₦airaland Forum

THE Police has recover the Mace which symbolizes the authority of the upper legislative chamber stolen from its premises on Wednesday by suspected hoodlums.

This was after the National Assembly had given the Inspector General of Police 24hours to produce the mace that was stolen by hoodlums suspected to be sponsored by a suspended senator, Ovie Omo-Agege.

The hoodlums, after stealing the mace, ran out of the chamber with it causing pandemonium in the National Assembly.

The mace was, however, replaced with another and Senate proceedings continued.

Also the suspended senator has stated that he did not sponsor the hoodlums and has been set free by the police after a purported arrest.

Narrating how the mace was recovered the police said,“The police teams engaged in massive raids of identified criminal spots/flashpoints, stop and search operations, visibility and confidence building patrols, intelligence gathering which forced the suspected miscreants to abandon the mace at a point under the flyover before the City Gate, where a patriotic passer-by saw it and alerted the Police.”

This narrative was contained in a statement signed by the deputy public relations officer in the police headquarters, Aremu Adeniran, according to Premium Times.

EKITI State Governor, Ayodele Fayose, says that President Muhammadu Buhari should stop behaving like a “weeping president” by lamenting his predecessors failures and blaming them for the inability of his administration to fulfill his campaign promises.

Mr Buhari had on Sunday while receiving members of the Buhari Diaspora Support Organisation in London, said wicked people (apparently referring to his predecessors) plundered the country, “and kept Nigerians poor.”

The President also added that looking at the condition in which the current administration met the country, without savings and the economy badly vandalized, “we have not done too badly.”

Reacting, Mr Fayose who described the president’s statement as shameful said:“It appears he (Buhari) has forgotten that he is also among the past leaders of Nigeria because blaming past leaders for the country’s economic problems amounts to blaming himself. The negative foundation the likes of President Buhari laid caused the problems of the country.”

In a statement issued in Ado Ekiti on Monday by his Special Assistant on Public Communications and New media, Lere Olayinka, the Governor said: “It is appalling that Buhari, who at his very young age was Military Governor of the of the North Eastern State, Petroleum Minister, Head of State and later Chairman of the Petroleum Trust Fund (PTF) under the Abacha administration is the same person that is blaming past leaders of Nigeria.

“What difference did he make as Governor of the North Eastern State? What was his role as Minister of Petroleum and Chairman of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) when it was created in 1977?

“It is on record that it was during President Buhari’s tenure as Minister of Petroleum that N2.8 billion went missing from the accounts of the NNPC in Midlands Bank in the United Kingdom. N2.8 billion as at that time is like $2.8 billion (over N1 trillion) now.

“It is also on record that President Buhari was a key player in the Abacha government that the country is still recovering its loots up till today. Interestingly, our Mr. Integrity President once said that Abacha never stole.

“Fact that President must face is that he has blamed everyone, including the late President of Libya, Muammar Gaddafi. He is now blaming himself as part of the past leaders of Nigeria, it is shameful.

“If the President is someone who faces reality, he would have realized that his goodwill has declined to the lowest level. He will also realize that in 2015, Nigerians did not really vote to elect him as President.

“Rather, it was a vote from the North against PDP’s failure to pick a northern candidate that made him President.”

THE Minister of Mines and Steel Development, Dr. Kayode Fayemi, yesterday vowed to jail Ekiti State Governor, Ayodele Fayose, if reelected.

Fayemi spoke during the declaration of intent to contest for Ekiti State governorship seat on the platform of the All Progressives Congress.

Fayose, he stated, will be made to account for the gross mismanagement of the state’s resources and allocation in the last four years.

Fayemi, who was governor between October 2010 and October 2014, shocked the crowd by bringing out a red card from his pocket, which he symbolically showed to Fayose and the Peoples Democratic Party.

He said the red card is an answer to the White Paper issued against him by the Fayose regime, which indicted him of financial impropriety and banned him from holding public office for 10 years.

Traffic was grounded for about four hours in Ado-Ekiti, the state capital, where a massive crow turned out to hear Fayemi speak on his readiness to win Ekiti for APC in the July 14 governorship poll.

Fayemi said the state has retrogressed sharply in the last four years he left office, adding that his bid to run again was motivated by the need to “rescue Ekiti people from bad governance, want, hunger and poverty.”

He lamented the suffering of teachers, state civil servants, local government workers and pensioners, who are being owed backlog of arrears of salaries, allowances and benefits.

According to him, Fayose owes core civil servants six months, local government workers 10 months, community health workers 10 months; pensioners, 10 months; teachers, 10 months and students, bursaries of over three years.

Fayemi said Fayose has no excuse not to pay workers’ salaries and pensioners benefits having collected two tranches of bailout funds, two tranches of Paris Club refund cash and Budget Support Funds for thirteen months.

He also disclosed that latest records from the Debt Management Office showed Fayose has borrowed N56 billion since coming to power in October 2014 with nothing appreciable to show for it.

Fayemi vowed that Fayose would be brought to justice at the end of his tenure on how he has managed all the funds received from the federal government on behalf of the state.

The former governor was joined by his wife, Bisi; former deputy governor, Prof. Modupe Adelabu; Nigeria’s Ambassador to Hungary, Dr. Eniola Ajayi; and other officials who served in his administration to the APC secretariat where he officially informed party leaders of his intent to run.

After declaring at the secretariat, Fayemi and his train moved to the nearby Jonathan African Church, Ajilosun, Ado-Ekiti, where he addressed another crowd waiting for him on his agenda for the state.

He said all APC members who had joined the governorship race are eminently qualified to occupy the state’s number one seat saying anyone who emerges as the flag bearer would be supported by all.

The minister declared that everything humanly, constitutionally and legally possible would be done to win Ekiti State for APC at the next governorship election.

Fayemi said: “When I come before you, it is with profound need for the unfinished business, we need to complete what we started, reclaim our land and restore our land.

“Anywhere Ekiti people go, people subject us to questions that what is wrong with you Ekiti people?

“We thought you are educated, we thought you are exposed, how do you come up with a character like this as governor?

“It is time to put a stop to that; it is not about title, it is about sacrifice and whatever it will take us to free Ekiti from these criminal and rapacious brigands, we will do it.

“We are here to inform Ekiti people that we will never abandon them. We will never hesitate to leave the comfort of Abuja. It is high time to come home and help our vulnerable people.

“We will do everything that is required to win Ekiti back. They will accuse us of using federal might.

“Although power belongs to God and he gives it to whoever He wishes, we will use bottom power, middle power. That is why they are jittery,” The Nation quoted him as saying.

Fayemi described the White Paper of the Fayose administration, which indicted him of financial impropriety and recommended him for a 10-year ban from holding public office, as an “ordinary tissue paper.”

The minister said: “Every time I move around, I see the suffering and penury our people are going through.

“I saw their pain and pangs of not knowing where the next meal will come from.

“That is why we must tell the man who is shouting around that he has a White Paper, we have a red card for him and his party.

“We will ensure that he will end up in jail.”

Fayemi described Fayose as a “pathological liar” for claiming that the debt he (Fayemi) left behind was responsible for his (Fayose’s) inability to pay workers’ salaries and pensioners benefits as and when due.

The ex-governor explained that he took a N25 billion bond from the Capital Market in December 2011 with which he executed capital projects, adding that he had repaid N14.5 billion at the time he left office in October 2014.

Dismissing the opposition’s claim that he hates workers and teachers, Fayemi stressed that workers enjoyed most during his administration when they enjoyed salary increase three times.

Apart from this, he said workers were sponsored to local and overseas seminars, teachers got Core Subjects Allowance, Rural Teachers Allowance and no worker was sacked.

To party members, Fayemi said: “Whoever wins the primary, we will all support him.

“Don’t run down any aspirant.

“Let us desist from hate speech because all aspirants are promoting our party.

“Party members should not use abusive and intemperate language and I want to suggest to our party leaders to come out with a code of conduct to check this.

“If we don’t do that, we run the risk of damaging our brand (APC).

“You are free to market your aspirant and leave the judgment to our delegates.

“They (delegates) want our party back in power and we must respect their judgment.

“Any aspirant who does not respect the rule, I will take him as an agent who does not want the good of our party.

AISHA Buhari, wife of President Muhammadu Buhari, has declared support for her husband’s re-election bid.

President Buhari had on Monday officially made known his intention to vie for re-election.

Mrs Buhari who had in 2016 criticised her husband’s administration noting that it was veering from its mandate to the people made her new stance known in her acceptance letter to Vanguard Newspaper which made her its person of the year this week.

She had warned to withdraw her support to him if he seeks re-election unless he implemented immediate changes in personnel and policies.

“He is yet to tell me —if he’ll seek re-election — but I have decided as his wife, that if things continue like this up to 2019, I will not go out and campaign again and ask any woman to vote like I did before,” Mrs. Buhari told the BBC in an interview, adding that, “I will never do it again.”



Mr Buhari responded at the time by telling her to save her opinion of his government and confine herself to the kitchen.

Nearly two years on, Mr Buhari has commenced his re-election campaign, but yet to effect the cabinet shake-up demanded by his wife.

However, in her acceptance statement to Vanguard, Mrs Buhari did not say whether her expectations have been met, but indicated she would support his re-election bid.

She stated this in a statement circulated by her media aide Suleiman Haruna.

“As we are all aware, Nigerians elected this administration based on the trust and confidence they have on my husband.

“I therefore feel that we are here to serve Nigeria to the best of our ability. Let me use this opportunity to state that I support my husband in this call to service and will continue to do so,” the statement partly read.

OMOYELE Sowore, publisher of Sahara Reporters and a presidential hopeful has disclosed what he will do to Igbos of the South-East should he become the leader of the country in the forth coming general election.

The publisher who is currently holding town hall meetings and consultations across the country over his political ambition said he is going to give the Igbos a sense of belonging by firstly apologizing on behalf of the country for the way they have been maltreated since the civil war ended.

Sowore stated this in Ibadan, the Oyo State Capital on April 7, while addressing supporters who turned out to welcome him to the city.

“From the bottom of my heart, the Igbo man has not just be marginalised, the Igbo man has been trampled upon, their children killed, starved in the civil war and ever since then Nigeria has managed not to pay attention to Igboland,” he said while answering a question on how he hopes to manage the south-easterners and their Biafran mindset.

He continued: “But the Igbo man and his spirit has managed to built for himself the spirit that conquers the world. I will say to you that first and foremost when I become president I’m going to apologize to the Igbos on behalf of Nigeria”, he said amidst applause that greeted his response.



“But I won’t be like others, apology is not enough, there has to be a rapid economic development in Igboland. What they Igbo man needs is a road upon which to transport their goods, transportation, airport, seaport that can bring their goods anywhere and that is why I said with due respect I am not doing it for Nigeria alone, I am doing it for Africa.

“I am a pan-africanist, I want Nigeria’s playground to be Africa, but we cannot do it without integrating with other African countries. There is no reason why it should take four hours to cross from Benue Republic to Lagos just because we have corrupt custom officers and immigration officers. We have to bulldoze the wall there and put a highway that goes from Lagos first to Ghana and eventually to Senegal,” he said.

Sowore urged the youths to get ready to kick out the old generation out of power by ensuring they have their permanent voter cards.

He was recently told that for one to be the president of the country such an individual must first be a thief or be sponsored by one as the cost for presidential campaigns in Nigeria is in billions.

BALARABE Musa, former Governor of Kaduna State during the Nigerian Second Republic has said without first becoming a thief it is impossible to become the President of Nigeria.

Musa stated this on Friday while he playing host to Omoyele Sowore, publisher of Sahara Reporters, when the latter visited him in Kaduna to make his presidential ambition known to the former aspirant who had contested for the same office in 2003.

Mr Sowore had asked Mr Musa why the country could not attain greater height during their days in office as leaders of the country.

Mr Musa blamed rots in the social political system which he said controls the development of the country.

“Once the system is wrong then you would have the situation we have in Nigeria.



“The quality of Nigerian leadership is thieves. Since the end of the second republic how has it been possible in Nigeria to have a political leadership which is not made up of thieves?” Musa asked rhetorically.

“I am not saying 100% of the leadership are thieves, No there are exception, for instance, I doubt if it’s upto 1% who are clean people, but when you look at it these clean people are made up of people who have not been able to steal because even stealing is not available to everybody. But these people do not constitute more than 1% of Nigeria’s population, the 99% populations are made up of thieves.

“How can you be the President of Nigeria without being a thief first? he asked, adding that “It is through stealing that you can make it.”

The former governor said the expensiveness of the Nigerian politics is one of the reason why it is not possible for a clean person to become the president of the country.

“You become a president base on politics (political party) and election. Both are based on money power.

“We have a system of survival of the fittest, Nobody can be a president of Nigeria unless he is a thief or supported by thieves.

“The reasonable estimate for the cost of campaigning for presidency in Nigeria is billions.

“Who can acquire this billions? Before the second republic it was not so. But it was no longer possible after the second republic because money power plays a leading role in politics and election.”

WATCH VIDEO BELOW:

THE Presidency has said the 2011 one term statement of President Muhammadu Buhari that he would only be president for one term was not applicable anymore.

President Buhari had, on Monday, shortly before he left for London, the United Kingdom, declared his intention to run for a second term in 2019.

Mr Buhari had in 2011 in the lead story of a newspaper of February 6, 2011 captioned “2011: Why I’II Serve for Only One Term” gave reasons he would not spend more than four years in office if elected president of the country.

He cited age which will limit his performance, saying, “I’m not getting younger. If I succeed and do one term, I will be 73 years old.”

Twenty days after swearing-in, precisely 17 June 2015, Buhari told Nigerians resident in South Africa, after taking part in the 25th Assembly of Heads of State and Government of the African Union in Johannesburg, that his performance would be limited by old age.

“I wish I became Head of State when I was a governor, just a few years as a young man. Now at 72, there is a limit to what I can do,” he said.

But yesterday, Femi Adesina, the spokesman of President Buhari on a programme aired on Channels Television, said his principal entertained pleas for him to be president for the past one year before declaring his intention.

“The other one of running one term was in 2011. When he was running in 2011 he said yes he will be a president for only one term but did he win in that year? No. The victory came in 2015. So that being quoted from 2011 is not applicable again,” Adesina said.

The president’s spokesman said the declaration would not affect governance. “I think the president had just picked the right time to make his intention known, whether it will affect governance or not depends on the personality of who is the president.

“Don’t forget that under Obasanjo when the process was affecting governance, he read a riot act and said let’s concentrate on governance. President Buhari is just somebody like that, he will never allow politicking to affect governance.”

He said the president may be re-elected on his achievements in security, reviving the economy and fighting corruption.

“There are certain things that he set out to do. Normally they come up under three broad umbrellas. One is secure the country, two is fight corruption, three is revive the economy and I have said it in all three areas.

“There are successes in all three of these areas. Except anybody is willfully blind. The willfully blind will never see, even if you put the thing right in front of his eyes. We are not talking to the willfully blind or deaf,” Adesina said.

A human rights lawyer, Dr. Femi Aborisade, said the 2011 declaration made by Buhari in 2011 was personal to him and has nothing to do with his constitutional right to seek reelection.

“One would have expected Mr. President to tread the part of honour by respecting what he said in 2011 but since he decided not to tread on that path, the responsibility is now left to the Nigerian electorate whether they want to reelect a failure or not,” the Guardian Newspaper quoted Aborisade to have said.

The possibility of a smooth sail of another four-year administration is, however, under serious doubt due to his health condition. The president has embarked on at least three medical vacations abroad.

The first was on February 5, 2016 when he went on a six-day vacation to the United Kingdom. Four months after, on June 6, 2016, he embarked on another 10-day vacation to attend to what the presidency described as “persistent ear infection.”

The third time was when Buhari left for medical treatment abroad and stayed away for months, during which Vice President Yemi Osinbajo became the acting president.

THERE are two options for those in contention for the presidency in 2019: run, or run away. Now that President Muhammadu Buhari has indicated his intention to run, dwarfs trying to wear a giant’s shoes should simply run away.

The cat has returned from a journey, let the rats scamper for safety.

Show clean pairs of heels? But this is a democracy! Everybody is free to run in the direction he or she fancies. True. So, what I’ve said is mere advice, which they can take, or choose not to take. Nigerians will decide early next year. The greater the challenge, the sweeter the victory.

I have always said it privately and in public. If President Muhammadu Buhari decides to run for a second term in 2019, I would support him. It doesn’t matter whether I am in government or not. For some of us, the man Buhari is a conviction, a resolution, a man to admire and adore since 1984, when he became military head of state.

Is he perfect? Show me the man who is. Is he running a perfect government? Show me the government which is. Is he sincere? Very. Does he love the country? Dearly. Will he take Nigeria to the Promised Land? As the good Lord helps. And he is on the way there. Does he need more time? Sure, he does. The rot was too much, benumbing.

Nigeria is doing a lot more with a lot less today. There was a time we were awash with money. Oil sold for as high as $120 dollars per barrel, and we produced up to two million barrels per day. For many years. But we had no roads, no electricity, no health care, no security, nothing. The money was simply looted. They sat round the table, as if gathered for lunch, and hundreds of billions of dollars were shared.

Now, after oil prices crashed to as low as 30 dollars per barrel in 2015, and currently oscillates between 50 and 60 dollars, Nigeria is doing great things.

Electricity has been taken to over 7,000 megawatts, from the inherited 3,000. The economy is now being truly diversified, after five decades of lip service.

Agriculture is now the second biggest thing after oil, and is poised to become number one in the not too distant future. Farmers, in their millions, now smile to the banks. The farmer is now king. He sends himself on pilgrimage to Mecca or Jerusalem, paying his own way. Those who want more wives among them have even taken. And not on credit. Lol.

With income standing at about 60% less than what we used to earn, N1.3 trillion was spent on capital in 2016. The 2017 budget will close with about the same amount being expended on capital projects. Simply because you have a honest man in leadership. Not that corruption has been wiped out, no, but it has been drastically curbed. And anyone serving with the man knows that stealing is now corruption. When fish rots, it starts from the head. But we now have a head that shows the way. Mai Gaskiya. The Honest Man. Shine the light, and people will find the way.

How about our foreign reserves? They say we should stop talking about the past, and simply face the future. So that Nigerians would not be reminded of how they ran the country into a hole? With oil at its highest prices for many years, what they left in foreign reserves was a miserly $29.6 billion. It dropped to as low as $24 billion about a year ago, because of collapsed oil prices. But then, by divine mercies, prices began to inch up in the international market. It reached $60 per barrel, just about half of what they earned for many years. We cut unbridled importation of what can be produced locally. Prudence became the watchword. And foreign reserves now stand at over $46 billion. Why? Simply because the money is not being pocketed by those in power, as it once happened.

And then, some voodoo priests came: don’t run for a second term. Give way to younger people. Take a well deserved rest. Blah blah blah. As if they were the beginning and end of democracy. The motive was simple: we must dissuade this man from running, so that he wouldn’t become the greatest ever Nigerian leader. He must not become the authentic national hero. All types of cards were being flashed, yellow, green, red, purple, as if they had become emergency referees. But President Buhari kept his peace. No abuse for abuse, no railing for railing. When you are in the marketplace, you concentrate on the person you are transacting a deal with, and ignore the noise of the market. Now, the Tower of Babel has been resoundingly ignored, and democracy will be the victor.

Early next year, Nigerians will decide what they want. Go ahead on the journey to Canaan, a land flowing with milk and honey, or go back to Egypt, a land of eternal bondage, and excruciating pains? Nigerians will do it again. They will freely elect the leader they want, without pandering to ethnic, religious, and other primordial sentiments being currently whipped up. There will be no doomsday, as the election will be free and fair. No wuru-wuru or mago-mago under Buhari’s watch, no matter what. A man that swears to his own hurt.

Nigerians, President Buhari is on the march again. For the sake of our tomorrow and the ages to come, for the sake of our children and generations yet unborn, let’s do it again.

UnchangeableGod:
I just pray that all who milked Nigeria dry will have all their stolen wealth recovered for the good of Nigerians including the accusers and today's fighters of corruption I J N, Amen.

Home National News Corruption
Why PDP May Be Right That Corruption War Is Selective – Oshiomhole
By SAFIYAH RASHIDI -April 9, 2018




ADAMS Oshiomhole, former governor of Edo State has said the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) may be right that the anti-corruption war of the President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration is selective.

Mr Oshiomhole spoke to reporters in Benin City at the weekend after attending the wedding ceremony of the daughter of the member representing Ikpoba Okha/Egor Federal Constituency, Ehiozuwa Agbonayima.

“I hear them say prosecution is selective. Maybe they are right because if they are not maybe President Jonathan should be in the dock. He approved money beyond his powers and spent it in a way that is not accounted for.

“I think that if other Nigerians don’t understand the power of transparency, the right to know, the media should uphold that right and defend it. What was stolen was not from private purse; the house that was destroyed was not a private residence. We are talking of resources, which if it is distributed on basis of equality and divide by 180 million people, you will be a lot richer,” Oshiomhole said.

He stated that hired writers were made to challenge him when he first raised alarm over the money that was looted from the treasury.

The former governor therefore urged the President to be ruthless in going against those alleged to have looted the nation’s resources.

“I think my only complaint is that the Federal Government should go more ruthless because there are a lot of people who should be in court who are not there because when I was still in the office and I said the kind of money they stole was huge in dollars, they paid hired writers to say how do I know.

“I know that we cannot be lamenting today without understanding that the treasury was burgled yesterday. It is like someone sneaked into your kitchen and took everything out and you woke up he tells you am sorry I stole the pot of soup, in fact, I broke the pot. Should we continue like that?”

On the condemnation that trailed the release of looters’ list, Oshiomhole said names of looters should be made public as it was the right of Nigerians to know the level of rot that transpired.

“I think the promise of democracy is that good or bad the people have the right to know and that is the starting point and particularly important when armed robbers of yesterday are trying to do face surgery so that he looks different. Some are jumping the boat to wear new face, to change identity, and to change their fingerprints so that they can come back.

“I think the people have the right to know and if any of them think that what has being said is not true, they can go to court.

PRESIDENT Muhammadu Buhari has officially announced that he will seek re-election in the coming 2019 general election.

This is according to a tweet by his personal assistance on new media, Bashor Ahmad, on his handle @BashirAhmaad.

Also, the News Agency of Nigeria, in its own version reported that the President made this known on Monday at a meeting of the ruling All Progressives Congress leadership.

The National Executive Committee (NEC) meeting of the party is holding in Abuja.

SENATOR Dino Melaye has responded to an order from the Nigeria Police urging him to present himself to its Kogi State Command.

The police on Saturday warned him to appear before the state command on March 28 as failure to do so will have him been declared wanted.

Reacting, Melaye says he stands by his earlier position to appear before the police only in Abuja, as he believes his safety cannot be guaranteed in the state.

He made the comments in a letter written by his lawyer on Saturday.



The senator also referred to a letter which the lawyer had written to the Inspector General of Police on March 21, in which he outlined several steps taken by the police command in Kogi state which according to him, appeared to indicate that the senator’s life would be in danger.

In the letter, the lawyer made an appeal to the police boss to intervene and allow the senator submit himself to the police in Abuja.

In a statement issued on Saturday, the Force Public Relations Officer, Jimoh Moshood accused Melaye of failing to honour several past invitations.

According to him, the senator is wanted on grounds of criminal offences of conspiracy and unlawful possession of prohibited firearms.

FORMER President, Goodluck Jonathan has stated why his successor President Muhammadu Buhari, his party, the All Progressive Congress (APC), should revisit the 2014 confab report.

Mr. Jonathan said the implementation of the Confab report was necessary because it will unite the country, closing the gaps along tribal, ethnic and religious lines.

The former president spoke, on Saturday, at a mega rally tagged ‘Restructuring The Nigerian Federation’ organised by leaders of Pan Niger Delta Elders Forum (PANDEF); Ohanaeze Ndigbo, Afenifere and Middle Belt forum under the aegis of Mass Alliance for Inclusive Nigeria(MAIN) Front, at the Ox- Bow Lake Pavilion, Yenagoa, Bayelsa State capital.

He that Nigerians “have to dialogue in order to avoid the opposite action which could bring about destruction to lives and property and the very thing that holds us together as members of the Nigeria federation.”



Represented by Senator Nimi Barigha Amange, he disclosed that he decided to convene the 2014 national conference as a response to the yearnings of Nigerians for reforms to make the Nigeria federation work.

According to him, in convening the national conference, “I had my mind trained on establishing a polity that would work for our people and further unite our country. The one that would close the gaps along tribal, ethnic and religious lines.”

Jonathan pointed out until Nigeria comes up with an acceptable way of running the country, “there is every like hood that our nation would continue to witness agitations and protests from groups and ethnic nationalities that believe rightly or wrongly that they have been handed the short end of the stick.

“The goal of the 500 member conference made up of young and old; diverse people from all walks of life as true representative of different interest group in our country was thoroughly and fully discuss and agreed on every issue that has for long agitated the minds of Nigerians on how best to run the federation.

“This they did to the best of the abilities and to the satisfaction of most stakeholders as decisions were uniquely reached by consensus. Recent agitations, clamour and proffer of solutions have not radically departed from those findings. To me it is a confirmation that the 2014 Confab report needs to be looked into by the authorities.

“I believe the Confab report contains recommendations that provide answers to most of those questions that agitate the minds of Nigerians today,” the former Nigerian leader said.

Governor Henry Seriake Dickson, in his comment, reiterated his assertion that those calling for the restructuring of Nigeria were the true lovers of the country, declaring that all over Nigeria there are cries for justice.

“The calls for restructuring which we are all here to reiterate is a call for a return to the original founding principles. All our leaders here are the real lovers of Nigeria and not the other way round.

“And no blackmail, intimidation should sway us to abandon this noble cause. Our nation is crying for justice; our nation is crying for freedom; our nation is crying for prosperity; our nation is crying for unity; unity that is sustainable; unity that is founded on justice,” Dickson said.

Other speakers at the event were PANDEF leader, Chief Edwin Clark, President- General of the Ohanaeze Ndigbo, Chief John Nwodo jnr. and a chieftain of Afenifere, Chief Ayo Adebanjo. They all commended Governor Dickson for hosting the rally and said they were ready to rescue Nigeria from collapse as nothing short of restructuring of Nigeria would be acceptable.

THE Presidency has told Nigerians doubting it’s anti-corruption war to wait and see what will happen to the several instances of corruption war currently going on.

This is as it said Nigerians have not forgotten the severe damage caused the economy by the rampant abuse of public trust and grand larceny that characterized the past administration.

Mr. Laolu Akande, the Senior Special Assistant on Media & Publicity to the Vice President, Yemi Osinbajo made this known while interacting with the press men on Saturday.

Akande noted that those who are asking “our people to simply forget the blatant violation of public trust and the pillaging of the nation’s commonwealth witnessed in the past, are saying wittingly or otherwise that we should forget where the shoe actually pinched and pretend as if the social raping of the nation never occurred.”



Continuing, Akande asked, “How can we do that?

“We have a situation where a former first lady came out openly to claim over $171M found in her accounts and you think Nigerians will simply overlook that. You have a situation where hundreds of billions have been recovered including the discovery of $43M cash in an apartment in Ikoyi, and you think Nigerians will simply forget that?”

He stated that it is mere wishful thinking to imagine that Nigerians would just forget all of these colossal atrocities in the management and disbursement of public funds.

Asked on the progress of prosecution, Akande said there are tonnes of corruption cases arising from the conduct of the past administration, adding that such pending cases in the courts would hopefully benefit with establishment of special courts for the speedy trial of corruption and other criminal cases.

He added that the presidency is beefing up the prosecution of such cases by planning to bring a number of senior lawyers with high integrity ratings to play active roles and lead the prosecution of some of the cases.

“We have a number of lawyers, senior lawyers, people with solid reputations, who have volunteered to assist in prosecuting the cases, and soon the prosecuting agencies will be assigning specific cases to them,” Akande noted.

Nigerians should be rest assured, he stated that the Buhari Administration will not relent in the pursuit of those corruption cases because “we know that the mass of our people are closely following these cases and expect that consequences would be meted out to those who have violated public trust.”

He added that while there have been concerns about the delay in the pursuit of some of the cases, no one should underestimate the resolve of the Buhari administration to push all the cases to its logical conclusion.

According to him, “To those who have asked what has happened to the several instances of corruption that we have spoken about, we say, wait and see.

“Sometimes the wheels of Justice may be slow, as it is often said, but they grind exceedingly fine. Let Nigerians know that justice would be served in the end, and the world will see it. We have a President and Vice President who will not take no for an answer on this matter,” Akande concluded.

THE Nigeria Police has advised Senator Dino Melaye (Kogi West) to appear before a Federal High Court and answer criminal charges against him or be declared wanted.

The police said after refusing to honour an invitation and a court summon extended to him, they are ready to effect his arrest should he fail to appear at its Kogi command on Wednesday, March 28.

The Force Public Relations Officer, Jimoh Moshood, in a statement issued on Saturday, said the senator is wanted on grounds of criminal offences of conspiracy and unlawful possession of prohibited firearms.

According to the PRO, Melaye’s summon follows the arrest of two men in Dekina Local Government Area of Kogi State, on January 19, after they confessed to having committed various crimes such as kidnappings and armed robbery.

They also disclosed that the Senator had handed them a bag containing firearms.

“Working on actionable intelligence, the Kogi State Police Command personnel and operatives of the Federal Special Anti-Robbery Squad trailed and arrested two (2) suspects, namely; KABIRU SAIDU a.k.a OSAMA “31 YRS” From Dekina LGA but based in Anyagba (Leader of the gang) and NUHU SALISU a.k.a SMALL “25 YRS” (a member of the gang), after a gun battle with the Police team that lasted for some hours on the 19th January, 2018 at Ogojueje in Dekina Local Government Area of Kogi State.

“During investigation, they confessed to the various criminal roles they played in the commission of several kidnappings and Armed Robbery, Murder and other Violent Crimes in different parts of Kogi State for which they have been on the wanted list of the Police for more than two years now.

“The gang leader KABIRU SAIDU a.k.a OSAMA revealed that he and his gang have been working as a Political Thug for one Alh. Mohammed Audu a Politician in the State and that Alh. Mohammed Audu invited him to Abuja and introduced him to Senator Dino Melaye and they met on Airport road, Abuja inside the Senator Dino Melaye’s Car in the month of December, 2017.

“KABIRU SAIDU a.k.a OSAMA “31 YRS” further confessed to the Police investigative team that Senator Dino Melaye handed over a bag containing the following firearms one (1) AK47 rifle, two (2) Pump Action guns and the sum of four hundred and thirty thousand naira N430,000.00 to share with his boys.

“The Police conducted investigation into the criminal indictments against Sen. Dino Melaye and Mohammed Audu and discovered that the two (2) of them have case to answer. The two (2) suspects namely; KABIRU SAIDU a.k.a OSAMA and NUHU SALISU a.k.a SMALL were paraded at the Kogi State Command Headquarters, Lokoja on 19th March, 2018,” the statement partly read.

Mr. Moshood noted that a letter had been sent to the Senate President, Dr Bukola Saraki on March 2 asking Melaye to appear before the Kogi state police command headquarters to answer to the allegations against him, yet there was no response.

“As we speak, Sen. Dino Melaye despite the letter sent to the Senate President, refused to honour Police Invitation till date and also refused to appear in court and has also continued to evade the service of criminal summon on him to appear before the Federal High Court, Lokoja on the 28th March, 2018 to answer to the charge of Criminal Conspiracy and unlawful possession of prohibited firearms against him and Mohammed Audu.

“The Nigeria Police Force is therefore using this medium to advise Senator Dino Melaye and Mohammed Audu in their interest to comply with the order of the court and appear on 28th March, 2018 before Federal High Court, Lokoja to answer to the criminal charges against them.

“If they continue to be evasive and fail to comply with criminal summon issued on them by the Federal High Court, Lokoja to appear on 28th March, 2018 to answer to the criminal charges of Conspiracy and Unlawful Possession of Prohibited Firearms against them, the Force, will obtain Warrant of Arrest for the arrest of Senator Dino Melaye and Mohammed Audu and will definately declare them wanted throughout the country and on INTERPOL platform for them to be arrested in any country where ever they are sighted and handed over to the Nigeria Police Force for continuation of their trial.

“The Nigeria Police Force will continue to sustain the Rule of Law and maintain Law and Order throughout the Country,” the statement added.