubakar.

The aggrieved Governors have insisted that it is unfair for the party to have the national chairman and presidential candidate from the northern extraction ahead of the poll.

Wike led the team to Spain after a live media chat in Port Harcourt where he heaped more allegations on Ayu maintaining that the national chairman lacked integrity to lead the party’s campaign for 2023.

Peter Obi's initial presidential campaign council proves the point I've always made in private to his fervid fans: after all is said and done, Obi is just another Establishment Nigerian politician who has neither the willingness nor the capacity to be the different and transformational leader that his supporters think he will be.

He's merely riding on the crest of the wave of mass discontent with the status quo.

The list isn't just inexcusably insular (Igbo men are even state coordinators for Sokoto and Lagos!), it is also riddled with the type of embarrassing clerical errors and oversights that we've become accustomed to from Nigerian governments.

If I were a man that idealistic young men and women have elevated to near sainthood as Obi has been, I would look through the list carefully, ensure there are no clerical errors in it, think through the optics that the names in it will communicate, and be careful to not come across as indistinguishable from the establishment parties because it's the first hint of what he'll be as a president. He failed in that elementary duty--much like Buhari.

That’s why former Defence spokesperson John Enenche who said two years ago that “videos of shootings in Lekki tollgate were photoshopped” was appointed to Obi’s presidential campaign council.

The inclusion of Enenche on Obi’s campaign list is significant because the core of Obi’s youthful supporters who’re engaged because they’re enraged are drawn from #EndSARS agitators for whom the cover-up of the massacre of protesters in Lekki is a sore point.

To put a denier of the mass massacre of their comrades in the campaign council of a candidate they support and campaign for is both insensitive and disrespectful.

And why does a campaign that is fueled by a desire for difference need nearly 1,300 people to sit in a council? That’s unwieldy. How is it different from APC and PDP? In fact, APC and PDP are better. APC’s initial list was just 422 and PDP’s was 520.

If his presidential campaign council was going to be worse than APC's and PDP's, why did it take him so long to unveil it? This sends off uncomfortable Buhari vibes.

Absolute falsehood…unlike the APC which is yet to put its act together, our Atiku/Okowa Presidential Campaign Council has taken off at supersonic speed…see you soon in Kaduna by God’s grace.

Wisetrue99:
This is why newspapers called Buhari's administration"regime"

No more freedom of speech!

Nigeria is in coma, its at the verge of dying!

By the way Hope Uzodinnma has added another title to the one he has before

1. Supreme governor (former title)

2. IMO State vampire aka the one who washes his hands with blood. (Latest title)

Should we not raise our voices around the appointment of thousands of political aides with a few months to go before end of tenure of a Governor, to be paid from public funds?Should we draw boundaries around what is wrong for political reasons?Are we serious about accountability?

Today's conferment of the National Honour on Gov Ifeanyi Okowa @IAOkowa by President Muhammadu Buhari is a testimonial that I made the right decision in tapping an achiever as my Vice Presidential candidate for the 2023 election.

On behalf of my family, our team and our supporters, I say congratulations! -AA

Mrs Fati Attahiru, wife of late Chief of Army Staff, Lieutenant General Ibrahim Attahiru and other members of his family, were absent during the national award ceremony held in Abuja on Tuesday.

Attahiru was conferred with the Commander of the Order of the Niger, posthumously on Tuesday.

Our correspondent found out that the late COAS' relatives shunned the ceremony because they weren't invited.

Aisha Buhari’s PTSD Diagnosis of Buhari

By Farooq Kperogi

Aisha Buhari said she "suffered the consequences" of Buhari's Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), which she said was triggered by the Civil War, his 1985 overthrow, and his serial electoral losses until 2015.

She claimed that she "became a physiotherapist" to nurse him to sanity. Well, we know her highest legitimate academic qualification is a diploma in beauty therapy and cosmetology.

But even if she truly became a physiotherapist (which Americans call a physical therapist), the fact is, physiotherapists don't treat mental and emotional illnesses. They only treat physical injuries through physical activity, massage, etc.

The specialists who treat mental and emotional illnesses are called psychotherapists.

No wonder that Buhari’s PTSD hasn’t been cured. He was treated by a beautician who thought the periodic massages she gave her husband cured him of his PTSD.

The result? Buhari has given Nigerians Present-Traumatic Stress Disorder (still PTSD) in his unprecedently disastrous 7-plus-year presidency.

Former President Olusegun Obasanjo has denied singing the praise of former Lagos governor Bola Tinubu.

Obasanjo declared that from his experience, only military-trained personnel were good managers of people.

The rebuttal by the ex-Head of State was issued on Sunday by spokesperson, Kehinde Akinyemi.

Obasanjo stated that he could not have made any remark at the expense of his noble military profession.

A viral WhatsApp message by a group, “National Patriots”, claimed that the retired General described Tinubu as a super politician.

“If you are looking for a thoroughbred politician of masters class, visit Lagos Bourdillon,” he was quoted saying.

Obasanjo stressed that only individuals trained by the armed forces had the capability to properly manage men and materials.

“I cannot disparage my noble profession for politics that has no formal training. This is false and fake,” he said.