₦airaland Forum

Nobel laureate, Wole Soyinka, has insisted that the President Muhammadu Buhari administration has failed.

According to him, the problems confronting Nigeria were beyond Buhari.

Soyinka stated this while playing host to students who paid him a visit on his 85th birthday.

The literary icon made it clear that while state governments differ in success rates, “central government has failed”.

“The problems of this nation are beyond the solution that can be offered by this government, that’s the first admission; they have to stop thinking in partisan government.

“There has always been a major problem with successive governments. It’s easier on the state level to say that a particular state is definitely doing better than another state. But the central government has failed, that’s my view in the main.

“There is a minimal level which any government which has been elected to power must achieve to be considered a true representative of the people.

“Look at what’s happening today with the cattle all over the place, that’s a security issue which should never have reached this level. That singular act has resulted in hundreds of people being killed, farms were taken over; it has wiped away a lot of the positive achievements of the government.

“They need to confront this nation as a habitation of human beings where very serious issues like economy, security, health, even threats of secession come up every day and convoke at the same time, a national conference, what I call an Indaba across all section which we will all meet and debate everything, including the economy of this nation,” Soyinka said.



Read more here https://thickmatch.com/buhari-failed-cannot-solve-nigerias-problems-soyinka-blows-hot/

Vice President Professor Yemi Osinbajo, this morning paid a condolence visit to Afenifere leader, Chief Rueben Fasoranti, to commiserate with him over the death of his daughter, Mrs. Funke Olakunrin, who was killed by suspected armed robbers along the Benin/Ore expressway last Friday July 12th

Osinbajo arrived the Fasoranti residence in company of the Ondo State governor, Rotimi Akeredolu.




Get more here https://thickmatch.com/photos-vp-osinbajo-pays-condolence-visit-afenifere-leader-reuben-fasoranti/

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) condemns in totality the gruesome killing of Funke Olakunrin, daughter of Chairman of Yoruba Socio-cultural group, Afenifere, Pa Reuben Fasoranti, by yet to be apprehended gunmen.

The PDP also laments the unpardonable lethargy in apprehending Funke’s killers since Friday.

The party describes as heartrending that under the President Muhammadu Buhari administration, our nation has become a killing field and large funeral palour with insurgents, bandits and assassins having a field day waylaying and killing innocent compatriots, especially those making very useful contributions to the development of our nation.

Our party is worried that security agencies are rather engaging in debates over the identity of the killers and hurriedly pointing to a case of abduction even before any extensive investigation has been carried out on the horrific and dastardly act.

The party bewails that the killing of Funke Olakunrin marks yet another national loss occasioned by the failure of the Buhari administration to secure the nation beyond lip service, a development that has emboldened marauders in our country.

The PDP posits that Funke Olakunrin must not die in vain. Our dear nation must not continue to lose her finest and brightest in the hands of bandits. Our party therefore charges the authorities to go beyond condolence messages from Abuja and take concrete steps to apprehend Funke Olakunrin's killers, as well as ensure security of lives in our nation.

The PDP, while condoling Pa Fasoranti, charges the Inspector General of Police, Adamu Mohammed, to take immediate and decisive steps, beyond the lip service of the Buhari administration, to track down the killers without further delay and make them face the full wrath of the law, no matter who they are.



Read more here https://thickmatch.com/funke-olakunrin-pdp-condemns-killing-tasks-buhari-fg-curb-insecurities/

See reactions here https://thickmatch.com/fg-announce-extension-operation-puff-adder-southern-nigeria

STATEMENT: @PoliceNG has perfected plans to replicate the special security arrangement powered by “Operation Puff Adder” currently ongoing in Kaduna-Abuja expressway in key highways in the Southern part of the country.

See how Nigerians reacted below



See more here https://thickmatch.com/fg-announce-extension-operation-puff-adder-southern-nigeria

watch video here https://thickmatch.com/afcon-2019-shops-looted-woman-dead-france-algeria-football-win/

Shops in central Paris were looted and a woman was killed in a high-speed car crash in southern France in what the government slammed Friday as “unacceptable” unrest following a key victory for Algeria’s national football team.

Fans of the Algerian team flocked to the Champs-Elysees in central Paris and the Vieux Port area in Marseille late Thursday after their side defeated Ivory Coast on penalties to reach the semi-finals of the Africa Cup of Nations.

Police used tear gas to disperse thousands of people who had gathered in Paris. The same measures were used to scatter crowds in Marseille.

“The damage and incidents last night on the sidelines of the celebrations… are unacceptable,” Interior Minister Christophe Castaner said in a tweet.

“I hail the actions of the security forces in Paris and across the country to maintain order and contain the excesses,” he added.

In total, 43 people were detained.

In the southern city of Montpellier, an Algerian football supporter celebrating his team’s win lost control of his car and ran over a family, killing a woman and seriously injuring her baby, a security official said.

The 21-year-old man was driving at high speed in the Mosson neighbourhood, the official said. The driver was taken into police custody.

The woman was walking with her one-year-old baby and 17-year-old daughter when the accident happened.

The baby suffered traumatic injuries and was rushed to the hospital. The 17-year-old had a slight ankle injury.

Algeria, the favourites in this year’s Africa Cup of Nations, defeated the Ivory Coast 4-3 on penalties in the Egyptian city of Suez to set up a semi-final showdown with Nigeria.

Paris and Marseille are home to large minority communities of Algerian origin. Football celebrations, with supporters brandishing large national flags, have on occasion been a source of tensions.




Read more here https://thickmatch.com/afcon-2019-shops-looted-woman-dead-france-algeria-football-win/

President Muhammadu Buhari says he will no longer nominate unknown persons for ministerial positions.

In a maiden meeting with the leadership of the National Assembly, Mr Buhari also said that only those tested and capable of delivering on assigned mandates will make the ministerial list.

At the meeting held at the new Banquet Hall of the Presidential Villa, Abuja, on Thursday night, Mr Buhari said he was under intense pressure to constitute the Federal Executive Council (FEC).

He, however, said despite the pressure, only those with track records, honesty and credibility would be appointed.

“Many at this dinner meeting are saying they want to see the list of the proposed cabinet so that they can go on leave peacefully.

“I’m very much aware about it; I’m under tremendous pressure on it. But the last cabinet which I headed, most of them, the majority of them I didn’t know them. I had to accept the names and recommendations from the party and other individuals.

“I worked with them for three and half years at least – meeting twice or two weeks in a month. So I know them.

“But, this time around I’m going to be quiet me – me in the sense that I will pick people I personally know,’’ he said.

He, therefore, enjoined the lawmakers to partner with the executive arm in leaving good legacies for the country as his administration was on its last lap.

The president advised the National Assembly to always avoid comparing their parliamentary procedures with that of advanced democracies such as the United States and the United Kingdom.




Read more here https://thickmatch.com/personally-know-will-appointed-ministers-buhari/

Some police officers deployed to curb kidnapping along the now dreaded Ife-Ibadan hightway, South-west Nigeria, were on Monday caught extorting motorists.

The policemen stationed at the outskirt of Ibadan, Ikire, Gbongan and Ile-Ife demanded bribe from the driver of the vehicle conveying this reporter and 17 other passengers on Monday evening.

The journey lasted an hour and 15 minutes.


Watch here
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ewqmPua152w

Some of the motorists who earlier spoke with Us confirmed the habitual extortion by officers adding that these have heightened now with additional road blocks mounted along the road.

While the police officers in the outskirts of Ibadan and Ikire collected the naira notes discreetly without questioning the driver, the ones at Gbongan and Ile-Ife did not.

An officer at Gbongan, with the inscription Akosoba A on his uniform, collected a 100-naira note from the driver and gave a change of fifty naira.

Also, a policeman in Ile-Ife, who appeared in a camouflage, instructed the motorist to park for raising a question, but changed his mind after a fifty-naira note was slid into his hands.




Read more here https://thickmatch.com/exclusive-video-police-officers-sent-fight-kidnapping-caught-receiving-bribes/

See more pictures https://thickmatch.com/magical-transformation-boy-left-die-accused-witchcraft/

Sometimes in February 2016, this young boy was condemned to die after a pastor accused him of witchcraft and his images went vural. Abandoned by his parents and community. He was rescued by Anja Ringgren Loven, a Danish woman living in Nigeria at the time who bent down and began feeding the boy and giving him water. She runs a children's centre where the children she saves receive medical care, food and schooling.

Ms Loven is the founder of African Children's Aid Education and Development Foundation, which she created to help children which have been labelled as witches and therefore neglected and even killed by members of their community.

Three years, 5 months later, this is him. Back to school, eating well and his new name is HOPE




See more pictures here https://thickmatch.com/magical-transformation-boy-left-die-accused-witchcraft/

A corp member who was deployed to a school in Port Harcourt for her service year, has narrated how she was rejected, because she refused to sleep with a man she met at the school.

Apparently, the man is supposedly the proprietor of the school.

The alleged school’s proprietor had promised her an accommodation and leisure in her service year, but refused to sign her acceptance letter after she rejected sleeping with him.

Instagram user @di.zire who shared the story, also revealed that the man threatened to tell NYSC authorities that the corps member rejected the Primary Place of Assignment (PPA) herself. She wrote;



See more here https://thickmatch.com/viral-corps-member-rejected-school-owner-refusing-sleep/

see more here https://thickmatch.com/police-hunt-shiite-members-arrest-scores/

The police have arrested scores of members of the Islamic Movement in Nigeria for injuring a policeman and an operative of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps at the National Assembly, Abuja, on Tuesday.

The force has also launched a manhunt for Shi’ite members across the city centre.

The sect members had stormed the NASS complex to protest the continued incarceration of their leader, Ibrahim Zakzaky who had been in custody since December 2015.

Our correspondent observed a police team at Samuel Ademulegun Avenue, near the National Mosque, searching commercial buses in order to fish out the sect members.

The leader of the operation, an Assistant Commissioner of Police, whose name could not be ascertained, was seen with his team harassing commuters and other passers-by.

The policemen, who were wielding sticks and rods, also prevented our correspondent from talking to the suspects in their patrol van.

“Get out of here, I don’t want to see you,” the ACP shouted at our correspondent.

When asked about the number of arrests, the Federal Capital Territory police spokesman, Anjuguri Manzah, said he was preparing a statement.



See more here https://thickmatch.com/police-hunt-shiite-members-arrest-scores/

Senator Barnabas Gemade, immediate past Senator representing Benue North East, has said going to the Elections Petitions Tribunal to challenge the elections that brought in the immediate past governor of the state, Gabriel Suswam is one frivolity he does not wish to engage in.

Gemade, a former National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) also said, considering his age, he cannot see himself going to court against persons much younger than him over an election at his level of service.

Speaking with newsmen in Makurdi on Monday, during a homecoming organised for him, said, “I don’t think it’s my homecoming that should put a seal on my decision not to go to the tribunal. I think you have a least 14 days to file your own petition at the tribunal if you are going there.

“Since that time expired everyone should have known that I’m not one of those contestants going to the tribunal.

“And the reason why I didn’t go to the tribunal is that I do not need the law courts to compel my people to accept me as their representative; if there are other means by which people become representative of their people and it is acceptable to them let them have it.

“Even if the election was rigged or even if it were by robbery that the election was taken, that is what God has allowed to happen at that material time and there is no reason why I should waste my time to challenge such an action; not because challenging it would lead to nothing; challenging it would lead to a lot, but, at this level of service and at my age, I don’t think I should engage in these kinds of frivolities, especially with people who are much younger than me.”

Citing an example in normal day life he said, “Even those who do not do politics, in simple life, they say that a polygamist knows better who is the best wife; if you marry just one, you’re stuck with her but if you marry more, then you know the difference.

“Let them (electorate) have more senators so they can know the difference. Maybe even the ones they had before me did not teach them enough on how a senator should be and they keep searching, so let them keep searching and maybe they will find a senator that is acceptable to them, to represent them at an appropriate time.”




Read more https://thickmatch.com/real-reason-didnt-go-tribunal-suswams-emergence-gemade/

The Oba of Lagos, Rilwan Akiolu, has said former President Olusegun Obasanjo is the biggest problem of the country.

Akiolu spoke at the public presentation of Battlelines: Adventures in Journalism and Politics, a book by a chieftain of the All Progressives Congress, Chief Olusegun Osoba.




The event held at the Eko Hotels, Victoria Island, Lagos and was attended by the Vice President, Yemi Osinbajo; Senate President, Ahmed Lawan; Deputy Speaker, House of Reps, Ibrahim Wase; APC National Leader, Bola Tinubu; governors in the South West, Bayelsa State Governor, Seriake Dickson, former governors, ministers, diplomats, traditional rulers, among others.

Akiolu had referenced a section of the memoir where Osoba claimed that Obasanjo deceived the then governors of the Alliance for Democracy and Afenifere.

The traditional ruler said he had always believed that the former president was deceptive.

He added that the knowledge sustained ex-Lagos Governor, Bola Tinubu.

“The problem we are having in this country is this and I will continue to say it that the number one problem of Nigeria is Obasanjo,” he said.



Read more here https://thickmatch.com/obasanjo-is-number-one-problem-of-nigeria-akiolu/

A Presiding Officer during the February 23 presidential election, Mr Adejuyitan Olalekan, told the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal in Abuja, on Monday, that he personally transmitted the results collated at his polling unit during the poll.

Olalekan took the witness stand as the petitioners’ third witness at the instance of the Peoples Democratic Democratic Party and its presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, who are by their petition challenging the victory of President Muhammadu Buhari and the All Progressives Congress.

Olalekan who was earlier led by the petitioners’ lead counsel, Dr. Livy Uzoukwu (SAN), to adopt his witness statement on oath as his evidence-in-chief, was not asked to mention the state or the polling unit where he worked during the poll.

Under cross-examination by Buhari’s lawyer, Chief Wole Olanipekun (SAN), Olalekan, who said he was a lecturer at African Community of Inquiry College of Education in Enugu State, maintained that he personally transmitted the collated results at his polling unit.

“I did it myself as the Presiding Officer. I transmitted through the code provided by INEC,” he said.

But when asked by INEC’s lawyer, Yunus Usman (SAN), Olalekan said he did not have the name or the number of the server.

Fielding questions from APC’s lawyer, Akin Olujinmi (SAN), the witness said, “Without the code, you cannot make any transmission of results”.

But asked if he attached the code with which he claimed to have transmitted the collated results to his witness statement on oath, he said he did not but had it on his phone.

While being cross-examined by Olanipekun, the witness maintained that all the voters at his polling units voted via card reader as the machine worked perfectly.

He also insisted that INEC did not direct Presiding Officers to allow voters who could not be authenticated by the card reader machine to vote manually with their picture captured.

He said, “No, we were not directed to allow people to vote manually.

“The card reader worked for every voter who came to my polling unit.”




Read more here https://thickmatch.com/transmitted-election-results-server-using-code-presiding-officer/