₦airaland Forum

The Village Head of Zazzaga in Munya Local Government Area of Niger State, Mallam Usman Sarki, has been shot dead by bandits.

Daily Trust gathered that some bandits launched the attack on Zazzaga and adjoining communities Tuesday night.

Sources said unspecified number of other farmers including women were also kidnapped.

A source who pleaded anonymity said, “the attack was launched in the night on Tuesday. They shot the village Head of Zazzaga, Mallam Usman Sarki, dead and kidnapped many others. For now, we cannot give the exact number of people they took away. They also rustled many cattle belonging to us.”

Another source said, “I don’t know the number of people taken from other villages because the attack was in the night. So everybody fled to bush. But they succeeded in kidnapping many people. In Kutara, a neighbouring village to Zazzaga where I come from, seven people including women were kidnapped during the attack. That’s the only number I know. They also rustled our cattle.”

Residents told our correspondent that attacks on communities in Munya, Shiroro and Rafi LGAs have become a daily occurrence in the last few weeks.

When contacted, the Niger State Police Command’s Public Relations Officer, DSP Wasiu Abiodun, confirmed the attack but said he had yet to get the full details.

TemplarLandry:

Hoelujohn:
Them think say na play Jagaban come play. In 2 years time, na wheelbarrow una go dey use wheel money to buy bread.
We are even ready to increase minimum wage to 1million naira but trust me, it won't be enough to buy a bag of rice.

SpatialKing:
Which Nigerian problems has APC government since 2015 solved?

Just mention one

Nigeria’s external reserves fell by $841.75m between July and September, figures obtained from the Central Bank of Nigeria revealed.

The CBN revealed in its report on the movement of external reserves that the reserves, which stood at $34.07bn as of July 7, 2023, fell to $33.23bn as of October 5, 2023.

External reserves fell by $2.85bn in the first half of 2023 due to external debt finance among other challenges, figures obtained from the CBN showed.

The CBN had earlier revealed that the reserves which commenced January 3, 2023, at $37.07bn fell to $34.22bn as of the end of June 26, 2023.

According to personal statements released by the CBN by Monetary Policy Committee members, as of July, accretion to external reserves remained weak while foreign exchange demand pressures persisted.

Former acting Governor, CBN, Folashodun Shonubi, had stated that, “Eventual stability of the foreign exchange market over the medium-term, will further help to achieve price stability.

“Besides, the recent removal of subsidy could have a favourable effect on price stability as increased crude oil receipts by the government will bolster reserves, engender exchange rate stability, and help to moderate inflation.”

Urexcellency:
Nigeria my corn-tree

indemnityy:
But, last time I checked, daily trust is a northern tabloid.

What again concern Obi the Eastner, Igbo tribe precisely with this story?

Alchemy528:
While the concept of a forged presidency may seem alarming, it is crucial to approach such claims with skepticism and rely on verifiable evidence. False allegations can also have severe consequences and undermine the credibility of legitimate concerns.

The presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party in the 2023 general elections, Atiku Abubakar, has filed new documents against President Bola Tinubu before the Supreme Court in which he accused the President of forgery and lying under oath, and should therefore be disqualified and removed from office.

The evidence filed by the former vice president was the academic records of Tinubu, which were handed over to him by the Chicago State University on Monday following the order of an Illinois court in the United States of America instructing the institution to release the academic records as requested by Atiku.
Tinubu is Ahmed, but the NYSC certificate Bola Ahmed Tinubu submitted to INEC has Adekunle. I don’t know where Adekunle emerged from.”

An aide to the President, Tunde Rahman, in an article, said the controversy raised by the certificate saga was meant to embarrass Tinubu as the ex-Vice President was overwhelmed by his inordinate ambition to govern the country.


While describing Atiku’s quest at the Supreme Court using the academic records of the President released to him by the US as a wild goose chase, the presidential aide said, “Overwhelmed by his inordinate ambition, the failed PDP presidential candidate also shamelessly called traditional, religious, community and political leaders in the country, including Labour Party’s Peter Obi and NNPP’s Senator Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso, to rally round him in his political vendetta against President Tinubu.”

While faulting Atiku for saying he was fighting a moral battle, Rahman wrote, “And you wonder, what morality Alhaji Atiku was preaching. This is the same man who was indicted in the 2009 conviction of his accomplice, former United States Congressman William Jefferson, over bribery charges. The same man whose principal, former President Obasanjo, wrote a damaging testimonial on and whose years in Customs were signposted by corruption allegations.”

He reiterated the testimony of the Registrar of the Chicago State University, Caleb Westberg, that Tinubu attended the institution as a male, adding that all available records pointed to the fact that he entered the university as a man and graduated with honours as such.

On the insinuation that the certificate presented by Tinubu to the Independent National Electoral Commission was fake, the presidential aide said, “Nowhere in the interrogation did Westberg use the word fake or forged as Atiku’s lawyer tried to make him say so. The fact is there is no scintilla of doubt that President Tinubu attended and graduated from the CSU.

“President Tinubu honourably earned his degree and he had no reason to forge the certificate of a degree he had in his kitty. He graduated Summa Cum Laude, with distinction. He was on the Vice Chancellor’s Honours List for all his years in the school. Insinuation by anyone that he forged a certificate he worked for is sad and misleading.”

Rahman said the former vice-president was a sore loser chasing shadows with his vow to present new evidence at the Supreme Court.

He stated, “In the final analysis, it is yet unclear how Atiku plans to benefit from whatever he claims to have brought back from the US. Certificate forgery was not pleaded in his election petition now at the Supreme Court. Without being a lawyer, this is a civil case and I understand you can’t make new pleas or present new evidence in a case that has passed the court of first instance and is at present on appeal at the Supreme Court.


“What the Waziri Adamawa has demonstrated in all of his Shenanigans is that he is a sore loser. Will he gain what he failed to get at the ballot through his present indecent and unpatriotic overseas search and unfounded and hollow discovery, making a mountain where there is even no molehill, unnecessarily heating up the polity and denigrating the Justices of the Supreme Court? I don’t think so!”


[b] APC chieftain mocks Atiku
[/b]A chieftain and former Deputy National Publicity of the All Progressives Congress, Yekini Nabena, has mocked Atiku, who he urged to start preparations in earnest for the 2027 presidential election.

Nabena insisted all the ruckus over the CSU certificate was a pre-election matter that had been forgotten.

In a statement issued on Friday, the former APC spokesman urged Atiku to concentrate on preparing for another contest in 2027 instead of attempting to drag the nation backward.

Nabena also called the attention of justices of the Supreme Court to the alleged contempt of court by the ex-vice president on the matter already before the court of law.

He said, “Let me use this medium to tell the former vice president to start preparing for another election in 2027 as usual. Heating up the polity over pre-election matters will not make him President of Nigeria. The registrar of Chicago State University, Caleb Westberg, never said President Tinubu forged the certificate he submitted to the Independent National Electoral Commission in Nigeria.

“Atiku Abubakar should know by now that Nigerians have moved on. The country is now enjoying good governance because this administration is responsive and responsible. See what is happening across Ministries, Departments and Agencies. Nigerians will no longer wait for months to get their passports when they apply. Over 204,000 backlog (of passports) have been cleared within three weeks.


“Think about the welfare packages for the elderly by the Humanitarian Affairs Ministry. The bold step to remove the fuel subsidy that has held the country hostage for a long time has seen government intervention in all sectors, including aviation, health, transport, economy, agriculture and security among others. This Renewed Hope Agenda is already working and Nigerians won’t allow anyone, including Atiku or Peter Obi, to drag the nation back to the desert.”

‘Scandal undermines Nigeria’s integrity’
The United Action Front of Civil Society, on Friday, described as “outrageous and embarrassing to all Nigerians the shocking exposé of the forgery and perjury committed by the present President of Nigeria, Bola Ahmed Tinubu.”

In a statement by its spokesperson, Hamisu Santuraki, the CSOs noted that the revelation by the CSU exposed “Tinubu’s false claims and forgery of the diploma certificate he submitted to INEC to enable him to stand as a presidential candidate in the 2023 elections.”

The CSOs demanded an apology from the President and all the APC, while also calling for Tinubu’s immediate resignation.

It said, “As governor of Lagos State, the personality of Bola Tinubu was shrouded in identity opaqueness. It will be recalled that in his sworn affidavit submitted to the Independent National Electoral Commission in 1999, Tinubu falsely claimed to have attended a non-existent Aroloya Primary School in Lagos, Government College in Ibadan and University of Chicago for a Master’s degree in Economics. But for the immunity attached to the office of state governors under the Nigerian constitution coupled with intense divisive media manipulations, he ought to have resigned following the examples of Senate President, Evans Enwerem, and Speaker of House of Representatives, Salisu Buhari, both of whom at that time were forced to quit their offices over allegations of identity theft and false claims of graduating from the University of Toronto, Canada, respectively.

“It is rather unfortunate that the Tinubu Chicago Gate exposé has now confirmed the longstanding speculations regarding the identity of Bola Tinubu. As revealed and deposed to by Chicago State University that Tinubu falsely claimed to have attended Government College in Ibadan and also forged the CSU diploma certificate he presented to INEC for the 2023 presidential elections.

“The leadership of United Action Front of Civil Society considers it a brazen criminality for President Tinubu to have forged the certificate supposedly awarded by a foreign academic institution and, by so doing, knowingly committed perjury under the law. By submitting forged documents to INEC, which included a declaration of false age, ‘President’ Tinubu flagrantly violated Chapter 6. Part 1. Section 137 (J) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.”

It added, “If within the next seven days, Tinubu does not apologise to all Nigerians and refuse to resign as President of Nigeria for the shame and disgrace he brought upon the country, the United Action Front of Civil Society demands that the National Assembly should demonstrate courage in protecting the image of the country.

“To this end, the National Assembly must not only commence an impeachment process against Tinubu on this sad discovery, it must demand explanation and restitution from him in ensuring that the dignity of the office of the President of Federal Republic of Nigeria is preserved for only the morally fit and unblemished in affirmation of the spirit and letter of Chapter 6 of 1999 Constitution as amended.”

NADECORG disagrees
The National Coalition for Democracy Renewal Group has criticised the Executive Director, National Democratic Coalition USA, Lloyd Ukwu, over his call on the President to resign following an allegation of certificate forgery levelled against him, describing it as unpatriotic.

The NADECORG National Coordinator, Prof Atilade Adeeyo, said the call by Ukwu and his group was done “in bad faith and a reflection of the pain of losing the February 25 presidential poll.”

Adeeyo, in a statement made available on Friday, said, “lt is unfortunate that Ukwu and his attention-seeking group, which calls itself NADECO USA, are now attacking the personality of our President simply because they and their jester Obidient group lost an election, which President Tinubu, who is loved by the majority of Nigerians, won.

“It has been almost seven months now, but the Ukwu group is still in pain over this resounding and deserving victory given to President Tinubu. This is why they could not react with a clear head when the baseless allegation of certificate forgery against President Tinubu cropped up from the camp of bad losers like them.

“So, the only thing they could think of is to ask the President to disappoint millions of Nigerians, who reposed so much confidence in him, by relinquishing a mandate freely and happily given to him over a mere allegation by bad losers!


“We all know quite well that until proven by a competent court of law to be true, such an allegation remains baseless, unfounded and merely targeted at disparaging the personality of the President.”

A prominent member of Organised Private Sector, OPS, the Nigeria Employers’ Consultative Association, NECA, has said the federal government got it wrong the manner it removed subsidy on premium motor spirit, commonly known as petrol, in June.

In an interview with Vanguard, the Director-General of NECA, Adewale-Smatt Oyerinde, said with the benefit of hindsight, one of the things that should have been done before the subsidy removal was to fix at least one of the nation’s four refineries to create a buffer or bridge for fuel prices.

Speaking on whether the expectations of fuel subsidy removal had been met, he said: “When you find yourself in a hole, the first thing you will do is to stop digging. When you stop digging, it does not mean you are out of the hole because you are already on ground minus zero.

”The first thing you will have to do is get yourself out of the minus ground zero to zero level before you can start thinking about development or its gains.

”What has happened now is that subsidy has been removed and when subsidy is removed, one of the things we should have done, with the benefit of hindsight, is to fix at least one of those refineries to create the buffer or a bridge for fuel prices.

”Because we did not do that, the issue of importation at the global market prices, came up and we have to pay at that price. The flip side is that before the last administration left around January and February, it was reported that we were using about 98 per cent of our revenue to service debt.

“It showed that there was no revenue in place. The past administration made provision for fuel subsidy up till June. If the past administration was actually borrowing to fund subsidy, the natural sequence for a business man is to ask himself if he is really saving because you cannot be saving money you don’t have.

”If I am borrowing to fund and I decide not to fund it again, what I have stopped doing is to stop funding it and to stop borrowing. So, you cannot technically say that I am saving because what I have stopped doing is borrowing to support subsidy.

”What we need to do now basically and we are not expecting a miracle, we are not expecting that fuel subsidy is removed and probably the small group that are benefiting from it to say the business is over because there will always be some level of fight back. However, it boils down to government doing the needful.”

”Government remains government, irrespective of how strong the cabal is and it should take responsibility for the consequences of the removal. We believe much more can be done, we believe a lot of stakeholders’ engagements can still be done and we also believe that more transparency can be put into all these issues of fuel subsidy.

”That will assuage stakeholders and help government build consensus around its plan, especially as it relates to removal of fuel subsidy.”

The ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) has asked former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar to accept his loss in the 2023 presidential election.

Atiku, who ran on the platform of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), came second in the election. He had challenged the victory of the president in court, but lost as the Presidential Tribunal, struck out his petition.

The allegation of forgery was one of those dismissed by the presidential election court. Despite the court’s ruling, Atiku continued his case at the US court, which eventually ordered release of official documents Atiku seeks to include in his appeal at the Supreme Court.

The academic records were released to Atiku’s lawyers on Monday after which the registrar of Chicago State University, Caleb Westberg, orally deposed to them.

At a press conference on Thursday, Atiku spoke on why he went that length, calling on other presidential candidates to join what he described as a fight for probity.


But responding to the allegations raised by Atiku, Felix Morka, APC spokesman, said Atiku’s press conference “lacked purpose and delivered nothing “.

He added that Tinubu had been cleared of the allegations thrown at him and that the school affirmed that the president graduated from the school.

“For several weeks now, Nigerians and the world have watched with incredulity Alhaji Abubakar’s display of utter desperation in his failed bid to become the President of Nigeria.”

“Earlier today, he put his desperation in overdrive during his press conference where he addressed some of the issues in his appeal at the Supreme Court and bandying unproven charges against the President of Nigeria, His Excellency Bola Ahmed Tinubu, in a calculated attempt to shamelessly whip up public sentiments and inordinately pressure the Supreme Court.

“We believe Atiku should have known better than to demonstrate gross contempt of the highest court by making public comments on a matter that he has submitted to the court for adjudication.

“The major takeaway from his Yar’Adua Centre show, especially at question time, was that Atiku harbours deep animosity towards Tinubu whom he believes was responsible for his electoral woes in 2007, 2015, 2019 and this year.”

Morka accused Atiku of desperation and acting in a manner unbecoming of a statesman who once occupied the second highest office in the land.

“The PDP candidate in the last election has thrown every decency, decorum, dignity and national respectability out the window on his purposeless judicial voyage of discovery to the United States in search of a magic wand for taking power against the will of the Nigerian electorate loudly expressed in last February’s presidential election.”

“Alhaji Atiku Abubakar holds the unenviable title of Nigeria’s most prolific election loser and longest running presidential candidate in history, and we see his recent US fishing expedition as the last kick of a roundly rejected presidential aspirant.

“While we sympathise with Alhaji Atiku Abubakar for spending a lifetime pursuing unrealised dream, we strongly condemn the perfidious road he has taken and the needless negative exposure of Nigeria and the institution of the Presidency in foreign land.

“We want to urge former Vice President Atiku Abubakar to graciously accept his defeat and quietly lick his political wound with some dignity. Nigerians rejected him at the polls, and he cannot get by subterfuge what he failed to get through the ballot box.

“Nigerians validly elected President Tinubu to revamp our economy, restore security, create jobs, provide transformative infrastructure, improve electricity supply and enhance the living conditions of the masses.


“President Tinubu has undertaken to serve Nigerians and he will not be distracted by a man who has consistently failed to achieve his self-serving and brutal quest to become Nigeria’s president.”

Suspected terrorists have invaded another hostel of a federal university in Dutsin-Ma in Katsina State, abducting at least five female students of the university in the North-West region.

A relative of one of the victims identified as Muhammad Fatima, who hails from Lafiagi town of Kwara State, confirmed the latest abduction to SaharaReporters on Wednesday morning.

The source revealed that the terrorists on Wednesday morning invaded the students’ private lodge along Moriamoh Ajiri School at Dutsin-Ma, Katsina State and carted away no fewer than five female students of the university dwelling in the area.

SaharaReporters gathered further that three of the abducted students hailed from Kwara State, one is from Kano and another is from Niger State.

The students from Kwara are identified as Muhammad Fatima, Bello Fatima Zara, and Adam Rahmatallahi. The names of the two other students have not been identified at the time of filing this report.

This is coming barely 12 days after the terrorists kidnapped dozens of female students in another public university in Zamfara State.

According to a source in the university students' union, they identified not less than 30 students who were among those seized by terrorists.

“We estimated that about 24 still remain. 6 has come back home. 24 are still with them(terrorists). The total of those kidnapped were 30,” a source had told SaharaReporters.

SaharaReporters had reported how some gunmen suspected to be terrorists kidnapped some students of the school.

The gunmen had invaded the students’ residence at Sabon-Gida identified as Nazeer Sabon-Gida and took away some female students of the school, whose number could not be ascertained.

A few hours later, the Nigerian Army announced that it had rescued six of the students after a gun battle with the terrorists.

Giving an update on the matter, the state police command spokesman also confirmed that not all of the kidnapped students were rescued by the Army.

JagabanB:
As usual coming from them.
I scrolled to the end before reading, I saw the name and as usual, we know where it's coming from.

The US Court Proceedings On Order Directing Discovery from CHICAGO STATE UNIVERSITY: A National Embarrassment

I speak as a Nigerian. That it took the courageous activism of HE. Abubakar Atiku to force the discovery of information concerning the President of Nigeria is a disgrace to our national institutions.

As a nation, we have a full retinue of staff at the Department of the State Security, the National Intelligence Agency, the Independent National Electoral Commission, the Embassy of Nigeria with the full complement of staff in Washington DC and the Nigerian Judiciary that have variously ruled on matters concerning President Tinubu's academic qualifications. Yet, we can not have a definitive conclusion about whether he has the academic qualifications he claimed he had or not. Disgraceful.

That all the aforementioned institutions allowed a man to be sworn in without definitive statements about his qualifications is a national tragedy. For 23 years the issue of President Tinubu has been a recurring decimal in our national equation. Under his reign, a current youth corps member is serving as Minister, and people under investigation by EFCC and made public are sitting in the Federal Executive Council. And they all passed through security screening.

The office of the President of Nigeria is so important both in its moral authority and its strategic importance to our national security and safety that nobody who has possible blind spots that can make him or her a potential asset for foreign intelligence or governments should be allowed a mile near that office. This should be a primary burden on all our national institutions. Legal technicalities and silence by state institutions should be deemed high treason.

It highlights my previous statement that a constitutional amendment to finish all electoral cases before the assumption of office is now a matter of urgent national priority. The current disgraceful proceedings against a Nigerian President in a foreign court under election petition matters are damaging to our collective moral and legal standing as a people.

If it turns out tomorrow that our President presented a forged certificate to INEC, Nigerians will bow down their heads globally in shame. On the other hand, if it turns out that his certificate is genuine, again our reputation as a people is still in tatters because of the failure of national institutions to perform due diligence no matter who is involved. On both counts it reinforces global perceptions and prejudice against Nigerians. We all bear the burden.

A forged certificate finding leaves President Tinubu in a vulnerable position morally and legally. As he did not present primary and secondary certificates to INEC, a forged CSU certificate makes him unqualified to stand for the office of President as he does not possess the minimum qualification S.131(D) of the 1999 Constitution as amended. of course, the next issue is the case of perjury, the presentation of false documents under oath.

How INEC, accepted a university degree without the qualifying certificates would continue to be a national mystery. A language in our electoral legislation to forestall such obvious infractions is required.

The decision of the District Court and the whole proceedings is not a moment of triumphalism but a sober moment of introspection. It is a moment when as a nation we ask ourselves:

What are our national values?

Who or which institution should have ordered the full investigation of the questionable certificate?

Considering that he did not present a primary or secondary certificate should our courts be concerned with the technicality of the tendering process of the CSU certificate or the disgrace and global moral damage a forged certificate would wrought on Nigeria?

Why did our national security system not conduct a discrete investigation and advise the candidate and INEC about the status of his certificate?

A few years ago The DSS, in an act of institutional independence and courage, wrote to the Senate to reject Police Commissioner Magu as EFCC Chairman not minding his nomination by a sitting President. This was based on their intelligence report of his nefarious conduct that pales into insignificance against a possible forgery case by a President. Why the silence now?

For me, the issue is beyond legalism. If and that is a big if, the certificate is forged, President Tinubu should resign immediately. It is not a legal matter but a national honour and moral issue. If he does not, the National Assembly should do the needful to restore our dignity as a people. I also expect the Supreme Court to rise to the occasion and restore order to our electoral process.

If the certificate is not forged, the President should conduct a wide-ranging reorganisation of our national security system for failure to save the country from this needless embarrassment and reputational damage.

On either count, the National Assembly should start a constitutional amendment process to end all election judicial challenges before the assumption of office of all elected persons at all levels.

A reform of the judiciary to introduce an automated case assignment system, the introduction of a transparent process for recruitment of judges, and the public display of evaluation of judges' performance annually using the agreed framework to increase public oversight of judicial officers and improve the administration of justice. The growing unanimity in arriving at decisions in our courts is disturbing.

The bold challenge of President Tinubu by HE Abubakar Atiku in the US is the most prominent sign of state failure. It is depressing but maybe it is an inflection point to alter the character of the Nigerian state to live up to the words of the second stanza of our old national anthem

Our flag shall be a symbol

That truth and justice reign

In peace or battle honour'd,

And this we count as gain,

To hand on to our children

A banner without stain.

Osita Chidoka
1 October 2023

nlfpmod:
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.vanguardngr.com/2023/10/tanker-explosion-claims-lives-along-warri-benin-highway/amp/

slivertongue:
APC failed Nigerians.