₦airaland Forum

overseasnbeyond:
What knowledge are you talking about?
I don't need to gain anything from a self aggrandizement association.
All of you are product of corruption with no sincere opinion

Who friend? I think you have missed the point; just make a little effort to read through the article and study the points carefully before criticizing.

overseasnbeyond:
Good to express ypur grievances but making a decision a compulsion is wrong oga "ade".
I know some of you have collected both money and sex from your so called peace corp members in the name of passing the bill and others but tell me
What will be the duty of the peace corp apart from creating job to siphon money from the government account.
Are they going to stop insurgency or do more than civil defence?
My opinion is to go register with CAC as a security company and start posting your member to serve as private or public security.
Ire ooo

Friend, you cannot gain more knowledge by merely commenting on the headline, please read through before forming a sincere opinion.

gasparpisciotta:
Dr Olufon should put a gun to PMB's head so that he "must" sign the useless peace corps bill. A Bill duplicating all existing paramilitary set ups.

You have not read the article, yet you are commenting!

richeeyo:
And pay them from your father's account abi?

Dear friend, read before commenting!

PRESIDENT BUHARI MUST SIGN PEACE CORPS OF NIGERIA BILL IN THE INTEREST OF NIGERIAN YOUTHS!


The denial of assent to the Peace Corps of Nigeria (PCN), Bill by the President, has generated so much controversy within the polity in recent times that well-meaning Nigerians have began to wonder whether some diabolical interest groups were not actually benefiting in economic and financial terms, from the persistent imbroglio of internal security challenges which is consuming huge resources on personnel and logistics on daily basis!

Citizens of Nigeria, especially the downtrodden, do not need sooth-sayers to tell them that government's inadequate measures in dealing with insurgency, terrorism, and all manner of senseless killings - most especially in the past NINE years - had been due to lack of adequate manpower and authentic intelligence-gathering!

Who are the sponsors of the incalcitrant Boko Haram terrorism onslaught that is still degrading our collective psyche? Who provides arms, ammunitions, guns, machetes, suicide vests, logistics, hand grenades, land mine gadgets, smart phones, laptop computers, hide-out bunkers; who reveals top secret information on government troop’s movements, and supplies food and medicine, etc, to insurgents? They are the FIFTH COLUMNISTS - the mercenary contractors!

The entire personnel strength of NIGERIAN POLICE FORCE, plus those of the NIGERIAN ARMED FORCES, including the NIGERIAN SECURITY AND CIVIL DEFENCE CORPS, cannot muster TWO million able-bodied men and women to protect about 200 million Nigerians in spite of the regular annual recruitment drives to increase their population and yet some do-gooders thought that the addition of about THREE million PCN Para-military organisation would not make the required difference in the lopsided security architecture of the nation? They are wrong, very wrong to have misled President Muhammadu Buhari whom we know his antecedent as a lover of his people who should not be slaughtered like animals all over the land under his watch! He was always saddened and had wept bitterly each time he lost a single soul among his people - he would not have declined assent to the Bill knowing full well that intelligence gathering was the major antidote to crime prevention!

We are convinced that if the PEACE CORPS paramilitary personnel had received presidential approval long before 2018, those senseless killings would have been nipped in the bud through adequate logistics to counter the attackers!
And most unfortunately, the President was deceived to decline assent on the 25th January, 2018, to the consternation of the suffering masses while he hinged his reasons on
(1) "Scarcity of funds",
(2) "Duplication of duties ", and
(3) "Security concerns"!

Of all the reasons adduced, the most ridiculous was the issue of SECURITY CONCERNS as adduced and suggested to the President by the antagonists that the organisation could grow into an "uncontrollable monster" in the future!
This argument is laughable because the Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC), has complimented other security agencies especially in the troubled States of the Federation with much camaraderie!


ARE POLITICIANS FAT SALARIES AND ALLOWANCES WORTHIER THAN ONE TALAKAWA'S LIFE?
THOSE WHO ARE OPPOSED TO THE PEACE CORPS BILL ARE THE SAME PEOPLE WHO INSISTED THAT NIGERIA SHOULD NOT BUILD REFINERIES BUT SHOULD CONTINUE IMPORTATION OF PETROLEUM PRODUCTS INDEFINITELY THROUGH ILLEGAL GOVERNMENT SUBSIDY REGULARLY PAID TO THEM!

Before the National Assembly (NASS), went on annual recess in July, 2018, a whooping some of N348 billion naira was paid as outstanding SUBSIDY claims to 74 Oil Marketers, "to enable them update all outstanding liabilities and clear all debts, interest accrued and forex differential once and for all!" The subsidy according to government is classified under "inherited local debts!"


FEDERAL GOVERNMENT CAN FUND NPC IF IT CAN FUND CONTROVERSIAL PETROLEUM SUBSIDIES!
Over 8,000 Nigerians were killed in the Middle Belt alone between January and July 2018! HOW MUCH IS ONE LIFE WORTH TO THE CHANGE GOVERNMENT? CAN THE ECONOMY THRIVE IN AN ATMOSPHERE OF WAR, CONFLICTS, INSECURITY, AND INCESSANT/SENSELESS KILLINGS?
How much money would be appropriated to the Nigerian Peace Corps Organisation that would DENT THE PURSE OF THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT TO WARRANT THE TEMPORARY SET BACK OF THE WORTHY PARA-MILITARY ORGANISATION THAT IS POISED TO ADD VALUE TO NIGERIA'S SECURITY NETWORK? APART FROM GOVERNMENT SUBVENTIONS THIS TWO-DECADE OLD NGO COULD BE ALLOTED LARGE ACRES OF FARMLANDS FOR CULTIVATION DURING SPARE TIMES, IN THE 36 STATES OF THE FEDERATION TO AUGUMENT WHATEVER FUNDS WAS ALLOCATED TO THEM THROUGH AGRICULTURAL PRODUCE FOR BOTH CONSUMPTION AND COMMERCIAL PURPOSES!

A POLICY SOMERSAULT!
How can the President complain of FUNDS OR DUPLICATION OF DUTIES, when the Talakawas whom he vouched to protect and succour are being massacred everyday like sheep without shepherd? January 2018 began with unprovoked attacks on Benue State where about 80 innocent talakawas were snuffed out! The gory scenario moved to Taraba and Plateau States where greater number of casualties were recorded while that of Benue continued unabated! What kind of money would be too much to appropriate for the protection of the lives and properties of law-abiding citizens and the ELECTORATE in whose hands lie the sovereign power of the country according to the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999?

How can the President allow sycophants to deceive him with that kind of hogwash when the three-prong mission statement of the ruling party, the All Progressives Congress (APC), are: Eradication of Corruption, Re-invention of the Economy and War against Insecurity; ALL OF WHICH CANNOT BE ACHIEVED WITHOUT PEACE!

HOW MUCH WOULD IT TAKE TO FUND THE PEACE CORPS WHO HAD BEEN ON GROUND AS AN NGO SINCE 1998, AND FUNCTIONING IN ALMOST ALL STATES OF THE FEDERATION? CAN'T THE WASTAGES OF FUNDS IN GOVERNANCE BOTH AT EXECUTIVE AND LEGISLATURE BE CURTAILED TO FUND THIS PARA-MILITARY ORGANISATION? CAN'T THE SECURITY VOTES OF THE PRESIDENT AND GOVERNORS BE REDUCED AND DIVERTED TO FUND THEM? WHAT ABOUT THE GOVERNORS OUTRAGEOUS "PENSION BENEFITS" NOT SUPPORTED BY THE CONSTITUTION?

From all indications, the enemies of the talakawas would prefer that budget appropriations for the Nigerian Peace Corps Organisation, be diverted to irrelevant projects for party patronage because the poor masses, who always bore the brunt of all the ills and mis-governance of successive administrations MUST NEVER benefit from adequate security which is the TOP-MOST priority among the basic necessities of life! However, we are of the opinion that the need to compliment activities and bridge the gaps between existing security agencies in the maintenance of law and order, intelligence gathering, neighbourhood watch, community services, is now more expedient than ever before especially when a gory scenario of avoidable bloodshed greeted the new year 2018!
It is an open secret that the entire population of all Nigeria's security agencies - which is less than TWO MILLION - had not and cannot fulfil their collective mandate to maintain law and order, most especially, internal security matters posed by Boko Haram and now, the kidnappers and herdsmen killers, so what is the HULLABALLOO about?


THE PALIAMENTARIANS IMPUT!
Before the year November 2016, when the Bill for an Act to Establish Nigerian Peace Corps first got the attention of the legislators of the House of Representative and later the Senate, PCN had existed as an NGO and between December 2016 and July 2017, (in spite of Police declaration that the Peace Corps was an illegal outfit), the Bill received accelerated attention of the Committees of both Chambers and in December, 2017, it was passed by both chambers and forwarded to the President for the required assent of legal backing, as a government agency! The entire nation was assured by Senator Ita Enang, Special Assistant to the President on National Assembly matters that the Bill was a done deal only for the President to decline assent on 27th February 2018, and members of the House of Representatives also rejected the attempt to override the President's veto in spite of vehement protests by legislators who opined that the Bill had popular support!
PCN was registered as a Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO), in 1998, before the new attempt at democratic governance in the following year with the sole aim of complimenting the existing security of the nation through massive INTELLIGENCE GATHERING apart from other mandatory duties as follows: Empower youths in developing positive mindset in patriotism, creating genuine avenues for gainful employment for the youths, training their minds to embrace and facilitate peace in the communities, volunteerism attitude and community services, nation building, mediation and conflicts resolution, neighbourhood watch, capacity- building of the youths in areas of creativity, entrepreneurship, civic duties awareness, skills acquisition, involvement in crowd-control, security services as orderlies to traditional leaders, judicial officers, politicians and parliamentarians, to mention a few!
All of the preceding functions cannot be adequately covered by existing security agencies who are already over-burdened!

National Commandant Dr Dickson Akoh, who like other Nigerian patriots, rejected the set-back which he described as a CONSPIRACY against the YOUTHS whom the organisation sought to empower, also accused the Police of "bad blood and meddlesomeness" but promised to seek other legal options to see to the passage of the Bill!


THE BRITISH/GERMAN GOVERNMENTS FINANCIAL INTERVENTION!
Providence has finally brought respite to the Peace Corps of Nigeria Bill through British Prime Minister's and the German Chancellor's State visits to Nigeria on Wednesday 29th and Friday 31st August, 2018, respectively through bi-lateral agreements of financial support - especially earmarked for EMPLOYMENT FOR ABLE-BODIED YOUTHS! Government should take immediate advantage of these generous offers and also appropriate some part of the recovered Abacha Loots to fund the new organisation since funding was one of the reasons for its rejection in first instance!

There could be no better time than now for the President to hearken to popular opinion that his assent would provide great succour to the youths in view of the rate of unemployment, out of school adolescents, drug addiction and insecurity of lives and property in the country!

"Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it." (Prov 22:6).



I am, yours sincerely, Dr. David B.A. Olufon. 08130669886, 08098194390. 08080243066. g-mail- dvdolufon@gmail.com.

ARE CORRUPT EX-PRESIDENTS AND POLITICIANS REALLY UNTOUCHABLE?

Since independence, past Military and Democratic Presidents in Nigeria who had been alleged to have corrupted themselves while in office, have been treated like SACRED COWS because none so far, has been interrogated, indicted nor taken before any court of competent jurisdiction for trial and in spite of the fact that one of them, General Sanni Abacha, suddenly died in office and all of his dirty deals of mass looting of the treasury were exposed, still, no visible effort has been made to subject others (before or after him), to give accounts of their stewardship while in office!
But if Abacha who committed several financial crimes while in office between 1993 and 1998, were still alive, would any law enforcement institution be bold enough to bring him to justice?

During the GULF WAR in the year 1991 when self-styled military President Ibrahim Badamosi Babangida, held sway, he was alleged to have converted the oil wind fall of $12.4 billion dollars which accrued for Nigeria, to personal use. He denied the charge and is still walking free!
Former Military Head of State/Democratically elected President, Olusegun Aremu Obasanjo, was also accused of corruption in some Power projects dubiously executed with about $16billion dollars, including PHCN contract between 1999 and 2007; Transcorp Shares, Presidential Library Fundraising, which realised N3.5 billion and US $ 250 dollars, in May 2007, shortly before his exit from office; NNPC contracts worth a total cost of US $300 dollars and disbursement of N500 billion naira, to about 200 contractors; Defence contracts valued at N 6.7 billion naira, $28 million, €26 million and DM6 million etc, etc., and the EFCC WHICH HE ESTABLISHED COULD NOT FIND SUFFICIENT EVIDENCE TO PROSECUTE HIM because he claimed no wrongdoing in all allegations through a piece of STATEMENT submitted to them! He is still engaged in LETTER WRITING as a free man!

Ex-President Ebele Jonathan was not spared of corruption allegations that were yet to be proved. He also is still walking free on the presumption of his innocence until the contrary was proven according to the Nigerian Constitution!
Have the Economic Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Independent Corrupt Practices and other related offences Commission (ICPC), crack detectives, investigators, prosecutors and lawyers who had been inundated with GENUINE PETITIONS - laden with facts, figures and authentic documents against these ex-leaders, become lily-livered or too docile and intimidated to invite any of them for interrogation and if necessary to detain them from tampering with evidences that could lead to their convictions?

All over the world, with the exception of Nigeria, past corrupt leaders, including ex-Prime Ministers, Presidents in Pakistan, Israel, Indonesia, Liberia etc, and most recently South Korea, have been successfully investigated, prosecuted, convicted and sentenced to spend several years in prison!


EXTENDED JAIL TERM FOR MISS PARK!
An Appeal Court was reported to have increased the prison sentence on former South Korea's female President, Park Geun-hye to 25 years and her earlier fine by 2 billion won (1.78m), to 20 million won ($17.8m). The 66-year-old First Lady was found culpable of official corruption (involving fronting through a friend with whom she siphoned tens of billions of wons from major conglomerates), by a Constitutional Court in 2017 and forced out of office as the first democratically-elected Korean leader, to be so disgraced! Her friend, Choi Soon-sil, got only 20 years for her ignominious role in the whole saga! The ex-president earlier bagged 24 years in prison and 18 million won fine ($16m US dollars), by a lower court in April 2018 after a prolonged trial of about two years, which the unsatisfied prosecution which sought 30 years, appealed.
Like all politicians, she denied all accusations of wrong-doing and probably described them as "political witch-hunt"! However, she detained for months and did not get preferential treatment! It was also reported that in July 2018, Miss Park was sentenced by another court to 8-year in prison in a separate case arising from the same corruption scandal and for interfering in a 2016 parliamentary election!


THE RECOVERED ABACHA LOOTS!
In the SWISS BANKS alone, Abacha stashed away N1.073 billion, which, Attorney General and Minister of Justice, said in June 2018, had been fully repatriated, going by the account of Mayoraz, the Swiss Ambassador to Nigeria as follows: Two tranches of $752 million and $321 million, already with the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN)! The ambassador also said that the Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty countries would no longer allow for stolen wealth to be kept in any place in the Switzerland! Abacha also stashed monies in many countries of the world in Europe and the USA!

The money from Switzerland is now being disbursed, with the support of the World Bank to succour the most under privileged as their common patrimony in the first instance, in a form of NATIONAL CASH TRANSFER SCHEME in order to benefit the entire populace. Already, 19 States and 270.000 households have been captured out of the estimated 302.000! Disbursement of $321 million dollars to beneficiaries began in JULY, 2018.
We advocate that other looters of the Nigerian Treasury past and present would make URGENT RESTITUTION before the long arms of the LAW catches up with them!


THE ADVOCACY FOR STRONG INSTITUTIONS IN NIGERIA CANNOT BE OVER-EMPHASIZED!
Political analysts find it very convenient to compare Nigeria's presidential form of government with that of the United States of America, in isolation to reality that America's system is deliberately supported with very Strong Institutions to afford continuous government policies to thrive, and no matter the personality involved, every act or decision must always be carried out "according to the law"! Incumbent President Donald Trump, has found it impossible to ride rough-shod over the Judiciary on legal policy decisions the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI), on criminal probes involving him and the Republican Party and also on Immigration matters because these very strong institutions would always insist on executing all directives according to the "Rule of Law", to the letter without affording preferential treatment to the President!
It was high time that the present crop of leaders in the ruling APC government began to follow the US policies of allowing strong institutions to evolve naturally through judicious and adequate policies in areas of personnel training/re-training/equipment, funding etc. in a gradual process of meticulous planning by devoted, patriotic, resilient and selfless leaders!

SHOULD DASUKI AND EL-ZAKZAKY REMAIN IN DETENTION?
Legal opinion is divided on the continuous detention of retired Colonel Sambo Dasuki who was alleged to have diverted US $ 2.1 dollars appropriated for the purchase of arms and ammunition to fight Boko Haram insurgency in 2014, and El-Zakzaky the Shiite Muslim leader in Nigeria whom government strongly believed was in the process of raising another religious militant group for foment and unleash further violence against the people of Nigeria! According to Section 293-296 of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act (ACJA), 2015, suspect should not be kept in custody/detention for more than a maximum time-frame of TWO WEEKS, and must be through an application and the expressed consent of a MAGISTRATE. Dasuki has been in detention for over TWO YEARS!
Although, Dasuki has been granted bail on FIVE different occasions, but on his release from KUJE PRISON on 29th December, 2015, he was re-arrested by the State Security Services (SSS), and has been kept in detention without fresh charges since then! According to Justices of the SUPREME COURT, in a unanimous decision read by Justice Ajembi Eko, said that the EFCC could not be held responsible for the continued detention of the ex-NSA since it was carried out by the SSS! The apex court dismissed an appeal filed by Dasuki against EFCC for lack of merit and for abuse of court process! And the case of El Zakzaky, government said, that the Muslim cleric and his wife were not in detention but PROTECTIVE CUSTODY in view of the danger to their lives for as long as the trial, which is on-going last! The couple dwell in a well-protected private apartment and have access to medical facilities.


IS THE LAW AN ASS?
In a recent interaction with a young barrister at law in respect of the continuous detention by government of both former National Security Adviser (NSA), in spite of about five court bails issued on his behalf and also El Zakzaky, the Shiite Muslim leader, I was persuaded to look at the whole scenario of incarceration of the duo from another legal perspective outside of the one vehemently held on to by the government! The Federal Government is holding on to a Supreme Court judgment which says that, "When the decision of bail in respect of a matter before a law court conflicts with STATE SECURITY, liberty of a suspect could be denied in spite of the grant of bail according to fundamental rights of the suspect.
The young legal practitioner believes that the Federal Government had erred in law by not APPEALING the BAIL JUDGEMENTS issued by those courts of competent jurisdiction in favour of Dasuki and El Zakzaky! According to his postulation, though the subsisting Supreme Court judgement was very valid, it was not BINDING on the LOWER COURTS to the extent that there was no pronouncement by the APEX COURT which restrained them from granting bail to the accused persons! That argument seemed plausible because, from the primary to tertiary levels, courts unite to execute justice but the rights and privileges of one court of competent jurisdiction was never usurped by the other!

HOW CAN FEDERAL GOVERNMENT RESOLVE CONSTANT CONFLICTS OF RULE OF LAW AND NATIONAL SECURITY? It should expedite lawful trial to avoid unlawful detention! “For rulers are not a terror to good works, but to the evil. Wilt thou then not be afraid of the power? do that which is good, and thou shalt have praise of the same: [Romans.13:3].

I am, yours sincerely, Dr. David B.A. Olufon. 08130669886, 08098194390. 08080243066. g-mail- dvdolufon@gmail.com.

Nigerians are warming up to another general elections in less than SIX MONTHS and there is so much tension, anxiety, excitement and exhilaration in the polity!
Politicians who lost out in the 2015 race are determined to regain lost glory while those lucky winners would still canvass and push for another victory at all costs! And as the saying goes, this up-coming political elections - already slated for February/March, 2019, will produce, "different strokes for the different folks!"

To the ELECTORAL UMPIRE: INDEPENDENT NATIONAL ELECTORAL COMMISSION (INEC), (1) it would be time to faithfully conduct another free, fair, credible, crime/confusion-free elections that would ensure good governance. (2) To SIT-TIGHT POLITICIANS, - a time to re-new their mandate of "CONTINUITY" to amass illicit wealth at the expense and detriment of the downtrodden, even if they must contravene the CONSTITUTION with impunity. (3) To the VOTE SELLERS, it would afford another opportunity to merchandize their PERMANENT VOTERS CARDS (PVCS), and mortgage their conscience to the highest bidders. (4) To the MISCREANTS AND HIRED POLITICAL THUGS, - another field-day to disrupt the process, snatch ballots boxes, exhume and wield their illegal weapons against helpless and defenceless "fellow Nigerians", who were already traumatized by the 9-year Boko-Haram terrorism, incessant inter/intra States kidnappings and also the sporadic killings of rural dwellers by rampaging herdsmen, who did not spare the citizens with the audacity of constant terror!

Apart from the constitutional roles of INEC at elections as enumerated in the ELECTORAL ACT 2010 (as amended), all of the activities of crimes/criminalities, listed in the preceding paragraph, which are alien to electoral norms and punishable by extant laws! For instance, Section 23 (1) (a) (b) & (c) and 24 (1) (a) to (f) and (2) (a) and (b), deal extensively with the offences of buying and selling voters cards and offences of registration of voters respectively. Offences in Section 23 attract N500,000 naira or imprisonment not exceeding two years or both and those of Section 24 (1) (2), attract N100,000 naira or imprisonment not exceeding one year or both and a fine of N500,000 naira or imprisonment not exceeding 5 years respectively!

From 1999- 2015, Wards to Presidential elections had witnessed several electoral malpractices that led to loss of several precious lives, but hardly had any person been successfully prosecuted and brought to justice in order to serve as deterrent to future criminally-minded citizens, and this trend, had given vent to more criminalities at virtually all elections!


HOW DID NIGERIA GET INTO THE VICIOUS CIRCLE OF MONEY POLITICS?
Politics in Nigeria is synonymous to CURRENCY MINTING for private pockets! During the First Republic, (1960-1966), of the Parliamentary experiment, pilfering from government coffers was minimal but with the introduction of the expensive presidential system, consecutive administrations provided large but inexplicable remunerations for public holders while political appointments became the jackpot hit for lucky hustlers!
The salaries/allowances paperwork for Civil Servants of the Ministries Departments and Agencies (MDA's), as prepared by the Revenue Mobilization Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC), looks flawless but much loopholes for siphoning illicit monies (in billions of naira on annual basis), from the system, could be detected from some civil service manuals which gave room for raising monetary vouchers for dubious official purchases or activities at random! These same very smart civil servants are working for the three arms of government and have perfected the devious act of robbing the treasury through mutual agreement to favour all parties involved!
Why should budget padding through insertion of new projects by legislators still thrive up to the current 2018 document, which was reluctantly signed on 20th June by the President, SEVEN MONTHS after its submission in November, 2017?

As at Friday, 17th August, 2018, the INEC Chairman, Professor Mahmood Yakubu, was still on the HOT SEAT before the Joint National Assembly (NASS), Committee on INEC/Electoral Matters, being queried over a discrepancy in the figures presented by the President for virement (N189 billion), and that tabled by the Chairman (N143 billion), for consideration and approval by the National Assembly (NASS), at plenary when it re-convenes!

It is common knowledge that the legislators are irked and pained to be deprived of the illicit monies that would have accrued to them from the 2018 Budget which they still cleverly padded with INSERTED CONSTITUENCY PROJECTS which did not originate from the Executive, but now badly needed to execute the 2019 Elections!
There are too many financial attractions in Nigeria's political system that got everyone (including the toddlers - not-too-young-to-rule), interested in politicking for personal gains instead of exuding patriotic zeal to serve and build strong institutions that would strengthen the nations' economic base!
There could be no better time than NOW for all well-meaning Nigerians to rise in unison to advocate for ONE SINGLE PARLIAMENT OF 74 LEGISLATORS ON PART TIME THROUGH A REFERENDUM AS WE MARCH INTO 2019!
WE DON'T NEED A MADDENING CROWD SO MUCH INTOXICATED WITH LOOTED FUNDS! JUST A FEW WISE MEN, WOMEN & YOUTHS AT THE HELM OF AFFAIRS TO GET THE WORK DONE AND STOP WASTAGES IN GOVERNANCE!


IS IT REALLY POSSIBLE TO SELL ONE'S VOTE?
VOTE, is a voluntary but democratic act of making a formalized choice by submitting a ballot for a preferred candidate at an organized election in the process of choosing a leader.
To a discerning mind, this act is both - civic in nature and also a conscience-driven duty and responsibility that should be accorded the sacredness it deserves! However, that has not been the case in Nigeria's electoral and democratic processes since 1999!
Past reports of virtually all local and international observers, including INEC's monitoring teams, have confirmed that "vote buying on election days", was thriving business! How are votes sold since it is not a physical commodity?
According to some eye-witnesses, political party agents carry loads of money in their brief cases/hand bags to Polling Centres on election days under the pretext that such, were allowances with which to pay their officials on electoral duties; but in actual fact were used to bait gullible electorate to vote for their Political Parties! Once a "good bargain" was struck, the agents would position themselves at vantage points close to Polling Booths, where they could actually confirm thumb prints on ballot papers! In some cases, smart hand phones were used to capture the thumb prints as evidence which on presentation consummates the deal!


WHAT IS INEC'S RESPONSE TO VOTE BUYING/SELLING?
INEC has taken series of measures to checkmate the very shameful development first by ensuring that the polling booths in subsequent elections would be re-positioned in such a manner to provide complete privacy that could be monitored only by its officials so that voters would be prevented from employing smart phones while voting. Secondly, the Commission would work hand-in-hand with law-enforcement agencies to ensure compliance in the ban on smart phones while voting. We are of the opinion that those who are involved in such unpatriotic business have mortgaged their conscience to the devil because, they did not care about the ripple effects such negative attitude would have on the entire social contract between the government and the masses. Politicians who spent large amounts of money to get into office through vote buying would their entire tenure in fleecing and looting the common patrimony at every opportunity in order to re-coup such illicit expenditures!
Because of vote buying and selling at elections, Nigeria has become the laughing stock, not only of international community’s but among the comity of nations! We are discredited as the most corrupt nation, a people dwelling in the worst unsanitized and polluted environment, the poorest of the poor on the face of the earth, the most un-educated, etc, etc, - all because of BAD GOVERNANCE BY THE MONEY BAGS WHO HI-JACKED THE GOVERNMENT FOR 16 YEARS - 1999-2015 - THE SAME LOSERS WHO TRIED TO CONTINUE IN THE SADDLE WITH THEIR ILLICIT MONIES! But the story has change, the new SHERRIF will recover all the looted monies as the crusade will be intensified into the SECOND TERM of the APC Government from 2019-2023! AMEN!


TIME TABLE OF 2019 GENERAL ELECTIONS!
According to the INEC boss, Professor Yakubu Mahmood, the commission would conduct elections into 1558 constituencies comprising one federal, 29 gubernatorial, 109 senatorial, 360 federal and 991 state constituencies, as well as 68 chairmanship and councillorship constituencies of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), during the 2019 General Elections holding from February to March.
Say NO to vote buying/selling! Report suspicious agents to law-enforcement agents. Arm yourselves with your PVC's and vote for those who would not enslave you. Electioneering campaigns have been flag off by INEC for the now registered 91 Political Parties. Check out their manifestoes meticulously before elections and make informed choices. Take your destiny in your own hand and reject the status of being a SLAVE IN YOUR OWN COUNTRY! "Better is a dry morsel, and quietness therewith, than a house full of sacrifices with strife’’ (Prov 17:1).


I am, yours sincerely, Dr. David B.A. Olufon. 08130669886, 08098194390. 08080243066. g-mail- dvdolufon@gmail.com.

THERE IS A GULF OF DIFFERENCE BETWEEN GODSWILL AND GOODLUCK!


SENATOR GODSWILL OBOT AKPABIO'S defection of Tuesday 8th August, 2018, from opposition PDP to the ruling APC, took Nigerians and political pundits by surprise but it was a divine solution for a nation on the precipice of shutting down through a vicious game-plan and strategy of a few desperados in government!
This self-confessed nationalist and erstwhile "minority leader" in the Senate Chambers up to 4th August, 2018, when he officially resigned his position, should be celebrated for subjecting himself to the authority of the Holy Spirit, who guided him to resist those devious members of his former party who were bent on destroying Nigeria because of greed and avarice!

There are SIX major principal officers in the Red Chambers, namely: Senate President, and Vice, Majority Leader, Minority Leader, Chief Whip and Deputy. As the Senate President is the principal representative of the ruling party by convention, so is the Minority Leader, the principal representative of the opposition party, in this scenario, the APC and PDP, respectively! Therefore, when Saraki thought he succeeded to deliver a deadly blow below the belt to APC through his diabolical defection with several co-conspirators, little did he envisage that a devastating and destructive upper cut loomed in the wings for him and the PDP through the Minority Leader's counter defection! CAN SARAKI NOW COMPREHEND THAT "GODSWILL" IS DIVINE AND "GOODLUCK" IS EPHEMERAL?


Akpabio's unprecedented political defection that sent shock waves to the PDP Camp and took the shine off what journalists had collectively described as "a gale of defections between JUNE and JULY 2018, has completely broken the carmel's back of these NATIONAL TRAITORS who ruled for 16 consecutive years but only have illicit wealth, court cases, prison jail terms etc, to show to the WORLD!
"THY WILL BE DONE IN EARTH AS IN HEAVEN ...", is the very instructive portion of the Lord's Prayer for Man to cultivate the habit of godly obedience; as taught by the Lord JESUS CHRIST to His disciples during His earthly ministries and in his defection speech, Godswill Obot Akpabio, testified that he had always yielded to God's Will from youth to get to his present political destination.
He said that since he could not sit idle and watch some irrelevant and spent politicians gang up against God's Will, to destroy the very good/solid foundation which President Muhammadu Buhari, whom he also described as a nationalist and man of integrity, had tenaciously and meticulously built since his assumption of office in 2015!
"The country is at war and all hands must be on deck to salvage the situation and not to aggravate it", he further said.


GOD'S WILL AND NOT GOOD LUCK MUST PREVAIL IN ALL OF THE AFFAIRS OF MEN!
When desperate minds abandon godly entreaties, the option to fall for evil machinations would be so enticing, so alluring! Wrong steps, wrong moves, wrong decisions and then, the eventual but inevitable headlong crash!! For Ortom, Saraki and Tambuwal, who exercised unpopular fundamental rights of association by jumping ship to People’s Democratic Party, they must have to contend with the ripples effects of reactions and mass protests that greeted their decisions! But for the courts, Ortom, who was served an unconstitutional notice of IMPEACHMENT, would have vacated his exalted seat! In spite of that reprieve, the EFCC was reported to have frozen the bank accounts of Benue State which is owing workers salaries for between, seven to twelve months in arrears! However, this report and that of the Akwa Ibom FROZEN ACCOUNTS which went viral on the social media have turned out to be HOAX!
Although massive condemnation greeted the supposedly EFCC's action, the financial crime agency has denied both allegations and explained that some financial officials from those States were at different times invited to clear certain grey areas in respect of their accounts in the course of official investigations!


HEAVY OR PAPER WEIGHT!
As for decampee Senate President, 'Bukola Saraki, he was de-mystified as a political heavy weight when the Kwara State PDP Chairman Mr. Iyiola Oyedepo, crossed over to the All Progressives Congress (APC), with over 80% of the entire PDP structure, with a strong declaration that he could NEVER be in the same party with the nomad, saying, "Darkness and light can never work together and I can never work with Saraki. I will rather pitch my tent with the APC instead of working with Saraki." 'Saraki who is bent on truncating Nigeria's 21st Century democracy boasted during a "World Press Conference" in Abuja on 8th August, 2018, that the APC Government could only remove him as Senate President with two-thirds (73), majority members of the House which he and his fellow conspirators believe would be a Herculean task for the ruling party!

From the venue of the conference, Saraki travelled to Minna, capital of Niger State to consult with ex- military Head of State, Ibrahim Babangida, who annulled the JUNE 12,1993 Presidential Election, adjudged as the freest and most credible in Nigeria to hold consultations on how to further destabilize Nigeria?


TAMBUWAL AND WAMAKKO'S POWER RALLIES IN SOKOTO!
Governor Tambuwal, like the failed PDP, should by now have learnt his lessons that POWER BELONGS TO GOD, WHO GIVES TO WHOM HE CHOOSES! He despised the wise counsel of his erstwhile godfather, Senator Aliyu Wamakko and those of the Elders, defiantly defected back to PDP and has become totally irrelevant and isolated in his home State and the Caliphate’s political calculations!

Wamakko held a counter APC political rally which garnered a mammoth crowd, the kind that has not been witnessed in Sokoto in recent times and which had sent strong signals to Tambuwal that he would swim against a very strong tide in 2019, whether as governorship or presidential candidate! Already, the people are requesting Tambuwal to account for a total of N78.4 billion collected from the Federal Government as Paris Club Refund, Bail-out Funds, Salary Pension Arrears, CBN/FGN Agricultural Fund and Ecological Fund!


WHAT IS THE CHAFF AGAINST THE WHEAT?
".... He (GOD,) will thoroughly purge His floor and gather His WHEAT into the garner; but He will burn up the CHAFF with unquenchable fire." (Matthew. 3:12b, compare Malachi. 4:1).

The Nigerian political landscape has thrown up all manner of CHAFFS masquerading as politicians - flaunting weird and incomprehensible ideologies/manifestoes of ABOUT 68 COALITIONS AND ASSOCIATIONS OF STRANGE BED FELLOWS WHOSE SOLE GATHERING WAS NOTHING SHORT OF HOW TO COLLECT THEIR OWN SHARE OF THE NATIONAL CAKE!
However, all avenues for stealing, looting or embezzlement have been blocked by the BUHARI ADMINISTRATION - the TREASURY SINGLE ACCOUNT (TSA), has made it very impossible for the pilferers to dip their filthy fingers into the TILL; Expired OIL BLOC LICENCES WERE NOT RE-NEWED; PORTFOLIO LEGISLATORS WERE BLOCKED FROM ILLICIT CONTRACTS THROUGH "OVERSIGHT FUNCTIONS"; ANNUAL BUDGET PADDINGS HAVE BEEN PROSCRIBED; there is no money to share or steal anymore! AND IN PMB'S SECOND TERM (2019-2023), THERE WILL BE A PARLIAMENT OF ONE LEGISLATIVE HOUSE WITH 74 MEMBERS ON PART TIME! THE ZEAL OF THE LORD WILL PERFORM THIS POPULIST DESIRE! AMEN.


THE SIEGE AT NASS ON 7TH AUGUST, 2018 - DAURA PLAYED INTO SARAKI'S HANDS!
Who hatched the plot?
(1) When Saraki was comfortably seated at plenary and presided over the defection of 14 APC Senators to the opposition PDP, he made Nigerians and the world to believe that he was at his home which was barricaded by his own security details;
(2) Because he wanted to hold on to the position of Senate presidency, he covertly suggested a meeting of some selected Party caucuses of PDP from both chambers to meet at the National Assembly at noon on 7th August, 2018, to forestall an imaginary invasion by APC senators, whom he alleged had planned to remove him!
(3) THE CATCH was for him to supplant the invitees, protect his interest and force other security agents and Press outside of NASS to besiege the complex very early!
(4) His devious plan worked as usual and he made triumphant entry at about noon to receive applause and choruses of: Oloye, Oloye, Oloye, from hired photographers and some miscreants who accompanied him into the complex!

LAWAL DAURA, the now sacked DSS Director caught Saraki's BAIT! He had sent MASKED operatives to the complex very early on that day without presidential approval and provoked hue, cry, commotion and orchestrated pandemonium from the PDP Legislators who were privy to the whole plan and on hand to fan the embers of disunity among the good people of Nigeria!

BUT SENATOR BENEDICT MURRAY-BRUCE GOOFED BEFORE NOON: HE ALLEGED THAT SENATOR GODSWILL AKPABIO WHO WAS ALREADY IN UYO, AKWA IBOM, IN PREPARATION FOR HIS DECAMPMENT, WAS ACTUALLY ON HIS WAY TO INVADE THE NATIONAL ASSEMBLY COMPLEX AND SAID ON TV: "WE SHALL PHOTO- COPY (PHOTOGRAPH), HIS FACE AND SHOW IT TO THE WORLD" DID HE MAKE A COMMONSENSE? 2019 GENERAL ELECTIONS WOULD TELL!
"God cannot be deceived, whatever a man sows, that he shall reap!"

I am, yours sincerely, Dr. David B.A. Olufon. 08130669886, 08098194390. 08080243066. g-mail- dvdolufon@gmail.com.

As the dust settles on the gale of defections, majorly from the APC ruling party to the opposition PDP, and vice-versa, a palpable storm that could overheat the polity has gathered momentum through the eventual defection of 'Bukola Saraki, and Aminu Tambuwal,of Sokoto State, who both failed to resign their appointments as SENATE PRESIDENT and GOVERNOR respectively!

Should Nigerians be surprised with Saraki's antics/gimmicks, which began on the 9th June, 2015, when he manipulated the entire APC hierarchy to surreptitiously assume the exalted position, in spite of a better and preferred candidate pencilled down for the job?

From that initial political coup which was stage-managed with the tacit support of PDP Senators, Saraki has not left anyone in doubt that he was out to trouble Nigeria and would remain a thorn in its flesh for as long as he could pull the stunt! He remained the arrow head of the opposition in the hallowed chambers, a scenario that was alien to the Nigerian parliament since independence in 1960!

He remained the clog of the wheel of economic progress by always supporting the PDP Senators to thwart all concerted efforts to move the nation out of a threatening RECESSION right from inception of the CHANGE administration by stifling the Executive of FUNDS through deliberate delay of budgets approval from 2016 - 2018!

Like the Benue State Governor, who also refused to resign his appointment, Saraki has blamed the ruling party for hounding him with criminal charges and pushed him out of the APC as if government had no right to prosecute him for the allegations of amassing illicit wealth through false declaration of assets as Governor of Kwara State for eight years!

He was recently fingered for financing thuggery and violence through some miscreants who graduated into bank robbers in which 9 policemen, including civilian victims, totalling 30 persons were killed in Offa, Kwara State, on 5th April, 2018, and he expected the Nigerian Police Force authorities to exonerate him in spite of all damning evidences against him by the robbery gang leaders! Senate presidency is not Saraki's birthright, because he is only one person among several (108), equals!

As if the wanton sponsored killings which had been squarely deposited at the doorsteps of the politicians should not suffice, 'Bukola Saraki now plans to instigate fresh bloodshed by holding on to that position as the number one principal officer, ganner more defections to PDP at all costs and move for the IMPEACHMENT OF THE PRESIDENT, which he is aware would not be an easy task!

What APC has requested of Saraki is very simple: "Resign your post as Senate President in order not to overheat the polity, just as your protegee, Bolaji Abdulahi did resign as Chairman of the Nigerian Sugar Company!" But he is still sitting tight as at the time of this publication.

An adage states that a drowning person would cling to any floating object - even a broomstick! Saraki's tainted political career is definitely at its lowest ebb and the only honourable course open to him is to step down from his high horse, resign as Senate President and submit himself to the Police for thorough investigation or prosecution as the case may be! He cannot have his cake and eat it too!


SARAKI SHOULD RECONVENE NASS FOR VIREMENT TO FUND 2019 ELECTIONS!
He is postponing the evil day for delaying to re-convene the National Assembly as requested by the Executive for the approval of Virement or Supplementation of 2018 Budget for N242 billion for INEC, NSCDC, DSS, NPF, IMMIGRATION and others, to conduct the 2019 General Elections. The President requested that N164.1 billion of total fund proposed for the election should be funded from the N578.31billion, illegal insertion in the 2018 Budget by the National Assembly (NASS)!


469 LEGISLATORS AND THE REST OF US!
No one needs a soothsayer to tell the renegades among the present crop of Nigerian Legislators in the National Assembly (NASS), that the battle line has been drawn between them and the Electorate that “voted” them to serve the nation!
Any river or stream that despises its source was bound to dry up just as any dog that ignores the command whistle of the master hunter would be lost in the forest and become prey to predators!

Party supremacy through internal democracy mechanism as entrenched in APC’s Constitution must prevail at all times, especially now that a handful of rebels had attempted to hijack the instruments of power from the Executive at legislative level, but God cannot be deceived, whatsoever that a man sows, that he would surely reap, and in multiplication!

Why was it so difficult for these “distinguished” parliamentarians to forget that their former parties which collapsed to form the All Progressives Congress (APC) are DEAD and BURIED according to extant laws of the land? Why would those who are now bent on wrecking the APC with impunity, think that they are now superior and independent of the Electorate who are the majority and possess the sovereign power to hire and fire?

Now that the polygamous children of the mixed multitude have now been openly identified through their inordinate lust for carnal power, it will be very easy to sift and flush them out of the CHANGE system because they belonged to the old order of past administrations which is anathema!


They thought that this new administration would follow the corrupt pattern of the past of money sharing, /looting through Ministries Departments and Agencies (MDA's) oversight functions, illegal fat salaries/allowances and the massive illicit gains in the name of quarterly constituency allowances paid directly to legislators bank accounts!
But as it is written every tree that is not planted by God in the present administration of the APC must be uprooted and cast into the furnace!

The individual downtrodden and illiterate citizen who could neither comprehend nor appreciate the main reasons or causes for his predicament in life, his misery, poverty, social and backward economic state, was prone to become an easy prey to be manipulated at will by politicians, enemies of the State or saboteurs to foment trouble in the polity.
We have every reason to believe that this new government is poised to reverse the trend of insecurity that berthed Boko Haram, and the killer herdsmen crisis, renew hope in the hopeless citizens, resuscitate the spirit of patriotism and give equal opportunities that would ignite the fire of nationalism above selfish interests!

We encourage the Electorate to get ready to vote out these selfish legislators during the coming 2018 Elections by ensuring that they possess their Permanent Voters Cards! A stitch in time saves nine!



I am, yours sincerely, Dr. David B.A. Olufon. 08130669886, 08098194390. 08080243066. g-mail- dvdolufon@gmail.com.

THE GANG-UP AGAINST BUHARI WILL FALL LIKE A PACK OF CARDS!


If the intentions of current agitators amongst Nigerian politicians were pure, genuine and righteous towards the people they claimed to represent in governance, would they be so desperate to acquire transient power at all costs? Would they really need to form alliances, coalitions, associations, confederations etc, of 38 political parties to CAPTURE POWER at the centre and force themselves on the citizens except they had ulterior motives or hidden agenda which would be injurious to the Nigerian Project? The current confederacy by these groups to force the incumbent President Muhammadu Buhari out of office by 2019, which was spearheaded by ex-President Aremu Obasanjo, has proved to be the "Achilles heels" of the professional hustlers whose false accusations and untruths about the performances of the ruling party have been debunked by serious political parties, which had identical people-oriented ideologies and manifestoes with the All Progressives Congress (APC)!


For these "wolves in sheep's clothing’s, their ultimate desire is to CAPTURE POWER as a political tool to influence, intimidate, control, coerce and manipulate without sensitivity to the feelings or plight of the masses who they are constitutionally bound to protect and provide for their welfare! They were there for SIXTEEN years and could not give account of good stewardship and because they could still walk free, believe that they could get back to continue the plumage! Had the First Lady, Aisha Buhari, sensed that those who claimed to be "election campaign foot soldiers who got the President elected in 2015, but had since been side-lined in the allotment of perks of victory, would later show their true colour as selfish hustlers and enemies of the State and of the Change Mantra, she would have saved her breadth in pleading their cause as she did in 2016!


GEORGE ORWELL DETESTS MAN'S INHUMANITY TO MAN!

English novelist, Eric Arthur Blair, aka, George Orwell, famous for his titles; "Animal Farm"(1945), and "Nineteen Eighty-Four", (1949), examines in the latter, the dangers of totalitarian rule when the lust for inordinate ambition for power results in an oppressive or dishonest social environment. The satirical novel opined that nothing good could be expected from despots but that the deliberate quest for education by citizens could save them from bondage and slavery!

Orwell could well have predicted the modern day Nigeria where the threats to democracy had been sinisterly heightened for the selfish motives of a few who are believed to be sponsors of the heinous crimes of terrorism and the unabated killings by herdsmen! Prior to Monday 9th July, 2018 when 38 political parties, N-PDP, and RAPC coalesced with the failed Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), the betrayal saga had long begun with the agitation of an N-PDP Group within the constitutionally-recognised All Progressives Congress (APC), which broke again into another faction, called Reformed APC, (RAPC), led by Buba Galadima, - a so-called ally of President Muhammadu Buhari! Galadima, who on behalf of his group announced on 2nd June, 2018, the "Coalition of 38 political parties", proudly declared that they were set to "battle" APC Government ahead of 2019 General Elections in order to seize power at all costs adding that they have all merged under the platform of Coalition of Concerned Political Parties (CCPP). and enjoined "aggrieved members" of APC to join them under the leadership National Chairman of the Social Democratic Party (SDP), Olu Falae, a former Secretary to the Government of the Federal Republic (SGF), during ex-President Obasanjo's first term! CCPP's mission was to "solve Nigeria's complex problem, for the progress and unity of Nigeria and to fight our common course of restoring of the nation's lost glory"!

QUESTIONS: Are they not the same charlatans/hustlers who caused all of the present woes and sorrows, insurgency, killings, terrorism, economic recession of 2016, reneging on the social contracts with the masses, etc.? Did they not hold sway in all previous governments which looted the treasury with impunity and fleeced the nation high and dry?

Did they not coalesce and connived with ex-President Ebele Jonathan's PDP Government to rob the Nigerian treasury of about N20 billion as salaries and sitting allowances for themselves as the anointed 469 DELEGATES of the 2014 illegal National Conference, deliberately foisted to perpetuate him in office?

What is the total POPULATION of the analog SDP, N- PDP, RAPC, and the 38 mushroom political parties in reality, or, are they not just hustling to identify how and where their "bread would be better buttered"?

How did they fair at the last 2015 General Elections and at the governorship elections in EDO/ONDO/KOGI/ANAMBRA States between 2016 and 2017?


DEAD ON ARRIVAL!
As we had predicted in past editions, all of the so-called amalgamations, confederations, alignments and coalitions of political parties in their bid for TRANSIENT POWER only succeeded to birth the MIXED MULTITUDES, which have become the FRANKENSTEIN'S MONSTERS which are tormenting this nation as political thugs, armed militias, vandals, assassins, Boko Haram terrorists and lately, the KILLER HERDSMEN of this generation! However, in the midst of these commotions, GOD kept a REMNANT of SANE politicians for Himself to remain the BEACON OF HOPE AND LIGHT to the downtrodden and traumatized Nigerians who were always at the receiving end of BAD GOVERNANCE! On Monday 10th July, 2018, TEN POLITICAL PARTIES dissociated themselves from the much-publicised coalition of 38 parties with N-PDP and RAPC!


And on 10th July, 2018, the ACCORD PARTY dissolved its executive committee members for anti-party activities of supporting the Ekiti PDP candidate for the Saturday 14th July, 2018, Governorship Elections and adopted an endorsement of their own candidate, Abiodun Aluko, by former Kaduna State Governor, Balarabe Musa, and a coalition of 14 political, parties under the aegis of Credible Alternative Alliance (CAA). Outside of the TEN and FOURTEEN (24) Parties of the preceding paragraphs which had no affinity with Coalition of Concerned Political Parties (CCPP), there were also THIRTY (30) out of the total of SIXTY EIGHT (68), INEC registered and recognized Political Parties which also distanced themselves from the BUBA GALADIMA GROUP!

The CCPP of strange bed fellows has crumbled before it could birth and is of no effect or consequence for the following reasons:
All the failed politicians who ruined the economy of Nigeria between 1999-2015, and who are either being prosecuted in courts for all manner of financial crimes or are under the searchlight or investigations by law-enforcement agencies, now want to OCCUPY THE NUMBER ONE POSITION AS PRESIDENT in the HOUSE OF COMMOTION hurriedly constructed by the "old horse", Buba Galadima!
The role call as at the time of publication included but not limited to, - Atiku Abubakar, Aminu Tambuwal, Abubakar Shekarau, Ahmed Markarfi, 'Bukola Saraki, Ayodele Fayose, Sule Lamido etc. SENATOR SARAKI began to test his popularity "as an executive president" the day after his acquittal (Saturday, 07-07--18), by the SUPREME COURT from all criminal charges by Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT), when he flew to Port-Harcourt, Rivers State, to commission a road project as a special guest of PDP Governor Nyesome Wike, amidst fanfare, conviviality and camaraderie with the PDP fraternity!


APC WON GOVERNORSHIP ELECTION IN PDP's EKITI STATE ON 14TH JULY, 2018! WHAT GOES AROUND COMES AROUND!

BUT NOW THAT THE PDP HAS LOST EKITI STATE TO APC WHERE WILL SARAKI, DOGARA, BUBA GALADIMA, SHEKARAU, TAMBUWAL, SHEHU SANNI AND ALL OTHER THREATENING APC DECAMPEES HIDE THEIR FACES? IS THE HANDWRITING NOT GETTING CLEARER ON THE WALL FOR THE 2019 PRESIDENTIAL ELECTIONS? WHERE IS THE PENDULUM SWINGING BECAUSE THE BUBBLE HAS BURST AND THEY HAVE NO LEGITIMATE PARTY TO CALL THEIR OWN ANY MORE! WE WISH THAT THESE MIXED MULTITUDE WOULD JUST QUIT FOR RULING APC TO CONCENTRATE ON EXECUTING OUTSTANDING SOCIAL INTERVENTION PROGRAMMES! THEY CANNOT AFFORD ANY CARRY-OVER INTO THE SECOND TERM!

All the PDP AND CCPP aspirants for the 2019 Presidential race have begun to work at cross purposes - and would not be able to settle for a consensus candidate since the "COLLAPSE OF THE 38 COALESED PARTIES WHICH HAD BOASTED OF FIRE AND BRIMSTONE!


SONG OF BUHARI (SOB)
‘’Associate yourselves, O ye people, and ye shall be broken in pieces; and give ear, all ye of far countries: gird yourselves, and ye shall be broken in pieces; gird yourselves, and ye shall be broken in pieces. Take counsel together, and it shall come to nought; speak the word, and it shall not stand: for God is with us’’. Isa 8:9-10. (KJV)


FEDERAL LEGISLATORS WILL NOW WORK ON CREATION OF STATE POLICE WITH ALACRITY!
Finally NASS legislators have united to implement OUR UMPTEENTH CALL FOR THE ESTABLISHMENT OF STATE POLICE! On Tuesday 3rd July, 2018, the SENATE at plenary realised their predicament (since the saga of the stolen MACE), and raised a united voice in the call for the CREATION OF STATE/COMMUNITY POLICE through its Constitutional Review Committee in a bid to overhaul the nation's security system and finally end the senseless spate of herdsmen killings in the Middle belt and the violence through suicide bombings in the North East! Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekeremadu has led 76 other Senators to present a BILL to that effect during the last plenary on13th July, 2018. The House of Representatives had earlier on Wednesday 4th July, 2018, presented a similar BILL for the creation of State/Community Police through its Majority Leader, Hon. 'Femi Gbajabiamila and have gone through the first/second readings and we honestly believe that both chambers would hasten the passage just like they did when they altered the 2019 INEC Election Time Table to favour them! A STITCH IN TIME SAVES NINE!


I am, yours sincerely, Dr. David B.A. Olufon . 08130669886, 08098194390. 08080243066. g-mail- dvdolufon@gmail.com.

TO SALVAGE NIGERIA FROM ANARCHY - FEDERAL LEGISLATORS MUST RE-LOCATE FROM ABUJA TO THE GRASSROOTS!

Dastard, wicked and senseless killings of Nigerians of all ages escalated since the military incursion into the political terrain from January 15, 1966, when trigger-happy soldiers embarked on a kind of killing spree that had never been witnessed in the new sovereign state!

That aberration of the sacredness/sanctity of human lives between the group of soldiers (of the first and REPRISAL counter-coups), who perpetrated treasonable offences against their motherland with impunity, snowballed into the unfortunate "Biafra War", which lasted for 30 months (July, 1967-January,1970), during which more blood of murdered innocent Nigerians - especially, defenceless women and children flowed ceaselessly!
The soldiers also forcefully stayed in office for almost 30 years during which politicians, defiants and miscreants also amassed illegal weapons to both defend themselves and perpetrate chaos against law-abiding citizens - the ripple effects that the whole world is now witnessing!

According to statistics, Nigeria hosts over half of about 750 million small arms proliferated into West Africa! Between January and June, 2018, according to AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL latest report, about 1,800 defenceless Nigerians have been murdered in cold blood by killer-herdsmen in the Middle Belt Region of Benue, Taraba, Kaduna, Nasarawa and in Plateau, where about 100 people were massacred on 23rd June, 2018! According to that report, the attacks which occurred in several villages in three local government areas, continued for about SEVEN hours without any form of defence of the victims by soldiers and policemen, whose primary responsibilities were to protect lives and properties.
The ongoing ugly scenario of blood-letting being experienced now in the country needs the Wisdom of Solomon and the effectual fervent prayers of righteous patriotic/law-abiding citizens who strongly believe that Nigeria, under the watch of the faithful and righteous government of President Muhammadu Buhari, who loves this nation more than any of his predecessors, would survive this painful challenge and come out victorious in no time!

Each time there was a report of herdsmen/farmers clash resulting in heavy human casualties, the President had always taken re-active security measures to ameliorate such situations through marching orders to his Service Chiefs to counter the marauders and ensure arrests in order to bring those culpable to book, but it seemed that the President has desperate detractors who wanted to have him out of the way at all costs in view of the seemingly-unending nature of the dastard crimes!
On several occasions he had instructed them to re-locate to troubled areas in the North East, Middle Belt, South-South etc, according to priorities without neglecting any part as the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces, but those APC/N-PDP Federal Legislators headed by Senator Saraki and Hon. Dogara, who should support him have turned out to be the enemies within!

In a 12-point resolution they heaped all the blames of insecurity on President Buhari and even threatened to impeach him from the cosy chambers of the National Assembly (NASS), in Abuja, if the killings being sponsored by desperate persons of their ilk remained unabated!

Can these rebellious politicians wash themselves clean of the atrocities being perpetrated against the TALAKAWAS of this nation; or is it because they are still walking free and that the long arm of the law is yet to catch up with them? They can enjoy their short-lived "freedom" for now but they should remember, as it is written: "No sinner shall go unpunished!"


DOES THE RECENT PLATEAU MASSACRE PORTRAY RELIGIOUS INTOLERANCE?
In the early years of Boko Haram insurgency, the terrorists deliberately targeted the Christians through the bombing of Churches during worship periods, and the brutal killings of Xtian Clerics which were not limited to the North East, where they had launched a JIHAD, but extended their atrocities to the Federal Capital Territory, (FCT)!
Luckily for innocent and defenceless Nigerians, the Christians did not resort to reprisals in order not to precipate a Religious War, but cried unto the GOD of creation to defend them! Presently, terrorist have become indiscriminate and have been attacking mosques, churches, markets, motor parks, and schools, which are soft targets - mostly in the North East States!

The Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria (MACBAN), leaders were accused by the Benue State Governor as the "masterminds" behind the killing of 84 people in the State on 1st January, 2018, because he went ahead to enact the Anti-Open Grazing Law, in spite of their opposition!
Macban vehemently denied the allegation but following the June 2018, massacre in Plateau State, Chairman of the Northern Body of the Association was quoted as saying that 300 cows of Fulani herdsmen were killed by the Berom, (predominantly Xtian natives) and the attacks on their villages in which about 300 innocent people were murdered in cold blood, was a reprisal!

The Central Body has dissociated MACBAN from the statement and described it as a personal view of the author, but Nigerians cannot easily forget that sometime ago, the incumbent Governor of Kaduna State, Mallam Nasir El Rufai, publicly stated that any person who killed a Fulani man's cow must expect a reprisal, no matter how many years it took!

THE GOOD OLD DAYS AFTER INDEPENDENCE!
We strongly believe that we can still get back to those good old days before 1966, when Nigerians lived peacefully and when our diversity played out to be our greatest asset in spite of the myriads of premonitions by prophets of doom who lost out in elections! The nomadic Fulani pastoralists were very friendly settlers to their host communities even as they moved from north to south, east to west.
They had grazing routes and grazing reserves which have gradually fizzled out due to population explosion which should have metamorphosed into RANCHES through diplomacy by the military and previous 16 years of PDP administrations, without the shedding of human blood! BUT they were all busy sharing OIL MONEY and abandoned their basic constitutional duties of providing adequate SECURITY to all citizens irrespective of ethnic or religious affiliations!


NEITHER RELIGIOUS NOR ETHNIC CONFLICTS SHOULD PUT NIGERIA ASUNDER!
Homicides that are precipitated through pre-meditated murders, organised killings, assassinations, pogroms, ethnic cleansing are as old as the Mother Earth! In fact, the very FIRST murder that took place on planet Earth occurred within a family of four people when the elder of the two sons rose against his younger sibling and hacked him down in cold blood according to biblical sources!
The murder was pre-meditated, well-conceived and executed with calculated precision by Cain who lured Abel into the farm and clubbed him to death for no just cause; just like what obtains presently in Nigeria and world-wide! This is what the Preacher says: "...there is no new thing under the sun. Is there anything whereof it may be said, See, this is new? It had been already, which was before us. of old time." Of all human conflicts resulting in inter-tribal/ethnic squabbles since the beginning of creation, religious war had been the most-consuming, destructive, devastating, and of the greatest destabilising effects on national/inter-national economy, but these had been the trend from time immemorial! We MUST not allow it to gain root in our beloved nation because there is a thin line between religious and political violence!


IT IS THE TURN OF FEDERAL LEGISLATORS TO RE-LOCATE!
Because TALK IS VERY CHEAP, Nigerian Legislators have been the most talkative politicians in Nigeria who generate a lot of motions without meaningful/positive movements except when it comes to how to pad, re-write, re-invent, re-construct, cancel and insert new items in EVERY NIGERIAN BUDGET, from 1999-2018! But they have to get very busy from now on in order to justify that they are truly representatives of the downtrodden Nigerians now that the UNITED NATIONS (UN), IS WORRIED ABOUT THE HORRIBLE KILLINGS GOING ON IN NIGERIA AND FOR THE FACT THAT GLOBAL INDEX IN RESPECT OF POVERTY RATIO HAS REVEALED THAT ABOUT 50% OF THE 180 MILLION POPULATION ARE THE POOREST IN THE WORLD! THEY MUST ALSO DISMOUNT THEIR HIGH HORSES TO CONVINCE THE ELECTORATE THAT THEY ARE THE SERVANTS AND NOT THE LORDS OVER THE NIGERIAN POPULACE!
FIRST: THEY SHOULD WORK ON THE EXECUTIVE RECOMMENDATION OF THE ESTABLISHMENT OF STATE POLICE BY DISCUSSING IT, APPROVING IT AS A MATTER OF URGENCY, AND FORWARDING SAME TO THE PRESIDENT FOR ASSENT WITHIN THE FIRST TWO WEEKS OF JULY, 2018!
SECOND: THEY SHOULD THEN PROCEED ON A LONG RECESS OF AT LEAST TWO MONTHS, RE-LOCATE TO THEIR CONSTITUENCIES AND DISTRICTS OFFICES (IF THEY HAVE ANY), AS INDEGENES OF THEIR RESPECTIVE STATES TO GET INVOLVED IN THE TASK OF CONFLICT RESOLUTION: WORKING WITH ALL SECURITY AGENCIES AND THE STATE GOVERNORS - INCLUDING STATE LEGISLATORS - TO PROFFER PEACE RESOLUTIONS AND ALSO THE MODALITIES FOR THE QUICK ESTABLISHMENT OF STATE POLICE EXCLUSIVELY STAFFED BY THE INDEGENES WHO UNDERSTAND THEIR TERRAINS AND WOULD PERFORM BETTER THAN THE FEDERAL POLICE IN ORDER TO STOP THE ON-GOING KILLINGS OF INNOCENT NIGERIANS ONCE AND FOR ALL!
THIRD: THEY MUST VOLUNTARILY REFUND ALL ILLEGAL CONSTITUENCY ALLOWANCES COLLECTED SINCE THE YEAR 2015 UNDER THE PRETEXT OF PROVIDING NECESSARY AMENITIES AND INFRASTUCTURES FOR THE POOR MASSES TO THE TREASURY SINGLE ACCOUNT (TSA), FOR ONWARD TRANSMISSION TO THE LOCAL GOVERNMENTS OF THEIR RESPECTIVE STATES FOR REAL INFRASTRUTURAL DEVELOPMENTS TO BE MONITORED BY THE GRASSROOT PEOPLE THEMSELVES!

On the part of the Federal Government, it should ensure that the killers are fished out and punished according to the LAW to serve as deterrent to would-be criminals and for peace to reign permanently in all previous volatile areas of the country. WHERE THERE IS A WILL- THERE IS A WAY!



I am, yours sincerely, Dr. David B.A. Olufon. 08130669886,098194390. 08080243066. g-mail- dvdolufon@gmail.com.

NOW THAT SUPREME COURT HAS REVERSED ITSELF OVER SARAKI - IT'S OVER TO GOD!

The First Supreme Court Judgment!

On Friday, 5th February, 2016, the Supreme Court's Seven-man Panel, presided over by the Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Mahmud Mohammed, unanimously ruled in its judgment that Saraki's appeal against the jurisdiction of the CCT and the competence of the charges, lacked merit. Justice Walter Onnoghen, who delivered the lead judgment, dismissed all Saraki's seven grounds of appeal, affirming that the charges instituted against him were valid and that the tribunal was validly constituted with requisite jurisdiction to try him!

The Second Supreme Court Judgement - Two Years Later!

On Friday, 6th July, 2018, the Supreme Court of Nigeria deliver another judgement which favoured Saraki and finally put the criminal against case to permanent REST! The learned judges unanimously dismissed the false assets declaration charges against him before the Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT), and vacated an earlier Court of Appeal's judgement which ordered the defendant to return and face three of the initial 13 counts at the lower court!

IF SARAKI HAD BEEN FOUND GUILTY!

The specified punishment which the Code of Conduct Tribunal may impose on a person convicted of charges of false declaration of assets and other related offences under the Fifth Schedule, Part I, Section 18(1) (2) (a)(b)(c) are as follows:

(1) Vacation of office or seat in any legislative house as the case may be,

(2) Disqualification from membership of a
legislative house and from the holding of
any public office for a period not exceeding ten years, and

(3) Seizure and forfeiture to the State of any property acquired in abuse or corruption of office and

(4) 18 (3-7) which state that the sanctions mentioned above shall be without prejudice to the penalties that may be imposed by any law where the conduct is also a criminal offence.

(5) That guilty persons shall have right of appeal but that nothing shall prejudice the prosecution of such officer or preclude him/her from being prosecuted for an offence in a court of law and that

(6) the provisions of the Constitution relating to prerogative of mercy shall not apply to any punishment imposed in accordance with the provisions of paragraph 18(1-7).

Legislators are empowered to make laws for the peace, order and good government of the Federation and not to contradict the Constitution according to Section 4 ((9)!
"Behold, all ye that kindle a fire, that compass yourselves about with sparks: walk in the light of your fire, and in the sparks that ye have kindled. This shall ye have of mine hand; ye shall lie down in sorrow" Isa 50:11(KJV).
THY WILL BE DONE IN NIGERIA AS IT IS IN HEAVEN O LORD!




I am, yours sincerely, Dr. David B.A. Olufon, 08130669886, 08098194390. 08080243066. g-mail- dvdolufon@gmail.com.

THE "NOT TOO YOUNG TO RUN" YOUTHS OF EKITI MUST SHUN POLITICAL THUGGERY!


Governor Ayodele Fayose has been widely reported in the news and social media to have organised Ekiti State youths to be prepared to resist the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), and lawful authorities in the event of any perceived act of rigging or malpractice on the 14th July, 2018, date of the gubernatorial election and has not denied the allegations!
But barring any unforeseen/unpleasant events, the already scheduled election, should hold peacefully under the watchful eyes of GOD, the divine umpire; the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), local/international monitoring groups and security agencies!
It is common historical knowledge that Ekiti State's political environment of that Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), South West State, had suffered various degree of volatility since Governor Fayose, took office for the second time on 16th October, 2014, under very controversial circumstances!

A Nigerian Army (NA), intelligence officer, attached to 32nd Artillery Brigade, Captain Sagir Koli was reported to have secretly recorded for 37minutes, an audio vote-rigging plan on 20th June, 2014, while he accompanied his Commanding Officer, Brigadier General Aliyu Momoh, to a meeting at Spotless Hotel, Ado-Ekiti, which was owned by out-going Governor Peter Ayodele Fayose! In attendance, were Peter Ayodele Fayose, (who won the 2014 Ekiti governorship election), Senator Iyiola Omisore, a member of the National Assembly (NASS), Abdul Kareem, the Minister for Police Affairs, Alhaji Jelili Adesiyan, the former Minister of Police Affairs/Navy Captain, Caleb Olubolade, the Minister of State for Defence, Senator Musliu Obanikoro, Anambra PDP Chieftain, Chris Uba, who bribed the Brigadier General of rank promotion in view of his assistance in carrying out the electoral fraud!

A former secretary of the Ekiti State Chapter of the PDP, Dr. Temitope Aluko, also butressed the Captain's allegation and apologized to the people of Ekiti for the highly manipulated 2014 Election, which had the tacit connivance, authority and USD $ 37 million from ex-President Ebele Jonathan who was also poised to rig himself into office for the THIRD TERM!

In view of the preceding experience of the 2014 elections in perspective, and the benefits of hindsight, security agencies had intensified efforts to checkmate any loop hole that could pave way for rigging through the break-down of law and order by the youths who are being teleguided and brain-washed by the out-going governor to cause confusion!

However there was another report which claimed that THREE TRAILER loads of "foreigners" from other States armed with Permanent Voters Cards (PVCs), and headed toward Ekiti, were apprehended and being investigated! As it is generally believed that most Ekiti people are academically-endowed and that the State could boast of having more professors than other States of the Federation of Nigeria, we sincerely hope that the youths would bring to bear, their educational sagacity by refusing to be used as political thugs by the out-going Governor Fayose, who is so desperate to install his anointed candidate on the hapless citizens of Ekiti at all costs! He urged the electorate not to vote for the APC's candidate and said, “a vote for APC is a vote for Boko Haram and Fulani herdsmen."


FAYOSE'S CONFRONTATIONS WITH PRESIDENT BUHARI AND APC!
Out-going Governor Ayodele Fayose needs no introduction to Nigerians at home and the Diaspora because of his hard stance against the ruling government headed by President Muhammadu Buhari, GCFR, and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Nigeria, whom he had, without recourse to his age and position, consistently maligned, abused, disgraced and had published all manner of hate speeches through personal vendetta, against the President's entire family, wife and children since 2016, to date!
Fayose had condemned all Federal Government's policies/programmes and had dismissed President Buhari as a non- performer and even pronounced him DEAD, while the latter recuperated in a London hospital early in 2017, and claimed that he had pictures (which he is yet to produce), that the Buhari, who returned hale and hearty to Nigeria, was a SUDANESE CLONE of the Nigerian President!

This sinister out-going governor in April 2016, travelled to CHINA to personally deliver an official letter addressed to the Chinese President, Xi Jingping under his signature with an urgent request that Nigeria should not be granted a USD $ 2 billion dollar loan being sought by the Federal Government in a bi-lateral agreement to complete Railway Projects and other infrastructural projects that were initiated by previous administrations! He was not given an audience!
There were so many other antagonisms against the person of President Buhari and his administration (which are in the public domain through our 140th Edition publication, pages 2-3, of 20th April, 2016), that cannot find space in this edition, but would be left to posterity to judge!


FAYOSE'S PROFILE: FIRST OUTING/CONFRONTATIONS WITH EX-PRESIDENT OBASANJO!
Fayose was a "green horn" during his first incursion into the Nigerian political terrain between 29th May, 2003- 16th October, 2006; and in the process of learning the ropes through wrong advisers, got his fingers burnt badly, and was kicked out of office through a controversial impeachment, during ex-President Obasanjo's second tenure in 2006 ! He contested the faulty process of his impeachment in the courts and got a reprieve which earned him a second chance to become governor in 2014; but did he learn any lesson?
During the period of waiting, uncertainties and frustrations in respect of his political career, he tried his luck through the Labour Party in 2013 to get into the Red Chambers of the Senate, but failed woefully because the "Okada Riders and Motor Garage Touts, with whom he claimed to have great popularity, could not muster the sufficient votes against his opponent who won the coveted seat without sweat! But surprisingly, not long after that loss he was fished out by the PDP ruling government of ex-President Ebele Jonathan and foisted against, Dr. 'Kayode Fayemi, the APC Governor, who was just about to conclude his first tenure in office and was cleverly rigged out for the same Fayose who could not win Senatorial Elections in just ONE DISTRICT OF EKITI STATE, just few months back!


CONFRONTATION WITH INEC AND SECURITY AGENCIES!
Governor Fayose on Tuesday, 3rd July, 2018, accused security chiefs of working with the APC in the deployment of operatives to perpetrate rigging and illegal arrests in Ekiti in the approach the governorship election. He specifically alleged that the DSS boss of partisanship by ordering the arrests and detention of PDP members and some teachers in the State and tendered a video evidence to INEC top officials at the Civil Society Organisation (CSO), event, held to sensitize the Electorate ahead of the election, to confirm alleged "pre-loading of the Smart Card Reader by a political party in Akure, Ondo State!"
He also alleged that the plot was hatched to manipulate the election in favour of APC's candidate, Dr. 'Kayode Fayemi and accused the Ekiti State Commissioner of Police of complicity in the alleged plans to rig the July 14, 2018, governorship elections in the Ekiti State, following similar concerns raised by the PDP flag bearer Professor Kolapo Olusola (Eleka), over unacceptable deployments of security operatives, adding that he and his followers would resist all forms of harassments to ensure free, fair and credible elections in spite of all assurances from INEC that the election would be devoid of all form of malpractices!

INEC's Chief Press Secretary has refuted Governor Fayose's claim as baseless rumour being spread to taint the impeccable image of the Agency which had successfully conducted elections into 180 Constituencies since November, 2015! Elections will be conducted in over 550 polling units spread across Ekiti State on
Saturday 14th July, 2018.


I am, yours sincerely, Dr. David B.A.
Olufon. 08130669886, 08098194390. 08080243066. g-mail- dvdolufon@gmail.com.

THE NEXT ACE CARD OF THE SILENT REVOLUTION IS TO COMMISSION THE HALL OF SHAME!


Twenty-five years is a quarter of a Century and the prime age when a Nigerian youth can constitutionally become a State Legislator. But it had taken that long for the stroke of the pen of a democratic President to actualize citizen’s yearnings for true democracy and a determined inclusiveness for youth participation in righteous governance.

JUNE 12, 1993, was the day when all Nigerians from all walks of life, the rich, the "bourgeois", (the middle class), the poor, the peasants, hewers of the wood and drawers of the water, Christians, Muslims, traditional worshippers and the TALAKAWAS, discarded ethnicity, tribalism, nepotism, religious bigotry, animosity, hatred, grudges, contentions, acrimonies, land/chieftaincy disputes etc, and all in ONE ACCORD, voted in a military-infected Presidential election which threw up TWO MUSLIM CANDIDATES!
No one raised an eye-brow nor complained about religion but united in divinely-inspired determination to drive the SOLDIERS BACK TO THE BARRACKS! But the outcome of that election was the reverse of MARADONA'S mathematical calculations and expectations! Moshood Kashimawo Olawale (MKO), Abiola, the presidential candidate of the Social Democratic Party, defeated his opponent from Kano, National Republican Convention (NRC's), candidate, Bashir Tofa, hands down, even in his HOME STATE!
No wonder, the self-styled military President and dictator, Ibrahim Badamosi Babangida, ANNULED the fairest, freest, faultless, most-credible, violence-free, non-controversial, generally-acceptable, and populist-oriented presidential election ever held in the annals of the history of the Nigerian nation!


WAS MKO NOT A FRIEND OF THE SOLDIERS - FROM MURTALA TO ABACHA?
We have it on good authority that MKO had very close affinity, conviviality, and rapport with almost all the military regimes and in fact sourced his wealth - legitimately; mostly through government contracts!
He was a close civilian associate with Generals Murtala Mohammed, Ibrahim Babangida and even the maximum-dictator, Sanni Abacha, who subsequently threw him into detention after his partner-in-crime Ibrahim Babangida had annulled the credible election!

It is on record that when Abacha overthrew the Interim National Government (ING) of civilian President, Ernest Sonekan, from office, MKO was one of the first to visit Abacha in his office, in the innocent belief that he (Abacha), as one of his "commrados", would pull the right strings and restore his MANDATE - but MKO terribly miscalculated and the rest is history!
Several pressure groups: Civil Society Organisations (CSOs), Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs), Labour Unions (most especially, the Oil and Gas workers, NUPENG and PENGASSAN), NADECO, etc, did not waste time in organising civil agitations/protests and well-orchestrated advocacies to attract international diplomacy and intervention from the United States, Europe and the Diaspora in the struggles for Nigeria's emancipation from the iron-grip of military dictators!

HAD BASHIR TOFA WON THE JUNE 12, 1993, PRESIDENTIAL ELECTIONS?
Until the NIGERIANISM DOCTRINE is embraced by all citizens the North-South dichotomy would remain a contentious and divisive issue instead of a unifying factor of unity despite diversity in tongues, tribes, caste, religion etc.! BABANGIDA DONNED THE THINHING CAP OF A NORTHERN LEADER, NOT AS A NIGERIAN! HE WAS NOT ONLY MYOPIC IN HIS DECISION, BUT ALSO VERY SELFISH AND VINDICTIVE IN THE UNDERSTANDING AND ASSESSMENT OF HIS WORLDVIEW!
What excuses did he give for the annulment of the June 12, 1993, elections? Some excerpts of Babangida's speech: "Evidence available to government put the total amount of money spent by the presidential candidates at over TWO BILLION ONE HUNDRED MILLION NAIRA, (N2.1billion). The use of money was again the major source of undermining the electoral process.
Both these allegations and evidence were known to the National Defence and Security Council before the holding of the June 12, 1993, election but the National Defence and Security Council overlooked these areas of problems in its determination to fulfil the promise to hand over to the elected president on the due date. ....... There were cases of documented and confirmed conflicts of interest between the government and both presidential candidates which would compromise their positions and responsibilities were they to become president. ....IT IS TRUE THAT THE PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION WAS GENERALLY SEEN TO BE FREE! FAIR AND PEACEFUL. However, there was a huge array of electoral malpractices, virtually in all the States of the federation before the actual voting began. .........etc"
From Babangida's statement, June 12 Presidential election was free, fair and violence-free yet he annuled it and violent protests against its cancelation resulted in the untimely deaths of over 100 innocent Nigerians across the nation; but it would have been a different story if Bashir Tofa had won!

THE POLITICAL SCENARIO BEFORE JUNE 12, 1993.
As at the time when June 12, 1993, presidential election was annulled, ex-Head of State, Ibrahim Babangida, had surreptitiously spent EIGHT CONSECUTIVE YEARS as the Roman Emperor Nero in office, and even took the nomenclature of a self-styled "military president"; a title that was only peculiar to Nigeria and cared less if the nation swam or sank!
It is on record that the "Maradona", had a hand in every coup since 15th July,1966, before he ousted General Muhammadu Buhari in November 1985, whose regime was too socialist-inclined for his liking and incarcerated him in detention for over three years of his inglorious eight years of military aberration!


SILENT BUT CONSISTENT REVOLUTION OF THE APC CHANGE GOVERNMENT AGAINST CORRUPTION!
When the law enforcement agents of the new government - the Armed Forces, Police, SSS, EFCC, etc, worked silently but purposefully, day and night with the brand new president and his demolition squad, the treasury looters continued in their merriment in the belief that they had gotten away with their crimes! The very bold ones among them said publicly that the APC Government could not convict one single corrupt person since 29th May, 2015; others dare the new government to name alleged looters; while, yet another group on collision course, outrightly condemned the Buhari Administration of gross incompetence! As at the time of this publication, the Boko Haram terrorism in the North East is at the departure lounge, the herdsmen killers menace had subsided as permanent solutions were being worked out by all staked holders - at the Federal and State levels; the EFCC, in a press release disclosed that in less than 36 calendar months the fearless agency had achieved over 603 convictions, while the Police is relentless in dealing with all manner of crimes and criminalities - irrespective of the personalities involved!


THE SUCCESSFUL CONVICTIONS OF EX- GOVERNORS JOLLY NYAMME AND JOSHUA DARIYE THROUGH EFCC!
It did not come a surprise to our Editorial Board, both Nyamme and Dariye are now in PRISON, because we predicted the FALL of all past heads of states, governors, legislators, civil servants, military/police officers, including those of the NNPC etc, who at one time or the other has stolen, embezzled or looted the COMMON WEALTH of the Talakawas of this good country, and it has begun to be fulfilled! Believe the prophecy, because what has just played out is just a “tip of the ice-berge" - MORE HEADS WILL ROLL very soon! When Nigerians were told that PMB's Change Agenda was of a divine mission and mandate, most people were sceptical and just like when doubters of the FIRST WORLD disbelieved the prophecy of the great flood and perished, so will it be for the people of this sinful generation!' THERE WILL BE NO MORE SACRED COWS IN NIGERIA!

OBASANJO MAY CRY TO HIGH HEAVENS FOR ALL WE CARE!
Who would have thought that the septuagenarian Army General OBJ would ever cry wolf, judging the tenacity with which he condemned PMB's Administration and counselled Buhari not to seek for a SECOND TERM? It seemed he had suddenly forgotten that boasted to face fresh probe in respect of the USD$ 17 billion fraud case which the PDP consecutive administrations swept under the carpet! We request for fresh investigations by the new EFCC which should unravel the TRUTH and get all culprits into prison if they are found guilty! Heaven will not for any criminal, fraudulent or corrupt president, serving or retired - South Korean ex-president is cooling off her heels in prison; so were many others before him, across the world!


WHO KNOWS TOMORROW AND WHO CAN TURN BACK THE HANDS OF THE CLOCK?
Nobody knows tomorrow! What we know is that tomorrow is today's yesterday while the tomorrow always in expectation everyday, will remain a Mystery that only God could unravel! People regret daily what they failed to achieve in many yesterdays of their existence and would have loved to do differently, but always came to the conclusion that it was impossible to turn back the digital hands of the CLOCK! Tomorrow belongs to the Almighty GOD and is exclusive to him alone! (James. 4:13).
Babangida did not envisage tomorrow – therefore, today, even before the HALL OF SHAME is commissioned, he should be PENCILLED DOWN FOR THE NO1 POSITION! Our Edition 72 of 28-12-14, which advocated for this Hall, has been re-ecchoed by PROF 'WOLE SOYINKA!


JUNE 12, 2018, IS THE LONG-AWAITED PANACEA FOR NIGERIA'S TOTAL RE- UNIFICATION!
The restoration of the June 12, 1993 mandate and the unreserved apology of a sitting President to MKO. Abiola's family and by extension to all Nigerians, who participated in the democratic struggle - demise or alive, will usher in a new dispensation of LOVE IN DIVERSITY and destroy the spirit of hatred and division. We pray that the wanton and unnecessary killings and shedding of innocent blood will stop permanently so that the nation will take its rightful position among truly-developed nations of the world NOW AND INTO THE FUTURE! KUDOS TO BUHARI! BRAVO TO APC! HURRAY!

I am, yours sincerely, Dr. David B.A. Olufon, 08130669886, 08098194390. 08080243066. g-mail- dvdolufon@gmail.com.

SARAKI CANNOT SHIFT THE GOAL POST: HE MUST FACE POLICE PROBE!

If the PDP-imposed Senate President, 'Bukola Saraki, had known that his age-long pet group of BOUNCERS, the Youth Liberation Movement (YLM), aka. "Good Boys", would metamorphose into an albatross of blood-spilling killers and bank robbers, he would have tredded softly to make restitution for gate-crashing the sacred chambers instead of becoming pompous arrogant and disrespectful to lawful authorities in both the Executive, Party hierarchy and would have also refrained from abusing the collective sensibilities/intelligence of all Nigerian citizens through his indifferent but very selfish and covetous attitude!

Since he surreptitiously became the principal head of the upper house, he had garbed a new toga with the inordinate ambition of becoming the number one citizen by targeting the exalted position of the executive president of Nigeria in 2019, through persistent/pre-meditated confrontation; otherwise, how would one explain his highly effective lordship over his equals and contemporaries, who suddenly became his "YES BOYS", and have neither confronted nor disagreed with him on all major or minor decisions since their illegal investiture on 9th June, 2015?

When he was arraigned for the first time before the Code of Conduct Tribunal, the Senate of the Federal Republic of Nigeria closed shop as over 80 SENATORS, led by Dino Melaye, accompanied him to intimidate the JUDGE in solidarity!
But very recently, five members of a gang of demon-possessed robbers which recently gunned down 33 people, including a pregnant woman and nine policemen following raids on SIX commercial banks in Offa town, Kwara State, Nigeria, according to a Nigerian Police Force bulletin, confessed during investigation before the media and the public on 3rd June, 2018, that they were political thugs of Senate President 'Bukola Saraki and his protegee, the Executive Governor of the State, Abdulfatha Ahmed and that they operated under the name of Youth Liberation Movement with the acronym, "Good Boys"! Abdulfatha neither denied the existence of YLW Good Boys but dismissed the insinuation that they were their political thugs! He said that all monetary/vehicle and other incentives channelled through his government to various groups were meant for their empowerment and he was not in a position to determine what they did with such largesse!

QUOTES FROM Abdulfatha's statement: "To set the records straight, the Kwara Government has a well- known empowerment scheme under the small and medium enterprises platform which is used to move women and men into entrepreneurship. At no time did the State Government directly provide funds for any group known as Good Boys for any purpose.
"Similarly, if any of the beneficiaries chose to use the SME credit secured from government to purchase a vehicle which was alleged to have been used for an act of criminality, the Kwara State Governor and indeed the State Government cannot be held liable for such actions since neither had prior knowledge of such intentions on the part of the beneficiary."
Abdulfatha enjoys immunity while Saraki does not and that is the reason why only the latter has been invited for further interrogation following a written statement submitted to Police investigators. Both men are presumed under the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999, to be INNOCENT until proven guilty by a court of competent jurisdiction; but the law must freely take its course in the process of criminal investigations. Saraki must make himself available to answer questions on other allegations contained in the confessions of the FIVE gang leaders of the 15-man robbery gang who claimed that the vehicles used for the robbery and the attack on the Police Divisional Headquarters, were gifts from their Chairman, Senator 'Bukola Saraki! He should also be able to throw light on why some of gang leaders, who carried out the dastard acts accompanied him to commiserate with the Olofa of Offa, at his palace when he went visiting!
He should equally explain his affinity with some of the suspects who were said to have attended his recent daughter's wedding in the common ASO EBI DRESS, the traditional uniform donned by all guests at the august occasion!

WHO IS 'BUKOLA SARAKI - IS HE A PATRIOT OF CHANGE?
'Bukola Saraki is "first" among equals of 8th NASS 109 Senators of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. He is a Physician by discipline but was railroaded into politics through his late father's (Olusola Saraki's), influence, first as a Federal Government appointee during ex-President Obasanjo's administration and later as Governor of Kwara State, for EIGHT years, ( 2003-2011), and now Senator (2011-2018).
He was the arrow head of the National Assembly coupists of 9th June, 2015, who defied the constitutional powers of President Muhammadu Buhari and APC Party Leaders to illegally institutionalize the 8th NASS. He is very arrogant and disrespectful - a trait that had doggedly trailed him from adolescence!
Saraki hatched a plot with the PDP opposition few days before the inauguration to occupy the seat of Senate President by hook and crook! In his own confession he said that he disguised himself with a simple outfit of slacks, snickers, tea shirt and face cap and was within NASS premises car park before 6am, because he believed he could be abducted. He said that he latter donned a "babanriga" (big mantle), and trekked into the chambers at about 9.45am unnoticed!
He betrayed APC by picking a PDP candidate Ike Ekeremadu, for the position of deputy!
He is the proverbial rooster that perched on a rope and created a commotion, because both the bird and the rope were forced to dance in the air! But he forgot that he had a lot of skeletons in his cupboard - false declaration of his assets while he was governor of Kwara State for EIGHT years; illegal collection of double salaries, allowances pensions and severance benefits, as Senator and ex-governor continuously for SEVEN years; maintaining foreign accounts while serving as governor; and allegedly bank-rolling his wife's NGO, with funds from the Kwara State coffers while in the saddle as governor; etc!

HE WHO LIVES IN A GLASS HOUSE SHOULD NOT THROW STONES!
Saraki did not waste time to accuse the Judge of the Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT), before whom he was arraigned on charges of false declaration of assets, that he was incompetent to adjudicate over his case and quickly appealed up to the Supreme court but failed in his quest to quash the matter, because he was ordered at the apex court to go back to CCT and face the charges!

When, accused of illegally importing a Range Rover customised SUV, for a whooping sum of USD $17million, he denied and moved against the Nigerian Customs and summoned him to report before the Senate, dressed in his official uniform - knowing full well that the Retired Army Colonel Ahmmadu Ali, had never donned Customs uniform since his appointment!
When some of his security details made away with over N330 million converted from US dollars at a bureau-de-change outfit, Saraki denied knowledge and ownership of the said fund and matter died a natural death? When his faithful ally, Senator Dino Melaye was involved in the RECALL PROCESS from his Senatorial District and also in an alleged criminal case of possession of illegal weapons, he and his deputy, Ike Ekeremadu supported Dino to frustrate all process of law by the Nigerian Police operatives and on two occasions, "summoned" the Inspector General to report before the legislators, refused the IGP's representative and eventually declared him as unfit of any public office! In addition, the Senate also pronounced a "VOTE OF NO CONFIDENCE" on the IGP!

The latest of his onslaught is on the Executive President and Chief Commander-of -the-Armed Forces, President Muhammadu Buhari, whom he had subtly threatened to quickly address all security challenges, stop harassing, stampeding, arm-twisting and intimidating the Senate, henceforth through his agencies or face an IMPEACHMENT PROCESS?
At an emergency executive joint session of NASS the legislators demanded for the stop to all killings of Nigerians, stop harassment of perceived political enemies, ensure strict adherence to rule of law, President must call his appointees to order, show sincerity in the fight against corruption, protect the sanctity of NASS, prevent the reign of fear and intimidation in the forthcoming 2019 General Elections, curtail growing level of poverty and unemployment, NASS will lease with international community through the IPU, the APU, ECOWAS Parliament, EU, US Congress and the United Nations to secure Nigeria's democracy, etc. and failure to implement all of the demands, Senate threatened that they would be forced to INVOKE the Constitutional Powers of the Parliament!

Bukola Saraki believes that the Senate's constitutional powers superseded that of the President, the Executive and even the Judiciary and that he could ride rough-shod over anyone through OVERSIGHT FUNCTIONS bestowed on the Legislative BUT has completely forgotten all about the DOCTRINE OF SEPARATION OF POWERS which prevented such political rascality and arrogance!

If it were in other climes, Saraki would have vacated his seat to clear his name since those SKELETONS fell out his cupboard, but trust the typical Nigerian politician, who would not want to miss out on the fat salaries, constituency allowances, (N450 million per quarter), budget paddings running into billions of naira etc. and the regular N13.5 million, monthly working allowances, outside of the others, which is not a child's pocket money!
WAS IT NOT TIME FOR PATRIOTIC NIGERIANS TO RISE IN UNISON, DEMAND FOR A REFERENDUM TO SCRAP THE SENATE AND CAST OUT THE 109 ENEMIES WHO ARE BENT ON DESTROYING NIGERIA'S ECONOMY AND VOTE FOR 74 REPRESENTATIVES ON PART-TIME APPOINTMENT IN ONE PARLIARMENT?

MEMORY LANE: IS HISTORY ABOUT REPEAT ITSELF?
There was a Chief S. T. Oredein, a very prominent chieftain of the defunct Chief Obafemi Awolowo's - ACTION GROUP PARTY, who was involved in an armed robbery case in 1971, and was committed to a sentence of life in prison following detailed Police investigations in respect of his tacit involment!
“But the wicked are like the troubled sea, when it cannot rest, whose waters cast up mire and dirt. There is no peace, saith my God, to the wicked."(Isa 57:20-21).


I am, yours sincerely, Dr. David B.A. Olufon. 08130669886, 08098194390. 08080243066. g-mail- dvdolufon@gmail.com.

PRESIDENT BUHARI'S IMMUNITY IS INFERIOR TO THAT OF THE NIGERIAN JUDGE!

Although the solid foundation for the total eradication of corruption from the Nigerian polity has been laid by the present APC Administration through the option of a TREASURY SINGLE ACCOUNT (TSA), and other strict economic policies which make it totally impossible for any pilferer, no matter how deft, to steal a kobo from the dedicated account without being detected, judges of THE JUDICIARY, which is acclaimed as "last hope of the common man", can collect bribes, falsify documents and retire to enjoy their loots unchallenged!

Is it not very glaring that the present "immunity status" of judges was cleverly inserted as a bargain by some of the judicial officers who drafted and crafted the bogus 1999 Document to suit the whims and caprices of the Military? They had to immunize themselves from prosecutions over crimes and criminalities blatantly committed at the BENCH! Or, how do you explain that law enforcement agents cannot arrest any JUDGE over any allegation of crime without first seeking permission from the Nigeria Judicial Council (NJC), which members, eminent jurists, who unless, convinced that such judges actually erred, would grant permission for his arrest and subsequent prosecution before other judges who, after some judicial rigmarole, would eventually set them free! The African adage says “an empty mouth does not make CRUNCHY NOISE"

For the PRESIDENT, Chapter VIII, Part II, Section 308 (1) (3), of the Federal Republic of Nigeria Constitution 1999, as amended stipulates that he shall be immune from criminal prosecution while in office. However CIVIL litigation could be instituted against him according to 308 (2)! The Vice President, Governors and their deputies also enjoy same immunity!

But for the JUDICIARY, the 1999 Constitution in the THIRD SCHEDULE Part I, Section 21 (a) - (i), recognise the Nigeria Judicial Council (NJC), as the only body, responsible to RECOMMEND to the President, the removal from office of Judges and to EXCERCISE disciplinary control over such officers from office (often without prosecution); therefore every complaint against them MUST first be reported to the body for necessary action and sanctions?

Justice Sylvester Ngwuta, of the Supreme Court, was one of the SEVEN Judges whose homes were raided by the DSS, in a "Sting Operation", on 8th/9th October, 2016, and was eventually arraigned for prosecution on a 13- count charge of money laundering and passport fraud by the office of the Attorney General of the Federation until his recent discharge and acquittal in March, 2018, by a member of the revered fraternity!
Justice John Tosho, of an Abuja High Court, ruled that, "the pre-condition for instituting charges against a judicial officer were not met before Justice Ngwuta was brought to court, because a serving judge could not be investigated or prosecuted without being first disciplined by the National Judicial Council according to the provision of section 158, sub-section I and paragraph 21 ( of the third schedule of the Constitution!


When, for the very first time the Department for State Services (DSS), of the Federal Government of Nigeria executed a successful STING OPERATION on suspected corrupt serving Judges across the nation, on 8/9th October, 2016, political pundits predicted that nothing meaningful nor positive would come out of the exercise - which was blamed on the EXECUTIVE - because they believed that the SPIRIT OF BROTHERLY FRATERNITY WITHIN THE JUDICIARY WOULD PREVAIL TO SET FREE THE ACCUSSED PERSONS - AND THEY WERE RIGHT!

Eight months after that operation, described as unheard of, unprecedented and unlawful by detractors of the WAR AGAINST CORRUPTION, even though they are aware that Judges were not above the LAW, one of the accused persons, Justice Adeniyi Ademola, (now retired), was DISCHARGED AND ACQUITTED by his fraternal colleague, on the BENCH, just like Justice Ngwata, following a "NO CASE SUBMISSION" by the defence counsel and was set free to go home to "enjoy the sweat of his labours and RESUME AT HIS DESK for business as usual!" He was among the SEVEN Justices investigated on after that STING OPERATION carried out by the DSS on 8/9th October, 2016.He and his wife Olabowale and Mr. Joe Agi, SAN, were arraigned by the Economic and Financial Crimes (EFCC), prosecutors on an 18- count charge bordering on criminal conspiracy to receive gratification in various ways contrary to Section 8( 1)(a) of the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Act, 2000 and items recovered from his home included the following: Large sums of money in foreign currencies; $121.279 US Dollars, 400 Euros, 110 Indian Rupees, £80 pounds sterling totalling several millions of naira and also TWO PUMP ACTION RIFLES! During his trial at the Law Court, evidences were adduced that the Judge transferred N175 million in TWO TRANCHES in N90 million and N85 million respectively to a property company through a Nigerian Bank and was also admitted in evidence that a litigant standing trial before the Judge bought a car worth over N7 million naira for Mr. Ademola junior!

That was not all, while the fate of ONE female Judge who was also on trial – Justice Ajumogobia, was yet to be decided, SIX Judges, who were about to be formally charged, were SUDDENLY RECALLED AND ASSIGNED TO DUTY POSTS BY THE NIGERIA JUDICIAL COUNCIL (NJC), who, arbitrarily decided that EFCC failed to file charges against them, months after their arrest and suspension. They were, Sylvester Ngwuta, Inyang Okoro, both of the Supreme Court; the suspended Presiding Justice of the Court of Appeal, Ilorin Division, Justice Mohammed Tsamiya; Justice Kabiru Auta, of the Kano State High Court; the sacked Chief Judge of Enugu State, Justice I.A. Umezulike; and Muazu Pindiga, of the Federal High Court, Gombe Division; were also arrested during that DSS Sting Operation!


Patriotic Nigerians at home and in the Diaspora shouted FOUL at the NJC'S DIRTY MOVE and wondered why EFCC would not APPEAL Justice Ademola's acquittal and also PRESS CHARGES against the SIX JUDGES, recently recalled by NJC. But we have it on record that EFCC appealed against the acquittal of the Justice and also formally charged TWO of the recalled Judges to court on 8th June, 2017, for offences bothering on UNLAWFUL ENRICHMENT, CORRUPTION AND ATTEMPT TO PERVERT THE COURSE OF JUSTICE.
However, the Chief Justice of Nigeria, Walter Samuel Nkanu Onnoghen has made it clear that the RULE OF LAW should be meticulously pursued in every arbitration resolution at the LAW COURTS because citizens and corporate organisations have the RIGHT OF APPEAL if dissatisfied with the outcome of any litigation.


THE NEW ORDER IN RESPECT OF SPECIAL COURTS!
Prior to this timely move by this Reformist Chief Justice, there had been concerted efforts and clamour by patriotic, decent, upright, and righteous Nigerians, including, very sincere pressure groups, Civil Society and Non-Governmental Organisations who strongly believed that the well-calculated and well- intentioned strategies by the Buhari's Administration to destroy the endemic institutional corruption of several years could actually succeed if SPECIAL COURTS/TRIBUNALS were assigned to handle corruption cases!

During a special court session of the Supreme Court held to mark the opening of the 2017/2018 legal year, on Monday, 25th September, 2017, Justice Onnoghen who directed all Heads of Courts in the country to compile and forward to the National Judicial Council (NJC), comprehensive lists of all crime cases being handled by their various courts, also noted that "inexplicable and seemingly intractable delays, and disruption of due process", had been the bane of CRIMINAL JUSTICE ADMINISTRATION in Nigeria. In addition, he said that the NJC at its next meeting, would constitute an Anti-Corruption Cases Trial Monitoring Committee that would continually monitor the progress of high-profile criminal cases adding that Judges must not lose sight of the Judiciary's fight against corruption which continued to place this noble institution in the "eye of the storm" and must not deter its resolve to ensure victory! DO YOU BELIEVE?

TWO MONTHS before the "sting operation", President Buhari, in a petition to the Judiciary (July, 2016), reminded the learned benchers that they should be in the fore-front of efforts to develop right-based jurisprudence as an element in the multi-disciplinary approach advocated in the fight against corruption by enforcing applicable laws to avoid delay in ensuring criminal justice administration because corruption cases filled by government were not progressing as they should! He also complained that in spite of the Criminal Justice Act of 2015, the courts allowed some lawyers to frustrate the Reforms introduced by law and called for a change of attitude for a collective action in building a new Nigeria in the face of dwindling revenue by tackling two ILLS - Waste and Corruption simultaneously! "To this end the Judiciary is under a duty to keep its house in order and ensure that the public which it serves sees this," he added. IS THE PRESIDENT AWARE THAT A JUDGE'S IMMUNITY WHICH IS SUPERIOR TO HIS IS THE HEIGHT OF CORRUPTION IN THE LAND?

The Presidential counsel could not have impact in respect of the RULE OF LAW or CRIMINAL JUSTICE SYSTEM because of that DEFECTIVE 1999 Constitution; and whereas judicial powers of the Nigerian State, both at the Federal and State levels, are vested in the JUDICATURE, which consist of the superior courts of record, established for the Federation, according to Section 6, subsection (5) (a) to (i) of the 1999 Constitution which empowers the CORRUPT to judge the INNOCENT! THIS ILLEGAL IMMUNITY OF JUDGES FROM CRIMINAL PROSECUTION IS AN ABBERATION TO DEMOCRACY, A TERRIBLE DIS-SERVIVE TO THE DOWNTRODDEN, AN ABSURDITY TO MODERN CONSTITUTION IN 21ST CENTURY NIGERIA, A ROBBERY OF OUR COMMON SENSIBILITIES, AND THE WORST FORM OF CORRUPTION WHICH PRESIDENT BUHARI AND ALL PATRIOTS ARE DETERMINED TO CRUSH AT ALL COST! WHO SAYS THAT NIGERIA DOES NOT NEED A BRAND NEW CONSTITUTION NOW, NOW, NOW? “When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice: but when the wicked beareth rule, the people mourn.’’(Proverbs 29:2).



I am, yours sincerely, Dr. David B.A. Olufon. 08130669886, 08098194390. 08080243066. g-mail- dvdolufon@gmail.com.

Blackfire:
What is this one saying..

Dear friend (Blackfire), make an effort to read before commenting.

DOES THE HOOD MAKE THE MONK? [THE NIGERIAN YOUTH: 1960-2018].


When Microsoft inventor and Philanthropist Bill Gates, came visiting Nigeria in March 2018, at the invitation of Africa's richest man and business mogul, Aliko Dangote, he emphasised the urgent need for the nation to critically re-engineer its Human Capital Architecture in order to achieve economic viability by the year 2020 and also completely eradicate Poverty before the set time for the actualization of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG’s).

The two personalities from Europe and Africa, just like FACEBOOK inventor Mark Zuckerberg, an outstanding global achiever and NAIRALAND founder, Nigeria's 'Seun Osewa, whose site records more than One Million views daily among the top 1,000 sites in the world, should serve as role models for the serious-minded and patriotic Nigerian Youths, because they did not allow initial educational challenges to stop their ambitions to get to the top! While Bill Gates and Mark Zuckerberg dropped out of Harvard to pursue their interest while 'Seun Osewa, dropped out of University of Ife, from an Electrical Engineering Course in 1998, at a tender age to make success of Nairaland!

There are TWO - albeit - THREE groups of Nigerian Youths:
(1). Patriotic and determined youths, who believe in acquiring good education in order to give back to the society;
(2). Those who have flair for vocational/professional engagements theatre arts, acting, drumming, fashion designing, tourism, welding, motor/tri-cycle repairs, drivers, builders, traders, including land cultivation/animal husbandry - which have now engaged prominent national attention;
(3). Youths with poor academic assimilation who believe in SHORT CUTS AND "FREEBIES", who were always available as evil tools/pawns in the hands of dubious Nigerian politicians or fake Religious leaders!
These last set are the rabble-rousers, who have lost hope of any form of positive achievements in any business endeavour - these, who are classified colloquially as; "LOW LIFES", are those that are bent on truncating the nascent democracy which the present APC Administration is building for the TALAKAWAS!
They have neither respect for God, the LAW, nor for lawful authorities, parents or elders, not even the Executive President and Commander-in-Chief, of the Federal Republic of Nigeria!

NIGERIAN YOUTHS PASSIONATELY HATE THE TRUTH!
Since Wednesday, 18th April, 2018, several Nigerian Youths (between 18-60 years), had thrown caution to the wind to vet tirades of anger and venom against the FATHER OF THE NATION, President Muhammadu Buhari, through several derogatory, abusive, insulting and libellous comments, statements/articles on the internet social media and all tabloids across the globe, in a manner as had never been witnessed before, because he said, "MOST NIGERIAN YOUTHS WANT EVERYTHING FREE WITHOUT DOING ANYTHING."

Reports have it that the President, in a keynote address on "Making Business Easier Between Commonwealth Countries" also said, during the Commonwealth Business Forum in Westminster, London, that those youths preferred to do nothing because they felt that Nigeria was an oil-rich nation, adding, " We have a very young population, our population is estimated conservatively to be 180 million. This is a very conservative one. More than 60 percent of the population is below 30, a lot of them haven’t been to school and they are claiming that Nigeria is an oil-producing country, therefore, they should sit and do nothing, and get housing, healthcare, and education free."

Special Adviser to the President (Media and Publicity), Mr. 'Femi Adesina, who was present at the forum said the President never described ALL Nigerian Youths as lazy. According to him, the President said, "A LOT OF NIGERIAN YOUTHS ARE LAZY AND NOT ALL YOUTHS", during a discussion/question/answer session at the said forum. The presidential aide attributed the imbroglio to manipulators and twisters whose stock in trade was to lie in wait to make mischief. He said that elementary English recognizes a wide gulf between "a lot of" and the word "all", and he queried, how can "a lot of them" suddenly transmogrify to mean "all of them?" Mischievous and unconscionable! He also said that the focal areas of the administration; securing the country, reviving the economy and fighting corruption were actually intended to give youths a future and a hope!

But in a swift reaction, Mrs. Oby Ezekwesili, convener of the "Bring Back Our Girls" #BBOG, described 'Femi Adesina's defence as sheer "semantic obscurantism", as her father would have described it, adding that it "would have made sense to sincerely apologize on this legendary misspeak of our President.@MBuhari than to rush out with these acrobatics of "A Lot of is Not Equal to All".”When shall his media team learn? Been almost four years. I mean, FOUR YEARS. Haba", she concluded!

IS PRESIDENT BUHARI'S ADMINISTRATION, "ALMOST FOUR YEARS" OR "FOUR YEARS Haba"? HOW WILL OBY'S FATHER DESCRIBE THIS MISSPEAK OF HER DAUGHTER? PERHAPS, "SEMANTIC CONFUSIONISM"?

OUR EDITORIAL COMMENT: This will be the umpteenth time that we will be writing on our ebullient and boisterous Nigerian Youths! In some past editions i.e., Vol. 3... No. 80, of 22nd February, 2015, "AGONY OF THE NIGERIAN YOUTH [1999-2015]; Vol. 4. NO. 118, 15th November, 2015, "MUST NIGERIAN YOUTHS BE DRAGGED INTO THE TRAUMA OF VICIOUS DECEITS AGAIN AND AGAIN BY PDP"? And VOL. 7. NO. 237, 25th February, 2018, NIGERIAN YOUTHS ARE NOW BACKED BY LAW TO CHOP "GOVERNMENT MONEY", we had graphically charted the cultural, traditional and spiritual traits/mien of the NIGERIAN YOUTH vis-a-vis his/her relationship to their immediate environment and perception of world-view as offsprings of a THIRD WORLD DEVELOPING AFRICAN NATION and have come to the unsavoury conclusion that the slow pace of education/civilization was responsible for the serious set-backs which they now grapple with in a fast-growing global village of high-speed Information/Space Rocket Technology!

IN THE BEGINNING OF PRO-CREATION: When the GOD OF CREATION, assessed the failure of the full-grown ADAM (Genesis. 2:7; compare 3:6), He sent him and his wife out of the Garden of Eden to begin the process of pro-creation, according to His blessings upon mankind in Gen.1:26-30, having equipped him with the art of sense of duty and hard work. (Gen. 2:15-17). Children are God's heritage and they are to fill and replenish the Earth. The New Testament talks about the call to duty and how LAZY PEOPLE WHO REFUSED TO WORK, SHOULD NOT EAT! (2 Thessalonians. 3:10-11).

The first offspring’s - Cain and Abel - were into Agriculture and Animal Husbandry while their descendants diversified into, Hunting, Brazier (worker in brass), Brick maker, Builder, Foundry, Aquaculture etc, as the world progressed into the Dispensation of Human Government.
God did not give room for any form of laziness! The TRUTH must be told that there is plenty of room at the TOP but every aspirant must passionately desire to pursue his/her course diligently with dedication, consistency, persistency, devotion and resilience before SUCCESS could be guaranteed! Must we lose sight that all Nigerian leaders (past or present), started off as YOUTHS before they acquired those positions in life! More importantly, Nigerian Youths should understand that there is no short-cut to success except through dint of hard work! DOES ANY NIGERIAN LAW STOP ANY NIGERIAN YOUTH FROM CULTIVATING THE LAND LIKE ADAM? SHOULD THEY OPT FOR THE PRESIDENCY AND OTHER TOP POLITICAL JOBS WITH THEIR MILK TEETH BECAUSE THERE IS MUCH ILLEGAL LOOTING OF THE TREASURY AMONG UNPATRIOTIC POLITICIANS?

APC WILL NOT STOP DETERMINED NIGERIAN YOUTHS FROM SUCCESS! Outside of the concerted efforts by the APC Governments at Federal and State levels in almost THREE YEARS, to fight insurgency, ensure security and eradicate endemic institutional corruption, utmost priority was placed on improving on YOUTH EDUCATION AND UNEMPLOYMENT.
More than 50% of the children of school age who were roaming the streets have been absorbed into the educational mainstream, over one million of the university graduates, have been gainfully employed through the N-POWER PROGRAMME, (at the Federal level alone), while millions of able-bodied youths are working at all the resuscitated textile factories, manufacturing industries, Ajaokuta Steel Industry, several construction firms, the oil and gas sector - where SHELL will soon upgrade the stakes through an investment of USD $ 15 billion dollars - that would create more employment opportunities that would gradually eradicate poverty from the polity!


PRESIDENT BUHARI’S COMMENT IS A WAKE-UP CALL FOR LAZY YOUTHS ACROSS THE NIGERIAN NATION!
"Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a reproach to ALL people." (Proverbs.14:34). Lazy able-bodied/employable youths believe in SHORT CUTS to the top or to making illegal money, having wasted good opportunities to acquire education or vocations while growing up. Check the following list below and come to your own conclusions!
WHO ARE THE UNPATRIOTIC CITIZENS INVOLVED IN: CYBER CRIME, POLITICAL THUGGERY, CIVIL DISOBEDIENCE, INSURGENCY, TERRORISM, PASTORAL/FARMERS CLASHES, HERDSMEN KILLER GROUPS, MILITANCY/BRIGANDAGE, ORGANISED MILITIA GROUPS, NIGER-DELTA MILITANTS, O'DUA MILITANT GROUPS, ISLAMIC BOKO HARAM TERRORISTS, DISORDERLY SHI'ITE MUSLIMS RELIGIOUS FANATICS, DANGEROUS DRUG PEDDLERS/USERS, SMALL ARMS/AMMUNITION PROLIFERATORS AND USERS, SMUGGLERS OF CONTRABAND GOODS, MONEY LAUNDERERS, BANK FRAUDS/CURRENCY COUTERFEITERS CERTIFICATE FORGERS/EXAM MALPRACTICES EXPERTS; ETC. THEY ARE THE NIGERIAN YOUTHS OF 1960-2018 OFCOURSE!!!
"Where there is no vision, the people perish; but he that keepeth the law, happy is he." ( Proverbs.29:18).


I am, yours sincerely, Dr. David B.A. Olufon. 08130669886, 08098194390. 08080243066. g-mail- dvdolufon@gmail.com.

Solidkay:
Wake up,
stop daydreaming.

Dear friend, please read before commenting.

"BY THIS TIME TOMORROW .......... NIGERIA WILL BE UTOPIA!"

Successful global democracies were not founded on bed of roses! Visions were conceptualized with ideas to conceive well-planned expeditions which were executed by determined/dedicated people who believed in exploring new frontiers to spread civilization for better living conditions.
To achieve their quests, they had to face serious challenges ranging from security, to health, weather/climate, environmental changes, hostilities/wars with indigenes of new found lands or settlements etc.

History is replete with stories of the dangerous exploration/expedition experiences of the founding fathers of the various exisisting continental countries without which, many of today's inhabited places of renown would been expansive habitations of WILD LIFE! The United States of America (USA), and the United States of Nigeria (USN), are TWO global countries that stand out with distinctive similarities for our case study on how determined people were able to change the course of history through divine inspiration which empowers Man to possess, subdue, and have dominion over the Earth, and also to be fruitful, flourish, multiply etc. but not without challenges!

AMERICA AND NIGERIA WERE FORMER BRITISH COLONIES!

The Nigerian and the American history cannot be narrated without giving immense credit to the FOUNDING FATHERS; like Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe, Sir Ahmadu Bello, Chief Obafemi Awolowo, Chief Anthony Enahoro; George Washington, John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, Alexander Hamilton and the others, whose determination to change "servants to masters, and slaves to lords" and whose persistency and consistency to either negotiate or to go to WAR with their COLONIAL TASK MASTERS; and also their tenacity of purpose to achieve the seemingly impossible, gave them outstanding qualities beyond their contemporaries of the 18th and 19th Centuries respectively!

History revealed that one 15th-Century Italian adventurer, Christopher Columbus, discovered America while he was in fact trying to find a westward sea passage to the Orient but landed in the New World, just like the Scottish Explorer of West Africa, Mungo Park, who set out to discover the true central portion of the River Niger in 1795 but eventually died at the BUSSA FALLS in an attempt to reach the source of the river! Long before Mungo Park, Columbus, arrival in 1492 started the European colonization of the Americas with settlements spanning a period between 1600 and the 1770s when thirteen British colonies of about 2.5 million population eventually came into existence, but subsequently had to fight a CIVIL WAR to severe relations from Britain by declaring Independence on 4th July, 1776, while Nigeria now with 36 States, had its share of a civil war, shortly after independence in 1960!

BECAUSE INDEGENES had weird dispositions to European adventurers, the colonialists had rough times to possess their lands but they always succeeded to fulfil their ambitions of establishing new settlements and to extend CIVILIZATION to remote areas of the world which would have remained DARK CONTINENTS, had they not pursued their intuition!
America in 242 years of its independence as a united country (4th July,1776 - 4th, July, 2018), can boast of strong /iron-cast institutions that run the social contract with the people and determine their limitations ACCORDING TO THE LAW - a condition which is akin to the new drive by Nigeria, which is determined at 58 years to borrow a leaf from this accomplished world power by following suit to also ensure the establishment of VERY STRONG AND RELIABLE INSTITUTIONS, instead of strong personalities that would naturally fade off!
Whatever the American Law states remains an established command that must be obeyed by all citizens - including the President, who is regarded and acknowledged as the most powerful in the world. That was why President Donald Trump could not "bulldoze" the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), into submission, in the cover-up attempt by the Executive to sweep the alleged Russian Government involvement in the hacking of Mrs. Hillary Clinton's website to favour the incumbent president in winning the 2016 US Presidential Elections!

Nigeria is much more determined to even do better than the US - under this divine dispensation of God - headed by President Muhammadu Buhari, who, at the invitation of Donald Trump, visited the Oval Office, to consolidate a new and fresh US-NIGERIAN relationship, through various bi-lateral discussions, negotiations and agreements favourable to both countries in commerce, industry, manufacturing, agriculture, power/energy and most importantly, supply of war armaments of the TWELVE TUCANO FIGHTER JETS - procured at a sum of USD $ 496 million dollars - thus reversing earlier ban on supply of military weapons and hardwares to the country by the Obama Administration!


THUMBS UP FOR PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP ON THIS ONE! BRAVO!

With this new support by the most-powerful nation in the world, Nigeria, under the watch of President Buhari, will definitely push harder to end the recalcitrant Boko Haram terrorism once and for all and also bring to book all corrupt Nigerian politicians who believe they are "UNTOUCHABLE", recover all looted funds, and ensure that all of them are sent to rot in prison according to the LAW - as it obtains in the United States - Nigeria's formidable ALLY! WHO WOULD HAVE THOUGHT THAT DONALD TRUMP WOULD MAKE A U-TURN TO FAVOUR NIGERIA IF IT WERE NOT FOR DIVINE INTERVENTION!


DETRACTORS OF NIGERIA WILL COLLAPSE IN THE TWINKLE OF AN EYE!

Detractors have predicted that the Nigeria of their imagination would not survive the rehabilitation, reconstruction, and re-invention of the economy, and the pursuit of safety and security measures of government for its citizens, and have therefore formed a new COALITION comprising of SOUTH WEST, SOUTH EAST AND THE MIDDLE BELT DO-GODDERS which has begun fresh campaign of CALUMNY by spreading prophecies of DOOM THAT THEIR CONCEIVED NIGERIA WAS ON THE PRECIPICE OF COLLAPSE AND BREAK UP - without proffering one credible solution to end the incessant killings by armed herdsmen, who have turned out to be the MONSTERS they created while in government, just as the BOKO HARAM!

We prophesy that Nigeria will be divinely-secured and bask in the euphoria of a bubbling economy! IS THERE ANYTHING TOO DIFFICULT FOR OUR GOD TO DO? THESE EVIL TIMES WILL PASS AWAY ACCORDING TO THE ORACLE OF GOD IN ZION - AND "BY THIS TIME TOMORROW, THIS NATION WILL BE UTOPIA"! The criminals will repent and surrender to lawful authorities and PEACE will prevail from North to South and East to West!
UTOPIA is a condition of absolute perfection! A state of completeness where thoughts, motives, intuition, drive etc, unite to exhibit a righteous administration where none is molested, rejected, insulted or sidelined in social, political, or economic affairs of the STATE and where all activities are righteous according to the LAW and oversighted by men and women of integrity, probity, and impeccable antecedents!
Utopia is a state where, LOVE, TRUTH, FAITHFULNESS, SINCERITY AND RULE OF LAW PREVAIL!
Utopia is a classic country where only the GUILTY are sent to the GUILLOTINE and the RIGHTEOUS are vindicated, recognized and rewarded to encourage good people to participate in governance! It is a society of LOVE - crime-free, corruption-free, hate-free, tribalism-free, nepotism-free, and without religious bigotry etc.
Utopia is a place of PEACE, TRANQUILITY, SERENITY, BLISS, JOY AND HAPPINESS! To the uncouth, the doubter and the unbeliever, this could be just a dream adventure, but it would happen TOMORROW and Nigeria will be the "NUMERO UNO", THE CYNOSURE OF ALL EYES - THE NUMBER ONE NATION, THE COMMERCIAL, ECONOMIC AND INVESTMENT DESTINATION IN AFRICA, HIGHLY RATED FOR TRANSPARENCY IN GOVERNANCE, DEVOID OF HUMAN RIGHT ABUSES AND HIGHLY-ESTEEMED FOR COMPLIANCE TO ALL INTERNATIONAL AGREEMENTS AND CONVENTIONS!

PROPHET ELISHA'S PROPHECY WILL COME TO PASS IN NIGERIA!

During the OT Bible times in the nation of Israel just as in today's Nigeria there were several churches, mosques and many worship centres. There were also many "men of God", prophets, pastors, imams, marabouts etc. - genuine and fake! But there was one anointed and highly-revered Man of God called, Prophet Elisha, who carried DOUBLE ANNOINTING OF HIS MENTOR, PROPHET ELIJAH (THE FIRE PROPHET), WHOSE GENUINE PROPHECIES AND MIRACLES WERE UNPRECEDENTED IN ISRAEL AND WHOSE PROPHECY OF TERMINATION OF FAMINE AND DIVINE RELEASE OF ABUNDANCE IS ABOUT TO BE FULFILLED IN NIGERIA TOMORROW!

When the nation of Israel suffered an unprecedented hunger through a SEIGE by the Syrian King and his army, total food scarcity across the nation precipitated CANIBALISM as citizens BOILED THEIR CHILDREN FOR MEALS! But the Prophet Elisha, pronounced these word of prophecy quoted as follows: "TOMORROW ABOUT THIS TIME, SHALL A MEASURE OF FLOUR BE SOLD FOR A SHEKEL, AND TWO MEASURES OF BARLEY FOR A SHEKEL, IN THE GATE OF SAMARIA!" (Please read 2 Kings. 7 - 1- 19).

The prophecy came to pass! Those who believed enjoyed the abundance while, “a lord on whose hand the king leaned answered the man of God, and said, Behold, if the Lord would make windows in heaven, might this thing be? And he said, Behold, thou shalt see it with thine eyes, but shalt not eat thereof.....fell and died according to the word of Prophet Elisha, for he was trodden upon by the surging crowd"


WARNING FOR DESPISERS OF THE WORD GOD!

Henceforth, GOD will not spare the enemies of Nigeria who do not believe in DIVINE INTERVENTION in the affairs of men! What befell the doubter of the Word of God in the above narrative would definitely be their portion! “Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams.’’ (1Sam 15:22b)


I am, yours sincerely, Dr. David B.A. Olufon. 08130669886, 08098194390. 08080243066. g-mail- dvdolufon@gmail.com.

STATE POLICE MUST BE QUICKLY ACTUALIZED TO STOP INCESSANT KILLINGS IN NIGERIA!

Virtually all well-meaning and patriotic Nigerians (including members of the opposition parties), welcomed and embraced APC's January, 2018, recommendation for the establishment, engagement and training of able-bodied citizens for STATE POLICING in the areas of crime-fighting, crime-control, criminal investigation, prosecution, etc, which was mooted among others, and geared towards the actualization of several RESTRUCTURING CONCEPTS of the Nigerian nation, which trended for most part of 2017!
Before Thursday 25th January, 2018, several political groups/associations, Civil Society Organisations (CSO's), and Non-Governmental Organisations (NGO's), traditional rulers, religious bodies, the intelligentsia, etc, inundated the tabloids and the social media with all manner of their versions and best “blue-prints" of how the diverse nation of 36 States could be restructured to allow for everlasting peace, which would be devoid of rancour and instability.

There were suggestions for the merger of the existing geo-political zones to form Regional blocs in line with post-independent Regions of the North, East and West, before the creation of the Mid-West Region, comprising of Edo and the present Delta State.
Some suggested that federating States could opt for voluntary mergers involving three or more States, for economic cohesion, enhanced security arrangement, robust internally generated revenue structure and a comprehensive administrative net-work!

GAINS OF STATE POLICING ARE INNUMERABLE!

These APC's recommendations in respect of establishment of State Police, Resource Control, Devolution of Power, etc, which had constituted contentious arguments since the advent of the new democratic dispensation in 1999, should not remain in the cooler or pipeline at all! It was high time they were collapsed into Executive Bills, sent to the National Assembly (NASS), for quick legislative intervention - because they should be prioritized to douse the current spate of unprovoked bestial killings of innocent citizens in the remote areas of the North East States and the Middle Belt!

It is common knowledge that Nigeria's security forces comprising of the Armed Forces, Police and other paramilitary agencies have been seriously overstretched - especially in the last nine years of the insurgency perpetrated by the Boko Haram terrorists. For instance, the strength of the Armed Forces is about 170.000, while that of the Police and para- military agencies is about 370.000 and 250.000 officers and men. The Internal Security (IS), Operations of the military have become commonplace and soldiers have become household name because, the Police has failed to contain internal security challenges, which are their primary occupation of assignment - especially when the herdsmen/farmers clashes have taken national dimension and soldiers are deployed to virtually all States of the federation to quell one upheaval or another!

There could be no better time than now for State Police to take off because indigenous officers and men of the various STATES would be in better position to assess security situations, better knowledge of the topography, the terrain no matter how difficult, identification of infiltrators and enemies would be easier to identify, prevention of crimes and criminalities, investigations of security reports would be easier to carry out by indigenes because there would be mutual trust between the Police and their kith and kin! Has anyone ever thought of the employment opportunities that would accrue through the establishment of State Police and would take off the street thousands of unemployed graduates and able-bodied men who would have been enticed into crimes by men of the underworld?



COULD THERE BE EXCESSES BY GOVERNORS?

Antagonists of State Police creation had always opined that State Governors would misuse the services of the security agents by deploying them to harass and intimidate perceived political enemies, rig elections etc. They also believed that most States Governors would not have the financial muzzle to fund, maintain and manage a Police force on their own without Federal assistance!

Some have also queried: Where would States get funds to establish State Police, recruit sufficient manpower, pay salaries, provide upkeeps, uniforms/kits welfare, regular allowances etc.? Why can't Governors surrender their SECURITY VOTES to establish State Police and increase their internally Generated Revenues (IGR's) to achieve this feat in no time? They could do these and more if they descended from their high horses and assumed their status as servants of the people and not masters! The Nigerian Constitution should be amended to accommodate the establishment of State Police, enact relevant clauses for checks and balances in order to curb the excesses of governors who might decide to go overboard in the management and control of the State Police! The international best practice is for POLICE to obey only lawful orders and refuse those that could be unlawful to provoke not only civil disorder but - civil disobedience, rioting, arson, murder or insurgency as it now obtains in the North East!


ESTABLISHMENT OF STATE POLICE IS VERY IMPERATIVE NOW!

The Regional structure and the existence of the Native Police side by side with regular, policemen was a regular phenomenon at that period of pre and post independence up to 15th January, when the military terminated civil authority and that singular act of selfishness has been responsible for the security challenges that got worsened by each day!
With the advent and continued military dictatorship all over the nation, also came importation of small arms and weapons through different sources, with the multiple and ripple effects of crime statistics soaring, year-on-year-in, till date! It is said that, of the over 500.000.000 million illegal arms in the West African sub-region, about half of these figure are in the hands of non-actors, i.e. neither with the armed forces nor with the Police.

These illegal weapons are being used every day to murder in cold blood, the defenceless downtrodden everywhere without discrimination - in the remote villages or city centres, under one guise or the other.
In the United States, State Policing is common phenomenon and has metamorphosed into the strong institution of the nation’s security architecture! Officers and men of the State Police should be made up of indigenes of the Local Government Areas - who have vast knowledge of their territories and conversant with all porous areas - especially in States that share international borders with neighbouring countries through which criminal and mercenaries sneak into Nigeria! The Federal Police would still be in charge of all matters that border on national security, espionage etc, co-ordinate and co-operate with any State where federal laws have been infringed, to investigate and prosecute as may be applicable.

OTHER RECOMMENDATIONS BY THE APC ON TRUE FEDERALISM!

The Governor El Rufai-led Committee on True Federalism submitted its very detailed report on Thursday 25th January, 2018, on the following planks:
Devolution of powers to the States through Resource Control.
State Police and State Prisons to be run by all States of the Federation in respect of certain crimes.
Independent candidacy which can only be enjoyed if such candidate was not a member of any political party, six months prior to any election.
There should exist constitutional autonomy for the 774 Local Governments, which should be free to legislate freely and create any number of councils as they so desired.
Food, Drugs and poison to be moved to the Concurrent List so that States could constitutionally legislate on those items, while narcotics/psychotropic substances should remain on the Exclusive List.
Labour issues, trade unions, industrial relations, conditions, safety/welfare, disputes/minimum wages/ industrial arbitration, should be handled by both States/Federal Governments who should enjoy independent legislation.
Mines and minerals, oil fields and mining, geological surveys and natural gas that are ONSHORE will be vested in all States of the Federation, while all OFF-SHORE OIL shall remain vested in the government of the federation.
Registration of Business Names should be on the Concurrent List for companies to choose their areas of operations; State or nationwide.
Collection of Stamp Duties was also recommended to be moved to the Concurrent List, for the States to collect duties from individual and small businesses while Federal Government collects duties from Limited Liabilities Companies.
Issue of Citizenship, Local Government or State of Origin, which had hitherto been discriminatory, "should be replaced with State of Residence", through a proposed amendment to the Federal Character Commission Act to allow people domicile in a place to be considered as INDEGENES of such place.


It is in the interest of all patriotic Nigerians that this democracy must succeed and everything must be done by the Buhari Administration to push through these lofty recommendations that would proffer a permanent solution to incessant decimation of precious human lives on daily basis because of minor disagreements on STATUS QUO!!
The poor masses should not always be at the receiving end of the misgovernance of those saddled with the responsibility to protect their lives and properties!


I am, yours sincerely, Dr. David B.A. Olufon. 08130669886, 08098194390. 08080243066. g-mail- dvdolufon@gmail.com.

The Federal Republic of Nigeria Constitution, 1999, is resplendent of several manner of constitutional "freedoms", referred to as fundamental rights!
In Chapter IV, Sections 33 to 46, one is inundated with an avalanche of these rights - Rights to life; dignity of human person; personal liberty; fair hearing; Right to private and family life; Right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion; to peaceful assembly and association; Right to freedom of movement; to acquire and own immovable property in Nigeria; etc - mouth-watering freedoms that would have made citizens of the defunct Communist Soviet Republics, old China and North Korea swoon with jealousy!

One of these freedoms is extended especially to journalists described as the PRESS, in Section 39 (1) - (3) (a) (b) as, "Right to freedom of expression and the press." Globally, members of the Press are described as the "Fourth Estate of the Realm," and the Nigerian Press, with specific assignment to checkmate governments excesses as the "watchdog", "watchman" or "ombudsman", and ensure good governance, diligence and accountability by those who hold in trust all private, public or political offices in the Nigerian nation, including the security agencies - the Armed Forces and the Police!

Outside of the constitutionally-backed Press which comprises of the Electronic and Print Media, there is now a THIRD FORCE MEDIA that is fast becoming a portent danger to the very existence of Nigeria as an independent nation!
The Social Website Media ( Faceboook, Twitter, Instagram), which was not given any mention anywhere in the Nigerian Constitution, has clandestially taken over, in a landslide manner, the entire spectrum of not only the social space but also, the political and economic life of the nation like an uncontrollable wild fire poised to wipe out all sacred legacies of the FOUNDING FATHERS and the government seems helpless to salvage the unacceptably and notorious situation?

THE SOCIAL MEDIA IN NIGERIA IS NO RESPECTER OF PERSONS OR INSTITUTIONS!
Many detractors who patronize the Social Media and masking under the guise of pseudo names, regularly unleashed libellous publications in the form of character assassination, hate speeches, unprintable abuses/curses etc, on the person of the ruling Party, the All Progressives Congress (APC), incumbent President/his management team and members of his family, without recourse to the fundamental rights of the citizens in question!

For now they seemed to be having a field day and believe they would escape justice but they are living a lie, because technology has the window to trap them as is being done in other climes! Very soon they will all be caught in the web of Rule of Law and be given the full dose of the medicine!

IS THE PRESS LICENCED TO PUBLISH FAKE NEWS?
The sacred profession of Journalism was given mention in the Nigerian and most global constitutions because "journalism is synonymous with processed information"! In the practice of the trade, journalist are warned to "leave out" information that could not be confirmed or substantiated, in order to avoid false publications that would attract litigations bordering on libel! They are also schooled to always procure and ascertain the "two sides of every story or information, and even the edge of the coin", before rushing to beat "deadlines", but in the last decade, the Nigerian Press also, like their foreign counterparts, threw caution to the wind and totally discarded the notion that the citizens whose characters were maligned also had constitutional protection as stipulated under HUMAN RIGHTS!

Thorough-bread journalists from time immemorial across the world have religiously adhered to the codes and ethics of the profession and had executed their beats creditably but in recent times - especially with the frenzied embrace of sophisticated information technology gadgets, unprocessed information in the form of FAKE NEWS, is now the order of the day!

Today, every Tom, Dick and Harry, could tweet from his CRIB, in any part of the world, concoct/proliferate untrue or fake news, disseminate it at a speed faster than light on social websites to cause disharmony, dissension, civil disobedience or even communal war in some cases!


CLANDESTINE ROLE OF THE MODERN PRESS IN NIGERIA!
In recent times, Nigeria has had its ugly share of damaging fake news, hate publications etc against constituted authorities, public figures/personalities, institutions and even against the incumbent Executive President of Nigeria, Muhammadu Buhari.
Before and after the 2015 General elections were contested, won and lost, several Print and Electronic media indulged in dissemination of hate speeches, publications and advertorials with a view to truncating the nation's nascent democracy at all cost because of selfish inordinate ambitions!
Daar Communications' Africa Independent Television (AIT), and the National Television Authority (NTA), including some prominent national newspapers occupied the frontline position in character assassination/smear campaigns against President Buhari in particular and were handsomely and promptly paid with the tax-payers money, while the unfortunate citizens were hacked down in cold blood on daily basis by insurgents!
Ex-President Ebele Jonathan, in his desperate bid to maintain status quo of "continuity", employed both the private and government electronic and print media to execute smear campaign publications in order to ensure that President Buhari was discredited before the electorate. He allegedly dipped his hands into the funds meant to execute the Boko Haram war to run his vicious campaign and in the process abandoned down-trodden Nigerians to daily assaults of the insurgents who then had the effrontery to “conquer" portions of Nigeria's territory in the North East as their Caliphate!

EXCERPTS FROM AIT'S ALLEGED FACEBOOK ACCOUNT ON FAKE NEWS!
In our article, of 12th February, 2016 we published the excerpts below:
"Not many people were surprised when a FACEBOOK ACCOUNT credited to AFRICAN INDEPENDENT TELEVISION (AIT), ANNOUNCED THE RUMOURED DEATH OF PRESIDENT BUHARI in London, on the 23rd January, 2017, because that station, owned by Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Chieftain, Raymond Dokpesi, was notorious for "mercenary" journalism of fabrication, falsehood and distortion of facts for illicit monetary gains! The transmission of HATE SPEECHES video documentaries on AIT and its sister radio station, RAY POWER against the incumbent President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Muhammadu Buhari, during the electioneering campaigns of the 2015 General Elections, as contracted to DAAR Communications Plc, the umbrella body of both stations by ex-President Jonathan's Administration and the subsequent payment of billions of naira for THE HATCHET JOB, is still fresh in the memories of all Nigerians and political development observers around the world!

Although, DAAR Communications Plc, has denied both ownership and authorship of the FACEBOOK and its content; were they convincing? Below are excerpts of the denial: "The attention of DAAR Communications Plc, has been drawn to a FACEBOOK Account purported being operated by our Organisation.”A report was published on the FACEBOOK that the incumbent President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, President Muhammadu Buhari, who is currently on vacation in London has passed on. "We wish to state the following facts: It is falsehood dressed up as truth that we opened such FACEBOOK ACCOUNT.
We did not publish nor know anything about the report. None of our correspondents in London filed such report. The editorial policy of our Organisation is that any of our correspondents is mandated to file all the reports for vetting and approval before publication which can only originate from our headquarters. No correspondent could individually on his or her own decision publish or cause to be published any story. "The FACEBOOK Account is the brain child of a faceless and mischievous group whose despicable activities must be investigated by security agencies because of the unpleasant consequences.”We wish to state that the AIT runs an official on-line site fir News which is not available for use by outsiders.
"We dissociate ourselves completely from anything contained in the said report which is a figment of the imagination of the authors.”We also disown the so-called FACEBOOK Account, and have officially reported to FACEBOOK Managers." DO YOU BELIEVE?


THEY ARE AT IT AGAIN AND MUST BE STOPPED!
We have it on good authority that legislators of the 8th National Assembly (NASS), have mooted a Bill to stem the tide of FAKE NEWS publications in Nigeria and completely annihilate the evil attitude through very stiff penalties while Nigeria's Information Technology Gurus have reached advanced stages of detecting, arresting and prosecuting culpable persons without delay, because they are not excluded from the evil smear campaigns! All hands must be on deck to stop these enemies of STATE! ‘’The righteous is delivered out of trouble, and the wicked cometh in his stead’’ (Prov 11:.


I am, yours sincerely, Dr. David B.A. Olufon. 08130669886, 08098194390. 08080243066. g-mail- dvdolufon@gmail.com.

NOW THAT DAPCHI GIRLS ARE BACK: THE SAFE SCHOOL INITIATIVE [SSI], SHOULD BE PRIOTIZED!


That "the effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much", according to the scripture, manifested in favour of the 104 little innocent Dapchi girls who though were in the DEN OF BOKO HARAM INSURGENTS FOR 31 DAYS, were protected by the Living God of Creation and released on Wednesday 21st March, 2018, to yet enjoy the inalienable fresh air of freedom. The news of their release was comical and almost unbelievable, but it was very TRUE!

Or else, how else could one explain this exemplary divine intervention which compelled the same abductors to repent and return the abductees (except for the FIVE that allegedly died, and one that refused to be converted to Islam), to their parents, families and loved ones "without demanding, neither for ransom nor swapping the girls with detained insurgents?"

Nigerians from all walks of life cannot be faulted for lamenting that Boko Haram's incursion into Dapchi Girls Science Technical Secondary School, could have been avoided if adequate security measures were in place, especially when a similar abduction took place at Chibok, Bornu State, almost FOUR years ago, (14th April, 2014), and 112 girls of that abduction were yet to be released by their captors!

However we believe that it was high time that all our security agencies would turn around 360 degrees and embrace modern methods of crime detection and prevention to further prevent the kind of unpleasant embarrassment, sprung without any form of resistance in Dapchi on 19th February, 2019!
Is it too much for both the Federal Government and all 36 State Governments to install CCTV CAMERAS and other security gadgets in all public and educational institutions, for the purpose of monitoring movements of peoples and services across the length, breath and BORDERS of Nigeria?
Nigerians should no longer be hoodwinked by these crop of LEGISLATORS of the 8th NASS (who have been exposed as the worst representatitives of the downtrodden), due to their lack of penchant when it comes to socio-economic benefits of the masses!
In the last quarter of 2017, President Buhari requested for just USD $1BILLION DOLLARS, to further prosecute the war against the Boko Haram, which had been terribly decimated and degraded at that time; but those ENEMIES OF STATE blocked the passage of the appropriation till date because it would deplete their ILLEGAL RUNNING COSTS, AND ILLICIT CONSTITUENCY APPROPRIATIONS!
Are the LEGISLATORS now happy that the insurgents have regained some grounds through their denial of funds for the NIGERIAN MILITARY, even though APC has majority seats in the National Assembly, (NASS), where an opposition PDP Senator Abaribe (who bailed the absconded "Biafra" agitator, Nnamdi Kanu, now on the run from justice), and his cohorts could vituperate all manner insults against President Buhari, for wanting to keep Nigeria safe?

AMERICA would not boast of being a super power nation of both 20th and 21st Centuries if its legislators did not support approval of regular funds to build its defence and security institutions from one administration to another! Nigerian legislators are quick to quote replication of the American system of government when its suits their whims and caprices but would refrain to follow to the letter when government attention was most needed to succour or favour the populace!

In our article written on the 16th November, 2014, we reminded the PDP Government of that period of the need to beef up security in all schools in North East Nigeria, following incessant insurgency attacks on the facilities, under the following topic: "THE SAFE SCHOOL INITIATIVE [SSI]: DESERVES MAXIMUM SECURITY!

We espoused as follows:
That the rate at which Nigerian school children were being eliminated by Boko Haram bombs should be of great concern to all genuine citizens, who believed in the divine law of succession which emphasizes that the young would grow to succeed their forebears because God saved Noah’s THREE children, Shem Ham and Japheth from drowning in the flood and their generations, according to their lines of descent, are products of our modern world as it obtains today! [Genesis.10:18-11:32].
That children are providentially endowed as divine gifts and must therefore be meticulously nurtured, guarded and preserved for posterity according to God's plan but some political apologist posited that social vices like corruption, election or examination malpractices, official deception, poverty and insecurity, were SYSTEMIC and inherited problems which were responsible for crimes and criminalities and should therefore not be blamed on any incumbent administration!
That fundamental obligations of any government to its citizens included faithful execution of political, economic, social, educational, foreign policy, press freedom, environmental objectives, the judicious entrenchment of all fundamental rights and most importantly, the RULE OF LAW! The right to life and the dignity of the human person should always take priority of place with every serious administration as no government could function optimally without its HUMAN CAPITAL which originates from the youths!
But when, the schooling population of any nation is deliberately targeted for pogrom by some bestial maniacs, who claim that Western education was evil as we now witness in Nigeria, desperate measures MUST be employed by government to save these future leaders at all cost! Chapter IV, Section 33(1) of the 1999 Nigerian Constitution states that every person has a right to life, and no one shall be deprived intentionally of his life, save in the execution of the sentence of a court in respect of a criminal offence of which he has been found guilty in Nigeria.
Nigerian school children are being murdered in cold blood at random by savages and government seemed to be incapacitated! We must bring this fact to bear that, there is sufficient funds from all economic resources of this nation to cater for the needs of all citizens’ fundamental rights, if RIGHTEOUS politicians are in the saddle of management, but sadly, massive corruption has been the bane of this nation, especially in the past 15 years (1999-2014), of the Peoples Democratic Party’s [PDP], government of continuity!


NIGERIAN GOVERNMENTS HAVE FINANCIAL CAPACITY TO SECURE ALL EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTIONS!

Working with a maximum figure of 100 schools, an initial expenditure of N50 million naira (fifty) each, totalling N5 billion, should take care of fencing, gates, a mixture of uniformed and plain-clothed security personnel equipped with communication gadgets, metal detectors small arms and SNIFFER DOGS, for each institution, would ensure the required positive results! Had these security measures been in place on 10th November 2014, at the Government Comprehensive Senior Science Secondary School, Potiskum, Yobe State, only the suicide bomber would have died instead of the FORTY-SEVEN who died with 79 others critically injured! Also in Yobe State on February 25, 2014, FIFTY-NINE boys were killed at the Federal Government College of Buni Yadi at night while they slept in their boarding apartments and the 24 buildings of the institution were all burnt down!


CAN BOKO HARAM TRULY STOP WESTERN EDUCATION IN NORTHERN NIGERIA?

When the Dapchi School girls were released to their parents, the insurgents warned them against sending their wards to school again! Federal and State Governments should be blamed for insufficient and dedicated commitment, to save these endangered species of our POSTERITY from extinction! It is very important to note that the Potiskum attack (mentioned above), occurred just after the Federal Government announced that 2,400 students would be enrolled in the country's SAFE SCHOOL INITIATIVE (SSI). Eight hundred students each, from the three North Eastern States hardest hit by Boko Haram’s terrorists activities, were already pencilled down for admission into other unity schools across the country with the consent of their parents, just over six months after the insurgents kidnapped more than 200 school girls from Chibok, Bornu State.
THE SAFE SCHOOL INITIATIVE was launched in 2014 at the World Economic Forum on Africa in Nigeria, by Nigerian business leaders, working with the United Nations Special Envoy for Global Education, Mr Gordon Brown, the Global Business Coalition and a World at School. An initial $10million US dollars was collected at the launch in response to the growing number of attacks on the right to education in the North East States and in solidarity, the Federal government agreed to match the amount with an additional $10million, in a meeting between President Jonathan and the UN Special Envoy for Global Education. One hundred ($100million US dollars), was the set target for the SSI to which more funds would be raised according to the Envoy who promised his assistance. This joint effort on the protection of the right to learn in Nigeria is based on best practices from global standards which emphasizes that Safe Schools must be prioritized for continuity in education, even in HIGH RISK AREAS!


DID THE APC GOVERNMENT INHERIT USD $20 MILLION DOLLARS OF SSI DONATIONS?

Reports available to us indicate that the APC Change Administration inherited a virtually empty treasury because all available funds, including funds earmarked to prosecute the insurgency were all deployed to fund ex-President Jonathan's inordinate third-term ambition to rule Nigeria! However, with all security revelations in respect of the recent Dapchi Girls School abduction and President Buhari's stern warning to his government's detractors who connive with criminals to destabilize the polity and by extension, the buoyant economic agenda, we believe that a new course for adequate peace and tranquillity would be charted through patriotic collaborations by all arms of governments and security agencies to adequately protect all schools!
We believe that the insurgents would embrace the fresh window of AMNESTY opportunity that has been made available by the Federal Government, to lay down their arms and be de-radicalized, pardoned and re-absorbed into the society, because it has been divinely declared that, " ....this evil time shall pass away.... these recalcitrant insecurity challenges, will fizzle out and an everlasting peace shall envelope the nation of Nigeria, with or without the co-operation of the terrorists!" May the gentle soul of the five lost girls rest in perfect peace with the LORD. Amen.



I am, yours sincerely, Dr. David B.A. Olufon. 08130669886, 08098194390. 08080243066. g-mail- dvdolufon@gmail.com.

Dereliction of constitutionally assigned duties amongst rival security agencies have been identified as the major cause of an avoidable abduction of 110 Science/Technical Secondary School Girls, Dapchi, Yobe State, (aged between 11-16), who have now become pawns and human shields in the hands of insurgents who are very desperate to prove that they were undefeated! This is the second time in FOUR years that insurgents would abduct the endangered species from their school premises en-mass, uninterrupted and undetected and disappeared into thin air as it were! The first time was the abduction of over 270 girls from Chibok Girls Secondary School, Borno State on 14th April, 2014, to register their disdain for WESTERN EDUCATION! As at the time of this publication, almost 100 of the Chibok girls have been rescued while attempts are in motion to bring back the others; including the DAPCHI girls, with combined efforts of all the security forces that have converged on Yobe, the adjoining States and neighbouring countries.

On the day of this fresh abduction, 19th February, 2018, the camouflaged gunmen had free entry and exit into the school premises; because all they needed do was to fire some warning shots to create pandemonium, harass, intimidate and order as many panicking children into their trucks and drove away without hindrance because the nearby Army unit personnel that would have forestalled the invasion, was withdrawn some two weeks earlier as a back-up force to fight Boko Haram insurgents at the Niger border area! Were there no official procedures in respect of postings, replacements, etc, especially in such sudden exigency of troops movement from one location to another? Should there be a vacuum of security logistics/ apparatuses in a soft target such as the Dapchi Girls School, especially when mass abduction of innocent children had taken place in neighbouring Bornu State, previously? Of course not! The Army Unit Commander claimed that he handed over the security location to the Commissioner of the Nigerian Police, Yobe, who promptly denied the claim! Since the first unfortunate military intervention in Nigerian politics on 15th January,1966, soldiers have been accustomed to playing civilian roles because they remained for too long (almost 30 years), in quasi-politicking engagements that they almost forgot all professional ethics until they were divinely booted out on 29th May, 1999! Constitutional duties of the Armed Forces of the Federation, which consist of an Army, a Navy, an Air Force, are spelt out in Section 217 - (1) (2) (a-d) & (3), Part III, Supplemental, of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999, to include; defending Nigeria from external aggression, maintaining its territorial integrity, securing its borders from violation on land, sea or air; suppressing insurrection and acting in aid of civil authorities to restore order when called upon to do so by the President, but subject to such conditions as may be prescribed by an Act of the National Assembly.The Nigerian Police Force on the other hand is saddled with internal maintenance of law and order prosecution of offenders etc, and such order duties as may be prescribed to them by the National Assembly.

If the Army was not involved in Internal Security (IS), duty at the Dapchi Girls School, would the Commissioner of Police have left the soft target open and defenceless in spite of his avowed constitutional duty? Should there not have been Police plain clothes security surveillance to complement the Army even when they were on ground? Would passing of buck between the two security agencies which is though, very regrettable, ascertain the safety or the immediate release of the innocent tender-aged teenagers? There is no doubt on our minds that this particular abduction was targeted by detractors to indict and embarrass the APC administration which has been struggling to surmount the myriads of security challenges, economic/social decay of strategic infrastructure, which it inherited from past PDP administrations! The PDP, which created and nurtured the insurgents known as Boko Haram, and which did nothing to rescue the Chibok Girls, throughout ex-President Jonathan's woeful tenure, is now quick to blame the incumbent of lacking in security management - what an irony of fate?

Though, PDP's vituperation was contrary to the reality on ground, it is incumbent on all patriotic Nigerians to rise in unity an seek divine intervention for the urgent rescue of these innocent children, because the master-minds of this fresh national catastrophe are within the rank and file of those who are very desperate to SEIZE POWER AT ALL COST, EVEN THROUGH THE BARRELS OF THE GUNS AS IKE EKEREMADU, THE CONTROVERSIAL SENATE DEPUTY PRESIDENT IS NOW SUGGESTING! Having formed some COALITIONS targeted to wrestle power at the centre without any success but condemnation from the masses, they resorted to succinct blackmail of President Muhammadu Buhari by alleging his insensibility towards the plight of States that were devastated with wanton human killings and for not visiting them at the appropriate times! And to score cheap political point the chiefest among them, ex-President Olusegun Obasanjo, who ordered his soldiers to kill, destroy and burn down ZAKI BIAM, VASSE, AGBAYIN, GBEJI, SANKARA, AND SEVERAL OTHER COMMUNITIES IN BENUE STATE, in 2001, visited Makurdi on Thursday, 8th March, 2018, (either to commiserate or to gloat), over the graves of the unfortunate dead of January 1st 2018! Were the people of Benue - especially Governor Samuel Ortom fooled? Could Obasanjo re-write the history of events as they unfolded to suit his whims and caprices?

The year 2018 began on the sad note of the killings of innocent peasant farmers and members of their families in Benue, Plateau, Nasarawa, Kaduna, Taraba etc by alleged NORMADIC HERDERS and even into the third month, these murderous incursions has spread to virtually all the SIX GEO-POLITICAL ZONES OF THE FEDERATION! Can the perpetrators of these heinous crimes against humanity escape divine judgement even though they always struck at soft targets and then hide? Surely they would be exposed when they least expected and punished through the long arm of the law because their plan to turn Nigeria into a PARIAH NATION would not work! Patriotic Nigerians have been counselled not to neither retaliate through MILITIA GROUPS nor take up illegal arms to defend themselves but to trust GOD and the APC Government which would provide adequate security and bring to justice, all culpable elements in the imbroglio!

ABDUCTION OF DAPCHI GIRLS IS A NATIONAL TRAGEDY!
That patriotic citizens of Nigeria, except the psychopaths, are greatly traumatized over this ugly development would tantamount to an understatement; because, the mental and spiritual torture being experienced especially by the parents and families of the abductees as they trooped to Abuja, wept profusely and appealed to the President for a quick intervention in the rescue operations that are already in progress was an avalanche! Unlike 2014, when former President Jonathan, declared that the alleged abduction of Chibok Girls was a HOAX, even two weeks after the dastard act, this government has acted very fast and appropriately for early and positive rescue results to be expected! President Buhari did not waste time to deploy all security chiefs and personnel to YOBE STATE immediately he got the report and even though it has been about three weeks as at the time of this publication, tremendous success about the exact location and reasons behind the abduction have been established for possible negotiations for the release of the victims. It had been very difficult to apply any form of force by air or land because the innocent children who are to be rescued would be endangered as they were purposely positioned by their abductors as HUMAN SHIELDS!

THE ROLES OF SSS AND ICRC IN PAST RESCUE OPERATIONS:
In July, 2017, a team of THREE University lecturers of Geology Department of the University of Maiduguri (UNIMAID), who were prospecting for crude oil in the Lake Chad Basin was ambushed while TEN women who were in the convoy of a dead police personnel being conveyed to his hometown for burial, were abducted by insurgents in Borno State and it took the grace of God for both the State Security Service (SSS), and International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), officials to negotiate their freedom which was finally concluded on Saturday 10th February, 2018! SICRC, revealed in a statement released by its deputy regional director for Africa that it was contacted to play the role of negotiator just like a similar action it carried out in October 2016 and May 2017, when two batches of Chibok girls were released to the Federal Government following successful negotiations. He concluded that his outfit, “remains ready to provide similar humanitarian services in the future when asked by relevant parties to the conflict."

SHOULD GOVERNMENT CONTINUE TO NEGOTIATE WITH INSURGENTS?
Although negotiations with rebels is akin to an invitation to continuous and repeated BLACKMAIL, which would elongate the process of crisis as we are now witnessing, but it is very expedient for now in the present circumstances to choose this path - in order to counter the insurgents doctrine of "Boko Haram" (meaning that western education is bad)! It is also very imperative to save lives of innocent abductees who were in no way responsible nor involved in the CONFLICT(S) currently in contention, through these negotiations, no matter how unpalatable for now! We should also be united in prayer for GOD to touch the insurgents to have a change of heart and embrace dialogue and eventual surrender for PEACE to reign again in our country that is "flowing with milk and honey" and positively save our POSTERITY!

IMMEDIATE, MEDIUM AND LONG-TERM SOLUTIONS!
Blame game must give way to inter-services collaboration. Police should intensify, Community /Neighbourhood policing by recruiting informants from every hamlet, village and remote settlements, for security information and intelligence gatherings by all willing patriotic citizens. Civilian JTF, and other para-military bodies, Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps, (NSCDC), Nigerian Customs Service, the Nigerian Immigration Service, at the border posts of entry and exit points. Nigerian workers under the umbrella of Nigeria Labour Congress, (NLC), and Civil Society Groups (CSOs), must be involved in a more COMPREHENSIVE intelligence gathering through sophisticated and well-co-ordinated information network at the highest level of government, in order to NIP IN THE BUD any form of CRIME OR CRIMINALITY BEFORE THEY COULD BE PERPETRATED! More and more recruitments into the POLICE, ARMY, IMMIGRATION, CUSTOMS etc. must be urgently pursued and placed on the PRIORITY LISTS OF THE THREE TIERS OF GOVERNMENT! "A STITCH IN TIME SAVES NINE!"


I am, yours sincerely, Dr. David B.A. Olufon. 08130669886, 08098194390. 08080243066. g-mail- dvdolufon@gmail.com.

It might have taken like forever for the Nigerian youths to wake up from their slumber to share from the national cake, while the elders, especially the veteran political gladiators who have been in the trenches before independence and who obsessively and jealously guard the turf from newcomers - senile or young, - but they have finally debuted in grand style!

They have discarded serfdom, and have rebelled against the task-masters who compounded their disadvantageous position of inadequate education, joblessness/idleness to mould them into criminals and criminalities of political dirty jobs of thuggery and ballot box snatching during elections at all levels!
Gone were those days when they complained of marginalization, relegation or absolute abandonment in the scheme of the social contract because they have become wiser to demand for their rights to vote and be voted for!

But have they rejected the present constitutional arrangement which stipulates that youths should NOT aspire to attain the position of President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces until they clocked the age of 40 because, they believe the popular cliché' which states that, "a fool at forty, is a fool forever"; and have thus re-ordered age qualification for the highly-exalted seat to read 35 instead, while gubernatorial aspirants could clinch their position at the age of 30?

The 1999 Constitution states as follows:
Federal Executive: Age qualification for election as President: 40 years; educational: School Certificate level;
National Assembly Legislators: Age qualification for election into the Senate: 35 years; and House of Representatives: 30 years; educational: School Cert.
State Executive: Age qualification for election as Governor: 35 years; educational: School Cert.
State Legislative Assembly: Age qualification for election as member: 30 years; educational: School cert.

NOT TOO YOUNG TO RUN BILL RE-ORDERING OF AGE QUALIFICATIONS!
(1) President: 35 years; (2) Governor: 30 years; (3) Legislators: Senator and House of Representatives member: 25 years! However, educational qualifications remain School Certificate....... haba! Why not first degree at least?

There is a general principle in pro-creation as divinely ordained, that a child would need parental guidance, care, attention, counselling and devotion, at every stage from birth to sitting position, crawling, standing upright, and walking until he/she becomes independent to RUN!
Although that ordained physical sequence has not changed, Nigerian youths have suddenly realised that the first creation that came out of the divine mould was a full-fledge human clay called ADAM, according to biblical record in the Book of Genesis 2:7 and with that thought, believed that they could RUN before crawling!
But are they not forgetting that GOD deliberately changed that giant mould that produced Adam to smaller ones because that full-fledged man became too wise and almost overthrew his creator with the succinct support of the Serpent/Satan in Genesis. 3: 1-24? And now that the divine creator has, in His infinite wisdom re-ordered pro-creation to accommodate both the young and the old to sustain the cycle in which the OLD NOW GIVES BIRTH TO THE YOUNG! "Who is he that saith and it cometh to pass when the LORD commandeth it not? (Lamentation 3: 37).

Is it not very glaring that the REAL motivation for the advocacy of legislative approval for the "NOT TOO YOUNG TO RUN BILL" currently receiving urgent attention in the National/State Assemblies is the stupendous and gagantuous unconstitutional salaries, allowances/emoluments and other undeserved perks of office of politicians since 1999, when a fresh attempt to truly democratize Nigeria brought with it this senseless acquisition of illicit wealth in the name of politics? What about the legislators who have seen nothing wrong or unusual about the STRANGE BILL which is poised to turn back the hands of the clock? Definitely, they are passionate accomplices who want their WARDS to succeed them in milking Nigeria dry!

The existing 1999 Constitution is not ambiguous about the role of the youth in governance as it has stated very clearly the adult suffrage of 18 years when a youth was eligible to vote and to be voted for to occupy political offices - from ages 30 and above to become a legislator, governor or president!
During the military interregnum of about 30 years, it was not strange for a 22-year-old soldier to become the governor of the Rivers State and for a 32-year-old to become the Head of State! Would they have qualified to hold such highly revered and powerful political offices if it were not for the crude barrels of guns?
KIM JONG-UN - THE YOUNG EXECUTIVE PRESIDENT OF NORTH KOREA IS THREATENING FIRE AND BRIMSTONES THAT COULD IGNITE A 3RD WORLD WAR BECAUSE HE POSSESSES TOO MUCH POWER AND EXPLOSIVE YOUTHFUL EXUBERANCE!
In another clime - Libya under late Muammar Gaddafi for instance - the youthful army officer quietly eased out the monarch who went on vacation with his queen outside of the desert country in 1969 at the age of 22, with a determination to improve the lot of his fellow countrymen but ended up ruling them with an iron fist for 42 agonising years before his was deposed and eventually killed! Why did he remain that long in power? Because, if he had called for an election when he turned 30, just eight years in office, he would have become redundant and irrelevant, even in the ebullience and prime of his youth!


INTELLIGENT YOUTHS PREFER AGE STIPULATIONS IN NIGERIA'S 1999 CONSTITUTION!
With the 1999 Nigerian Constitution, a youth can aspire to become the President at the age of FORTY - which is globally acceptable as the year of maturity and the turning point to prestigious adulthood - so what do the sponsors of NOT TOO YOUNG TO RUN BILL intend to achieve by doctoring the Constitution?
Let us assume that a youth at 40 was eventually voted to become Nigeria's President (the highest political office), and was lucky to be re-elected for another term of FOUR years, totalling EIGHT! Outside of the State House after his/her tenure, what happens? Frustration, redundancy, isolation, irrelevancy which usually dominated the life of a RECLUSE!

Serious-minded Nigerian youths regard the current corrupted politicking and governance as unnecessary distractions, because they are highly-endowed with much wisdom to know that the system has been so monetised with a view to making the unambitious to abandon the innate spiritual gifts, abilities, capabilities, talents, natural/scientific prowess, and succumb to the ordinary allurement/inordinate attraction of temporary/illicit monetary gains associated with Nigerian politicians!

Highly-intelligent Nigerian youths are more interested in CLEANSING THE AUGEAN STABLE through constructive criticisms of bad governance, proffering solutions, suggesting ways out of the woods as experts in their various professions and voting out CRUDE POLITICIANS at every election instead of the ILLITERATE DOCTRINE OF " IF YOU CANNOT BEAT THEM, JOIN THEM MENTALITY"!

We believe that the sponsors and movers of this UNEDUCATED BILL have ran short of visions for a NEW NIGERIA being steadily and consciously moulded through God by this current administration's management team of both young and elderly men/women of proven track records, pedigree, integrity and antecedents - who have taken this, (once sinking nation), out of the miry clay and have in less than THREE YEARS, successfully established it on a strong economic platform in spite of the detractors antics! We have always supported youth empowerment through education, which the UNESCO CHARTER recommended should be funded with at least 26% of the annual national budget, we have encourage all tiers of government to encourage technical and vocational studies/occupation amongst those with less ability or capacity to assimilate much of the academics and the APC Government is listening because the three tiers from primary to tertiary have been receiving greater appropriation in spite of the decadence inherited in that sector from past administration which created the uneducated terrorists now identified as Boko Haram!

ARE THESE MIS-GUIDED YOUTHS AND THEIR SPONSORS ACTUALLY READY TO STEER THE SHIP OF THIS NEW NIGERIA AND ESCHEW THEMSELVES OF THE CANKERWORM OF CORRUPTION? CAN THEY EVER GOVERN ALONE WITHOUT THE ELDERS GUIDANCE AND CONSELLING? WE DOUBT IT!
WE want them to include an addendum in the BILL that THE SENATE SHOLD BE SCRAPPED AND THAT ONLY TWO REPRESENTATIVES SHOULD BE ELECTED FROM EACH STATE TO FILL THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES AND ALSO THAT THEIR TENURE WOULD BE ON PART-TIME ARRANGEMENT AND THAT ALL LEGISLATORS WOULD ONLY BE PAID SITTING ALLOWANCES IN ORDER TO TERMINATE MASSIVE CORRUPTION AND WASTAGES IN GOVERNANCE AS BEING WITNESSED NOW!
IF THESE YOUTHS ARE TRULY READY TO SERVE, AND ARE UNSELFISH, THEY SHOULD RE-FRAME THE CLAUSES OF THEIR BILL TO INCLUDE LOCAL CONTENTS THAT WOULD INVOLVE THE GRASSROOTS FOR CONSIDERATION BY THE DOWNTRODDEN MASSES AND NOT THE SUPER-RICH LEGISLATORS WHO WOULD BANK-ROLL THEIR ELECTIONEERING CAMPAIGN BILLS! A BOTTOM-UP APPROACH OF THE "NOT TOO YOUNG TO RUN BILL" SHOULD REPLACE THIS COVETOUS ONE NOW IN CIRCULATION! "Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor any thing that is thy neighbour's.’’ (Exodus 20:17)



I am, yours sincerely, Dr. David B.A. Olufon, 08130669886, 08098194390. 08080243066. g-mail- dvdolufon@gmail.com.

KWARA STATE ASSEMBLY IS FIRST TO STOP EX-GOVERNORS FROM TREASURY LOOTING!

According to extant appropriation laws in the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, the emoluments of all civil servants including political appointees, are determined and legislated by the Revenue Mobilisation, Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC), and is sacrosanct accordingly!

But former State Governors and their deputies, through the succinct support of their legislators enjoy illicit pensions/gratuities that are unknown to the Constitution while the National Assembly (NASS), principal officers with the connivance of their Civil Service Staff, have circumvented all known financial principles to appropriate unto themselves incredible salaries, all manner of spurious allowances, including illegal CONSTITUENCY ALLOCATIONS in billions of naira, since 1999, when "politicians" took over governance from the Military!

RMAFC, is guided to provide 300% SEVERANCE for the governors as stated in the provisions under "Certain Political Office Holders and Judicial Officers Remuneration Act." Within the confines of that Act, ex-governors and legislators are entitled to 300% of their basic salary of N2,223,705; totalling N6,671,115, as a once-and-for-all-severance pay!
A former Chairman of the RMAFC has said that if the Pension Laws enacted by the States contravened or was inconsistent with the Federal law as prescribed for the Commission, they would be deemed ILLEGAL whereas some State Legislatures have even granted ex-governors PENSION EMOLUMENTS FOR LIFE!

According to undisputed statistics collated by the Vanguard, TWENTY-ONE STATES, as at the year 2017, spent a whooping sum of N37.4 billion for 47 ex-Governors on illegal monetized pension emoluments that are not recognized by the Nigerian Constitution! These expenditures have exerted much pressure on the coffers of such States which failed to fulfil regular contractual salary payment obligations to workers but instead, diverted such funds to pay their ex-Governors and their deputies!

So, where did all other illegal provisions for outlandish cash benefits, running into billions, vehicles (renewable every three to four years), accommodations in their State capitals and Federal Capital, Abuja; overseas holiday/free medics for them and family etc, being collected by ex Governors of BAUCHI, RIVERS, AKWA IBOM, LAGOS, YOBE, GOMBE, KANO, KWARA,, SOKOTO, BAYELSA, DELTA, EBONYI, ZAMFARA and others, emanate from?
Bauchi, according to the revelation, topped pension payouts to ex-governors. Payment of pension to former governors over a four-year circle are highest in Bauchi, Rivers, Akwa Ibom and Lagos States with former governors drawing N23.18billion, N2.795 billion, N2.043 billion and N1.606 billion respectively while Gombe was reported to be the FIRST to pay out an humongous benefit of N900 million to two ex-governors whom the State Pension Law provided a sum of N300 million, per term of four years! The Sokoto State Pension Law provides for N200 million every four years for former governors, and with three former governors it’s stable, "the State has to cough out N600 billion every four years for these governors"! Another tranche of N180 million each is respectively set aside for their deputies within the same period of time.

IT IS HOWEVER GRATIFYING TO KNOW THAT EX- GOVERNORS RAJI FASOLA AND KAYODE FAYEMI OF LAGOS AND EKITI STATES RESPECTIVELY DECLINED AND REFUSED TO COLLECT ANY SEVERANCE PACKAGE ON THEIR DISENGAGEMENT FROM GUBERNATORIALOFFICES!
The offending States believe they could cover their tracks under the "State Pension Law", which is inferior, contrary and null and void according to the 1999 Constitution, which expressly and unequivocally states in Part II, Powers of the Federal Republic Of Nigeria, Section 4 (5), which states as follows: "If any Law enacted by the House of Assembly of a State is inconsistent with any law validly made by the National Assembly, the law made by the National Assembly shall prevail and that other Law shall to the extent of the inconsistency be void."

HAVE THESE EX-GOVERNORS RETIRED INTO PRIVATE LIFE?
NO! They are still the same greedy politicians who retired as governors and are enjoying pension benefits but now freshly voted as politician and still paid by the same Federal Government as Senators or as Ministers of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, and COLLECTING DOUBLE SALARIES, ALLOWANCIES, PENSIONS, GRATUITIES ETC, FOR EVERY FOUR-YEAR TERM IN POLITICAL OFFICE!
IS IT NOT VERY GLARING THAT THESE "NAIRA SUCKERS" AMONG WHOM ARE 21 EX-GOVERNORS SERVING AS SENATORS OF THE FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF NIGERIA ARE THE REAL ENEMIES OF THE TALAKAWAS? WOULD THE ELECTORATE JUST MOPE SHEEPISHLY WHILE THESE INSENSITIVE FELLOW NIGERIANS BLED THE ECONOMY TO DEATH IN A COUNTRY WHERE SOCIAL JUSTICE SYSTEM THRIVES?

KWARA STATE LEGISLATORS ABBROGATE GOVERNORS PENSION LAW!
Kwara State's version of State Pension Law which came into effect in 2010 states that an ex-governor would be entitled TWO LUXURY CARS PLUS ONE ARMOURED OR SECURITY CAR - replaceable every three years, A WELL-FURNISHED 5-BED-ROOM DUPLEX, FURNITURE ALLOWANCE OF 300% OF HIS SALARY; FIVE PERSONAL STAFF, THREE DSS OPERATIVES, FREE MEDICAL CARE FOR THE GOVERNOR AND THE DEPUTY, 30% OF SALARY FOR VEHICLE MAINTEMANCE, 20% FOR UTILITY, 10% FOR ENTERTAINMENT, 10% FOR HOUSE MAINTENANCE!

Controversial Senate President 'Bukola Saraki, is one of these ex-governors who collected double salaries, allowances, pensions and all manner of spurious emoluments from the Nigerian treasury! He was two-term Governor of Kwara State, (2003-2011), one-time Senator representing Kwara Central District (2011-2015), of Kwara State, and presently "Senate President" (2015-date), in spite of the impoverished economic situation of his state!
But now, that the legislators have become wiser and have turned the table against him and his ilk, he is now advocating that other States should follow KWARA EXAMPLE! That is not enough! SARAKI SHOULD VOLUNTARILY REFUND ALL ILLEGAL EMOLUMENTS HE HAD COLLECTED FROM 2011 TO DATE OR BE FORCED TO DO SO!

SERAP'S LEGAL CONFRONTATION AGAINST ILLICITLY RICH EX-GOVERNORS!
We have on record that the Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP), in December 2017 filed a suit challenging the legality of 21 former state governors and their deputies now serving as Senators and Ministers, and drawing two salaries/emoluments from former and present employers at a Federal High Court and got a favourable judgment in January 2018. The court ruled that SERAP has "sufficient interest to bring its suit to stop former governors and now serving senator and ministers from receiving double pay and life pensions and to seek recovery of over N40billion of public funds unduly received by these public officers." The Judge granted leave in the suit by SERAP to compel the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice "to challenge the legality of the State Laws that allow those former politicians to draw double payments, identify those involved and seek full recovery of the funds involved."

HEARTLESS EX-GOVERNORS MUST PAY BACK ALL ILLEGAL EMOLUMENTS!
In 2016, a young street boy's angry vituperation that all Nigerian politicians should be BURIED ALIVE was nationally condemned - we still condemn jungle justice BUT these set of politically armed robbers - governors, legislators et all, MUST be made to face the law quickly and sent to jail where they belong! And they MUST PAY BACK ALL MONIES AND RETURN ALL PROPERTIES THEY HAVE ILLEGALLY ACQUIRED THROUGH THEIR DUBIOUS AND CRIMINALLY-DOGGED LIFE STYLE! Is it not an irony of fate that these leaders who possess no iota of moral discipline when it comes to acquisition of illicit wealth legislate at all levels of government over the academia, professional, technocrats able-bodied unemployed youths and adults and craft and oversight budgets which determine the economic lives of the poor citizens whom they have drained and left high and dry without A KOBO to their names?

Civil servant Workers (serving and retired), in about 35 out of 36 States of the Federation, according to the Trade Union Congress (TUC), President, Mr. Bobboi Kaigama, are owed salaries, allowances, gratuities/pensions up to 19 months in some cases; despite billions of PARIS CLUB REFUNDS, while these heartless set of opportunists smile to the banks with billions of the naira made through the blood and sweat of the very unfortunate workers!
Outside of the REFUNDS, two initial FG financial bail-outs were loaned to salary payment defaulting STATES, and were expected to take care of all outstanding workers emoluments, had taken wings to satisfy the pecuniary lust of most of the governors and the helpless workers are still languishing in abject poverty!

All Nigerians MUST UNITE to bring these set of thieving "representatives" to quick justice through collective legal actions and through the BALLOT BOXES as the nation goes to the polls within 12 calendar months from now! THEY MUST ALL BE VOTED OUT IN 2019, STRIPPED OF ALL STOLEN MONIES FROM THE TREASURY, PROSECUTED IN THE LAW COURTS AND SENT TO PRISON IF CULPABLE!
It is the only way to stop all category of persons who believe that Nigerian Political Landscape is a GOLDMINE for small minds which believe only in the ephemeral things of life as money!

21 EX-GOVERNORS ARE BLEEDING NIGERIA TO DEATH!
Kwara State has taken the lead; what are the other 20 States waiting for in view of the recent court judgement mentioned earlier? Citizens who are in bondage under these heartless ex-governors MUST SPEAK OUT IN UNISON NOW TO TOTALY CONDEMN THE WICKED ACT AND PURSUE THE MATTER IN THE COURTS OF LAW IF THEY REFUSE TO FOLLOW KWARA LEAD!
Those States that indulged in the squandermania of public funds did so for their own gains BUT AT THE UNFORTUNATE EXPENSE OF THE TALAKAWAS WHOSE MONIES ARE MERCILESSLY AND WICKEDLY FRITTERED AWAY THROUGH THIS CRIMINAL ACT OF CONNIVANCE!
We have always been in the vanguard of advocacy for ONE NATIONAL LEGISLATIVE HOUSE TO BE RUN ON PART TIME BASIS AS PRACTICED IN OTHER CLIMES AND THE TOTAL DEREGULATION OF MONETARY INCENTIVE IN THAT SECTOR OF THE COLLECTIVE LEGISLATION OVER THE GIAGANTIC ECONOMY OF NIGERIA!
"Righteousness exalteth a nation, but sin is a reproach to any people." (Proverbs 14:34).


I am, yours sincerely, Dr. David B.A. Olufon. 08130669886, 08098194390. 08080243066. g-mail- dvdolufon@gmail.com.

rexlims:
at op u must be an APC supporter. your point although well articulated are full of flaws.

please name the flaws rexlims.

The pre-election year of general elections is usually pregnant with premonitions about whether an incumbent government would be voted out or continue in office because in that year, proximity of the D-Day, would create advantage for opposition parties and rabble rousers to unearth all negativities and untruths with a view to scoring such administration very low before the Electorate!

Nigeria is not an exception to this political game of vindictiveness which had played out in cycles across thriving global democracies since the extinction of monarchical governance in most nations of the world!

The cacophony of accusations of non-performance against the ruling All Progressives Congress Party (APC), since the beginning of year 2018, by opposition parties especially the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), in areas of security, and socio-economic contracts have been loudest because the year affords the antagonists the easiest opportunity to play dirty and get into political offices in desperation!

For instance the PDP, which wants to "recover power" at the centre at all cost has cashed in on the lingering artificial fuel scarcity to poison the minds of the vulnerable downtrodden Nigerians as the 2019 election year creeps in and have blamed the incumbent government for the unending daily queues at fuel stations across the nation since December 2017!
THE INDISPENSIBILITY OF PETROL IN PROCURING DAILY BREAD BY THE LARGER POPULATION - CANNOT BE OVEREMPHASIZED WHILE ITS INACCESSIBILITY WAS BOUND TO SOLICIT INSTANT/OUTRIGHT CONDEMNATION OF ANY GOVERNMENT IN POWER! Therefore, whenever irregular supply of electricity occurred, petrol (premium motor spirit) MUST be readily available in great supply to fill the huge vacuum in order to avoid uncontrollable agitations that the opposition could use to advantage!
It is not beyond the capability of the Ruling Government to quickly correct this anomaly! The antagonists should not be given any opportunity to capitalize on the recalcitrant artificial scarcity of PETROL to turn APC's loving masses against their divine government.

POSITIVE GAINS FOR THE MASSES!
In less than THREE years, the Change Administration reduced official corruption with impunity, ineptitude among political office holders and the civil servants, embezzlement of government funds by officials including organised robbery of the national treasury to the barest minimum and introduced the marvellous success stories of ECONOMIC DIVERSIFICATION FROM CRUDE OIL TO AGRICULTURE, NATURAL MINERAL RESOURCES, MANUFACTURING/INDUSTRIAL SECTORS, TOURISM/ NOLLYWOOD MOVIE INDUSTRY, INFORMATION COMMUNICATIONS TECHNOLOGY (ICT), TRANSPORTATION, YOUTH EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITIES, PROMOTION OF SMALL/MEDIUM SCALE ENTERPRISES (SMSEs); ETC, in spite of inheriting a completely despoiled and battered economy from PDP?
Now there are over ONE THOUSAND millionaire farmers who benefitted from the CBN's Anchors Borrowers Programme, including fresh employments for millions of Graduates, in the public and private sectors of the economy; and thousands of opportunities for self-employment through the manufacturing and the SMSEs who have attained financial supports through the Bank of Industry (BOI).

THE UNENDING PETROL QUEUES ARE UNACCEPTABLE!
That the official pump price of the Premium Motor Spirit (petrol), is fixed at N145, 00, is not in doubt but, all Nigerian motorists know that the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN), have continued to violate the price regime and are pressurizing the Federal Government to increase the price to between N165-170 naira, per litre for them to have some profit margin.
The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), which assumed sole importation of petroleum products from early 2017, sold to IPMAN depots at N125 naira - a price which they claimed did not take into consideration their own inputs of transportation and dispensation at the fuel stations nation-wide and this stout attitude has been responsible for the unending fuel queues at the filling stations even as at the date of this publication!

Though, NNPC mega-filling stations nation-wide sold petrol at subsidized pump price of N145,00 naira in spite of the landing cost of imported PMS which rose to about N171.50 naira, and also instructed other stakeholders to do same, - in the height of artificial scarcity between December 2017 and January 2018, - IPMAN sold at between N170-200 naira in their various outlets to further compound the travail of Nigerians in their desperation to make extra gains because they had been banned from the importation of petroleum products for over a year in order to reduce payment of the controversial and fraudulent subsidies!

IS GOVERNMENT AMELIORATING THE MASSES PAIN?
Minister of State for Petroleum Resources has claimed that government-owned refineries would be quickly fixed to produce at optimal level while MODULAR REFINERIES would be speedily introduced (by government), to take care of all local consumption; but even at that, we believe that local or international private oil entrepreneurs, should be invited into partnership to ensure regular, efficient, professional and digital operations that would always complement the economy on that platform!
Government, according to the Minister, is also soliciting wholesale private sector participation in refining the crude oil to ensure adequate supply of petroleum products in the country, but we advise that it is imperative for government to create the all-enabling environment conducive for adequate profitability as an incentive commensurate to the huge investments envisaged!
Government was also able to persuade the Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN), from embarking on an industrial action which would have compounded the already volatile and agonising condition of the suffering masses, by ensuring that some sacked members of the association were recalled!

IS GOVERNMENT ANTICIPATING AN INCREASE IN PUMP PRICE?
Tongues are wagging in negative directions that the APC government might be toying with the idea of effecting TOTAL DEREGULATION OF THE DOWNSTREAM PETROLEUM SECTOR, which will remove the price regime and afford free-for-all opportunities for all stakeholders to purchase Crude Oil, refine and commercialize it for profitability without constraints! If the intention materializes TWO THINGS would happen:
Petroleum products would flood Nigerian markets to nullify scarcity at filling stations; but PETROL new prices would be unaffordable to the COMMON MAN!
The alluring charismatic image of the Change Administration before the TALAKAWAS would shatter because the amiable citizens would be incensed by the opposition PDP remnant factions to hate the ruling party in order to divert their votes at the up-coming elections! And whereas PDP consecutive corrupt administrations actually created the present messy fuel challenges which root germinated through the active connivance of very rich and wealthy former Minister of Petroleum, who signed the fraudulent payment bills for SUBSIDIES to phantom importers and manipulated OIL FUNDS at will!

APC SHOULD URGENTLY GET ITS ACTS TOGETHER!
Is it not a shame that in the 32 months of APC administration the rumblings of polarisation, disaffection, dissatisfaction, rivalry, disobedience, opposition and counter opposition to government policies by legislators of the ruling party with poisonous passion, are still the order of each day? The Party is yet to hold a National Convention till date because of internal imbroglio! Has APC forgotten the adage which says, "A house that is divided against itself would fall?
Asiwaju Ahmed Tinubu, the Party leader has been mandated to mend fences around the feuding and rival members in,: Oyo, Kogi, Kwara, Kaduna, though he himself is part of the problem! We have faith in divine intervention for permanent solutions before the 2019 election which is just one year away, because the party belongs to GOD and NOT any individual or groups of persons!
In the interest of all aggrieved members, they should trust in providence and allow the WILL OF GOD to reign supreme by allowing internal democracy and Party Supremacy flow seamlessly, this time around. Nobody should rock the boat by antagonizing the anointed one MUHAMMADU BUHARI, who will clinch victory and run his second term till 23rd May, 2023!

BUT MOST IMPORTANTLY, APC MUST NOT INCREASE PETROL PUMP PRICE ABOVE N145, 00 PER LITRE! Some members of IPMAN should be quickly contracted and encouraged to support the inadequate importation of this scarce commodity, while the intervention measures already put into motion by government should be fast-tracked as the debut of DANGOTE PETROLEUM in 2019, is awaited with much enthusiasm!
ANY PETROL PUMP PRICE INCREASE AT THIS TIME WILL BIRTH NEGATIVE CONSEQUENCES. IT IS UNACCEPTABLE TO THE TALAKAWAS! THEY ARE BUHARI’S SUPPORTERS! ’’For the scripture saith, Thou shalt not muzzle the ox that treadeth out the corn. And, the labourer is worthy of his reward.’’(1Tim 5:18)



I am, yours sincerely, Dr. David B.A. Olufon, 08130669886, 08098194390. 08080243066. g-mail- dvdolufon@gmail.com.

Patriotic Nigerians cannot be alarmed at the vicious gang-up by legislators of the National Assembly against the Executive because they never hid their covetous character when they forcefully seized the administration of the hallowed chambers on 8th June, 2015, in a manner reminiscent of political gangsterism!

In the past 32 months of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Administration, opportunists APC Federal Legislators have engaged the PRESIDENCY in heated muscle-flexing, ego competition and vicious political confrontations in spite of the fact that they all rode on the wings of President Muhammadu Buhari's untainted character, dignified antecedent, popular acceptability and charisma, during the 2015 general elections to clinch unmerited seats at red and green chambers respectively!

They began their rebellion by rejecting Party's Supremacy with impunity but connived with the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), legislators to swear-in principal officers of National Assembly (NASS), at the Senate and the House of Representatives Chambers respectively! From then on they remained at dagger-drawn; opposed and criticized every Executive action or Bill - including budgetary presentations, as if they were not APC card-carrying members who have majority seats in both chambers!
Presently they have vowed not to deliberate on any request for confirmation of appointees of the Executive until the Acting Chairman of the EFCC, Ibrahim Magu, was replaced and have been deliberately foot-dragging on the oversight of the 2018 Budget estimates by anchoring on a flimsy excuse that the 2017 Budget was yet to be fully implemented! If they were genuine/patriotic democrats of the APC and without HIDDEN AGENDA, should they have been so confrontational and pretentious of the myriads of socio-economic challenges on ground when the Party took over the mantle of a government with an almost EMPTY TREASURY and a GLARING RECESSION even as at 29th May, 2015?

Although the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), on 9th March, 2017, released a time-table for the 2019 general elections in the following order: Presidential/National Assembly (NASS), elections to come first on Saturday 16th February, 2019, while the Governorship and State Assembly/Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Council elections were to hold on Saturday 2nd March, 2019, (i.e. two weeks later), these overzealous federal legislators nullified the independent status of the electoral body by taking over their functions!
On 6th February, 2018 , they hurried amendment of Section 25 of the 2010 Electoral Act by both Chambers saw the light of the day and exposed their selfish motive aimed at SECURING THEIR OWN SEATS BEFORE PRESIDENT BUHARI, ON WHOSE POPULARITY THEY RODE INTO POLITICAL LIME LIGHT AND RECKONING IN 2015 AND HAVE NOW HATCHED A DIABOLICAL PLAN TO UNSEAT HIM BY JOINING FORCES WITH HIS MULTITUDE OF DETRACTORS!

NASS ELECTION IS NOW IN THE NUMBER ONE SLOT; to be followed by the Gubernatorial/State Assemblies and LASTLY, the Presidential, because the legislators claimed to have the "constitutional right" to re-order ELECTIONS according to Section 4, sub-section 2 of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria but forgot that their legislative function was to MAKE LAWS FOR GOOD GOVERNANCE AND NOT TO MUTILATE LAWS FOR SELFISH REASONS AS IT NOW STANDS!

According to Section 76 of the 1999 Constitution which empowers INEC to fix dates and conduct elections, the Electoral body had on 9th March, 2017 announced the dates which placed the PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION FIRST, only for the House of Representatives to raise objections which led to the ILLEGALITY WHICH CONSTITUTED AN ENCROACHMENT/INFRINGEMENT ON THE INDEPENDENCE AND RIGHTS OF THE EXECUTIVE AND ITS MINISTRIES, DEPARTMENTS AND AGENCIES (MDAs)!

WHAT THESE 8TH NASS LEGISLATORS HAVE DONE TO INEC's TIME-TABLE IS TANTAMOUNT TO DOCUMENT- PADDING LIKE THEY HAD DONE TO PAST EXECUTIVE BUDGETS FROM 2016-2017!
There is no part of the 1999 Constitution which permits legislators to REMOVE, INSERT, RE-WRITE, RE-PHRASE, RE-INVENT, OR RE-CREATE EXECUTIVE DOCUMENTS FORWARDED TO THEM FOR OVERSIGHT FUNCTIONS IN VIEW OF THE DOCTRINE OF SEPARATION OF POWERS, BUT THEY ALWAYS OVERSTEPPED THEIR BOUNDS!
At best, they could make observations and request the AUTHOR to amend and re-forward! It was high time the Executive tested these obnoxious and attitudinal excesses of the recalcitrant legislators at the APEX COURT FOR LEGAL ADJUDICATION! If the legislators were not very selfish meddlesome interlopers, should they overheat the polity in a matter that was the exclusive preserve of INEC and even threaten to veto Mr. President if he refused assent to their obnoxious bill after 30 days of submission according to constitutional provisions?

THE POTTER'S CLAY EFFIGIES ARE ABOUT TO TAKE A SWIM!!
Let us imagine that these greedy legislators were not attracted to NIGERIAN POLITICS because of the perks of office and largess of FINANCIAL INDUCEMENT of this Presidential system which has turned pauperish politicians into multi-millionaires and billionaires within few months of EMPOLYMENT, while those they pretend to represent wallow in abject poverty.......
Let us also imagine that they did not allocate to themselves outrageous annual sums of extra-budgetary salaries, wardrobe, vehicle and sitting allowances, including gratuities/pensions, etc; of between N120-150 billion, to be paid to them and those who would not be re-elected at the end of every FOUR-YEAR-TERM; would there have been any need, for that aggressive struggle to remain a legislator at all cost?

Before Nigerian politicians, especially the current legislators decided to DIE IN OFFICE because of outrageous financial inducement deliberately created through the COPY-CAT MENTALITY of mimicking United States Presidential System of Government, let the ELECTORATE make up their minds to VOTE THEM OUT IN THE 2019 GENERAL ELECTIONS, NOW THAT THE CHARLATANS HAVE ENVIABLY AND SURREPTITIOUSLY TAKEN OVER THE "FIRST POSITION" IN THE ORDER OF ELECTION PRIORITY!

DO YOU KNOW THAT A NIGERIAN LEGISLATOR EARNS HIGHER SALARIES AND ALLOWANCES THAN HIS COUNTERPART IN THE UNITED STATES AND EVEN THE AMERICAN PRESIDENT?
In view of this ugly development, we advocate that all CIVIL SOCIETY/NON-GOVERNMENT ORGANISATIONS, should lay emphasis on civil and voter education through all available media outlets especially - THE SOCIAL MEDIA - which is accessible to the poor masses who have been short-changed for too long so that they would exercise their electoral franchise with their Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs), in the right direction!
Urgent steps should also be taken by the EXECUTIVE to enforce the CONSTITUTIONAL SALARY STRUCTURE FOR THE LEGISLATURE AS CONTAINED IN THE REVENUE MOBILISATION ALLOCATION AND FISCAL COMMISSION (RMAFC), REMUNERATION applicable to political office holders because these legislators are being intoxicated by TOO MUCH MONEY!

SOME FAILED POLITICIANS ARE SEARCHING FOR DIGITAL YOUTH LEADERS IN NIGERIA!
Do they have to search very far? Digital youth leaders have been ruling Nigeria since 15th, January 1966! All the military coup leaders, Head of States, Governors and Administrators who ruled Nigeria with IRON FIST, for about THIRTY YEARS were all in their twenties and early thirties and they were VERY DIGITAL!

In 1999 when they eventually relinquished power, they handed over to digital civilian governors, most of whom were in their early thirties and the elected President, Olusegun Obasanjo, who was just about 52 years old! These digital generations are still very much around and are still trying very hard to build prominence around themselves by claiming to have solution to all political/socio economic problems! DO YOU BELIEVE THEM? WE DON'T!

Let us rise up as a nation of GOOD PEOPLE, with to support PRESIDENT MUHAMMADU BUHARI, THE AFRICAN CHAMPION IN THE WAR AGAINST CORRUPTION AND TOGETHER, BUILD DIGITAL/VIABLE INSTITUTIONS RATHER THAN CORRUPT/GREEDY PERSONALITIES!
"Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the LORD delivereth him out of them all." (Psalm. 34:19).


I am, yours sincerely, Dr. David Olufon. 08130669886, 08098194390. 08080243066. g-mail- dvdolufon@gmail.com.

Funbabaty:
Dr. Olufon. I think you missed the point in your piece. You started by saying you will focus on the message and not the messenger. But in every section of your writing, you referenced the messenger. I think your writing is confusing and sentimental. OBJ was part of the problem you outlined. I will agree with you on that. But Buhari's government was voted in to fix that problem. The question is how well has Buhari's government performed after 3 years in office. The answer is obvious.

Perhaps Funbabaty, you did not look closely enough, what is written is this- "we will limit our analysis to the
contents and antecedents of the writer and conform
with the adage which says one should not "throw
the baby out with the bath water"; but place
emphasis on the message and not the messenger,
in order not to lose salient points in the message,"

In the analysis of national issues, good citizens dwell on facts while bad citizens dwell on sentiments. In Nigeria, the bad citizens are more than the good ones both at the leadership and followership levels and this imbalance is responsible for the uproar and stampede for negative comments on any trending matter on the social media!
Ex-President Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, (OBJ), the ubiquitous letter-writer, threw "a spanner in the works" on Monday 23rd January, 2018, in his usual style of criticisms against every government since 2007, when he lost his inordinate ambition for a third-term in office!
Not surprisingly, the social/print and electronic media exploded into jittery commotion of an avalanche of support for the Chief, who hails from the Owu Clan in Abeokuta, Ogun State, because he suggested that the incumbent occupier of the Aso Rock Villa should relieve himself of his constitutional duties and right to re-contest as President in 2019!
He also recommended that Buhari should go home to Daura to ROOST, because he was too old and bereft of economic ideas; whereas, OBJ was about 70 years old n 2007, when he reluctantly departed from office!

Obasanjo criticised Buhari for:
(1) Poor performance in government,
(2) Poverty in Nigeria,
(3) Insecurity,
(4) Poor economic management,
(5) Nepotism,
(6) Gross dereliction of duty,
(7) Condonation, if not outright encouragement of it,
( Lack of progress and hope for the future,
(9) Lack of national cohesion and poor management of internal political dynamics and
(10) Widening inequality!

Although we believe that Obasanjo's latest treatise was not only vindictive, but was an academic exercise in futility, we will limit our analysis to the contents and antecedents of the writer and conform with the adage which says one should not "throw the baby out with the bath water"; but place emphasis on the message and not the messenger, in order not to lose salient points in the message, titled, "The Way Out: A Clarion Call for Coalition for Nigeria Movement"!

We have no quarrel with either Obasanjo or his umpteenth message (because he wrote similar letters to ex-presidents Shehu Shagari, Ibrahim Babangida, Umaru Yar-Adua, and Ebele Jonathan), in the past, but we will put his thoughts in this particular letter in their proper perspectives, so that the good people of Nigeria would not be hoodwinked into believing falsehood and fallacies that are sinisterly-packaged to gain cheap political relevance!

Is Ex-President Obasanjo not GUILTY of all the TEN reasons he adduced as the SINS/DERELICTIONS of the present CHANGE Government of the All Progressives Congress (APC), and the incumbent President Muhammadu Buhari in particular?
Though, Obasanjo was oblivious of divine providence of becoming President of Nigeria in a STARCHED KHAKI underneath a civillian mantle, shortly after his release from ABACHA's incarceration in prison, did he as a "born again" Christian govern in RIGHTEOUSNESS?

Would articulate Nigerians easily forget the disgraceful, dirty, mudslinging and unconstitutional EGO WAR between Obasanjo and his Vice, Atiku Abubakar, in respect of the former's Third Term ambition bid during the second tenure of the first TWO citizens of this good nation? Had the adage which says, "Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely", not played out in OBJ's style of government in that instance?

It is unheard of, neither is it constitutional that a sitting President would attempt or actually pronounce the SACK FROM OFFICE of his VICE with whom he was voted with the same ticket! Obasanjo did so between July, 2006 and May, 2007, in a military-commando style! He did not only sack Atiku Abubakar from office (unconstitutionally), he also drove him out of his official Presidential Lodge within the Aso Rock Complex, and got away with the dastard act through an OFFICIAL INDICTMENT, by EFCC and also a KANGAROO SENATE AD-HOC COMMITTEE ON PETROLEUM TRUST DEVELOPMENT FUND (PTDF), which sanctioned the ex-Vice President for "abusing his office by aiding and abetting the diversion of public funds in the sum of US $125million and US $ 20 million respectively!"

DOWN THE MEMORY LANE!
When Obasanjo was released from prison in a coup de tat Death Sentence in June 1998 by General Abubakar Abdusalam, who took over power shortly after General Abacha's demise, he uttered the following emotionally-laden/spiritually-inspired speech at a thanksgiving service in Abeokuta, Ogun State, which we paraphrase as follows: "To accomplish a sound and wholesome society, a critical mass of righteous and upright citizens must rise to the occasion to act as the salt and light within their communities. The goal of life is to pursue truth, know God, serve humanity and resist Satan."
Well said; but is the Obasanjo known to Nigerians, the Diaspora and the World at large, NOT the total opposite of his personality and advocacy? Would it not take divine intervention for ex-President Chief Olusegun Aremu Obasanjo, to admit that he was no longer relevant in trending issues of partisan politics because he abused his last opportunity as a democratic President (having served as military Head of State between 1976-1979), through greed, avarice and covetousness?

Having lost a diabolical plot to manipulate the Nigerian Constitution to favour him with an illegal Third Term in office as President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, he declared a "do-or-die", political election process which he insisted that his Party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), must win at all cost through his anointed candidate, late President Umaru Yar' Adua of blessed memory!
Did he not also device a plot to remain in power through STOOGES whom he could manipulate at his whims and caprices, first through Umaru Yar'Adua and later Ebele Jonathan?

CORRUPTION ALLEGATIONS DURING OBJ's TENURE!
The following allegations which have not been denied, trailed OBJ throughout his eight-year tenure of presidency as follows:
* That he had only N20.000 (twenty thousand naira), in his bank account on release from prison in 1998 - but in those two terms in office it was very easy for him to become a multi-billionaire!
* That he corrupted himself through NNPC and PTDF, as the substantive Minister of Petroleum Resources, and through the Shipping, Communications/Industrial Sectors - especially NPA, NITEL, and TRANSCORP!
* That, he acquired and funded large FARMS in the six geo-political zones with over N 2 billion naira, "borrowed" from United Bank for Africa, (UBA)!
* That OBJ subtly approved for PTDF (was under his supervision), without recourse to Federal Executive Council (FEC), on the same day, two tranches of N 20 billion naira and N10 billion naira respectively which were never accounted for subsequently!
* That his administration spent over N16 billion naira on phantom Power Projects!
* There were also allegations of his involvement in bribery scandals in respect of the Halliburton and Siemens Contracts against some highly-placed government officials and retired Nigerian Presidents!
* That it was during Obasanjos's era that the Executive lobbied Legislators with GHANA MUST GO BRIBE MONEY BAGS for approval of illegal favours!
* That he was NEPOTIC in his appointments to the extent of presenting a rejected ministerial nominee before the Senate for FOUR times until the legislators succumbed!

OBJ sold all government's critical infrastructures, including legislative/civil servants quarters, for PEA NUTS, to his political associates/cronies in order to achieve his third term desire! MANY POLITICIANS WERE ALSO ASSASINATED DURING OBASANJO'S PRESIDENCY!
The list is long, but OBJ believes that he could cover up his corruption tracks by pointing accusing fingers to successive governments through covert letters; but we believe otherwise, because it would not take too long before he is brought to book through DIVINE INTERVENTION!
OBJ can only run but cannot HIDE!
OBJ is confused! In one breath, he said he had no more interest in partisan politics and tore his PDP CARD, yet in another breath he is not only advocating for A COALITION OF NIGERIA MOVEMENT but spearheading its speedy formation for participation in the up-coming 2019 General Elections!
What does that mean to the ELECTORATE other than a new Political Party under OBJ's control that intends to wrestle power at all cost in another do-or-manner in 2019, if GOD PERMITS?

When will the mentality of the Nigerian politicians shift from building individuals and focussed on building INSTITUTIONS? OBJ's Letter was full of self indictments because his tenure was the WORST in the history of Nigerian politics!

DOES OBJ POSSESS MONOPOLY OF LETTER-WRITING? The answer is NO! Ex-President Ebele Jonathan replied his letter titled, "Before It Is Too Late"; OBJ's daughter, Iyabo Obasanjo wrote a HATE letter to his father, while OBJ's first son, Dr.Gbenga Obasanjo, publicly and in an open court, accused his father of INCEST with his estranged wife, Mojisola, in January 2008'! OBJ has not denied this grievous allegation! "He who lives in a glass house should not throw stones!"

Obasanjo has the fundamental right to write letters BUT he should be mindful to respect the constitutional rights of others in order to avoid unpleasant consequences and embarrassing litigations. BUHARI WILL NEITHER STEAL, NOR ALLOW ONE KOBO OF THE NIGERIAN COMMONWEALTH TO BE STOLEN UNDER HIS WATCH UNLIKE OBJ AND HIS STOGEES! "See thou a man diligent in his business, he will stand before kings, he shall not stand before mean men." (Proverbs 22:29)



I am, yours sincerely, Dr. David Olufon. 08130669886, 08098194390. 08080243066. g-mail- dvdolufon@gmail.com.

jesse8048:
Unfortunately, I'm not in the mood to read long epistle. Simply put, God punish the dullard and whoever that supports him.

Make effort to read the "epistle" friend; the dullard is the person who is too lazy to read and as such cannot have knowledge