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THE Senate on Thursday was divided over the amendment of the Code of Conduct Tribunal as the National Assembly took over power to appoint staff of CCT/Code of Conduct Bureau from the Presidency.








The Senate took the decision few minutes after the Court of Appeal dismissed the request by the President of the Senate, Dr. Abubakar Bukola Saraki, to stop his trial at the CCT.


During the consideration of the bill, senators were divided along party lines.


In the amendment, ‎the Bureau will first invite the person suspected of falsely declaring his asset for clarification before taking the person to the Tribunal.


The Senate had previously stepped down the consideration of the bill due to public outcry that followed the move.


The bill had already been amended by‎ the House of Representatives and was sent to Senate for concurrence.


Section 4 (2) was also amended to substitute the word “President” with “the National Assembly” as the one to appoint members of staff of the Bureau and exercise disciplinary control over them.
‎Section 1 (4) was deleted and replaced with: “The Chairman and members shall serve for a term of five years subject to renewal for one further term only.


“(E) upon complaint(s) of any breach or where it appears to the Bureau that there is a breach of the provision of this Act, any person concerned shall be given particulars of such noncomplaince or breaches to explain before any reference to the Tribunal.”

THE federal government has explained why it wants to take a $30.54 billion (about N9.61 trillion) loan, which is believed to be the biggest single external loan request by any government in recent history.

President Muhammadu Buhari, who on Tuesday requested the National Assembly’s accelerated approval of the borrowing plan, said it would include a $575 million World Bank loan.

The total loan will fund a number of key projects in the country, he said.

The projects cut across key sectors of the economy, with special emphasis on infrastructure development, agriculture, health, education, water supply, growth and employment generation, poverty reduction through social safety net programmes and governance and financial management reforms.

Mr. Buhari said the proposed programmes would receive about $11.274 billion of the total loan, while special infrastructure projects would take $10.69 billion. Euro bonds will take $4.4 billion and federal budget support, $3.5 billion, he said.

Details of the projects to be executed with the World Bank loan include polio eradication support and routine immunization project ($125 million); community and social development project ($75 million), and Nigerian states health programme investment project ($125 million).

Others include State education programme investment project ($100 million), Nigerian youth employment and social support project ($100 million), and Fadama 11 project ($50 million).

The huge loan is the highest single borrowing by the Nigerian government in history.




Consolidated public debt stock in the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) annual report 2014 showed that between 2010 and 2014 the highest external loan by government was N1.65 trillion in 2014.

External debt for preceding years were N689.8 billion in 2010; N896.8 billion in 2011; N1.03 trillion in 2012 and N1.39 trillion in 2013.

The loan is expected to help reflate the nation’s economy has been in recession for months.

The government had earlier announced a $15 billion (N4.72 trillion) fiscal stimulus plan for the troubled economy.

The Minister of Budget and National Planning, Udoma Udoma, said the plan would be funded majorly through a number of sources, namely sale of some national assets and advance payment by joint venture operators for license renewals.


Other sources included infrastructure concessions, use of recovered funds as well as long term, low interest loans to bridge funding gap.

The Minister of Finance, Kemi Adeosun, had also said as part of an external borrowing plan approved by the Executive Council of the Federation, the government would borrow cheapest available monies to fund key ongoing projects.

The huge borrowing is seen as an indication that the government might have quietly shelved the idea of selling asset, amidst stiff opposition from Nigerians.

The Director-General, Debt Management Office (DMO), Abraham Nwankwo, said on Tuesday that for Nigeria to pull the economy out of recession, government must seriously embrace “conventional public borrowing” to fund critical projects.

Mr. Nwankwo said long before the drop in global crude oil prices in mid-2014, it was clear Nigeria needed to invest about $25 billion per annum for 7 to 10 years to cover its huge infrastructure deficit.

With the drastic drop in oil revenues, he said the country faced additional challenge in financing gap in public revenues estimated at about $20 billion per annum.

“This means Nigeria’s total investment deficit is not $25 billion per annum, but $45 billion per annum,” Mr. Nwankwo said.

With the huge “structural financing gap (SFG),” he said the country needed to tap capital from all available sources, including short, term and long-term borrowing with tenors of 15 years and above, to survive.

With average cost of domestic debt higher than average cost of external debt by more than seven percent, the DMO boss said significant domestic borrowing would worsen existing high debt service-to-revenue ratio.




Prime lending rate range between 15.88 and 16.95 per cent, while maximum lending rate range from 25.07 to 26.07 per cent.

The decision to go for the huge external borrowing, he explained, was to avoid crowding out the private sector, to allow them enough borrowing space to play their role in growing the economy, in response to the infrastructure environment by government.

“The essence of the massive investment plan is that within 5 to 7 years, the country should be moving on a trajectory of sustainable and continuously strengthening economic recovery.

But the borrowing plan has been criticised by some Nigerians.

The lead director, Centre for Social Justice (CENSOJ), Eze Onyekpere, described government decision to take more loan as “fiscal irresponsibility”.

“We are paying about $61 billion in external debt already. If we add another $29.96 billion to be borrowed, we will be talking about $90.96 billion. What kind of projects are they going to use the loan on?

Mr. Onyekpere admitted he was yet to get the details of the loans proposal.

“Unless, they are projects that can re-generate themselves for government to repay the loans. otherwise, we see it as high fiscal irresponsibility and recklessness,” he said.

ALHAJI Muhktar Ramalan Yero, ex-governor of Kaduna State on Wednesday said he did not spend N2.1b on sweet and juice in 2014, as alleged by the state’s Commissioner for Budget and Planning, Mohammad Abdullahi.



However, Yero’s Commissioner of economic planning, Mr. Madami Garba Madami, described the assertion as “unprofessional and mischievous comment”.

In a statement issued in Kaduna, Madami said “our initial intention was to ignore this because every right thinking fellow will not agree with it. But due to pressure from thousands of supporters and well wishers we wish to make it clear that.”

He said, “in all the budgets signed by H.E. Dr. Mukhtar Ramalan Yero between 2014 and 2015, there is no any Financial Code that has to do with the above provision. Anybody who is interested to find out should visit www.mobp.kadgov.ng.”

“This is the usual way of this administration in order to distract the attention of the public from their failure to fulfill campaign promises.

“This is one of the consequences of appointing non-professional and inexperienced people in strategic positions.

“While we call on the general public to disregard this misleading information, we advise the commissioner and his principal to concentrate on their campaign promises. And stop misleading the people of our dear state,” the statement read.

When Social Times visited the portal for checks, none of such was found as at 6:55AM on 27/10/2016.

THE Independent Corrupt Practices and other related offences Commission on Wednesday said it did not receive any letter mandating its Chairman, Ekpo Nta, to proceed on compulsory retirement leave.








The spokesman of the Commission, Edet Ufot, in a statement in Abuja said some national dailies on Wednesday published that Nta had been mandated to proceed on compulsory retirement leave.


Ufot noted that the publications claimed that the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Babachir Lawal, had written to the ICPC boss, mandating him to proceed on leave.


Ufot said: “The report purports that ICPC is in receipt of a letter from the SGF informing the Chairman to proceed on compulsory leave beginning from October 26.


“It went further to impute perceived reasons for the alleged `sack’ of the chairman, quoting an anonymous ICPC source.


“However, no such letter or letters have been received in the Commission.”


Ufot added that ICPC had called the attention of relevant authorities to the publication for appropriate action.

THE naira hit its weakest level on the black market in more than a week at 460 to the dollar on Wednesday, as a central bank move to channel dollars to retail currency outlets failed to ease liquidity shortages, traders said.








The unit had been quoted at 455 since Oct. 17 before weakening on Wednesday, they said. On the official market, the naira ended at 305.50 per dollar, a level it has closed at for more than two months, supported by central bank interventions.


The naira had been relatively stable on the black market after the bank asked international money transfer firms to sell dollars directly to bureau de change operators to boost liquidity and narrow the gulf with the official market.


The directive was initially effective, traders said, but its impact has been limited due to few dollars coming into Nigeria.


According to Reuters, one trader told the news portal that “What we get from Travelex is not sufficient,” referring to demand in the market.


International money trasfer firm, Travelex, sells around $15,000 to 1,000 retail currency outlets weekly, but the amount is a fraction of what is required to cover demand from individuals and small businesses.


Dollar shortages have caused many firms to halt operations and lay off workers, compounding an economic crisis exacerbated by the fall in global prices for oil, which accounts for 70 percent of Nigeria’s budget revenue.


The central bank has struggled to support the local currency as its dollar reserves have continued to fall. Traders say the naira has been testing new lows as they try to find thresholds where liquidity can begin to return.

THE Senate has passed a motion for the reintroduction of toll gates on federal roads in the country.








The motion, titled ‘Need for the Re-establishment of Toll Gates On Our Federal Highways,’ was moved by Senator Suleiman Nazif, representing Bauchi-North Senatorial District, during Tuesday’s plenary.


More details later...

FORMER President Goodluck Jonathan, on Monday said it was impossible for the National Security Adviser (NSA) during his administration, Sambo Dasuki, to have stolen $2.2 billion as claimed by the Economic and Financial Crime Commission (EFCC).








Mr. Jonathan, who was speaking at the famous Oxford Union, Oxford United Kingdom, on the subject of promoting youth entrepreneurship, argued that it was “not just possible” for Mr Dasuki to steal $2.2 billion after his administration procured several equipment for the country’s military.


“They said the National Security Adviser stole $2.2billion. I don’t believe somebody can just steal $2.2 billion. We bought warships, we bought aircraft, we bought lots of weapons for the army and so on and so forth and you are still saying 2.2 billion, so where did we get the money to buy all those things?” he asked while responding to a question about the alleged missing arms procurement fund now referred to as Dasukigate by the Nigerian media.


Mr. Dasuki, who has been in detention since December 1, 2015, was arrested by security agency in an early morning raid on the orders of President Muhammadu Buhari for the alleged misappropriation of $2.2 billion meant to purchase equipment for the Nigerian military in its battle against Islamist group, Boko Haram.


While admitting that corruption was an issue during his administration, the former president said that some of the allegations have been “exaggerated”.


“Yes, there were some issues; yes, there are still corruption issues; but some of it were blown, I’d say exaggerated, and they give a very bad impression about our nation. You cannot say the national security adviser stole $2.2billion. It is not just possible,” he said.


He however, said that as some of the corruption cases are still in court, he would rather allow the legal processes to reveal the facts of the matter and that he doesn’t want to appear as challenging the incumbent government.


“One thing about the issue of corruption is that these matter are in court, let’s allow some of these processes to end. Lately some judges’ (homes) were also invaded. There are so many things involved and we have to follow up these matters to conclusion before we know the fact.


“I don’t want to be seen as a former president challenging what the sitting government is doing so I have decided to keep quiet for the court to look into them,” he said.


He said that allegations of corruption were not unique to his administration.


He explained that governments have been overthrown in the past because they were accused of being corrupt only for the new administration itself be pushed out of power by another junta touting the anti-corruption mantra.


“You will see that it has become a major topic whenever there is a change of government,” he said.


He further argued that corruption is a global problem but the perception of corruption is greater in Nigeria due to the Nigerian media obsession with reporting on corruption.


“I am not saying there is no corruption in Nigeria, there is corruption. If you look at corruption there is almost no country that is free, the degree varies, the perception varies.


“Transparency International talks about the way corruption is being perceived in different economies, why do we talk about the way corruption is being perceived, it depends on the issue raised in the media every day,” he said.


A statement by the anti-graft commission said Mr. Dasuki will be re-arraigned on November 16.

THE Dangote Group of Companies has denied reports that the disengagement of 48 workers from the company was due to economic recession in the country.








Tony Chiejina, its Head of Corporate Affairs, told the News Agency of Nigeria in Lagos on Monday that the 36 expatriates’ workers formed the bulk of those disengaged.


He said that the expatriates were disengaged because of job overlap, while the 12 Nigerians that were affected were in the procurement department whose services were now redundant due to growth in the company.


Chiejina said Dangote Group was rather expanding its operations in spite of the recession and this expansion would fire more employments in the company.


He said that the company was expanding into oil and gas, rice and diary projects, fertiliser and petrochemicals, among others.


He said that the current recession was a challenge to the company to impact more favourably on the Nigerian economy.

THE All Progressives Congress on Monday said the lingering economic crisis in the country should no longer be blamed on the 16-year streak of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP.



The party said it could no longer continue to blame past administrations for the enormous hardship Nigerians are grappling with.

The party’s new position was disclosed by the Governor of Imo State, Rochas Okorocha, when he briefed reporters shortly after he and other APC governors met with President Muhammadu Buhari in the State House on Monday afternoon.

“We must take responsibility and we must never shift the responsibility to anybody,” Mr. Okorocha said.

“We are responsible for everything happening in Nigeria.”

“The good, the bad, the ugly but we are promising Nigerians that we shall fix it,” Mr. Okorocha said.

The admission followed months of stern denial from the leadership of the APC and the Buhari administration, who maintained that Nigerians should direct their anger towards the PDP.

Mr. Okorocha, who is also the chairman of APC Governors’ Forum, said the party had now recognised that Nigerians are experiencing untold economic pains and his party had commenced initiatives that would address them.

“We share the pains of Nigerians, every human being must feel it,” Mr. Okorocha said.

“We also feel what they are going through but we are asking for a little patience let us do things the right way and do it once and for all.”

THE leader of the Bring Back Our Girls, BBOG, group, Oby Ezekwesili, has responded to a group led by President Muhammadu Buhari’s daughter, advising it against the use of the BBOG name for fund raising.




The Africa Support and Empowerment Initiative, AFRISEI, led by Hadiza Buhari-Bello, had earlier rejected allegations of franchise infringement by the Bring Back Our Girls, BBOG, group.

“The Africa Support and Empowerment Initiative has its own defined objectives and that it didn’t need to steal anybody’s ideas to operate in line with its own objectives,” the group said in a statement Friday.

It followed BBOG’s criticism of the use of the group’s inscription at the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding on the Chibok Girls Endowment Project, which took place on Monday in Abuja.

The BBOG demanded an immediate retraction and unreserved apology from the organisers of the event, and urged the public to disregard attempts at linking the group to the event.

However, Mrs. Buhari-Bello said contrary to the allegation, AFRISEI did not need to lean on the BBOG to be of service to the Chibok Girls.

While praising the activities of the BBOG to raise and sustain awareness about the plight of the kidnapped Chibok schoolgirls, the president’s daughter said her organisation had broader objectives beyond the Chibok girls.

“Given the size of the problem at hand, the more organisations we have assisting Chibok and other devastated communities, the better for the country,” her group said.

She said, as a charitable organisation, AFRISEI is committed to empowering the youth and the less privileged in the area of job creation and skill acquisition.

“It is also committed to supporting the education of the less privileged students, giving material support to the downtrodden; the internally displaced persons.

“AFRISEI is committed to educating the masses to discourage unhealthy practices such as child trafficking, child abuse, child labour and gender discrimination.”

But Mrs. Ezekwesili responded on Twitter Friday, insisting the BBOG should not be mired in request for donations.

“What’s hard to understand? From the outset in 2014, @BBOG_Nigeria DECIDED that the Movement shall NEVER be mired in DONATIONS. Simple,” she tweeted.

“WE, @BBOG_Nigeria DON’T RAISE FUNDS. If your organization is RAISING FUNDS, don’t call it “BBOG STAKEHOLDERS”. ETHICS matter, not so?

“A people that keep blurring the lines between Good and Bad,” she wrote.

THE Minister of Science and Technology, Dr. Ogbonnaya Onu yesterday reacted to the allegation by one of the two embattled Justices of the Supreme Court of Nigeria, Justice Sylvester Ngwuta in his petition addressed to the Chief Justice of Nigeria and Chairman of the National Judicial Council, that the All Progressives Congress (APC) leader approached him to pervert justice in the 2015 Ebonyi State governorship election appeal.








The former Abia State governor, who hails from the same part of Ebonyi with Ngwuta distanced himself from the current travails of the judicial officer, saying that he did not offer him bribe.


Onu did not however, mention whether he had any communication with the judge in order to seek favour for the Labour Party gubernatorial candidate as alleged‎ by the petitioner.


He no doubt agreed that he has known Ngwuta for almost 30 years, stressing that he felt for him in this trying period of his career life.


Onu in a statement he issued noted that he has laboured hard with other compatriots to strengthen the depth and reach of participatory democracy in our beloved country.


In doing so, he said, “I am conscious of the essence of the rule of law as a vital component of true and enduring democracy and the important need to treasure, protect and defend it at all times.  Even as a student, teacher, engineer and administrator, I have always worked tirelessly to uphold the rule of law.”


Continuing, he said, “let me affirm that I did not offer Hon. Justice Sylvester Ngwuta or any other judge for that matter bribe to influence judicial proceeding at any time.


“I am astonished that Justice Ngwuta made such statements against my humble self, especially considering that he is my brother, friend and long standing associate of almost three decades.


“I wish to make it clear that I know Hon. Justice Sylvester Nwali Ngwuta, both of us having come from the same old Ohaozara Local Government Area of Ebonyi State.  Our relationship has been that of mutual respect for one another over the years.”


“I have always been a builder, not a destroyer, a man of peace, honour and justice and shall remain so.


“I believe in honour as a strong attribute that has guided me throughout my more than 25 years old career in public service.  I have not changed.  And I will never change.  I wish to reassure Hon. Justice Sylvester Nwali Ngwuta that regardless of the circumstance, my heart goes out to him, especially at this challenging time of his career as a Justice of the Supreme Court of Nigeria.”

"He that studieth revenge keepeth his own wounds green, which otherwise would heal and do well.” - John Milton (1608 - 1674).



As soon as the Department of State Services (DSS), in obedience to relevant laws of the land relating to arrest and detention, released arrested Justices on personal recognition within 24 hours of arrest, a certain mixed feelings enveloped yours truly. Over time, the mixed feelings quickly transmuted into a cross breed of fear and eeriness.

 

The reason for what looked like my needless worry was because going by the peculiar tendencies of our countrymen to convolute the air especially when caught in the act of doing evil; I very well knew that corruption will fight back with an uncommon ferocity never known before. After all, the bursting of judicial corruption in Nigeria was unheard of, and probably thought of as impossible, before now. Indeed, my major concern was that those arrested and released so swiftly would have sufficient time and company of evil associates who will present to them pages and options of scripts taken from their ignoble book of mischief on how to fight back. They will also provide legal assistance and deep purses to take the fight to President Muhammadu Buhari and his government.

 

It only took a few hours before one of the embattled Judges, Justice Adeniyi Ademola dispatched a letter into the media space in which he strenuously blamed the Attorney-General of the Federation [AGF] and Minister for Justice, Abubakar Malami for his woes. According to the judge, “A DSS official finally informed me that my arrest was based on these three allegations; petition of Hon. Jenkins Duvie dated 4th of April 2016 to the National Judicial Council (NJC); granting bail to Col. Sambo Dasuki and the unconditional release of Nnamdi Kanu; and using my office to secure my wife’s appointment as the head of civil service, through Senator Bola Tinubu.”

Ademola said he saw his arrest as revenge from Abubakar Malami, whose arrest and detention he ordered over a professional misconduct while he was judge in Kano between 2004 and 2008. Indeed, story for the gods!

 

In his hurry to concoct an alibi, Justice Ademola conveniently forgot to expatiate on the petitions he acknowledged were written against him but rather dwelled copiously but disingenuously on the red herring he created around the AGF. The reasons for dragging in the national leader of the APC, Alhaji Ahmed Bola Tinubu and AGF Malami are many. He wanted the sympathy of BAT and his followers and in Malami, Justice Ademola found a fitting personality right in the heart of the Buhari government who he can use to blackmail the President and his government. Is there a better way for corruption to fight back than this?

 

Just as Nigerians were conditioning themselves to the emerging melodrama by Justice Adeniyi Ademola, another embattled judge of the Supreme Court, Justice John Inyang Okoro and his collaborators in Akwa Ibom and Rivers State were concluding a different episode in what has now become the grand epic movie in which the central theme is the get-him-at-all-cost quest for Rt. Hon. Chibuike Rotimi Rotimi Amaechi, the Minister of Transportation in the Buhari government.

 

In a self-deprecating letter to the CJN and widely circulated in the media, Justice John Okoro rambled, huffed and puffed about how Amaechi approached him to pervert justice in the 2015 governorship election matters of Rivers, Akwa Ibom and Abia States. He claimed to have mentioned the matter to the CJN at the time but never bothered to follow the prescription of the law in such a circumstance which required him to put it in black and white to his boss and also report to security agencies. In his hurry to manufacture lies, a supposed experienced Supreme Court judge conveniently forgot the provisions of the Independent Corrupt Practices and other Related Offences Commission Act 2000; 23(1) which says: “Any public officer to whom any gratification is given, promised, or offered, in contravention of any provision of this Act, shall report such gift, promised or offer together with the name, if known, of the person who gave, promised or offered such gratification to him to the nearest officer of the commission or police officer.”

 

Not a few Nigerians have raised questions about the highly mendacious and self-incriminating letter by Justice John Okoro. What will be the basis for Amaechi to approach Justice Okoro to pervert justice in the Akwa Ibom governorship matter when he could not have been enlisted on the panel as an indigene of Akwa Ibom State? What really is the nexus between his wild allegations and what the DSS has accused him of? As men of the law, why is it that neither Justice Okoro nor the CJN followed the provisions of the law if an attempt was made to bribe a Supreme Court judge?

 

Following on the heels of Justice John Inyang Okoro’s spurious allegations, came yet another letter by another Supreme Court judge, Justice Nwali Sylvester Ungwuta. Again, Ungwuta took refuge under the name of Rt. Hon. Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi who he shamelessly concocted white lies against, claiming the Minister attempted to bribe him to pervert justice in electoral matters. Ungwuta also dragged in Dr. Ogbonnaya Onu to further confer the toga of credibility on the plot by the shamed judges to square up with the PMB government and possibly halt the war against corruption as it relates to the judiciary.

 

Today, what has become very apparent is that there were several well organised rehearsals by these embattled and alleged bad eggs in the judiciary to hit back at the very heart beat of the Buhari administration as corruption fights back.

 

We know that the idea is that the easiest way to hit at the very heart of a strongman is to harm his favourite offspring. Same persons who are hell bent on humiliating the PMB government continue to explore from their mischief box. They started with avenging the defeat of their man, which seems to be failing. Now, they have turned on Amaechi and that will also fail.

 

It is also worthy of note that all those who have been rueing their loss of the 2015 Presidential election have quickly regrouped to exact their pound of flesh from the very undisputed game changer and driver of the PMB victory which ensured the effective consignment of their Man Friday, the Otuoke man, to the backwaters of history. And that man is Rt. Hon. Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi CON.

 

The flurry of activities in Government House Port Harcourt has since heightened. We have heard plots to air CCTV footages. But all those insidious plans cannot be more than the previous plots. They failed then, they will fail now. Those evil iron-cast conspiracies will all lie in ruins. It is a matter of time. For them, Amaechi has become the proverbial alligator pepper that must be ever present in every brew by traditional medicine men.

Chris Finebone is the APC Publicity Secretary, Rivers State

Opinion Article expresses the author’s opinion only. The views and opinions expressed do not necessarily represent those of Social Times or its editors.

PROFESSOR Yemi Osinbajo, Nigeria's Vice President has said the present administration’s fight against corruption will touch every sector in the society.

He lamented that corruption had permeated every stratum of the society and was responsible for poverty and other challenges facing the nation.


Osinbajo spoke in Ado Ekiti on Friday during the 2016 convocation ceremonies of the Afe Babalola University, Ado Ekiti, where Governor Ayodele Fayose called on the Federal Government to support the state in the construction of an airport.


“I have great respect for Chief Afe Babalola because of his stand against corruption.


Sometimes in 2002, Chief Babalola argued the case for the establishment of Independent Corrupt Practices and other Related Offences Commission where he let the court realised that corruption is the greatest problem of our nation.


“All the institutions of government , I mean the executive, legislature and the judiciary are corrupt. What we need is serious reorientation . That is why ABUAD is a great  university because it teaches learning , character and morality. So, value reorientation is a key weapon to fight corruption.


“That was why the present federal government is intervening, because if we refuse, every facet of the country will fail.  We must act fast and deal with the situation as quickly as possible.”


The Vice President while responding to Fayose’s request said  ‘Ekiti state deserves an airport but I have discussed what we need in return with his Excellency.


“The Federal government will continue to give support to every project that will fast-track development in each of the states of the federation. We know how important this airport is to ABUAD.”


He commended ABUAD for blazing the trail in the academic and other resourceful ventures. He advised the graduands to be multi-skilled to be able to compete under the present economic situation.

THE Presidency on Friday disclosed that the 2017 Budget will not be presented to the National Assembly until the conclusion and approval of the Medium Term Expenditure Framework/‎Fiscal Strategy Paper by the legislature.








President Muhammadu Buhari had a fortnight ago submitted the 2017-2019 MTEF/FSP to the National Assembly for consideration and approval.


At an an interactive session with journalists on Friday, the Senior ‎Special Assistant on National Assembly Matters (Senate), Senator Ita Enang, promised that government agencies are already working toward the 2017 Budget proposal.


Enang said: “‎I want to assure you that, first, the budget implementation for 2016 is going on very well and everything.


“It is going on as expected and appropriated.


“The Expenditure and Fiscal Strategy Paper, Mr. President has submitted that to the National Assembly – Senate and House of Representatives – and they are considering it.


“It is what is approved by the National Assembly and the parameters such as the exchange rate, oil price benchmark, volume of the budget, borrowing plan and other parameters that are contained therein that may be approved or as may he approved by the National Assembly that will be used in concluding the budget estimates.


“I want to assure you that on the part of the Executive, the budget will be concluded and presented such that the budget will be considered and approved, working with every person, within the year, such that the implementation can start by 1st of January, 2017.


“That is the expectation of the Executive and that is what Mr. President, the Vice President and the honorable ministers are working towards.


“Therefore, I want us to relax and be a‎ssured that all will be done within the time.


“Definitely, we are working together with the legislature on getting MTEF and FSP passed that it will guide us in the conclusion of budget details.”

THE National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress has proven to be a most unique man. John Odigie-Oyegun’s reply to what we have revealed about his malfeasant handling of the Ondo primaries shows but one thing: he has decided that he is better served by continuing his romance with misdirection and falsehood. While these slick tools may be useful to Oyegun’s ulterior designs, they ill suit the interests of the APC and of the electorate which the party is meant to serve.








In our initial submission, we warned that Oyegun is willing to dash the ideals and the institutions of the party in order to advance some hidden agenda in stark opposition to the progressive goals upon which this party has been founded.


Oyegun’s reply is that of a guilty man who has hired a legal pettifogger to manufacture what seem like sound arguments but which are really nothing but sound.


Oyegun has become so accustomed to lying that falsehood is now his default utterance. Attempting to lend the image of formality and honesty to his misdeeds, Oyegun’s hired lawyers’ who drafted his response as if some sort of legal brief. Again, Oyegun submits himself to the false belief that form outweighs substance. Yet, a well-dressed lie is no closer to the truth than the most naked falsehood.


In his submission, Oyegun claims that we somehow imagined there was an NWC vote to cancel the flawed primary. Those who do not read closely will be tricked by Oyegun’s verbal indirection. However, those accustomed to his methods will read carefully and find the warts on his statement. Oyegun claims the minutes of the emergency NWC meeting which spanned from Monday September 19 to Thursday September 22 shows that no such vote was taken. Something is patently wrong with this.


The four-day meeting was called specifically to discuss the flawed Ondo primary. Yet, Oyegun’s claims that for nearly a week he did not table a vote for the NWC to clearly decide whether the NWC would attach its official stamp to the flawed primary or reject it. Based on his own words, either Oyegun admits to being so grossly incompetent as a chairman of a national party that he could not steer the NWC to a simple vote or that he was engaged in a game of subterfuge that would not permit a straightforward yes-or-no vote on the central issue.


Showing his penchant to mislead, Oyegun writes that the “according to the minutes of the meeting” there was no such vote. If the vote did not take place, why doesn’t Oyegun just say no vote took place? That is how an honest man without nothing to hide would have replied. Not Oyegun. He dare not say that he did not hold the vote. Instead, he hides behind the words his lawyers gave him to say to deceive an unsuspecting public. If he has nothing to conceal, there would be no reason to have to resort to the awkward phrase, “according to the minutes of the…meeting.”


Here, we get to the core of Oyegun’s trickery. Oyegun approved the use of the tampered delegates list. Oyegun unilaterally submitted the name of Akeredolu as the party candidate although, according to his own admission, no vote was held. If Oyegun can be an active party to inserting over 150 fraudulent names in delegate roster and can ignore the stated wishes of the NWC majority, it is but a minor chore for him to doctor the NWC minutes as a way to cover his larger wrongs. He thus points to the minutes to give the appearance of following correct procedure. What he forgets to tell you is that falsifying minutes of a meeting is a small thing for a person helping to engineer the thief of an entire state primary. If one is bold enough to steal a house, that same person will not wilt from falsifying the deed to it as well.


If you read Oyegun’s statement, he says that an NWC member, who he does not name, mentioned some collateral decision taken by the NWC. Oyegun says the implication of that prior decision meant that the NWC wanted the primary result to stand as is. Thus, he took it upon himself and “ruled” to uphold the primary result. Again, he applies confusing words in order to cover-up the injury he has caused.


A careful examination of his words once more shows he is either supremely negligent or deeply crooked. His own words prosecute him. There is no way a skilled or honest chairman would base such a momentous decision on what he infers from a prior vote not directly on point as to the core issue at hand. What he admits to is taking it solely upon himself to assume that a vote on a lesser matter should preclude a vote on the central issue that led to the calling of the emergency session in first instance. He now claims the gift of clairvoyance. He asks us to belief he can perfectly and conclusively determine how someone will vote based on a prior vote on a different issue. For this to be the logic upon which he relies, something is fatally wrong with his defense of his actions. Oyegun’s attempts to obfuscate are vain. His own words still hang him.


Once more hiding behind his pettifoggers, Oyegun says he rejected the recommendation of the Appeals Committee because the Committee said that the conduct of the overall primary was in “substantial compliance” with pertinent rules. Because he wished to steer the result to an appointed end that had nothing to do with the justice of the matter, Oyegun gave this phrase a meaning that its authors clearly did not intend. Reading the Appeals Committee report not as a loose amalgam of separate phrases but in its entirety as a coherent document in order to give it the true meaning intended, one easily can see the findings of the Committee.


The Committee found that in most aspects of the exercise, the primary was well conducted. However, when it came to the validity the delegate list and of right of many on the list to actually vote as delegates, the process was too flawed to ignore. Due to these few yet material reasons, the Committee determined the primary should be redone notwithstanding the otherwise proper aspects of the exercise. It is more than obvious that this is the intent of the Committee. It is also more than obvious why Oyegun and his crude subordinates choose to ignore this interpretation which stared them right in the face.


Oyegun and his lawyers thus disobeyed the first rule of interpretation when they failed to give true measure to the document in its entirety. Instead, they decided to hang their hat on a single this phrase taken out of context. This is what people do when trying to conceal something or to trick people. This is not the behavior of one seeking fair play and honest dealings.


Oyegun took it upon himself to interpret the phrase as if to mean that the Committee had given the primary a stamp of approval. For him to do so, however, required him to totally ignore the explicit recommendation of the Committee to dismiss the flawed primary in order to hold a corrective one. Oyegun strains to defend his position by claiming to stand on correct ground because he drew a conclusion based on a single phrase when the tenor and letter of the entire document explicitly stated the opposite. Frankness is not what comes from Oyegun. It is sophistry of the lowest kind. His lawyers have engaged in the grossest malpractice because they were guided by a terrible malevolence to bury and not raise the truth.


Oyegun stands alone in defense of his actions and in calling our submission a product of wild imaginings. Funny, Oyegun takes no issue with and seems purposefully not to mention the statements of NWC member, Chief Pius Akinyelure, and acting National Publicity Secretary, Timi Frank.


If Oyegun is right, he would confront them. Instead, he ignores their accounts in hope that the public will ignore them as well.


Akinyelure attended the meeting and refuted Oyegun’s version of events to its core. The accounts of these two prominent APC members are consistent and track with what we have said. In his statement, Akinyelure affirmed that the delegate list was unilaterally altered by the National Organising Secretary without informing the NWC until after the primary.


This exposes Oyegun’s claim about the propriety of the list as the bare lie it is. Evidently, Oyegun knew of the Secretary’s actions beforehand; yet, for reasons known to Oyegun, decided not to tell the rest of the NWC until after the misdeed had achieved its desired result.


Chief Akinyelure further refutes Oyegun by affirming that the majority of the NWC accepted the Election Appeal Committee report as credible. The majority of NWC members wanted to cancel the result and redo the primary, says Akinyelure. He stated the NWC had voted by a six to five margin to submit an interim or substitute name to INEC as placeholder while the party redid the flawed primary. However, Oyegun would not adhere to the position of the NWC majority.


Akinyelure has publicly stated that Oyegun and his accomplice, the National Organising Secretary, submitted Akeredolu’s name to INEC in open defiance of the NWC. Akinyelure also has stated that the majority of NWC members support his account of events. No wonder that Oyegun did not dare respond to what Akinyelure and Frank, as participants and eyewitnesses, have said of him.


The statements of Akinyelure and Oyegun cannot be harmonised. We know the character and integrity of Chief Akinyelure. They are impeccable. We have become acutely familiar with the slick manner of Oyegun. He has unfurled to be a master of deceit. If faced with the option of believing in the veracity of Akinyelure compared to that of Oyegun, there no option. Akinyelure is telling the truth.


Coupled with the information contributed by Timi Frank, Akinyelure’s indictment of Oyegun’s actions is unassailable.


John Oyegun may shed an actor’s tears about the damage to his reputation and feign indignation. Yet, the wise and prudent can see through the veil he casts.


His theatrics are unavailing. Any damage to his reputation is self-inflicted. If there is any insult he feels, it is not a sentiment derived from being innocent; it is the anger of one caught amidst his bad acts.


In all of this his personal feelings are of secondary import. As chairman, he have done more damage to the party than are most ardent opponents. He has made a mockery of the internal processes of the party. He has helped impose a candidate in Ondo that the vast majority of our members stridently oppose. The stealth-like imposition of this unpopularity further intensifies this internal objection.


John Oyegun, your agenda, we do not know and cannot fathom. But we do know that your agenda is not that of the party so many progressive and democratic Nigerians have sacrificed to build.
As long as you remain chairman, the weakening of the APC is mostly assured.


If there is a single fiber of decency in your being, you would resign forthwith so that those who care may rescue this party and return it to its true and proper democratic course. The APC should not become the PDP-lite simply because you deign it within your right to turn it so.







Joe Igbokwe writes from Lagos State, Nigeria.

Lalasticlala, mynd44

GOVERNOR Rochas Okorocha of Imo State on Sunday dismissed the assertion that President Muhammadu Buhari’s three-day visit to Germany was more of a medical trip than official engagements.








Okorocha, who was part of the President’s entourage to Berlin, Germany, was reacting to media interview granted by a Kano-based social commentator, Dr. Junaid Muhaamed.


Muhammed had alleged that Buhari visited Germany on Friday to seek medical attention over an undisclosed illness.


Okorocha, who spoke to State House correspondents in Abuja, however, debunked the allegation, saying that the official engagements of Buhari in Germany had no connection, whatsoever, with medication.


He said the visit to Germany only ended on a compassionate note on Saturday with the President’s convoy veering off its way back to the airport in Berlin, to visit a Nigerian military officer receiving treatment in a Berlin hospital.


Okorocha said: “President never went for any medical check-up.


“At least I was with him till 1.00a.m, after the dinner before I left him and he went to bed.


“I went to bed and the following day I came out to see him in the morning.


“So, the President never went for any medical at all.


“The only hospital we went to was to see a General who had an accident.


“These are some of the things that people make uninformed comments and I do not know why in this part of our world we are always happy when someone is going down.


“I think there is need to change our attitude completely.


“If this issue had been on issue on how to move Nigeria forward, you won’t see on social media, you will not see comment on it, nobody will talk about it.”

sarrki:
Baba no price is too small to pay

Less I forget

Bros where the source

PRESIDENT Buhari has denied knowledge of what his government exchanged with Boko Haram for the 21 abducted Chibok girls, saying he would need to return from Germany to be fully briefed.


“This is what I don’t know until I go back. I said the release is on the morning I left and this is not something we will discuss on the telephone,” Mr. Buhari said in the interview with German broadcaster, Deutsche Welle.


Twenty-one Chibok girls were released on Thursday and some government officials said the administration did not give Boko Haram anything in return.


The Minister of Information, Lai Mohammed, denied a report that the government released Boko Haram detainees for the girls.


“Please note that this is not a swap. It is a release,” Mr. Mohammed told reporters Thursday.


Mr. Mohammed said President Buhari assigned the State Security Service to proceed with the negotiation and credited the release to “painstaking negotiations and trust on both sides”.


During the exchange with Mr. Buhari, Deutsche Welle’s Phil Gayle asked the president if he was aware of an exchange of Boko Haram commanders for the girls as widely reported in the media.


“Until I go back, I will receive a formal briefing on how the negotiations went,” Mr. Buhari said. “As soon as I go back home I will find out the written confirmation of how it all went.”



The president had stated his readiness to negotiate with the terrorists but only after their genuine leaders are identified.


Mr. Buhari who arrived Nigeria on Sunday travelled to Germany on Thursday for talks with that country’s leader, Angela Merkel.

AMIDST  allegation of vendatta against him by two judges whose home the Department of State Security raided last week, the Attorney General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami, has advised the duo to go to court and prove their innocence.








Malami while reacting to the gamut of allegations fired against him by the two judges through his Media Adviser, Comrade Salihu Isah, described their claims as mere afterthought, which he says does not have the force of law.


It will be recalled that Justice Ademola Adeniyi and Justice Dimgba both of the Federal High Court, Abuja, had slammed Malami for being responsible for their travails in the hands of the DSS because of the previous verdicts they delivered against the justice minister.

THE Ebonyi Police Command has confirmed the clash between its officers and soldiers from the Nigerian Army Cantonment, Nkwagu, near Abakaliki, on Saturday evening.








DSP George Okafor, the Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO) in the state, confirmed this to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Sunday in Abakaliki.


However, Mr. Okafor said that the matter had been resolved amicably.


According to him, the clash is unfortunate and efforts have been made by the two agencies to forestall such occurrences in future.


“The matter has been peacefully resolved and we urge the public not to panic over the development but be assured of their safety at all times,” he said.


Mr. Okafor, who declined further comments on the issue, also failed to confirm whether police officers involved in the clash sustained injuries.


A witness, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, told NAN that the incident occurred at No. 1, Water Works road, Abakaliki.


“Trouble started when a police patrol team on road check requested for the identity cards and vehicle particulars of army officers from the Nkwagu military cantonment.



“The soldiers rode a tinted Toyota Camry car with registration number BWR 886 AE and a black Toyota Jeep with the inscription of ‘Bride’ used to convey a newly wedded couple.


“The soldiers, who were in their uniforms except one personnel, told the police team they were returning from a wedding and felt embarrassed by their request for the documents.


“At this point, one of the police officers stopped the soldiers from passing and the latter angrily fired sporadically into the air,” he said.


According to the witness, who is a security agent, the police officers called the Special Anti Robbery Squad (SARS) on phone and immediately they stormed the scene, one of them slapped a soldier.


“The clash subsequently ensued and the police who had the upper hand, took some of the soldiers to the command’s headquarters while confiscating their rifles.


“The soldiers who escaped from the scene, rushed to the cantonment and on their way, allegedly attacked some policemen near the cantonment and held them hostage,” the security agent told NAN.


The witness also said one of the police officers held by the soldiers was released and he quickly rushed to the command to report that some officers were being held at the cantonment.


“This development almost affected the peace moves made by both security agencies but the situation eventually normalised following intervention by top echelon of both agencies,” the source added.


The army authorities were yet to react to NAN enquiries or make public their reaction over the development.


(NAN)

A Judge of the Federal High Court in Abuja, Justice Nnamdi Dimgba, has said the operatives of the Department of State Services who arrested him last week Friday mistook him for two other judges but still insisted on arresting him.








Justice Dimgba said this in a protest letter he sent to the Chief Justice of Nigeria and the Chairman of the National Judicial Council, Justice Mahmud Mohammed, over his arrest by the DSS.


Dimgba said he was mistaken for Justice Inyang Okoro and Justice Adeniyi Ademola.


He said despite the fact that he proved to the DSS operatives that he was none of the two judges, they still went ahead not only to harass and search his house without a warrant, but equally beat his relative and driver to a pulp.


He stated in the letter to Justice Mohammed: “When I asked, they first presented me with a search warrant for a No. 19 Ogbemudia Crescent, Apo Legislative Quarters, Zone E and which had a John Inyang Okoro as defendant. When I explained to them that my house address was not No. 19 Ogbemudia Crescent, Apo Legislative Quarters, Zone E, and that my name was certainly not John Inyang Okoro, on the search warrant, the DSS team leader explained that there was a mix-up, and then presented me with another search warrant for 30 Ogbemudia Crescent, Apo Legislative Quarters, Zone E, but which had A.F.A Ademola as the defendant.


“When I also explained that I was not A.F.A Ademola but that my name was Justice Dimgba, the DSS team leader stated that whatever was the case, they (the DSS) were under instructions from above to search Justice Nnamdi Dimgba’s house.”


Dimgba’s residence is separated by a fence from that of Justice Ademola, who was also arrested and has equally protested to the CJN.


Dimgba said his ordeal started on September 16, 2016 when the DSS invited and detained his Registrar at their office in Abuja.


He said the registrar was re-invited on September 26, 2016.


He said the registrar was detained, her phones seized and the operatives of the DSS “threatened her to provide them with testimonies that could implicate me in the performance of my official duties”.


He said his house was “invaded” by a team of over 20 operatives of the DSS in about five operational vehicles without a search warrant.


He said he tried to resist the search because the operation was not backed by a search warrant and later managed to “seek refuge in the garden” in an adjacent premises.


Dimgba added in the letter: “I endured the whole ordeal in this open garden as my neighbour was away.


“Thereafter, the DSS operatives turned on my nephew, who resides with me, and my driver, beat them to a pulp with guns, and forced their way into and ransacked the entire house in the course of execution of a non-existent search warrant.”


Dimgba said the DSS operatives went away with his work bag “containing a number of case files which I had planned to work on for the weekend in relation to judgments adjourned, the power cable of my laptop and also my copy of the reply dated September 4, 2016, which I had sent to the NJC to the DSS’ petition against me”.


He added in the letter to the NJC: “I pray, my Lord, for your intervention to: stop these acts of harassment and intimidation against me by the DSS; and “Ensure the immediate return of these seized case files and my answer to their petition to me. Not returning the case files makes it almost impossible for me to proceed with the completion of the judgments.


“I also wish to state that I intend to commence legal proceedings in court against the DSS for the above brazen violations of my rights, unless my Lord otherwise advises.”

Lalasticlala, mynd44

PRESIDENT Muhammadu Buhari says his administration is greatly encouraged by the uncommon support from Nigerians in the fight against corruption, as well as initiatives aimed at stimulating the economy.

Speaking in an interactive session in Berlin with representatives of the Nigerian Community in Germany, President Buhari said his administration will reciprocate the gesture by strengthening critical institutions needed for sustainable development and prosperity.

``We are working hard to empower our institutions especially our educational institutions.

``If you educate a person that is the best you can do for him but if not you make him susceptible to religious, ethnic, negative thinking and action.

“Nigerians are virtually supporting us in our fight against corruption, security and the economy. He referred to "Rolls Royces," recently discovered in the homes of certain government officials as a clear reference of the rot in society and the fact that the war against corruption in the country is working.

“There are things that are happening, which if such had happened before there would have been major riot, like the removal of subsidy on fuel,’’ he said.

President Buhari told Nigerians in the Diaspora that it was regrettable that over the years oil marketers had colluded with banks to defraud Nigeria of much needed revenue from the commodity.

“One third of the activities of the oil marketers are fraudulent, you can see how some of us Nigerians are wicked.

“They just take the money, stamp some papers without bringing the product and this fraudulent activity was between bankers and businessmen,’’ he said.

The President therefore declared that his administration will continue to ``to be very hard on corruption’’,  in addition to encouraging more Nigerians to pay their tax.

“If you work hard and get your money we will try and see how much tax you can pay us, but to take money from government and get away with it no more,’’ the said.

The President used the occasion of his interaction  with Nigerians to underscore the importance of his three-day visit to Germany, the largest economy in Europe, noting that he was upbeat on improved trade ties between both countries because of new investment incentives offered by Nigeria.

Lalasticlala, mynd44

ziryboy:
You are just an illiterate for posting these. Its an official letter, signature and the name is there. Cant you the name under the signature? Maybe you dont know what signature means, idiot.