GUNMEN suspected to be herdsmen attacked two villages in Birnin Gwari local government area of Kaduna state.
The attack reportedly left ten (10) people dead.
Some of the villagers who took to their heels during the attack sustained gunshot injuries while the attackers razed down houses during their operation.
“It is unfortunate that since on Friday night we encountered the attack of herdsmen in Dangaji village. They were shooting and burning houses and people had to run for their dare lives.
“This morning (Saturday ) they went to another village, Unguwan Gajere and killed about nine men. One of those wounded died on the way to the hospital,” TheCable quoted a community leader in one of the villages to have said.
On arrival of security operatives to the scene of the attack, the attackers where said to have vanished as they were no where to be found.
The online news portal reports that Husseini Mukhtar, spokesman of the Kaduna state police command, confirmed the attack but said five people, mainly members of the vigilante group, were killed while stating that the manhunt for the assailants continues.
THE publisher of Ovation Magazine, Dele Momodu has advised President Muhammadu Buhari and former vice president, Atiku Abubakar to shelve whatever political ambition they have in 2019.
He also said those pushing the president to seek a second term in office are doing so because their lives depend on the president’s re-election.
Momodu, said the duo shouldn’t run as presidential candidates in the 2019 presidential poll because they were above the age of sixty-five (65).
“I have told you that it is not just about Buhari; I don’t think that anyone above 65 years of age should lead Nigeria again. That includes Buhari and even a former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar. I don’t think they should run.”
The publisher also expressed fears that by 2019 Mr. Buhari who will clock 76 years old will be too “tired” to run a “complex” nation like Nigeria.
“I have no doubt in my mind that even if he (Mr. Buhari) does not want to run, some people are going to push him to run because their lives depend on it. If he goes, they are gone,” he said in an interview he granted Punch Newspaper.
“He will be at least 76 years by next year; at that age, I believe he would be too tired to run a nation as complex and as complicated as Nigeria. Right now, Nigeria needs a man with full stamina,” he said.
He suggested that if Nigeria must be urgently rescued from total collapse then its leaders must not be above 65 years old.
“We must not have anyone above 65 years old in power. That is the retirement age. I’m going to be 58 years old this year and I already feel like I am getting old. Now imagine what it is like for a man close to 80 years old.”
He also urged Nigerians to forget about zoning and pick whoever is good enough to lead the nation.
“I believe that we should forget about zoning because it is not part of our constitution, so any qualified Nigerian who is distinguished, accomplished, well educated and well exposed should be allowed to run. Why do we want to prevent our best brains from contesting for the most important office in the country? I think if Nigerians are serious, the time has come for them to kill zoning before it kills Nigeria. I believe that the next President must be very well exposed, educated and communicate in the language of today.”
On performance, the publisher said he was tired of hearing excuses which Buhari-led government is fond of giving, recalling that the same reason was why “We drove former President Goodluck Jonathan away because we felt that he could not perform.”
ABIA State Government has rejected the establishment of ‘cattle colonies’ for the grazing of cattle by Fulani herdsmen in the state.
The state governor, Okezie Ikpazu, said the government would not cede any portion of land in the 17 local government areas of the state to herdsman as cattle colony.
He cited unavailability of land in the state and civil disorder as reasons behind their stance.
In a press release signed by his Chief Press Secretary, Mr. Enyinnaya Appolos, Ikpeazu said the available land in the state was not even enough for the agrarian communities in the state to effectively carry out their farming activities.
“We reject any plan to establish cattle colonies for herdsmen in Abia State.
“We don’t have enough land for our agricultural activities and our people want more land. Giving away any part of Abia land as a colony to herdsmen, wherever they may be from, will be most unjust and unfair treatment to Abia State and her people who are largely farmers.
“Such alien land occupation will also cause unrest and crisis that may grow beyond what we can handle when it happens, so the best thing I think we should do is to reject such plans so that those behind it will know that Abia State is not party to it,” the statement partly read.
THE governor of Kaduna State, Nasir El-rufai and Senator representing Bayelsa East Senatorial district, Ben Murray-Bruce are currently engaged in a war of who implemented the recently commissioned Abuja-Kaduna railway.
Reacting, the governor portrayed the senator as a liar.
El-Rufai noted that former President Olusegun Obasanjo designed and raised the financing and started the “EPC of the Lagos-Kano dual track-standard gauge rail system, and the Abuja Light Rail.”
With this reply, HEADLINE reports that the governor has deviated from the bone of the contention.
While the senator was talking about Abuja-Kaduna railway, the governor was talking about the Lagos-Kano dual track-standard gauge rail system. https://i0.wp.com/headline.com.ng/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/IMG_20180105_211041.jpg?w=621 In clapping back, Murray-Bruce said El-rufai hatred for late President Umaru Musa Yar’adua may have affected the judgement of the governor.
“Your dislike of the late Yar’adua may have clouded your judgment. I made no mention of the ‘Abuja light railway’. My tweet referred to the Abuja-Kaduna railway which is a product of the Jonathan administration. I am happy to publicly debate this with you.”
ARE THE DUO CORRECT ABOUT THEIR CLAIM?
Investigation by HEADLINE reveals that the Obasanjo administration in 2006 in conjunction with a China Construction Company, CCECC, signed a memorandum for construction of a new standard gauge rail network consisting of Lagos-Kano, Port Harcourt–Maiduguri and the Lagos-Calabar lines to replace the existing narrow guage lines, at a cost of $8.3 billion, over a 25- year period.
HEADLINE also gathered that the counterpart funding was faulty on the part of Nigeria, while it contravened the law therefore the project did not see the light of the day.
When Yar’adua came into power and discovered that the contract did not follow due process and that the project was inflated he visited china and re-negotiated and re-scoped the entire project. It was at this point that project was segmented and the Abuja-Kaduna component was added.
Rehabilitation work started while a Chinese delegation came to Nigeria to commence on-site assessment and preparatory work on first phase of the now segmented standard gauge Abuja-Kaduna line in July 2008 and to finalise it in 2009. When Yar’adua died, Jonathan re-scoped the Lagos-Calabar line by adding Otuoke (his home town) to it.
Contract for the Abuja-Kaduna standard rail project was awarded in 2010 but the actual construction did not start till 2011. It is an $874 million project with the Exim Bank of China’s facility of $500 million, while Nigeria was to pay the rest. The Project was scheduled for completion in 2014.
But Jonathan’s administration though inherited it, partly funded it but not to completion.
When Buhari came in 2015, there were outstanding payments which stalled the project. Buhari paid off and worked commenced and is now completed due largely to the seriousness Buhari attached to it.
RENO Omokri, an ex-presidential aide to former president Goodluck Jonathan, has revealed why the Federal government is delaying in hiking of fuel price.
Vice President, Yemi Osinbajo had stated two years ago that the best thing that could happen to the nation was the bold step taken by the President Muhammadu Buhari to remove subsidy from the product.
He was later quoted to have said that the NNPC and not the Federal Government pays for the fuel subsidy that has emerged with the N171 landing cost as against the official retail price of N145.
The NNPC is a subsidiary under the federal government and the President is the incumbent minister of petroleum.
Omokri said the only reason the government is delaying is because of the shame that will accompany the pronouncement that it has been paying for the same fuel subsidy it criticised under his former boss, Goodluck Jonathan.
He reacted through his Twitter handle @renoomokri.
“The Buhari administration is going to increase fuel price sooner than later. Mark my words. The only reason for the delay is that they are ashamed to tell Nigerians that they have been paying the same subsidy they claimed was a scam under Jonathan but can no longer afford to pay.”
SAHARA Reporters, an online news portal has earned a legal action from former minister of aviation, Femi Fani-Kayode, for what the latter described as a fake news.
The news medium had published its findings detailing cracks in the marriage of the former minister.
The report was widely republished on blogs and other online mediums excluding HEADLINE.
The publication detailed how the former minister used a cleric to cover up the abuse of his wife, allegedly claiming that President Muhammadu Buhari was out to assassinate his wife.
Reacting, legal aides of the former minister has advised the Nigerian public to ignore “their baseless and desperate fabrications and treat them with the contempt that they deserve.”
A statement published on the minister’s website, also added that the “Fani-Kayode’s have instructed their lawyers to take up the matter.”
SENATOR Samuel Anyanwu, representing Imo East Senatorial district has dared the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to plant money in his house.
Mr. Anyanwu made the call while giving his own contribution on the face-off between the EFCC and Innoson Motors at the Senate plenary, though HEADLINE could not authenticate the actual date as at press time.
He wondered why the EFCC to the best of his knowledge who do not have a confirmed Chairman would be chasing industrialist who are investing in the country.
Mr. Anyanwu said the tradition was that anyone who spoke against the commission would be targeted and arrested hence he decided to take the challenge.
ALSO READ: Senate Moves To Outlaw Tribal Marks He dared the EFCC to plant money in either his house or his in village.
The lawmaker is seen in a video recording by OakTv boasting they the anti-graft agency will meet strong resistance from his people and its operatives may not go home alive.
BOKO Haram terrorists have threatened to resume attacks on media houses across the country that has been misinforming the public about their operation, lying against them and dishonouring their prophet, ‘Mohammad’.
This is after it claimed to have attacked Thisday Newspaper in 2012.
The terrorist which listed out their prime targets made the threat on a video published on YouTube on Thursday.
The media houses listed as their prime targets includes Punch Newspaper, Daily Sun Newspaper, Vanguard Newspaper, Guardian Newspaper, The Nation Newspaper, Tribune Newspaper, National Accord Newspaper, Leadership Newspaper, Daily Trust Newspaper, People’s Daily Newspaper.
The terrorists extended their threats to broadcast media which includes VOA Hausa and Radio France international.
It also extended its threat to online news medium Sahara Reporters.
The terrorists also promised to unleash more mayhem on the citizens for every of their family members dealt with by the government.
BOKO Haram terrorist are re-emerging across Nigeria, the Chairman of the Nigeria Governors’ Forum, AbdulAzeez Yari, has said.
Yari stated this while responding to Governor Ayo Fayose’s declaration that $1 billion withdrawn from the Excess Crude Account, was meant to finance President Muhammadu Buhari’s re-election in 2019.
Mr. Fayose had also denied that the withdrawal from the excess crude account received his approval, since it was reported to have been endorsed by the 36 State governors across the country.
Reacting, Yari in a statement issued by the governors’ forum secretariat in Abuja said the decision to allow the Federal Government access the money, was a collective one by the forum.
He said being absent from the meeting where the decision was taken did not clear anyone of responsibility for the forum’s resolutions.
“I am saying that that statement was an unfair cut against the Forum,” Governor Yari Abubakar said.
“When a decision is taken by the Forum in one’s absence, once there was a quorum at the meeting where the decision was taken, (it) becomes binding on all.
“If Governor Fayose was there at the meeting, he would have seen the wisdom in the decision. Yes, the administration is claiming to have decimated the insurgents out of Sambisa Forest but they are reemerging in different flashpoints across the country. They need to be tackled wherever they are and the NGF decided to support the Presidency just as it (The Presidency) had been supporting states with their own problems.
“I am sure Fayose was not making the statement to undermine the Forum. He was just doing his thing.”
He added that “you can never spend too much on security because the safety of lives and property are the most cardinal among all the principles of governance, in any democracy.”
FORMER governor of Abia State, Orji Uzor Kalu has predicted that Nigeria will exit economic recession by december 2018.
Kalu stated this on Friday while speaking with journalists, during the funeral service held at the Cathedral of St Peter, Aremo, Ibadan, in honour of Chief James Babatunde, fellow of Nigerian Institute of Town Planners. The deceased was aged 79 when he passed on.
Kalu, a successful international businessman, noted that the country is still in economic recession.
His position differs from that of President Muhammadu Buhari who on several occassions acknowledged that the country has exited recession.
Buhari had confirmed that Nigeria was out of recession months ago when received President Mahamadou Issoufou of Niger republic in Daura, Katsina State.
“Nigeria is finally out of economic recession,” he was quoted by the News Agency of Nigeria to have said.
The Nigerian leader restated his position on the economy on Tuesday when he attended the One Planet Summit in Paris, France.
Reacting, Kalu opined, “I don’t even think we have exited recession. I beg to disagree with any economist or anybody who put that in place. I believe honestly that we are still in recession. I have told many television houses and newspaper houses that we might exit recession by December 2018. The capability of recovery is being put in place and I can assure you that we are recovering. We have not fully recovered and I am sure we will recover by December 2018.
“So, anybody judging Buhari on recession now is making a mistake. There are a lot of jobs that they are putting in place and yes, some economists who might be in a hurry can say we have exited, but in the real course of economic dynamics, we have not exited. If you still check the capacity utilisation, it is very poor; goods in warehouses are still stocked up.
“The greatest problem we had was the devaluation of naira. Many people lost their capital; many businessmen, traders, manufacturing houses, lost their capital. So, it will take two to three years for them to recover and that is where we are going. Even, the World Bank agrees with my theory that this recession will be exited in December 2018.”
The two-term former governor restated his support for the president saying “He is a popular man. Let’s assume he came in with 12 million votes, and let’s say 1.5million are gone, he still has 10.5million behind him.
Kalu believes Buhari will take Nigeria to the Promised Land, and urged all Nigerians across religious, ethnic and political divides to support him for greater success.
“We are heading to the Promised Land. Buhari is leading us to the Promised Land, but people don’t understand. There are two types of components that make democratic process – the hardware and the software. The hardware is what you see, such as road construction and reconstruction. The software is obedience to rule of law, accessibility to people’s mind, obedience to court order, making sure that court of competent jurisdiction’s orders are respected, and making sure that everything done in the law is totally agreeable.
“Our problem in Nigeria is very simple. People are not obeying traffic lights. Big people don’t want to obey simple rule; ‘do not cross this line’, this is the problem the country has. This is what Buhari is saying, that, ‘no, you cannot do without due process.’
“Buhari is trying to say to Nigerian people that, ‘yes I might be slow, but we have to go through process which is internationally acceptable’. So, we are on course. Things have been very difficult, I agree. But my grandmother used to tell me that when a tailor gets a brand new cloth, he has to first cut it into pieces, then make it into a very fine dress. That is where we are today. Everybody must be crying, we’ll get it (the nation) back on course,” he said.
The theme of the lecture was “Restructuring and the Nigeria Youth.”
He said countries in South America used single tenure to stabilise their democracy, adding that one of such countries, Mexico, was still practicing single term.
“Single presidency tenure of six years that rotates among the six geo-political regions will promote unity and loyalty to the nation.”
Stressing the need to restructure the county, Ekweremadu said it would not divide the country as feared by some people, while noting that it would rather, strengthen and re-position the nation.
He identified ethnic and religious sentiment, ignorance and fear of the unknown as some of the challenges facing restructuring.
He said restructing would enable regions to harness their resources outside oil, “especially given that the black gold was undergoing shocks in the global oil market.
“The market for crude oil is reducing by the day as countries like Britain and France now have laws that will ban the use of diesel and petrol cars by 2030.
“Also, many countries have started using electric cars.
“Restructuring is the only way to restore the lost glory of the country as it would enable states to have enough resources to fund education, security and give basic amenities to their people.
“Restructure with devolution of power at the centre would reduce political tension as well as make the centre unattractive,” he said.
Ekweremadu urged youths in the country to close ranks and support restructuring as it would create employment and guarantee better future.
Politics › Re: Herdsmen Storm Kaduna, Gundown 10 In Fresh Attack by sirequity(op): 11:09pm On Jan 13, 2018
