₦airaland Forum

Well detailed and properly constructed piece of advice/recommendation/insight.

But this does not justify the huge amount of money Buhari budgeted for spare tyres, C-caution, fire extinguisher, plug spanner and others.

The Other one that donated her entire life savings to Buhari's campaign died a pauper without any form of recognition.


These old women will never learn

As far as am concerned this APC govt is nothing but a huge camouflage of HYPOCRISY AND EXAGGERATION.

We have not heard of any well designed and articulated economic policy framework nor a foreign policy mechanism to rehabilitate the Nigerian economy.

When President Obama inherited an almost bankrupt economy from former President Bush he moved swiftly to set up an economic team of renowned economist, but here we wake up everyday to hear blames been piled up on the former administration.

Mile 12 MASSACRE still in our minds......

When President Muhammadu Buhari won the April 11, 2015 presidential elections in Nigeria last year, one of the promises he made to Nigerians is that he will run a lean government to save cost.

But, the recent appointments of the president suggest that it is either Buhari lied to Nigerians or he has simply forgotten his promise.
The president has embarked on a needless and unnecessary ’employment’ drive, which seem to be a calculated attempt to reward political patronage. NAIJ.com lists five appointments which raised eyebrows across Nigeria. Read below:

1. Sunday Aghaeze (Personal assistant to the president on photography): Buhari appointed Aghaeze on Sunday, February 28. The appointment according to a letter signed by the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Babachir Lawal, took effect from June 1, 2015.
The appointment took many political observers by surprise because the president already has a personal photographer – Bayo Omoboriowo. Rumours that the Aghaeze’s appointment was influenced by Reverend Father Ejike Mbaka, a known supporter of the president also didn’t help matters. Many say the appointment was unnecessary and a waste of resources.

2. Ben Akabueze (Special Adviser on planning to the minister of budget and national planning): A curious appointment, given the vast experience of Akabueze and also the thought behind appointing a special adviser for a board room guru like the present minister, Udoma Udo Udoma. One would think that Akabueze is bigger than the office and should be fixed in a capacity where he can make real impact and not creating an unnecessary office for him.

3. Tolu Ogunlesi (Special assistant on digital/new media): Tolu Ogunlesi was on February 18 appointed as the special assistant on digital/new media by President Muhammadu Buhari. This is despite the fact that the president had earlier appointed Bashir Ahmad, as his personal assistant on new media. A clear duplication of office and duties and indeed a wasteful and needless appointment.

4. Abike Dabiri-Erewa (Senior special assistant on foreign affairs and the diaspora): Perhaps, her commendable performance as the chairperson House of Representatives committee on diaspora affairs between 2007 and 2015 influenced the president’s decision.
But, a ministry that already has 2 ministers, Geoffrey Onyeama and Khadija Bukar Abba hardly needs anyone to function as the president’s senior special assistant, especially for a government that promised to prune down on costs. What an irony! Shar Abike Dabiri-Erewa was chairman of the House of Representatives committee on media and publicity between 2003 and 2007 and later chaired the House committee on diaspora affairs between 2007 and 2015

5. Senator Ita Enang, senior special assistant on National Assembly matters (Senate): Ita Enang; Honourable Suleiman Kawu, senior special assistant on National Assembly matters (House of Representatives): First of its kind in the history of Nigeria’s democracy, Buhari perhaps showed us what to expect when he appointed the duo last year. Presidents Olusegun Obasanjo, Late Musa Ya’adua and his successor, Goodluck Jonathan all had one individual as their senior special assistant on National Assembly matters. But for reasons best known to the present administration, it has to be two. Another clear case of waste!


Read more: https://www.naij.com/755510-5-appointments-shows-buharis-administration-wasteful-photos.html

Sanusi should be de-robed and sent to Kuje prisons for encouraging/perpetuating kidnap and forced marriage

Another victim, Mr Kunle Afariogun, who escaped death by the whiskers said he ran into the hoodlums on his way back from work.

‘’Thank God I understand Hausa language, if not, only God knows what would have happened to me. I was on my way home when I ran into them and they asked me if I were an Hausa man and I answered in the affirmative. But they were not convinced and asked me to start speaking in Hausa Language which I did and they responded in Hausa Language ‘he is one of us, don’t kill him.’’

A befitting jet for the junketeer in chief........

Buhari and his DSS are getting more STUPIDIER

The frivolous case brought against Honorable Kanu by Buhari and his DSS is fast collapsing before their eyes and they are planning to assemble Yorrobber touts, Agberos, Alayes and Hausa/Fulani herdsmen and cow dungs to the Court room to disguise as IPOB members to create mayhem and then use it as a pretext to assassinate Honorable Nnamdi Kanu.

The IPOB should alert the world press and the United Nations about this evil and devilish plot.
If the DSS members are afraid to testify, how can they provide protection for the ordinary Zoogerians that they are fraudulently assembling?

ABUJA – The Department of State Service, DSS, on Monday, told a Federal High Court sitting in Abuja, that it has uncovered plot by some pro-Biafra agitators, to invade the court and forcefully free the detained leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB, Mr. Nnamdi Kanu.

The security agency made the allegation on a day the federal government was to open its case against Kanu who is facing a six-count treason charge alongside two other pro-Biafra supporters, Benjamin Madubugwu and David Nwawuisi.

Nnamdi kanu The Director of Public Prosecution, DPP, Mr. Mohammed Diri, told trial Justice John Tsoho that the DSS has already commenced investigation on the planned invasion. Meantime, following the inability of the federal government to produce any of the eight witnesses scheduled to testify before the court, the defendants, through their lawyer, Chief Chuks Muoma, SAN, applied to be discharged and acquitted of the charge against them.

They predicated their application on the provision of section 351(1) of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act, 2015. Earlier, the DPP informed the court that the witnesses said they would not appear to testify against the defendants unless the are allowed to wear masks or their identities shielded from both lawyers and people observing the proceeding. ‘My lord this is because they are already receiving threats from associates of the defendants that they will be dealt with. The witnesses said they love their lives and requested that their identities be shielded from people who are coming to witness the proceeding’, Diri added.

He said DSS operatives also billed to testify in the matter, made similar request on the basis that they are investigating terrorism cases and would not want their identities exposed. Justice Tsoho had on February 19, refused an application by the federal government which sought leave to mask the witnesses.
The application was vehemently opposed by counsel to the defendants who urged the court not to allow ‘masquerades’ to testify before it. Meanwhile, the parties are still exchanging arguments on the application for the charge to be quashed and the defendants discharged and acquitted.

‎Kanu who was hitherto the Director of Radio Biafra and Television, ‎has been in detention since October 14, 2015, when he was arrested by security operatives upon his arrival to Nigeria from his base in the United Kingdom. The defendants were alleged to have committed treasonable felony, an offence punishable under Section 41(C) of the Criminal Code Act, CAP C38 Laws of the Federation of Nigeria. FG alleged that they were the ones managing the affairs of the IPOB which it described as ‘an unlawful society’.

Specifically, Kanu was alleged to have illegally smuggled radio transmitters into Nigeria, which he used to disseminate “hate broadcasts”, encouraging the “secession of the Republic ofBiafra”, from Nigeria. The accused persons however pleaded not guilty to the charge on January 20, even as the court ordered their remand at Kuje prison ‎in Abuja.‎‎

http://www.vanguardngr.com/2016/03/breaking-news-biafra-dss-alleges-plot-to-abduct-kanu-others-in-court/

President Muhammadu Buhari’s recent comment in Qatar on the Israeli-Palestinian crisis has drawn the attention of experts who described the comment as a setback for Nigeria’s non-alignment foreign policy, FISAYO FALODI writes

It was not long ago that the Peoples Democratic Party accused President Muhammadu Buhari of de-marketing Nigeria with harmful and unabated negative statements.

The PDP had said that the President was unwittingly de-marketing the nation and scaring away investors through negative labeling of Nigerians and unwarranted unhealthy portrayal of the nation’s economy.



The opposition party had said in a statement by its National Publicity Secretary, Chief Olisa Metuh, that Buhari’s “unwary statements have become a very serious clog in the wheel of progress, eroding the confidence of both domestic and international investors in the Nigerian economic and social system.”

But Buhari defended himself in a statement by his Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Mr. Femi Adesina, that all he said about Nigeria was the truth about the abject state in which the PDP leadership plunged the nation’s treasury and the economy.

Likewise, experts in international affairs have said that the recent comment by Buhari over the age-long Israeli-Palestinian conflict had technically set aside Nigeria’s non-alignment and non-intentional interference in the internal affairs of other nations.

Experts have grouped the roles of a President into major headings. As the chief of the executive arm of government, the President oversees national agencies, appointing their directors and creating policies to determine their goals; as head of state, he represents his country at official functions like meeting the leaders of foreign nations; and as a foreign policy leader, the President oversees treaties or agreements with other countries and set policies that affect his country’s relations with other nations.

The others are, as commander in chief of the armed forces, he is the leader of the military who may send troops into actions; and as the economic leader, the President is to ensure that his country’s budget is profitable as possible.

The experts added that the President’s utterances should, at all times, be promoting the economic, political and religious interests of his people either at home or abroad anytime he is privileged to address local or international fora.

Therefore, the recent statement by President Buhari in Qatar is said to have portrayed the President as taking side in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Buhari had said during a recent meeting with the Emir of Qatar, Tamim Bin Hammad Al-Thani, that he backed a two-state solution to the long-running Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

The conflict is, perhaps, one of the most violent and complex in history. Many attempts in the past to resolve the conflict by the European Union and the United States have been unsuccessful as a result of its complex nature.

Even the European Union’s recognition of a two-state solution has not helped either. Instead, Israel and Palestine have continued to carry on with the conflict over ownership of Jerusalem’s territory.

The Council of the European Union had endorsed a set of conclusions on the Israeli–Palestinian conflict which formed the basis of the current EU policy. It reasserted the objective of a two-state solution and stressed that the union “will not recognise any changes to the pre-1967 borders including with regard to Jerusalem other than those agreed by the parties.”

The EU also claimed that it “has never recognised the annexation of East Jerusalem” and that the State of Palestine must have its capital in Jerusalem.”

The desire of the Palestinians is that Jerusalem or al-Quds will be the capital of the future Palestinian state, basing their claim on religion, history and their demographic presence in the city.

Palestinians point to their large, long presence in Jerusalem, which currently constitutes 30 per cent of the city’s population. Religiously, Palestinians lay claim to Muslim holy sites (in conflict with Jordanian claims), as well as those holy to Palestinian Christians.

While Palestinian officials have made statements asserting their claim to all of Jerusalem, most Palestinians claim East Jerusalem, where the Palestinian residents of Jerusalem live, as the site of their future capital.

But Buhari’s support for a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict with emphasis on “brotherhood and sisterhood” caught the attention of experts, who said the President’s comment failed all diplomatic logics.

A statement by his spokesperson, Mr. Femi Adesina, quoted the President as saying, “I want to assure you that we will stand side by side with you, until our brothers and sisters in Palestine achieve their desired objectives.

“Our support for various Security Council resolutions restoring and respecting 1967 boundaries with Jerusalem as capital of Palestine is firm and unshaken.

“We in Nigeria, like the State of Qatar, favour a two state solution, with the State of Palestine living side by side with the State of Israel.”

While it is said that Buhari’s position on the Israeli-Palestine conflict is not new as it was claimed to be in tandem with most countries of the world, including the European Union and Qatar, but experts are of the opinion that the choice of the President’s words in declaring his support for Palestine “is laced with ambiguities that can be misinterpreted by some bigots.”

According to them, a phrase like “until our brothers and sisters in Palestine achieve their desired objectives” set aside Nigeria’s non-alignment and non-intentional interference in the internal affairs of other nations, which the country had maintained since her independence in 1960.

A diplomatic historian, Mr. Benjamin Morakinyo, said the President was right to express his view on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, but would have done better if he had carefully chosen his word to reflect Nigeria’s non-alignment and non-intentional interference foreign policy.

Morakinyo said that religious bigots with fundamentalist idea could have used the President’s comment to see Nigeria as a member of the Organisation of Islamic Conference, which is against the nation’s secular state.

Claiming that brotherhood in Islam means sense of oneness and unity, he said by referring to the Palestinians as “our brothers and sisters” by Buhari at a time Palestine is in conflict with its neighbouring Israel was enough ground by bigots to perceive Nigeria as an Islamic state just because of the President’s statement.

Morakinyo said, “Buhari’s statement, to say the least, was not diplomatic enough. It may be misconstrued by bigots to mean that the President has already taken side in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, especially as some critics see the President as a fanatic who is always interested in promoting Islam.

“Constitutionally, the President determines Nigeria’s foreign policies. So, all his actions in relating with other countries must be such that will project Nigeria as a respecter and upholder of its foreign policies.

“He could sympathise with any country undergoing conflict; at least it is within his constitutional powers to do that, but he should be more careful in choosing his words anytime he addresses issues that have connection with religion and international affairs. A phrase like our ‘brothers and sisters’ could be misconstrued for taking blanket side in the conflict.”

Also, a social empowerment advocate, Mr. Taiwo Akinlami, is of the opinion that Buhari’s comment presupposed that Nigeria had taken a position in the debacle.

He said the President needed to clarify his statement in Qatar because the statement was a sensitive one that could trigger off open disagreement among Nigerians.

Akinlami said Nigeria had not come out before to openly express a position like the one expressed last Sunday in Qatar.

According to him, the EU and the United States have been careful in the choice of their words while speaking on issues that have connection with the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

He said, “Nigeria’s foreign policy is that of non-alignment; it is against Buhari’s comment on Israeli-Palestinian conflict. So, supporting a two-state solution like the EU has rightly done is not the issue, but the real issue is being seen to have taken position in the conflict, which ought not to be so.”

On what should be Nigeria’s position on the debacle, Akinlami urged the country to always maintain its non-alignment stance in foreign affairs policy. He also urged adherence to the United Nations’ position on the debacle.

Akinlami said, “The conflict has raged for a long time and it requires objective assessment of the situation for a solution, which is the responsibility of the United Nations, not just comments that could be misinterpreted by some people.”

The spokesperson, Afenifere Renewal Group, Mr. Kunle Famoriyo, said Buhari’s comment had only succeeded in plunging Nigeria into murky waters.

He described the President’s comment as needless interference in another country’s debacle when there are more pressing challenges for him at home.

Famoriyo said, “Nigeria should mind its own business rather than interfere in another country’s debacle. We have more problems than putting our hands in another country’s issues.

“We already have enough problems in Boko Haram; we have enough problems in the Niger Delta militancy; we have enough problems in Biafra agitation and we have enough problems as regards the management of the country.”

While seeking explanation on the nature of Buhari’s support for “our brothers and sisters,” he asked, “What are we really going to do for them? Are we going to send troops or arms and ammunition to help fight their cause?

“What do we want to do if we really want to support them? So, the President’s comment was undiplomatic unless we are told that he was misquoted.

“The two countries involved in the conflict have their own mission and vision. The question President Buhari should answer now is what is Nigeria’s vision and mission that other countries should support us to advance?”

He, however, asked the President to concentrate on issues that should demand his attention rather than “helping another country to advance its mission and vision.”

Famoriyo identified devolution of power and restructuring of Nigeria for the advancement of the country as major issues that should agitate the President’s mind.

He said, “The President should mind the business of devolution of power in such a way that will make it easier for him to manage the country’s economy. The desire to ensure fiscal federalism should be his focus.

“Devolution of the unitary system that has been frustrating Nigeria’s advancement should be his focus, not creating more problems by fishing in murky waters. So, if we can know other people’s mission and vision, then we should clearly state our own for other countries to help us advance them.”

http://www.punchng.com/row-over-buharis-comment-on-israeli-palestinian-conflict/

Meanwhile
The acclaimed owners of Lagos are still hiding after the mile 12 onslaught

Buhari has gone mad again

Without seeking the consent of Nigerians

The hidden agenda is no longer hidden.
President Buhari's goal of Expanding shariah law to cover the whole country is on his final leg.

The time to stop this Islamic fanatic that lied his way to the presidency, with Tinubu and company assistance is now.

Nigeria is not an Islamic state. We didn't sign up for Islamic Saubi Arabia collision between between Suuni and Shi'ite Muslim.
The majority of Nigeria are Christian, we didn't vote for you to enslave us.

Buhari is unfit for the office of the president of Nigeria.

President Muhammadu Buhari has confirmed Nigeria’s membership of the Islamic Coalition Against Terrorism, being spearheaded by Saudi Arabia, amidst speculations of the alleged plan to islamise the country.

The President made the disclosure in an interview he granted Al-Jazeera during his recent visit to Doha, Qatar, while the interview was aired on Saturday.

When asked whether Nigeria was part of the Islamic coalition, Buhari answered in the affirmative.



He attributed the reason behind the decision to the fact that there are terrorists in Nigeria who claim to be Muslims.

“We are part of it (the Islamic coalition) because we’ve got terrorists in Nigeria that everybody knows which claim that they are Islamic.

“So, if there is an Islamic coalition to fight terrorism, Nigeria will be part of it because we are casualties of Islamic terrorism,” the President said.

Buhari said he discussed Nigeria’s membership of the coalition with King Salman Bin Abdul-Aziz during their meeting in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, when he visited the country recently.

He however did not disclose how the membership of the Islamic coalition would be beneficial to Nigeria, when asked to do so.

He said it would be wrong to disclose the details to the media.

“Well, that we mentioned under the Lake Chad Basin Commission, our regional grouping compromising Cameroon, Chad, Niger, Nigeria and Benin and we dedicated a certain number of troops to be deployed in our own sub-region and I don’t think we have to tell the press the details of that,” he simply said.

Buhari however justified Nigeria’s membership of the Islamic coalition, saying there is nothing wrong in joining the coalition since members of the Boko Haram sect fighting in Nigeria have claimed they are Muslims, even when their activities are anti-Islam.

He added that the Boko Haram itself had declared loyalty to ISIS

He said, “I’ve just told you; it was the Boko Haram itself that declared loyalty to ISIS.

“ISIS is basically based in Islamic countries. Now, if there’s a coalition to fight Islamic terrorism, why can’t Nigeria be part of it while those that are fighting in Nigeria as Boko Haram claim to be Muslims? But the way they are doing, it is anti-Islamic.”

When confronted with the fact that Nigeria has large populations of both Muslims and Christians and that some Christians are complaining that he is giving Islamic identity to the country by his actions, Buhari wondered why the Christians who are complaining have not deemed it fit to confront members of the Boko Haram in the North-East or militants in the South.

“Why can’t those Christians that complained go and fight terrorism in Nigeria or fight the militancy in the South. It is Nigeria that matters, not the opinion of some religious bigots,” he declared.

The President however denied any attempt to change the religious identity of the country.

He said, “How can I change the religious identity of Nigeria?

“No religion advocates hurting the innocent and just because the Muslims are the ones that claim to be Boko Haram and they are killing innocent people, whether in the church, in the bus or in the market place, then I will just sit and look at them because I too am a Muslim? Islam is against injustice in any form.”

Saudi Arabia had recently announced the formation of a coalition of 34 largely Muslim nations to fight terrorism.

http://www.punchng.com/nigeria-part-saudis-anti-terror-islamic-coalition-buhari/

Nobel Laureate, Prof Wole Soyinka and human rights lawyer, Femi Falana have berated individuals masking the abduction of 14 year-old Ese Oruru with religion.

They spoke on Sunday ‎at a press conference titled ‘Justice At Bay: The Long, Twisted Road to Ese’, which they jointly hosted.
The two eminent Nigerians said the matter was purely criminal and not religious, adding that, the perpetrator should be prosecuted so the victim could get justice.

“We should take religion out of Ese’s abduction. We are talking about criminality. Nobody should say people are Islam-phobic. We are only against criminality. Who invokes religion in criminal matters? Who brings religion into issues of government and constitution? If you want to bring religion into a criminal matter, then let us talk about other things. When we are talking about crime, don’t diffuse it with religion,” Soyinka.

Ese was abducted by Yunusa Dahiru, aka Yellow, a regular customer at her mother’s food shop, last year August, from Bayelsa and taken to Kano, where her parents said she was forced into child marriage having been converted to Islam without her consent.

Falana, on his part, said Yunusa, “the abductor, did not only violate Ese’s rights to religion as enshrined in Section 38 of the Constitution but also broke the laws contained in the Child Rights Act which Nigeria is a signatory.”

http://www.pmnewsnigeria.com/2016/03/07/ese-orurus-abduction-is-purely-criminal-not-religious-soyinka-falana/