₦airaland Forum

Sustained opposition by organised Labour forced Federal Government to suspend increases in petrol pump price, President Muhammadu Buhari said yesterday.

He also explained why Nigeria’s debt portfolio continued to soar, saying his administration kept the economy on its feet by spending out of recessions.

The President’s explanations were contained in the next year’s Appropriation Bill he presented for consideration at a joint session of the National Assembly in Abuja.

He said next year’s Appropriation Act will be the last full year budget to be implemented by his administration.

The National Assembly, Buhari said, would recall that in March last year, the Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency (PPPRA) announced that the price of petrol would henceforth be determined by market forces.

He, however, noted that the rising crude oil prices and exchange rate combined to push the price of petrol above the regulated N145.00 per litre price.

According to the President, labour unions led the opposition against the price deregulation policy, saying that the government had to suspend upward price adjustments to engage labour leaders.

He added that the subsidy on petrol significantly eroded revenues that should have been available to fund this year’ Appropriation Act.

All Progressives Congress chieftain, Joe Igbokwe, says an Igbo candidate cannot be trusted in the 2023 presidential election.

According to him, nobody is going to vote for people who would use the same position to divide Nigeria.

Igbokwe, who is an aide to Lagos State Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, stated this in a PUNCH Live interview on Thursday.

He said the South-East geopolitical zone has indeed suffered “injustices”, adding that in “everything we share in this country, we get the least.”

He, therefore, urged the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.) to facilitate the creation of one more state to make states in the South-East six like other geopolitical zones in Nigeria.

States currently in the zone are Anambra, Imo, Enugu, Abia and Ebonyi.

Speaking on the PUNCH Live programme, the politician, however, noted that despite the “injustices”, violent agitations and killings were not the way to press for justice, equity and fairness.

Hoodlums took advantage of the situation to scatter some wares already displayed by shop owners who had fled.

A tricycle was on Monday morning burnt by unknown gunmen who were allegedly enforcing the sit-at-home order of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) in Enugu State.

The gunmen were said to have intercepted the tricycle at Amechi Road, beside Romchi filling station in Enugu.

SaharaReporters gathered that soldiers who were called to calm the situation fled after a gun battle with the gunmen.

“The gunmen asked the rider why he refused to remain indoors. The owner and his passengers were unhurt. The Keke (commercial tricycle) was carrying passengers. They forced the occupants out, collected their phones, and set the Keke ablaze.

“When Nigerian soldiers came for the distress call, the gunmen engaged them and they fled. The army zoomed off from unknown gunmen around St. Paul’s Primary School, Achara Layout, Enugu,” a source told SaharaReporters.

Also, gunmen suspected to be members of IPOB have stormed the streets and markets of Owerri, the Imo state capital to ensure residents stay indoors even though the pro-Biafra group has kicked against such enforcement.

There was pandemonium in the town as gunmen forced traders to close shops.

In a report by Daily Trust, motorists quickly made U-turns while many passengers disembarked from their vehicles.

The confusion, which started at Wethral Road, spread to neighbouring Mbaise Road, Douglas Road, and Naze along the Aba- Owerri Road.

Some traders at the multi-million Alaba International Market and Naze Cluster markets were said to have closed their shops and locked the gates leading to the market.

Hoodlums took advantage of the situation to scatter some wares already displayed by shop owners who had fled.

Schools were closed while parents rushed to pick up their children. It was not immediately known what actually happened, but it was gathered that the gunmen had arrived Owerri from Aba ostensibly to enforce the order in Imo.

• Says party shifted Uba’s campaign over Buhari, Osinbajo’s absence
• APGA, APC, PDP importing new form of ‘Boko Haram’ to S’East, ADC alleges

Anambra State government has accused the state chapter of All Progressives Congress (APC) of indicting President Muhammadu Buhari and the Federal Government for insecurity in the state.

Commissioner for Information and Public Enlightenment, C. Don Adinuba, stated this while reacting to APC’s insistence that Governor Willie Obiano should be held responsible for the worsening security situation in the state.

He stressed that the Buhari-led administration should be held accountable for insecurity in Anambra State and the entire country, as against holding particular state governments responsible.

Adinuba, who argued that the 36 state governors were merely titular chief security officers (CSOs) of their states, stressed: “No governor has control over the Nigerian Army, Nigeria Police Force, Department of State Services (DSS), or the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) in his state.

“Even the Anambra Vigilante Group (AVG) is supervised by the state police command, like any other state vigilante service. The APC in Anambra State is aware of the facts but insists on playing to the gallery anytime there is a security issue.

“The people and government of Anambra State are convinced that the state APC is indicting President Buhari deliberately over security lapses, because it is frustrated with the President for not attending its governorship campaign in the state, causing the Andy Uba Campaign Organisation to change plans thrice.”

On the last-minute cancellation of the APC rally for its governorship candidate in Onitsha, yesterday, he added that there were no indications that even Vice President Yemi Osinbajo could attend the campaign.

Continuing, Adinuba pointed out that the president was fully convinced that the primary election did not hold on Friday, June 26, 2021, to nominate the APC candidate for the November 6 governorship poll.
But, the APC in Anambra State berated the Obiano-led All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) administration for its inability to stop the killings in the state in recent times.

State Chairman of the party, Chief Basil Ejidike, specifically urged Obiano to resign over his failure to check the constant killings, kidnappings, cultism, destruction of property and attacks on security formations across the state.

Ejidike, who made the call at a stakeholder meeting with the 326 ward executives in Awka, said the governor had demonstrated his inability to protect the life and property of the Anambra people.

MEANWHILE, the African Democratic Congress (ADC) has condemned the killings in the Southeast, insisting that they have political undertones.

Specifically, the party traced the killings and violent attacks in Anambra State to lack of internal democracy and judgment buying by APGA, APC and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the state, adding that the political parties had imported a new form of ‘Boko Haram’ to the Southeast region.

National Chairman of ADC, Chief Ralphs Okey Nwosu, who spoke in an interview with newsmen in Awka, maintained that the killings posed a serious threat to the forthcoming November 6, 2021 governorship election.

The Federal Government will soon release $120 million to Imo State to support the state government’s livestock programme.

Governor Hope Uzodinma disclosed this on Friday during a broadcast to mark the nation’s 61st Independence Anniversary in Owerri.

He noted that the state has also been earmarked to receive $850 million to be distributed among seven states.

“Another benefit from the visit (President Muhammadu Buhari) is that the Federal Government has graciously included Imo State as a beneficiary of its special Agric Processing Zone Project for Livestock farming,” he said.

“Out of the seven states in the country that will benefit from a Federal Government $850 million for the programme, Imo State is number two! Consequently, a whopping $120 million will soon be released to our state for the livestock programme.”

The governor explained that the Federal Government has also listed Imo as one of the states to benefit from a $1.4 billion facility secured from the World Bank for urban and rural water development.

Speaking on security, Uzodinma said relative peace has been recorded in the South-Eastern state under his administration.

He commended President Muhammadu Buhari and security agencies for their “invaluable support to the state government in tackling the worst form of banditry and criminality ever witnessed in the state.”

According to the Imo governor, everyone in the state is a witness to the “savagery and cannibalistic brutality that defined the regime of violence and criminality that enveloped the state for some months in the recent past.”

Uzodinma warned that his administration will not tolerate anybody that attempts to foment trouble in the state, vowing to crush criminal elements.

He called on people of the state to support the security agencies and government by providing useful information to flush out criminals from their hideouts.

“Anybody who attempts to disrupt the peace of the state again may not live to tell the story. That is why it is important for parents and guardians to rein in their children and wards as the security agencies have our directive to deal decisively with those who may be tempted to foment trouble again.

“I have just inaugurated a judicial commission of inquiry to investigate the security breaches in the state and come out with recommendations on what government should do to ensure that there is no recurrence of such.

“I believe that both the perpetrators and their sponsors would be unmasked for Imo people to know their enemies. But all of us have a collective duty to protect our state against renegades,” he added.