Reports made available to THE OBSERVERS TIMES by some aggrieved disenfranchised voters has it that the Independent National Electoral Commission staff in the Karu headquarters office are deliberately refusing to issue the permanent voters cards (PVC) to Southerners even when the PVCs are available.
They said that they have for the past months visited the office and all their visits were met with the same reactions of their "PVCs not available".
HOW THE BUBBLE BUSTED: Last week during the rush to beat the deadline for collection, one Miss Nnenna submitted her temporary voters card along with others who came to collect their PVCs, as usual they told most of us that the PVCs were not ready or available - Miss Nnenna. In the process, the officials misplaced my temporary voters card.
They (The Officials) would later ask Miss Nnenna to go and return after the general elections for possible solution. This didn't go down well with her and she requested that the officials give her a form to fill or any evidence that would enable her to exercise her civic right.
For hours, she kept on disturbing the officials until they became tired of her insistence. She said; they requested that I provided them with my name, address and other details to enable the officials narrow down the search for my card.
Moments later, they called me to a table to identify my card, but this time, it was my permanent voters card. I was shocked to see my mother's and sister's among the bunch of cards in that section.
Once I got my permanent voters card, I rushed home to tell my mother and sister to go and get their PVCs, but upon getting there, they were met with disappointment as the same officials told them that their PVCs were available at that moment.
Also one Mrs. Ijeoma in her chat with THE OBSERVERS TIMES lamented that she had spent more than 200 days trying to get her PVC at least twice in a week, but all her efforts ended in futility. She pointed out that this peculiar problem did not apply to others who are not southerners.
This is unacceptable, we live and work in Abuja, therefore, we can't travel down to the southeast to register as voters as the process will be time, energy and money consuming she said. "INEC was supposed to be neutral and fair to all. But what we are witnessing is gross injustice" - Mrs. Ijeoma
Information reaching the news desk of OBSERVERS TIMES has it that the Kogi First Lady, wife of the governor, Mrs. Yahaya Bello was involved in a ghastly motor accident this afternoon.
It is unclear if there is any casualty as a result of the mishap.
Details shortly.
Confirming the development on Saturday, the chief press secretary to the Governor, Onogwu Muhammed, disclosed that the accident occurred around Oshokoshoko area of Kabba as the governor’s wife was on her way to Isanlu for a rally organised by a member of the All Progressives Congress, APC.He said the Governor’s wife and her three aides survived the accident which occured in the morning of Saturday.
He said the state government thanked God for saving the Governor’s wife’s life and those of her aides.According to him, “In appreciation to God Almighty for his faithfulness to the New Direction family, the Kogi state government wishes to announce that three aides to the governor and his wife survived an accident this morning.”
“The government appreciate God once again, that all persons are in perfect condition.
“The governor’s wife’s door-door campaign train continues with their rally to the western senatorial district after a successful two days outing in Kogi east
The Nigeria Medical Association (NMA) has called on Gov. Yahaya Bello of Kogi to reverse the ‘current internal drift’ of doctors and other healthcare workers in the state.
The association made the appeal in a statement issued to newsmen in Lokoja on Monday by the state NMA Chairman, Dr Kabiru Zubair.
This followed the exit of 88 medical doctors from the state public service.
The association however felicitated with the governor on the celebration of his third year anniversary in office and for making healthcare one of his five thematic areas.
According to Zubair, “Under this administration, a total of 88 doctors have left the Kogi Civil Service; previously, 79 doctors left plus another nine who had succeeded in securing new employment recently.
“Doctors and other healthcare workers remained the drivers of healthcare delivery anywhere in the world.
“Steps such as the payment of outstanding salary arrears of doctors and other healthcare workers, implementation of the corrected CONMESS, promotion and annual step increment, among others, are needed to reverse this unfortunate trend.
“As you commence your fourth year in office, the NMA as the custodian of the health of the people is ready and willing to partner with state government to improve the health sector in Kogi.’’
Zubair said that the association equally felicitated with the Deputy Governor, the SSG, the Chief of Staff, Commissioner for Health, Special Adviser on Health Matters and the entire cabinet members for sustaining the progress made thus far. NAN recalls that Bello was sworn-in as the fourth civilian governor of Kogi by the satte Chief Judge, Justice Nasir Ajanah, on Jan. 27, 2016. Zubair, however, commended the state government and Bello for some positive steps the government had taken in repositioning the health sector in the state.
The Chairman, Media and Publicity, Atiku Campaign Council, Kogi State and PDP Youth Leader, Comrade Austin Okai and other notable PDP youth leaders and elders stormed Senator Dino Melaye's residence in solidarity.
Information made available to THE OBSERVERS TIMES has it that Senator Dino Melaye after thorough consultation with his legal team, elders and associates, decided to come out of the location he put up in these few days to make himself available to the Nigerian Police.
According to the PDP Youth representative available on ground, he registered his displeasure about the way the Nigerian Police made a ceremony out his gesture to surrender.
KOGI STATE PDP | Yahaya Bello, A Punishment on Kogi State;
Kingsley Fanwo, a Spoilt Kid, Bereft of Manners.
The Presidential Campaign Council of the Peoples’ Democratic Party in Kogi State notes with contempt the infantile rants of Kingsley Fanwo, the inglorious director of media and publicity at the office of the accidental governor of Kogi State, Yahaya Bello contained in an interview granted to an online tabloid.
Ordinarily, the opinion of Fanwo, the occupant of a cockroach office who can at best be described as a lousy nonentity should not matter in Kogi politics but We are in the interest of the good people of Kogi State constrained to set the records straight and coach Fanwo as a child, bereft of manners should be.
It is therefore for this purpose that we state that:
· The PDP in Kogi State bequeathed a robust economy, an adequately remunerated civil service, safe communities, a large portfolio of infrastructural interventions in roads, rural electrification, education and a respected people to the satanic government of the APC in 2015.
· Kogi State prior the emergence of the outgoing APC government was not in the news for all manner of inadequacies which currently ranges from commissioning of gutters, house warming parties of state officials, civil servants committing suicide to a sitting governor gifting posh automobiles to masquerades.
· Whereas the current government which Kingsley Fanwo slaves for cannot boast of any project worth more than N10M anywhere on earth, it is to the credit of the PDP that all the courses currently offered by the various state owned tertiary institutions were accredited by regulatory agencies thereby remarkable reducing the level of illiteracy induced poverty in the state to the barest minimum. This is side by side investments in agriculture, health and urban renewal.
· Kogi State being the highest revenue earner after Niger State going by FAAC records in the North Central under the leadership of His Excellency, Ibrahim Idris channelled investment to boost healthcare delivery in the state leading to mass migration of patients from Edo, Niger and Kwara state to seek medical attention as attested to by the Federal Ministry of Health in a documentary that profiled the health sector in Kogi State just last year and aired on Channels Television.
· Whereas the outgoing government of Yahaya Bello has amassed an accumulated debt burden of N125B without any capital project worth as much as N10M anywhere on earth, it is to the credit of the PDP led government of His Excellency, Ibrahim Idris that not less than 3,000KM of roads were rehabilitated, constructed or reconstructed cutting through and linking various communities in Kabba/Bunu, Okene, Okehi, Olamaboro, Dekina, Ajaokuta, Koto-Karfe, Idah, Lokoja metropolis, Ayingba, Adavi, Yagba East and West just to mention a few.
· In terms of human empowerment, nothing speaks louder of the achievements of the PDP especially the 9 years of His Excellency, Ibrahim Idris than the fact that as at when He handed over to His Excellency, Idris Wada, civil servants in Kogi State were not owed a dime while there was a deeper sense of peace, unity, advancement and prosperity in households.
· Whereas, the government of His Excellency, Idris Wada was indebted to workers for a 90 days period, the debt existed side by side very strong plans to settle them in record time via the Paris Club refund which eventually was received by the incumbent government who then went on to brazenly loot it leaving the actual beneficiaries with only suicide or voluntary resignation as options.
· Ordinarily, an enigma as Asiwaju Clarence Olafemi who was solely responsible for the establishment of landmark projects in Kogi West not excluding the College of Education (Technical), Kabba, Kogi West has no reason to join issues with an urchin as Kingsley Fanwo since that institution alone has in the last 10 years been a source of income and livelihood for at least 10,000 people from Kogi State – a record which outgoing governor, Yahaya Bello and His entire cabinet cannot imagine to reach or surpass.
· It is simply for the records that we consider it important to state that it takes only a rudderless government like the kind led by tin-god, Yahaya Bello to engage a grossly under-utilized personality who received absolutely no attention during the administration of immediate past governor, His Excellency, Idris Wada.
Pursuant to the foregoing, Kingsley Fanwo is sternly cautioned on the natural consequences of joining issues with His fathers as a show loyalty to His new gang of thieves whose existence is already due for termination and will be terminated by the collective decision of the people of Kogi State.
Rather than swim against the tide in attempts to save the already grim image of outgoing Governor, Yahaya Bello, He should avail Himself the benefit of identifying with any of the opportunities created by the past PDP government especially in agriculture in preparation of His early retirement which is due in less than 10 months from now.
The Governor of Kogi State, Alhaji Yahaya Bello, has attacked senators and members of the House of Representatives, who booed President Muhammadu Buhari when he presented the estimates of the 2019 budget to a joint session of the National Assembly in Abuja.
Recall that the presentation of the N8.8trn estimates was intermittently interrupted by jeers and praise singing as opposition lawmakers and their ruling All Progressives Congress colleagues made to outdo one another in either opposing Buhari’s acclaimed achievements or supporting the President.
Speaking in Abuja while reacting to the development, Yahaya criticised those who heckled Buhari, saying that they portrayed themselves as lacking parental training.
The Kogi governor, who spoke with State House correspondents, explained, “First of all, two distinct human beings, a father, a gentleman, a man who has the interest of the country at heart, President Muhammadu Buhari, displayed his stuff (on Wednesday) and those who are self-centred, selfish and bent on destroying this country and democracy, have also shown themselves.
“This is what I said sometimes back that when you have a child that is not well-trained by his parents, he constitutes a menace to the society and that was exactly what was witnessed at the National Assembly.
“The National Assembly is supposed to be made up of men and women of character and integrity. We have seen those that constitute such class of human beings and those that constitute menace to the society in the National Assembly.
“But above all, I thank God; I thank Mr. President for a wonderful presentation of the 2019 budget estimates.
“We all believe it is going to take Nigeria to the next level by the special grace of God.”
Recall that the Senate President, Bukola Saraki and the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Mr Yakubu Dogara, tried without success to control the lawmakers, who intensified the jeering after Buhari ended his speech.
The jeering also made it impossible for Saraki and Dogara to make further speeches after Buhari’s.
Amid the confusion, Buhari was practically whisked away from the chamber of the House of Representatives, the venue of the budget session, by his security details.
Thugs believe to be loyal to the state government stormed venue for pro Barister Natasha Akpoti (Senatorial Candidate) Meeting at Alh. Badams' compound, Inorere, Adavi Local Government of Kogi Central. Burns chairs and valuable to ashes...
The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has exposed the senator representing Ogun East, Senator Kashamu Buruji as a desperate paid agent of anti-democratic forces working to cause confusion, trigger violence and bloodletting in the 2019 general election and derail our hard-earned democracy.
The party says Senator Buruji is an interloper and impostor, who would soon face prosecution for printing and selling fake PDP nomination forms to members of the public, in violation of the provisions of the Electoral Act and the PDP constitution, which vest such powers only on the party’s National Working Committee.
Senator Buruji would also face the law for conducting phony governorship primary in Ogun state, with the name and colors of the PDP, an activity which only the National Working Committee has the powers to conduct and which it had done after which it submitted the name of our Ogun governorship candidate, Ladi Adebutu to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) at the stipulated time.
It is instructive to note that under the Electoral Act and the PDP constitution, only the National Working Committee, and no other organ of the party at the national or state level, is empowered to submit a governorship candidate to INEC.
This function has been duly carried out by the PDP national leadership, under the Chairmanship of Prince Uche Secondus, upon which strength he handed Ladi Adebutu, our party’s official flag.
Apparently in the desperation to pacify his paymasters and benefactors, Senator Buruji, in violation of the law, has been going around, causing confusion, parading himself as the candidate of our party, even when he did not stand for our primaries, and threatening our leaders, particularly, Prince Uche Secondus, with violence, as he even alluded in his press statement of December 9, 2018, for giving our flag to our candidate, Ladi Adebutu.
The PDP has received reports from very high quarters that Senator Buruji has been under pressure from his benefactors at the Buhari Presidency, who reportedly reached a pact with him to destabilize and distract our party with a promise to let him off the hook on his pending fraud case, for which he is risking imminent extradition from Nigeria.
Senator Buruji has lost all electoral value and cannot be a march for our governorship candidate, in popularity and acceptance by the people, as darkness has no comparison to the light.
The PDP, therefore, urges all security agencies and Nigerians in general to note that Senator Buruji is the aggressor and directly hold him responsible for any breakdown of law and order, since he has given a hint into such inclination by his violent outbursts and threats.
For us in the PDP, our candidate, Ladi Adebutu, is already coasting to victory with the people and there is nothing the Buhari Presidency can do to stop him.
I’ve never lived in a haunted house, but my mother did as a teen. Other houses on her street had strange things going on too. A few homes away from her lived a man and his family. One night, one of his daughters went to bed with a bad headache. The next day, she was dead—she’d passed away from an aneurysm.
After the funeral, the family went away to get their minds off the tragedy, and the father asked my uncle—my mom’s brother—to check on their pets. My mom and dad (they were dating then) went with my uncle; my mother had heard there was a grand piano and she wanted to play it, and my dad was studying to be a veterinarian.
After entering the house, my uncle and my father headed to the basement to see the animals, and my mother went to the piano on the ground floor. She was playing it when she felt something brush her ankles. She thought a cat must have left the basement and walked past her. She kept playing, and she felt it again. She looked under the piano and saw nothing. When she started again, she felt hands clasp her legs and grab them tightly. She dashed to the basement door, called my uncle and father, and waited for them. When they all walked outside, my uncle could tell my mom was rattled and asked what was wrong.
She told him what had happened, and he turned white. He told her the daughter who died used to play a game with her father. When he’d play the piano, she’d crawl underneath, grab his ankles, and push his feet up and down on the pedals.
The Unseen Patient
The ambulance company that I used to work for had a “haunted” ambulance: rig 12. A lot of EMTs had stories about it, but I never put much stock in paranormal stuff. That is, until I had my own experience with rig 12.
My partner and I were working in a rural community at 3 a.m., and it was pitch-dark and completely quiet. We were both dozing; I was in the driver’s seat, and she was in the passenger seat. I woke up to a muffled voice, and I thought my partner was talking. I told her I was trying to sleep and closed my eyes. I distinctly heard a male voice say, “Oh my God, am I dying?” followed by a few seconds of heavy breathing. My partner and I sat up straight and looked back into the patient compartment, where it sounded like the voice had come from.
Things were quiet for a couple seconds; then we heard the click of an oxygen-bottle regulator and a hiss, as if it was leaking. I turned on the lights, and we ran out of the rig. I thought a transient might have climbed in while we were asleep, so we opened the rear doors. No one was there. I checked the oxygen bottles; neither was opened. We didn’t sleep much after that.
There is currently pandemonium among friends of Benedicta Akpana, an aide to Governor Ben Ayade of Cross River state who this afternoon collapsed in Abuja and was rushed to a private hospital in the FCT.
Akpana, an executive protocol officer to Ayade was said to have collapsed at her apartment at about 2.15pm and was rushed semi-unconscious to a private hospital in Zone 3 area of Abuja by her friend.
A doctor at the hospital informed The Guardian that Akpana was rushed to the hospital semi-unconscious. Upon examination, the doctor said her blood pressure is elevated at 190/115 mmHg.
He confirmed that Akpana’s blood glucose was normal but revealed that she may be suffering from a Transient Ischeamic Attack (TIA). The patient is currently undergoing emergency CT brain scan as at the time of this report.
Her friend who rushed her to the hospital informed The Guardian that Akpana has been stressed and depressed for some time.
The media was awash with the secret meeting that occurred between the former President, Olusegun Obasanjo and current Vice President Yemi Osibanjo and Amaechi a day before yesterday in former house Otta in Ogun state.
The midnight meeting was rumoured to be about 2019 and Buhari's last attempt to appeal to the Ex-President if he can woo him back after long media tantrum and long letter plus several press releases from the former president targeting at the incumbent president and his inability to address the failing Economy and ethnic killing in the north central.
In quick succession, Obasanjo's letter attracted wrath and anger from President Buhari's men who took to the new media and mainstream media to call the ex-president all sort of names.
Obasanjo, after the PDP Presidential primaries, mended fence with his former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar who is now the presidential flag bearer of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). The Unresolved anger between the two former leaders was predicted to have gone beyond reconciliation.
But on the contrary, some respected religions leaders' involvement in the reconciliation yielded positive result for Atiku. This exerted more pressure on camp of President Muhammadu Buhari who were not ready to give up yet.
Buhari sent his Vice, Yemi Osibanjo and his campaign DG Rotimi Amaechi to Otta once again, to appeal to the former president who is considered by many as a big political heavy weight with enormous international influence and connection.
Information made available to us had it that Mr. Obj said jokingly after the meeting that "After insulting me, they are now rushing me".
It is not clear whether the ex president will support Buhari yet again in 2019.
“We are aware that part of the strategies discussed in Dubai, where the PDP leaders recently visited and held their meeting, was to continue to dish out lies against top APC leaders"
THE OBSERVERS TIMES : National Chairman, All Progressives Congress (APC), Comrade Adams Oshiomhole, yesterday accused the top hierarchy of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) of working in tandem with certain members of the APC to oust him from office through a smear campaign linking him to bribery and corruption.
In recent weeks, Oshiomhole had been under intense pressure following allegations that he collected huge sums of money from political aspirants in exchange for tickets during the recent primary elections in the ruling party. The bribes, said to have been collected in hard currencies, led to his invitation and interrogation by operatives of the Department of State Services (DSS) last week.
Oshiomhole described the allegations against him as malicious attacks from those who appeared too eager to see his exit from office as the APC chairman, but argued that the primary elections of the APC, which were at the root of the allegations, had come and gone. In a statement released by Simon Ebegbulem, his Chief Press Secretary, Oshiomhole denied any wrongdoing, but lamented that instead of commending him for resisting criminal overtures to compromise him, he is being relentlessly harangued, abused and accused of receiving phantom bribes.
He said that while it was understandable that those who lost out in the “transparent exercise” conducted by the party have been exercising their rights to protest, the open smear campaign against him must stop. He said that the allegations of corruption were aimed at maligning his hard-earned reputation and warned that no one will get away with any action that is capable of tarnishing his image and integrity.
His words: “It is curious to note that some elements in the top hierarchy of PDP appeared to be too eager to see the exit of the APC chairman from office and may be working in tandem with certain APC members. While it makes sense for PDP to wish for cure for their headache that Comrade Oshiomhole has become, it should not be taken for granted that anyone can get away with any action that is capable of tarnishing the unassailable integrity of the APC chairman.
“We are aware that part of the strategies discussed in Dubai, where the PDP leaders recently visited and held their meeting, was to continue to dish out lies against top APC leaders with a view to distract the leadership of the APC ahead the 2019 general election. But they have failed because the National Chairman and APC leaders are focused and will never be distracted.
“However, it is time these irresponsible lies stopped; otherwise, anybody who continues to make unsubstantiated allegations against the person and character of the National Chairman should be ready to provide proofs in a court of law. It cannot be just a political game to smear the character of Comrade Oshiomhole by people whose track record is unenviable.
“We want the public to note that if the exercise of the APC primaries were to be about money-taking or money-making, the state governors, some of whom are embittered about the outcomes in their states, were in a better position to dish out mega bucks. But the National Working Committee (NWC) of APC under the leadership of Comrade Oshiomhole was motivated by higher ideals and the pursuit of noble democratic principles.
“It is sad that instead of commending the National Chairman for resisting criminal overtures to compromise him, he is being relentlessly harangued, abused and accused of receiving phantom bribes.” Oshiomhole stated that as president of Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), he fought the government without collecting bribe.
“This is a callous and wicked enterprise. The National Chairman’s credibility is unassailable. His reputation as president of Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) is a matter of fact. “Significantly, as NLC president, he fought the PDP-controlled Federal Government in furtherance of pro-people policies without collecting money to compromise the struggles.” According to him, his credibility and reputation had remained unassailable right from his days as a unionist up to his tenure as the Governor of Edo State.
“He rode on the crest of his credibility and reputation to step in the saddle in Edo State as governor for eight years where he turned around the fortune of the state. “Indeed, owing to his performance in Edo State, Oshiomhole was able to get the people’s support to ensure victory for APC governor as his successor.
“The national chairman views the current attempts to tarnish his image as uncalled for and has vowed that he will seek legal redress against anybody or media, whether the traditional or in the social media, who makes such unsubstantiated allegations henceforth,” he said.
However, President of the Senate, Dr. Bukola Saraki, has said that the corruption allegations trailing Oshiomhole over the conduct of the APC primaries would be another litmus test on the anti-corruption war as Nigerians would be waiting to see how President Muhammadu Buhari would handle the serious allegations of bribery.
Saraki, in a statement by his Special Adviser (Media and Publicity), Yusuph Olaniyonu, described the threat by the former Edo State Governor to sue him over his opinion that Oshiomhole ought to quit politics on moral grounds over the allegations against him as an empty boast, as he (Saraki) will be ready to meet him (Oshiomhole) in court.
“Nigerians are waiting to see how the President will handle the serious allegations against his party chairman. We expect the President, with his anticorruption campaign, to institute thorough and transparent investigation into the allegations against his party chairman.
“The failure of the President to get to the root of the matter will finally destroy his ability and that of the party to continue to talk of any anti-graft battle. The President should let the investigation be thorough, open and transparent.
This is no time for any cover-up,” he stated. Saraki maintained that until the outcome of a thorough investigation is known to Nigerians and the APC chairman is cleared of the allegations against him, Oshiomhole is not on a firm ground to talk about morality or fight against corruption. Also, the Deputy National Publicity Secretary of APC, Yekini Nabena, has asked Oshiomhole to come clean on the bribery allegation.
Nabena, who was the immediate past acting spokesman of the ruling party, said that Oshiomhole should leave propaganda and address allegations against him. “Simon, please stop all this media propaganda and face the reality on ground.
The damages are affecting the party,” he said. Meanwhile, the APC has described the endorsement of PDP presidential candidate, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar by the Igbo leaders as affront to the Igbo people. National Publicity Secretary of APC, Lanre Issa-Onilu, in a statement issued in Abuja said: “The APC considers Atiku and his PDP co-travellers as people who have lost any sense of shame.
“The purported endorsement of Atiku and PDP by some leaders of the South- East for the 2019 general elections is an affront on the Igbo people who were frontline victims of the 16 years of the PDP misrule. “It will be interesting to know what the PDP will be telling the Igbo people during the campaign.
The South-East people have three and half years of visible progress in terms of massive infrastructure and the thousands of common people who are benefiting from the social programme investments under APC to compare to the PDP’s 16 years of retrogression. “We in APC are confident that the Igbo won’t be fooled by any group, by whatever name, to sell a thoroughly discredited party like the PDP to the very discerning Igbo people,” he said.
The Emir of Kano, Muhammadu Sanusi II, has said that Boko Haram crisis will be a child’s play in the next 20 years if strong economy is not provided, and demographic explosion not addressed in northern Nigeria.
The emir stated this at a 3-day International Conference on insurgency and the Boko Haram Phenomenon, held in Kano on Tuesday.
According to him, economic marginalisation and poverty in sub-Saharan Africa, especially Nigeria, were the major causes of the Boko Haram insurgency.
Mr Sanusi pointed out that, in the next 20 years, Nigerian youth population would skyrocket to 100 million.
He added that if the government fails to regulate the demographic growth of the country’s population, more crises worse than Boko Haram could erupt.
The emir, who represented the Sultan of Sokoto, Muhammad Sa’ad III, noted that fertility rate, investment in education, drug abuse and its causes must be looked into in order to have a peaceful society.
“In the next 20 years, Nigerian youth population would grow to almost 100 million of youth, men and women between the age of 20 and 40. What are they going to do? Is the civil service or banking industry going to employ them?
“Now, if we don’t build on economy and the demographic explosion not addressed, the Boko Haram insurgency would be a child’s play in the next 20 years.
“So, we need to have that conversation, the fertility rate, lack of investment in education, drug problem as well as a look at its causes. This would make a great impact in the effort to find a lasting solution in the northeast and the country as a whole,” he said.
The emir, therefore, advised the government to introduce regulation of religious preaching, saying that in order to fight religious extremism, the government has to introduce licensing to clerics who want to engage in preaching.
In his remarks, Governor Abdullahi Ganduje revealed that his administration had spent over N500 million in its effort to fight Boko Haram insurgency in the state.
“We provided sophisticated equipment and gadgets. We also used highly intelligent system and effective information gathering to decimate Boko Haram in our state,” he said.
While delivering his address, the Keynote Speaker, Prof. Mukhtar Bunza, called on the federal government to urgently recruit, train and retrain security operatives.
Mr Bunza also called on the government to provide modern, more effective and sufficient armaments to replace the old weapons used by the security operatives, mostly the military.
The keynote speaker, who is the Kebbi State Commissioner for Higher Education, also called for intelligence sharing and synergy between the security agencies with modern equipment for better response and effectiveness.
The Former President, Goodluck Jonathan, has asked Vice President Yemi Osinbajo to be more concerned over his indictment by the House of Representatives in the N5.8 billion he approved for the National Emergency Agency, NEMA, without due process, than his (Jonathan) sojourn in office.
Osinbajo and Jonathan, in a statement by one of his aides, Reno Omokri, was reacting to the Vice President’s claim that his government saddled the country with debt and alleged corruption of his administration.
The statement read:
[b]“My attention has been drawn to regurgitated and discredited allegations by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo blaming former President Jonathan of saddling Nigeria with debt and ruining the economy by the alleged corruption of his administration. “How can Vice President Osinbajo, a man who had just been indicted by the House of Representatives in one of the biggest corruption scams ever in Nigeria’s history, have the gall to point accusing fingers on Dr. Jonathan, a man that is celebrated internationally for his efforts at achieving Nigeria’s best rating in Transparency International’s annual Corruption Perception Rating when Nigeria improved 8 paces from 144 to 136 in 2014? “Having read through the sordid details of Professor Osinbajo’s corruption as revealed in the indictment by Nigeria’s House of Representatives, it is easy to understand why Nigeria made her worst ever retrogression in Transparency International’s annual Corruption Perception under him this year, moving 11 paces backwards from 136 to 148.[/b]
“On the issue of debt, the fact remains that in the entire 16 years that the Peoples Democratic Party governed Nigeria, the total amount of money borrowed was ¦ 8.06 trillion Naira. These are facts sourced directly from the budget office controlled by the Buhari administration. ‘’However, in only three years, the All Progressives Congress led administration of President Muhammadu Buhari has borrowed a total of ¦ 10 trillion Naira. With this fact in hand, where does Vice President Osinbajo have the moral authority to point leprous fingers at former President Jonathan?
‘’The claim by Vice President Osinbajo that former President Jonathan left $$63 billion in debt is also a false claim. The Jonathan administration inherited $42.23 billion in debt in 2011 which were debts borrowed by the states and the Federal Government. ‘’Throughout the five years that he was President, former President Jonathan incurred the wrath of several state governments because his administration refused to guarantee their foreign loans.
‘’The reason that Nigeria’s debt has ballooned under this administration is because the Federal Government lacks the discipline that Jonathan had and are thus unable to curb borrowing by both the Federal Government and the states.” ‘’For example, on Tuesday November 13, 2018, the Debt Management Office revealed that in just 2017 alone, the Buhari administration borrowed ¦ 2.4 trillion to fund their budget deficit. ‘’This is besides other loans that they took in 2017 alone.
That money is more than the funds borrowed by the Jonathan administration in five years. “To show to Nigerians the profligacy and ineptitude of the current administration, I draw their attention to the fact that between July and August 2018, the Buhari administration claimed it had shared $322 million Abacha funds recovered by the Jonathan administration to the poor. ‘’Then a week after it made that announcement, the Buhari government borrowed $328 million from China.
“The question is this, why would you share out $322 million one week only to borrow the same amount next week? Why not use the Abacha funds to fund government activities instead of adding to the already strained debt burden? ‘’These are questions that Vice President Osinbajo should answer rather than making false allegations against former President Jonathan.’’
War of words, The ruling All Progressives Congress and the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, Atiku Abubakar, on Tuesday disagreed over the funding of the former vice-president’s campaigns.
While the APC claimed that Atiku and his party faced serious difficulties raising funds for his campaigns, the PDP candidate said the forthcoming election would not be won through money or by intimidation.
APC’s Deputy National Publicity Secretary, Yekini Nabena, in a statement made available to journalists in Abuja alleged that due to the stringent measures put in place by the present administration, the PDP is in a dilemma on how to source funds to run the Atiku Presidential Campaign.
Nabena claimed that information available to him showed that the PDP’s hope of sourcing campaign funds from public coffers has been dashed.
He said, “The presidential candidate (Atiku) expects the party to provide funds for his campaign. This is the Buhari era, an era of strict accountability and transparency in the use and application of public funds and not the Jonathan era in 2015 when the national treasury was open to PDP leaders to prosecute the presidential campaign.
“The party leaders are therefore in serious difficulties and dilemma on how to source funds to run the Atiku Presidential Campaign.
“Some financiers of the party expect that the candidate, having bought the ticket with millions of dollars, should have the financial capacity to run his campaign.
“With the candidate’s expectation that it is the party that will fund his campaign, it is now clear that they are at a crossroads and the chickens have come home to roost.”
Nabena advised the nation’s anti-corruption agencies to ensure that all sources of campaign fund by the political parties are closely monitored.
While calling for the recovery of the funds looted during the Jonathan era, he said such recovered funds should be applied for the benefits of the poor masses who he claimed were denied democracy benefits during the 16 years that the PDP was in power.
He said Nigerians have a better alternative by sticking to President Muhammadu Buhari who he claimed has done so much to ensure better future for them.
But Atiku’s spokesman, Paul Ibe, dismissed Nabena’s claim.
Ibe said the forthcoming election would not be about money but the supreme will of Nigerians.
He said, “Nothing can stop an idea whose time has come. Nothing can stop the zeal of Nigerians to elect the President of their choice.
“This election will not be won by money or lies or propaganda or intimidation but by the supreme will of the Nigerian people as expressed in their vote.
“Atiku Abubakar will be elected as President by Nigerians in February 2019, notwithstanding the machinations of the APC-led administration.”
The Special Presidential Investigation Panel for Recovery of Public Property has released the governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress in Imo State, Hope Uzodinma, whom it arrested Sunday night over an allegation of failure to execute a contract of $12m for the dredging of Calabar channel for which he had been paid.
Responding to our correspondent’s enquiry on Monday, the Chairman of the panel, Chief Okoi Obono-Obla, said Uzodinma, who was arrested on arrival at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport in Abuja from Lagos Sunday night, had been released on bail.
Obono-Obla said the serving senator representing Imo-West was released on Sunday on “humanitarian grounds” on the condition that he would return to the panel for questioning on Monday.
Obono-Obla said, “This is the message from the Director of Operations of the Panel, DCP Tahir Usman, to me: ‘Good day sir, Hope Uzodimma called to apologise and said he would like to come tomorrow (Tuesday) due to his BP (Blood Pressure), Sir.’
“We released him on bail last night (Sunday) on humanitarian ground and asked him to report back today (Monday) at 10am.
“When he didn’t come, my operatives laid siege to his residence, then he pleaded with us to allow him see his doctor and report tomorrow (Tuesday).”
He added, “We are determined and unrelenting to get into the matter. The Calabar channel dredging project has been a conduit through which huge sums of money have been diverted.”
Obono-Obla had said on Sunday that Uzodinma was arrested over the senator company’s failure to execute a contract of $12m for the dredging of Calabar channel.
According to the panel’s chairman, the contract was awarded by Nigerian Ports Authority.
Obono-Obla said Uzodinma had been evading arrest for about a year but was arrested at about 8.20pm at the Abuja airport while arriving from Lagos.
He said in the statement, “The panel is investigating economic sabotage against Senator Uzodinma arising out of the failure of his company to execute a contract of $12m for the dredging of Calabar channel awarded by the NPA.
“He has been evading all invitations of the Panel over one year.”
Timi Frank, former deputy spokesman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), has asked Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo to resign.
In a statement on Monday, Frank said the vice-president is unfit to continue in office over his approval of N5.8 billion for National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA).
Osinbajo gave the approval when he was the acting president. The money was meant for the north-east intervention fund.
Last week, the house of representatives, said the approval was illegal because Osinbajo did not consult the national assembly.
The lawmakers also called for dismissal of Mustapha Maihaja, director-general of NEMA, over alleged fraud.
Frank asked the national assembly to act in line with its constitutional mandate to check the executive.
“It is safe to say that the present administration is the worst so far in terms of corruption and circumvention of due process laws in the nation’s democratic history,” he said.
“As a learned gentleman, Osinbajo cannot say he did not know that it is illegal for any government official to spend funds not appropriated by the national assembly."
“He should have known that it is intrinsically illegal for anybody to divert funds raised through the issuance of Euro Bond – approved by the national assembly for specific capital projects – to fund his ‘emergency intervention.’
“What is most telling is that it now appears that the VP used his brief stay as Acting President to open up the nation’s coffers for fleecing in this manner with the approval of the N5.8billion to be disbursed from the Eurobond account and another N17 billion he caused to be released from the Ecological Fund.
“These acts of financial recklessness are most unbecoming of a person of the vice-president’s standing. He has a lot of explanations to render to his principal – who was on medical vacation at the time – and to Nigerians – whose trust has been rudely shaken by this stinking corruption affair.
“Being a man who enjoys immunity by reason of his office, I call on him to immediately resign his position to enable him appear before the anti-corruption agencies to state his involvement or otherwise in the scam.
“To hide under the toga of vice-president and not face prosecution alongside other NEMA officials indicted by the house of representatives report on the investigation would amount to a travesty of justice and the selectiveness that has unduly characterised the war against corruption since the inception of the present administration.
“I give the VP seven days to resign his position to enable him face the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission – like ex-governor Ayodele Fayose did recently – to clear his name.
“Should he fail to heed my humble appeal, I shall have no choice but to commence the process of making available to the public other corruption related information concerning the vice-president that will most certainly shock Nigerians.”
A coalition of civil society groups, under the aegis of C24, which seeks to promote good governance and electoral integrity, has raised the alarm over threats to the electoral process by sophisticated IT hackers.
Intelligence agencies in the country have reportedly also expressed similar fears.
The fears are based on observations that politicians are out to rig the 2019 elections.
Security confirmed that there had been attempts at hacking the INEC IT mainframe recently.
On its part, C24 said it was aware that politicians had hired sophisticated hackers from Asian countries with a view to invading the IT mainframes of INEC in order to alter election results in favour of preferred candidates on election day.
According to the group, it would be a second step in the series of plans to undermine the 2019 general election in February.
This much was disclosed by Dennis Aghanya, Executive Secretary of Anti-Corruption and Research Based Data Initiative (ARBDI) and Chairman of C24.
He said: “The end game is to remote-control the outcome of our elections in 2019 by hacking INEC servers and taking control of her website to upload fictitious result in favour of their paymasters, thereby determining electoral outcomes against the run of ballots, contrary to the expressed will of voters.”
He linked steps by some politicians and civil rights groups to enforce 100 percent electronic voting in 2019 as part of the plot.
Currently, President Muhammadu Buhari has refused to assent to the amended Electoral Act already passed by the National Assembly.
There had been speculation that the presidency was withholding assent to the bill because of the electronic voting section of the proposed law.
Speaking further on the election, Aghanya lampooned alleged moves by the opposition party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), to hire a foreign PR firm to help it launder its image abroad.
He advised that such monies should be spent on credible PR firms in the country.
“Is PDP saying that there are no better media practitioners in Nigeria?” Aghanya asked.
But reacting to these claims, Eshanekpe Israel, Coordinator, National Coalition of Niger Delta Ex-Agitators (NCNDE-A), condemned the slant of C24’s call on the public.
He said while it was normal to express fears over the possibility of hijacking the electoral process, it was not, however, wise to link calls on President Buhari to assent to the new Electoral Bill to an alleged game plan by some desperate politicians to hijack the electoral process.
“By the same token, we can allege that C24 is merely crying wolf so that the more pliant electoral process can be left for the incumbent to rig himself back to power,” explained Israel.
According to the ex-agitator, C24 should come out in the open to name names instead of hiding in the shadows, INEC’s servers were hacked as recently as last month.
This much, it gathered from highly placed intelligence sources.
As gathered, too, the perpetrators were highly sophisticated ‘hactivits’ (as hackers are called), with state and none state actors backing them.
“This is not new really because there were attempts to hack the card reader recently.
“We are also aware that hactivits from largely Asian countries have been looking with interest at Nigeria with a view to controlling our election outcomes,” said an intelligence source
The Peoples Democratic Party has described the presentation of attestation certificate and confirmation of school certificate result to President Muhammadu Buhari as a tragicomedy.
National Publicity Secretary of the party, Mr. Kola Ologbodiyan, told journalists in Abuja that, the PDP did not expect the president to, “come this low.”
He said, “it is a tragicomedy. We never expected Mr. President to dramatically come this low because you cannot have a certificate and be calling it an attestation. What are they attesting to? We stand by our position that Mr. President has no school certificate.
“it is simply a political certificate. We have said that the Buhari presidency and his handlers are always fretting at the mention of a certificate. So, they want to mislead Nigerians to say that Mr. President has a school certificate.
“if Mr. President has a certificate, why did he not use it in 2015 election? Why is the certificate suddenly emerging few months to the election? And have you checked the photograph that was attached to the certificate? In 1961, was it the requirement of WAEC to have a passport attached to school certificate?
“Even in our own generation, was a condition in WAEC that you must submit your passport to be attached to your certificate? They should come off it. It’s too low.
“You remember they procured Martin Luther Award presented to our president which later was discovered to be fake? This is a similar award, a procured. We are waiting for the story of its declaration as another procured document.”
Politics › Re: Video: How INEC HQ Karu Is Deliberately Disenfranchising Southernerns by ObserversTimes(op): 7:10am On Feb 13, 2019
