I actually took time to read through all these submissions. As I don't live in Osun State, I hope residents of Osun State and other stakeholders will come up with point by point analyses or counters of these submissions.

I hope Osun State realizes that they have gone far down the road to Economic Recovery. Some thing drastic must be done to bring back Osun State as it is being shown that State of Osun is almost financially or economically dead!

May God Bless the Federal Republic of Nigeria
May God help Osun State

Tale of Two Governors: Between Duke and Imoke


Chris Abang

Reading recent interviews of former Cross River state governor Donald Duke and articles citing him, one is left with no doubt that all isn’t well between him and his former bosom friend and successor, Senator Liyel Imoke. While not much has been heard from Imoke, Duke has left no one guessing that he feels aggrieved, and has been unstinting in his criticisms.

In his May 30 interview with THISDAY newspaper, Duke denied that Imoke had any role, except the merest peripheral contribution, in his political ascendancy culminating in his becoming governor of Cross River State. In the next breath, he had this to say: “I, on the other hand, can justifiably state unequivocally and without regret that I was responsible for him (Imoke) being appointed a Special Adviser and later a Minister, at great expense and goodwill. And were it not for those appointments and the largesse he exploited thereof, where would he be today?’’

Such an assertion would be more fitting if made about a young law graduate who used to sell used cars on the streets of Lagos, for whom a big break then was getting a contract to sell a few Christmas hampers to the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation. As someone very closely known to both men,

I’m aware that as late as March 1999, this particular individual was residing at a very modest, rented mini-apartment on Augusto Close, Surulere, Lagos.

Then the forces of circumstance, on the 29th day of May, 1999, saw Duke sworn in as a state governor who would go on to serve two terms in office, leaving at the helm in the state for eight years. While his two terms were characterised by grandiose projects with no bearing on the daily realities of the people, such as the Tinapa and Obudu Ranch projects, those in the corridors of power made huge gains at the expense of the state that is now left with a huge debt burden.

The woes of Cross River State are now inversely proportional to the gains of Duke. While the state now bleeds to repay debts ran up under his rule, the former law graduate and car dealer is now a proud owner of the luxurious 1 Olu Holloway Road (formerly Temple Road), Ikoyi, Lagos. The average cost of a plot of land in this most expensive neighbourhood is about six hundred million naira.

The same former indigent lawyer also now owns a block of 42 luxury flats located at No. 3 Olu Holloway Road (formerly Temple Road), Ikoyi, Lagos. This block of luxury flats sits on more than two plots of land on the same Temple Road, Ikoyi, Lagos. The cost of acquiring the plots of land alone for these luxury flats is in excess of N1,500,000,000.00 (One billion five hundred million Naira). This sum is exclusive of the cost of construction and finishing of this state of the art residential edifice.

This character’s mansions in Ikoyi and Calabar, and the block of 42 flats in Ikoyi were built by two of the most expensive foreign contractors in Nigeria. Both contractors were major beneficiaries of contracts in his time as governor.

A man who never had a single private residence to his name in the state capital, Calabar, now owns three opulent mansions in very large premises. The first serves exclusively as his banquet hall, where he entertains his visitors lavishly while his people are living in excruciating and abject poverty.

The second mansion houses a cinema, a dance hall, music room (where he plays his trumpets and flutes) and a full-service, ultra-modern digitalised entertainment-recording studio. While the biggest building in the expansive premises is his “private country home” where he retreats when he is “tired” of his abode in Ikoyi, Lagos. Did he earn the income to acquire all these wealth from his pay as a governor?

Imoke, quite unlike Duke, after four years as Minister of Mines and Power and governor of Cross River State for eight years, all he has is landed property are two four-bedroom bungalows (his Calabar residence at Housing Estate, Calabar and his country home at Itigidi) and a simple duplex in Abuja.

The bungalows and the duplex in Abuja were acquired before he became governor of Cross Rivers State. Where he lives in Lagos on Anifowoshe Street, Victoria Island is a family house built by his late father, a renowned medical doctor, who was a Minister in the First Republic in the Eastern Region government. Senator Liyel Imoke has lived in these houses years before the advent of the fourth republic in 1999 and still lives there till date.

So much for comparing notes on the two former governors. Yet, Duke had the brass to claim in his THISDAY interview that, “corruption has become a national scourge”. Hear him: “The whole issue of corruption has to be addressed by the governing class not just politicians, but perhaps, the country’s legal framework and particularly the judiciary. That is where the solution lies. A weak judicial system as we have today breeds corruption and encourages impunity.”

Of course the judicial system is weak, that is why many people with unaccountable wealth, who should be explaining themselves to the authorities, are walking the streets free and even pointing fingers at others.

Source: http://www.thisdaylive.com/articles/tale-of-two-governors-between-duke-and-imoke/214915/

What is our beloved GEJ kicking again? These APC people should allow our dear GEJ to rest. He is the Ex-President for goodness sake. GEJ is a unique man. Out of power but still a man of great influence!

GEJ, I hail you...much respect!!!

dekdek:


what he is saying is that the commissioners from all the states had no mandate from their principals to do such. Above all, its against the law.

But who stopped Oshiomole from going to FAAC Meetings himself?

Built2last:
So many blocked, Muted, Unfollowed then Insulted & Abused me over my insistence that this change is a poisoned chalice. Have I been vindicated? By APC operating a non-zoning policy, APC assumes an omniscient power to decide who is best to lead the NASS, at the detriment of itself.
Actually I don't see why Senators shouldn't be allowed to choose their leaders. Just as a President should choose most of his Ministers.
Let us also remember that these Men walked out on GEJ and Party Officials. APC welcomed them. What you sow, you reap. You hear hypocrites say I voted PMB not APC, abeg abeg, It's too early pls: if you didn't vote Buhari in ANPP or CPC, just shut up.

Party supremacy cannot be enforced in the absence of party vision. The vision of APC was to kick GEJ out. GEJ is out, APC is visionless.
The same folks that said "Pa Buhari is not the leader of APC" are saying "Pa Buhari should intervene".

APC is like a bus filled with different passengers and different destinations. Saraki and Dogara have collected their Change and alighted.
The ruling class fighting isn't much of a problem for the future. It is our friends that are justifying the madness we should fear.
APC lacks a common ideology beyond anti-GEJism. Bad as e bad, PDP had national unity as an ideology which all of its members adhered to.
If there is vision, you can enforce party supremacy because all members are committed to the same vision and ideology.
So an APC tweep can tell me "that they fought is not important but why they fought"??

Those justifying APC pausing Nigeria for one month can justify murder.
Every stupidity and foolishness of APC cannot be justified with "PDP also did it". As many will have us believe.

PDP was voted out. APC should run on its own steam enough of the excuses.

Gbam... I like you for speaking my mind.

Jonathan is Ex-President...take it or leave it. Aregbesola is the Current Governor...take it or leave it. Let him look for money and pay up. Who was signing off Irrevocable Payment Orders? When he was told to appoint Commissioners who could have advised him, he refused. I am seeing same thing happening to PMB.

May God bless and help the Federal Republic of Nigeria!

And where is Tambuwal today? He is in Sokoto State Government House! Saraki has done nothing wrong. Nigerian Politics is all about negotiations and lobbying and if you cannot do that, you cannot last long in Nigeria Politics. Saraki is on point and well on track...watch him against 2019....Peace!

Mrco2:
Its really not about Saraki but the other APC senators in Saraki's camp from the look of thing Saraki has Absolute majority in the senate all thoes that appeared yesterday for the election of both the SP and DSP are all in the same camp. The so called APC loyalist in the senate are just about 33 which can not even form a quorum. My advise is for APC to manage this internally expelling Saraki will just compound the woes of APC.

Boss, you are a juggernaut!

APC....una don see am? E nor easy!

Common to field candidates for House Leadership Positions, una dey blow plenty grammar!

The PDP is still Masters of the Game!

Una wan start to queue again abi?

Help is coming!

The New Military Command is now in town!

Sweetguy25:


Dude, 70 percent of fuel supplied to Nigerians are from these marketers. You won't import and keep the fuel in a storage tank, it has to be transported and sold in private stations.
The marketers play a major in the distribution, if you send them wrong signals and they react wrongly, the country freezes.

Gbam....

The OP may close this thread!

Jorussia:
Is she now an acting or substantive chief judge? Justice agumagu is still in court, and i know that the drama of who becomes the chief judge of rivers has just started.I laughed just now,when i heard that Wike is ordering the opening of courts,as if it was amaechi that closed the courts. we all know that the tussle between the federal might lead by wike and mama peace,and amaechi,over who becomes the chief judge of the state led to d closure of the courts,as there was no chief judge in d state who will assign cases to Judges. But wike and his men went about accusing amaechi of closing the courts.As for d closure of d house of assembly complex,we all know that if not for illegal attempts by six law makers led bibi,to take over the leadership control of an assembly of 33 members,that complex would not have been closed by security agencies,But wike,went about saying that it was amaechi that closed the assembly complex.If he thinks,that amaechi and APC will just sit down and not fight back, then he is a BIG JOKER.No need to even continue spelling out his atrocities, because in at least two months from now tribunal must have nullified his election and by at least Nov peterside will b sworn in as the gov of Rivers.

Where is Jorussia coming from? Boss, Buhari may come down to Rivers State to conduct this election every year till May 29, 2019, two times in a year....but Wike will always defeat any candidate 'sponsored' by Amaechi!!!

QED!

Obinovictor:
Is this good news?

My Boss, I wonder oh! This is not 1982 oh!

Ask Father Mbaka!

Thank God!

The courts are now open!!!!

Thank God!!!

gohome:


450,000 for domestic consumption does not fall from the sky. You have to produce it. It cost 30 dollars per bbl to produce it. Depending on the oil price, you will likely lose 9 billion dollars a year. This is minus the so called subsidy. With an infrastructural decay that needs hundreds of billions to solve, you want to pay subsidy? You are in a country where the government expenditure per person to tax is the highest in the world and you want to still pay subsidy. Your economy (mass transit, banks and industries) runs with diesel not PMS.

What is the population of the UAE? You are 170 million boy. It is not affordable.

Your budget is a mere 4 trillion. Guess what the budget of New York City with 8.9 million people alone is 15 trillion. Your government is poor, it needs money from anywhere. Help it.

Help it create a level playing field to unlock new opportunities. If we show investors we can buy fuel at 200 to 250 naira a liter, you will see them come. We then will be talking about 200K direct jobs easy and another 5 million indirect jobs.

Your country is poor. You need to start paying 30% tax so your government can run your country.

Buhari will not pay a dime on PMS subsidy. Petrol will sell at 1.1 dollars per liter. Unless he wants to throw away 9 billion dollars (465000 bbl) another form of subsidy. You won't die. My grandma in the village buys petro at 210 per liter, food are transported via diesel, mass transit is via diesel, industry via diesel. Nothing will happen

@gohome you have spoken so much to the gladness of my innermost hearts. Don't spend all your energy talking to these fellows. Even our Lord Jesus said so..."you will always have the poor with you".

Some uneducated fellows whip up sentiments with "poor masses". But these poor masses where alive and doing fine buying a litre of fuel for 1000ngn in Lagos recently.

AWAY WITH THIS SUBSIDY!

Once more, you have spoken well...I read every letter of your comments!

onegig:
Another person drawn from the same cloth. Ok. Let me try and explain like you are 5.

Most of us or majority of Nigerians who protested against the subsidy removal didn't do it because they felt it was wrong. They protested the basic fact that.

First, Nigeria does not have any excuse to be importing refined petroleum products as we have refinaries only that the government was inept to manage it. Question was, why would the common man have to pay for government's uselessness and mistakes?

Secondly, the figures were bogus and shrouded in corruption. If anything the price and quantity was manipulated and if facts were to be followed the outrageous amount the FG was banding around then was a farce.

Third., we never trusted the government to do what was right. The jonathan administration was corrupt and it was very obvious even before the removal of the subsidy. And we were right. What do we have to show for the trillions saved from the partial removal since 2012? Where is the turnaround maintenance we were promised? Where are the roads? Where are the increased investment? If we had allowed the full removal, aren't we going to be left disappointed at the end just like we are now.

Basic fact is. The government wanted to remove the subsidy then not because they had plans for any developmental project for Nigerians but like the leprous and insatiable thief that they are they couldn't just keep their eyes of that cookie jar.

Are we justified to have protested? Very well justified.


Subsidy removal is a nice idea but not one that should be posited by crooks and never do wells.

You are talking too much....the question is "Will you protest now, if the incoming government remove this subsidy?"

Buhari Presidency and Northern Nigeria


By Abdullahi Garba
In a matter of days, on May 29, Major-Gen. Muhammadu Buhari will once again take over the leadership of the country, this time around as a democratically elected President. He was Nigeria’s military Head of State between December 31,1983 and August 31,1985.

Buhari, from Katsina State in the North-West, is returning to power at a time in the nation’s history when the Boko Haram insurgency appears to defy Federal Government’s efforts at tackling the problem. Buhari had survived the insurgents’ onslaught in Kaduna last year when suicide bombers reported to belong to theBoko Haram group bombed his convoy at Kawo in the Kaduna metropolis. The President-elect has since vowed to handle the insurgency issue after his inauguration.

One North, no destiny

But, apart from the Boko Haram menace and other forms of insecurity situation in parts of the north, Buhari may also have to contend with a number of several other issues plaguing northern Nigeria. Again, like the Boko Haram question, the alarming disparity in educational development between the south and north, the reported pervasive poverty and what is said to be general underdevelopment of the north when compared with some other parts of the country, have equally seemingly defied solution, some 55 years after the nation’s political independence.

Buhari
Buhari
And, it is also 56 years since the then British government granted the defunct Northern Nigeria self-rule on March 15, 1959, a development that paved way for the area to subsequently become part of an independent Nigeria, on October 1,1960.

The late Premier of Northern Nigeria, Sir Ahmadu Bello, who is widely believed to have taken bold steps to develop the area has remained as popular in death as he was while alive. But 56 years on, northern Nigeria may not have made any significant progress beyond what Sir Ahmadu Bello did before his killing in the course of the first military putsch in 1966. Some 49 years after his assassination, successive northern leaders have continued to mouth the activities of the late Sarduana while he lived. At the slightest opportunity, they would reel out a long list of the Sarduana’s achievements and how he succeeded in weaving the divergent peoples of the north into what later came to be regarded as a homogenous northern Nigeria.

The post-Sarduana Northern Nigeria

However, northern Nigeria of today may be everything but homogenous. Apart from the exigencies of the times leading to the balkanisation of the area into the current 19 states, the Sarduana’s north has since acquired an inglorious reputation for reportedly being one of the most backward areas in the world, in terms of general human development. Sarduana’s northern Nigeria has since turned into a safe haven for criminals masquerading under the garb of religion. And, aside the latest Boko Haram phenomenon, various other groups had in the past virtually rendered the north inhabitable, further depleting investment and economic opportunities for the area.

The Maitatsine riots in Kano, the Zangon Kataf crisis in Kaduna, the Tiv/Jukun clashes in Taraba, Birom/Hausa Fulani fights in Plateau, the post-presidential election riots in in 2011, the Miss World riots in Kaduna, ethno-religious and communal violence in Kaduna, Nasarawa and Benue states, the youth brigandage in Okene, Kogi state, the list is endless. And, in recent times, suspected Fulani herdsmen have continued to attack communities in Kaduna, Plateau, Benue and Taraba states, with loss of several lives and destruction of property. In the days of the Sarduana, as his admirers would often say, northerners did not take up arms against one another, in spite of socio-cultural and religious diversities of the people.

An illiterate population

Over these several years, the north has reportedly continued to lag behind other sections of the country in educational development as school-age children and adolescents from the north roam the streets of major towns in the area, begging for alms. According to a former Governor of Kaduna state, Alhaji Balarabe Musa, if the north is able to wake up from its slumber, it will take some 50 years for the area to attempt to catch up with the rest of the country in educational development alone. The deep-rooted Almajirai culture seems to overwhelm whatever efforts the Federal Government and individual state governments make to get these children off the streets and send them to school. Reports indicate that the Almajirai transform into foot soldiers for unscrupulous persons, during violent upheavals in parts of the north.

The Sarduana had in 1959 put the entire population of the north at 18 million people describing it then as “the biggest single unit after Egypt in the continent of Africa.” Some 56 years later, the north still remains the most populated section of the country with eight of the 19 northern states alone recording well over 33 million people, according to the 2006 national population figures.

But the growth in population has equally produced a large number of illiterate people, in a world where education remains the most singular factor that enhances if not determines economic and technological advancement of a people.

Reports indicate that an average of about 100,000 students from Imo State alone seek admission every year to universities through the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) while a combination of 16 states in the north excluding Benue, Kogi and Kwara, produce only a paltry 73,000 candidates. The figure translates to an average of approximately 4,500 candidates from each of the affected states in the north. Even Kano state with its very high population produces less than 10 per cent of candidates from Imo state.

The Federal Government had in 1976 launched the Universal Primary Education (UPE) scheme in Sokoto and later the Universal Basic Education (UBE) programme, also in Sokoto, in 1999. Perhaps, there is no doubt that government decided to use the north as launch pad for these educational projects to enable the area exploit the benefits and catch up with the rest of the country. But, that has not been the case as there is evident progressive decline in the educational fortunes of the north in particular even as all other indices of development are equally skewed against the area.

According to Prof. Mary Lar of the University of Jos, “when it comes to education, the giant north is still in comfortable slumber relative to the other regions of the country.” She goes further to point out that between 60 and 80 per cent of school-age children who should be in school are not in school.

This development may not therefore, be unconnected with the low adult literacy level in the north when compared to other parts of the country. In 2010, the Federal Bureau of Statistics (FBS) conducted a survey to determine the adult literacy level in Nigeria. The overall literacy rate was calculated based on the ability to read and write in any language, English or any other languages.

According to the survey, the overall adult literacy rate for the country was 71.6 per cent with Lagos maintaining the lead among the states with 87.7 per cent. Kano recorded the highest literacy level in the north with 41.9 per cent, Sokoto has 33.1 per cent and Bauchi, 39.5 per cent.

And, according to the Federal Ministry of Education, out of 6,468 secondary schools with a total enrolment of 4,448,869 students nationwide, only 2,419 (37 per cent) of the schools with an enrolment of 1, 4117,645 are from the north.

Equally frightening are admission figures showing the number of students admitted into universities in the country, from JAMB. In 2012, according to JAMB, a total of about 13,974 candidates from Anambra State gained admission to study various courses in the universities through the Joint Matriculations Examination (JME). Ogun State had 13,339, Abia State had 8,874. But for the same year, only 747 candidates from Borno state secured admission through the JME while Yobe State had 999 candidates, Kebbi State had 1,702 and Jigawa State had 1,305 candidates.

Poverty, disease ravaging the North

According to the FBS, the number of the poor is on the rise generally in Nigeria with about rising with about 55 per cent of the Nigerian people were living in absolute poverty as at 2005. By 2010, this had risen to 61 per cent, and, “the situation is particularly bad in northern states where over three-quarters of the population live in absolute poverty,” the report says.

The UNICEF believes that infant and maternal mortality rates in the north are “alarmingly” the highest in the country. According to a recent report by the United Nation’s organ, no fewer than one million children born in Nigeria die before their fifth birthday, with most of the deaths occurring in the northern states. The report notes further that, “the number of women who die due to pregnancy and related causes is also alarming, with a disproportionate of the maternal deaths occurring in the north.

And, according to the Nigeria Democratic Health Survey of the National Population Commission, 88.6 per cent of pregnant women in the North-West still give birth at home with all the attendant risks. The same report gives the figure for the North-East as 82.2 per cent and the North-Central, 54.6 per cent while the South-East is 13.2 per cent and South-West, 20.8 per cent.

Similarly, the report notes further that northern women are the least informed about warning signs of pregnancy complications when compared with their counterparts from the southern part of the country. For the North-Central, North-East and North-West, 47.3, 44.3 and 48.1 per cent of the women are informed respectively, contrary to the 66.0, 60.0 and 75.6 per cent of pregnant women from the South-East, South-South and South-West respectively.

The reported northern issues of poverty and underdevelopment have continued to attract the attention of people even from outside the north. According to a former Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Prof. Charles Soludo, “it will require a, state of emergency to address the crippling poverty and debilitating under-development in the north.”

And, for the Niger state Governor who is also Chairman of the Northern States Governors’ Forum, Dr. Muazu Babangida Aliyu, “we must resolve to confront poverty which has bedevilled our people, with full determination to eradicating the phenomenon in the northern states. We must do everything possible to rise above the phenomenon. We must free our people from the shackles of under-development. Peace and security in the northern states will be inconclusive if we do not have actionable proposals with specific time lines and expected outcomes for youth employment, poverty reduction and social security for the citizens.”

And, for the Speaker of the House of Representatives who is also the Sokoto state Governor-elect, Aminu Waziri Tambuwal, “these are not the best of times for the north, especially when we recall that hundreds of years ago, the people of what is today known as northern Nigeria were already trading with the large kingdoms of the western Sudan (Ghana, Mali, and Songhai) and with countries of the Mediterranean across the Sahara. In apparent reference to the prevailing Boko Haram insurgency in parts of the north, Tambuwal added that, “now it is almost impossible to take goods from Yola to Maiduguri without fatal consequencies. It is common in some quarters to discuss how the north appears to be dragging the nation down, and to reel out indices that show how the north is poorer, less educated and less enterprising than the other part of Nigeria.”

Legacy betrayed

In spite of these negative developments which seem to retard the progress of the north since the demise of the revered Sarduana, successive northern leaders do not seem to take appropiate measures to check some of the perceived lapses and chart a new course for the overall well-being of the people. They continue to flaunt the Sarduana’s name without commensurate efforts at building on the legacies he was said to have bequeathed the north. In fact, according to a former Head of State who is also Chairman of the ACF Board of Patrons, Gen. Yakubu Gowon, “what is happening today is not the Nigeria and the north we inherited and for us, it cannot be the north we desire to bequeath to our children. We have over the years through our action or inaction, directly or indirectly allowed the gradual descent to the present disagreeable and unacceptable behaviours in our communities and the entire north.”

From Plateau state to the southern part of Kaduna state where the issue of who is an indigene and settler continues to claim scores of lives in ethnic and religious conflicts, to Benue state where majority of the people would rather align themselves to the Middle-Belt concept thus questioning the geographical entity called northern Nigeria and to the seven states in the north-west zone where the “core north” phenomenon has consistently pitched the Hausa and Fulani against the other tribal groupings from the area, the north appears to have bitten more than it can chew.

Successive northern leaders have over the years succeeded in mismanaging out of existence, legacies that the revered Sarduana bequeathed to the people of the north. According to Muazu Babangida Aliyu, in the 60s, Nigeria was a major exporter of groundnut which was produced mainly in northern Nigeria, “with the proceeds invested in the establishment of some institutions which today are the legacies of our heroes past. Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, New Nigeria Development Company [NNDC], New Nigeria Newspapers and Arewa Textile are few of the examples.”

However, apparently still living in the past and with an irritating tendency to always drop the Sarduana’s name, along with those of his compatriots at any opportune time, a cross section of current northern leaders have seemingly failed to come to terms with the realities of modern Nigeria or indeed the peculiar trend of events that tend to drive the modern world which if adopted may even present better opportunities for the people than those of the Sarduana era. From all indications, the Sarduana legacy appears to endure but the crop of today’s leaders from the north fail to emulate Sir Ahmadu Bello who, from reports, lived a Spartan lifestyle devoid of any forms of ostentetious extravagance as compared to today’s exhibition of affluence by the leaders, in the midst of corrosive poverty among the majority of the northern population.

In his capacity as Premier, an obviously elated Sir Ahmadu Bello had on March 15, 1959, told the visiting Queen of England and the Duke of Edinburgh that, “in agriculture, we are one of the two leading exporters of groundnut in the world and our cotton supplies a substantial part of Lancashire’s needs. In mining, we are the foremost producer of columbite and an immigrant source of the world’s tin. In industrial development, we are in our infancy but the success of the great textile mill here in Kaduna, the latest in West Africa, is a potent showing what we can achieve when the cheap hydro-electric power which we plan to provide becomes available in our main commercial centres….I have said a good deal about commerce because future prosperity of this region, like that of the United Kingdom, depends on our ability to maintain and if possible, enlarge our share of world trade.”

Unfortunately, the Sarduana died before he could realise some of the programmes he had for his people. But he succeeded in setting up the textile mills, along with strings of other business empires for the north which his successors have since mismanaged out of existence. The popular groundnut pyramids of Kano have since disappeared while religious intolerance thrives and the north has virtually become a killing field and as one writer observes, “the foundation of one North, one people, has crumbled. The picture is real and the message is clear, the North has fallen. The power of the North has gone awry and Arewa has lost its aura.”

Indeed, it has been a long period of regrets and finger-biting. As the Deputy Senate Leader, Abdul Ningi, observed in March, during the 56th anniversary celebration of self-government for northern Nigeria, “something is terribly wrong with the north and there are many questions than answers. We are not telling ourselves the truth, the north is only worshipping money, money and money. We cannot keep sweeping things under the carpet and pretend that everything is well.”

The north has produced the largest number of heads of state and presidents since 1960 , beginning with Sir Abubakar Tafawa Balewa as Prime Minister, Gen. Yakubu Gowon, late Gen. Murtala Mohammed, President Shehu Shagari, Gen. Ibrahim Babangida, late Gen. Sani Abacha, Gen. Abdulsalami Abubakar and Buhari who is returning for the second time. Is the Buhari presidency likely to change the fortunes of the north so that the area will no longer be described as a laughing stock, according to Babangida Aliyu.


Source: http://www.vanguardngr.com/2015/05/buhari-presidency-and-northern-nigeria/

ECOTERRORS:
Buhari should STFU and wait until he is sworn in before making statement unbecoming of a president.

You don't criticise your military on the media

My dear....I just tire for this our President oh...he talks too much...Haba! Let's just hope he didn't say such a thing about the military.

Rivers State Governor, Hon. Chibuike Amaechi, has declared that the governor-elect, Chief Nyesom Wike, was in for difficult times as there would be no money to run the state.


He stated that Nigeria was lucky that Gen. Muhammad Buhari won the presidential elections, adding that his administration would bring the nation out of its financial doldrums.


Amaechi spoke on Sunday in Port Harcourt at a special thanksgiving service held by the Greater Together Campaign Organisation (GTCO), the campaign outfit of the Rivers All Progressives Congress (APC) governorship candidate, Dr. Dakuku Peterside.


The service, with the theme: ‘I will bless the Lord,’ according to the organisers, was to “Celebrate God’s faithfulness throughout the electioneering period.”
Amaechi said: “God answered our prayers to save us. He also answered our prayers to save Nigeria. I’m not joking, we have no money anywhere. In Rivers State, no money. I think Nyesom Wike is coming, we are waiting. He will look for money for salary; there is none. Luckily for us, we endured these pains because we had to pay our loans.


“We are enduring the pain because we are paying our loans. Maybe he is lucky because we have paid out a lot of our loans if not all. So, he will have to manage. But when he pays out salary, we will see if any of them can do what we did in this state: whether they can build the schools, the roads, even to get a loan.”


Amaechi also stated that no security operative involved in electoral malpractice in the last elections in the state would go unpunished.


He alleged that a newly promoted Commissioner of Police, Mr. John Amadi, who served as Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP) in-charge of Operations in the state, during the general election, plotted to eliminate him.


His words: “I will say to all of you that there is a man called John Amadi, former Deputy Commissioner of Police, who sat down and ran a programme to embarrass the APC and embarrass the incoming federal government; even after Buhari had won the presidency. Now, to embarrass us further, I hear he has been promoted to a Commissioner of Police and transferred out of Port Harcourt. He will come back. John Amadi will come back; you will see. The only way he will not come back is if we don’t form government, but if we form government, he will account for his actions.


“After John Amadi, an Assistant Commissioner of Police in Khana said it is mutiny to take on the federal government, and sat down and fought APC as if he was a PDP member. I don’t know whether he has been promoted or not, but if he has been promoted, he will also come back. That one does not require a judge. The Inspector General of Police (IG) can promote them as he wants; he can even promote them up Assistant Inspector-General of Police, but they must all account for their actions.


“John Amadi intended to kill me and I will tell you how. On my way to my village to go and vote, I ran into some criminals attacking an APC member and I stopped. I stopped with the intention to rescue the gentle man and arrest those people, as governor. I did not know that they had given instruction to my own security not to obey me.


“So, when I told the policemen to arrest them, they were just standing. On further inquiries, I was told that we were told not to go anywhere they were voting. When I asked the C4I to reinforce security, John Amadi called them back and asked them to leave there. The only thing that saved me and saved the situation was that the Brigade Commander sent in soldiers.


“The soldiers sent the criminals away and the people were speaking my language saying, ‘somebody will die here now’ and who was that somebody, other than me? My SSS men were watching, my policemen were watching and my life was at risk. I am supposed to be the governor of Rivers State; the so-called Chief Security Officer.”


The Rivers governor however recollected what he went through in his quest, first to become the Speaker of the state House of Assembly and, later, the governor and declared that this was another moment of trial for the state.


“The president-elect, General Muhammadu Buhari, is a man of rule of law. He will not punish anybody without following due process. Let us ask the incoming federal government to punish whoever contravened the law.


“What is happening in Rivers State is not new; this is another time of trial. Rivers people can choose to pray and fast as we did when I was to become the Speaker.


“This is the time to call God because without Him we are going nowhere. I prayed and fasted for 10 months while in Ghana and God answered our prayers.


“This time, though I will join in the fasting and prayer but I am not the governorship candidate. My own is to thank and appreciate God for what I have become; from being a Speaker to governor and now soon a retiree,” he said.


Also speaking, the APC governorship candidate in the state, Dr. Dakuku Peterside, in his testimony, said he and his party faithful went through political violence and turbulence during the electioneering period and thanked God that the casualty was minimal.


According to him, the party and its members, from January, through the March 28 and April 11 elections, were visited with series of persecution, and singled out Eleme, Tai and Okrika local government areas as the places where the casualties were mostly recorded.


Peterside however expressed optimism that the elections tribunal would give judgment in his favour.

Source: http://www.thisdaylive.com/articles/amaechi-tough-times-await-wike-in-rivers/209652/

In PHC, you drive into any filling station, agree to buy at 110ngn, fill up your tank, pay after calculating price with a calculator...you drive out happy...tension free, stress free...

The power of a free and open market!

Is it not better than sleeping in the filling stations, pay 500ngn gate fee and still buy at at 110ngn per litre?

Nigerian wise up. Fuel Subsidy must go NOW!

Joeoku78:


Take it or leave it that there was no governorship election in rivers state. Court of tribunal will nullify that election and order for a fresh election. Thesame thing applicable to Abia state.
We told you igbos that Buhari will win the presidential election but I was called names that I am a fake Igbo man when the handwriting was clear that jonathan will crash. This time the court of tribunal will annull rivers and Abia governorship results

Take it or leave it...Rivers people voted for PDP! The election contest in Rivers State was between Wike and 'Amaechi'. Even if GMB becomes the Electoral Returning Officer in another election in Rivers State, Rivers people will vote 'PDP'...QED!

TheGoodJoe:


Stop buying into GEJ and NOI's lies and propaganda. They make it look as if the Subsidy is the reason why the country is losing Billions. The truth is that we are losing money because of their monumental looting.

They stopped NNPC officials from paying money into the Federation Account. This hindered CBN under Emir Sanusi to monitor their wastage.

Billions of dollars are missing because of GEJ's wastage, not Subsidy. If they did not loot this money for their wastage lifestyle and election, there would be money for governors to work and pay salaries.

Boss, whether GEJ and NOI is lying and 'propagandaring' or not...whether billions of dollars are missing because of GEJ's wastage or not...whether someone looted this country for their waste lifestyle or not...the truth is very glaring to our faces NOW!

Governments across Nigeria is sinking and the FUEL SUBSIDY MUST BE REMOVED ' "8 YEARS AGO" '. We must do it now or SINK!

jpphilips:


The masses (myself and organisation inclusive) fought for it not because we don't know that it is no longer sustainable but for the express reason that Jonathan lied to Nigerians. Do you expect me to pay for Govt's inefficiency?

Few of those lies are;



**Subsidy is paid on imported products ONLY
**The oil importers want the subsidy to stay (cabals) whereas the oil importers are praying daily for subsidy to be removed.
**He lied that Nigerians are not benefitting from the subsidy (in the real sense, Nigerians living in places where Govt has failed were not benefitting eg SE.
**He lied that if subsidy is removed, competition amongst importers will drive the price down. (AGO subsidy removal actually put him to shame on this one)
** He lied that building new refineries will end the import regimen, (we are still asking why those refineries were not built, guess he now knows what we know).


In the face of these lies, no sane Nigerian will support subsidy removal.

Boss,what is happening now?

Are you not aware that government saw all the dire financial straits coming and wanted to re-position but Nigerians refused. Now, most state governors cannot pay salaries. Most IOCs saw this coming and have taken survival decisions and positions. Propaganda blinded our eyes and minds and now we are here.

Whether lies or not then....now, our government cannot pay salaries. Subsidy MUST GO if the country must survive. GMB may stabilize oil prices all he wants, this will not help either because again, the traditional buyers of our crude are turning to cheaper source of energy and gas is inclusive. This means that demand is dropping...

You just have to face the reality....

Nigeria is sinking fast and one of the fastest way out of this mess is to STOP SUBSIDY NOW!

Gbawe:


You guys are getting Buhari's pledge to fight corruption totally wrong. Buhari has always made it clear his government would draw a line in the sand after May 29th which no one , whoever they may be, should cross after that date. Buhari never said he would arrest and jail every Politician in Nigeria because that is simply not feasible or even sensible for a government that wants to deliver tangible progress for Nigeria ASAP. Buhari made it clear he will fight corruption, after being sworn in, by using policies and initiative that will make it difficult for corruption to thrive. Alongside this is the strict adherence to the rule of law which will mean any one guilty of corrupt act, after the May 29th 'moratorium' on corruption, will be prosecuted and punished unlike what obtained before under the PDP.

So clearly, if we are not being sentimental, it is obvious Buhari's fight against corruption has never been promoted to be about Buhari jailing every politician. Buhari never said he would go after IBB, Atiku et al merely because some Nigerians hate those names and brand them corrupt. Buhari is not here to jail everyone's 'bad guy'. The essence of Buhari's fight against corruption is that the immediate outgoing Government will be probed, because money and asset useful to Nigeria must be recovered from them, while a new way of doing things will ensure corruption no longer thrives and that the 'business as usual' environment of impunity is destroyed. Holding this together will be robust prosecution and punishment for offenders who failed to reform and heed the warning that it is no longer business as usual under Muhammadu Buhari. The goal is to make it clear, in relation to corruption, that public officials must conform to the new way of doing things or face the consequences.

Sometimes, you guys/gals write as if we don't understand simple English language presentations when see or hear them. However, your post is welcomed...we are all waiting for this magical fight against corruption!

museveni:
This is the embarrassment you will get when recruit men on the basis of ' come and chop'. Too late to correct all these errors.

Permanent Secretaries are Career Civil Servants!

Billyonaire:
The opposition parties that became APC stated that there was no subsidy a couple of years ago. I expect APC to solve this petrol and refinery issues issues with a midas touch. We need change, dont we ?

Yes Boss...lets relax and watch the magical show of the APC! And don't forget, the meal they are going to give to our children o since Osun State has been doing it...GMB will do it.

ibitzbarlow:


This is propaganda or misrepresentation of facts at best. You know Abonnema is a PDP town and if there is violence, then you expect it from the other party who would do anything to wrest control from the PDP.

Can you tell us what business a DPO has in excorting a commissioner? Where are the police officers who rank as sergeants or lower that are the usual excorts to politicians? You also failed to mention the polling unit and ward in which this incidence occurred. I believe you were with the Minister and the DPO when the bargain(not reporting the incidence) was struck.

I know the bearded man in the picture. I believe you know him too. He is not an Abonnema man and doesn't play his politics in Abonnema. He is expected to be at his base (Kula) for the elections.

OP, Correct me if I'm wrong with any of my assertions. (For your info, this area is my place- Jack compound)

Don't mind the alarmists!

Here in Bonny, it is PDP. In my PU 06 of Ward III of Bonny LGA, Presidential results is 302 against 54 for PDP and APC respectively. All other elections at this PU were won by the PDP. The elections were so peaceful that you can't imagine.

dre11:



This is serious

Rivers state has being turned to war zone just because of PEJ......



Her words keep resonating round the state that they should stone anybody that shout change.....
This is what we are witnessing

Which War Zone? Don't write rubbish when you don't live in Rivers State

Ayoakinkahunsi:
News from rivers has been the worst so far
i pray some people see the hand writing on the wall and hide their head in save place
i would not be surprise if they declare 24hrs cofew. Am sure that is what the really need to do now

Which Rivers State?

In Bonny, the elections were peaceful. So peaceful that you will think it was a solemn religious gathering on the whole Island and surrounding villages. And for your info....it is PDP.
#GodWIN

If this is true, then again I doff my heart for GEJ...this is a smart move. A true politician must be able to "lobby" even the devil himself to get him to his side in the scheme of things.