₦airaland Forum

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has asked the United Nations to ‎stop the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) from "rigging" the 2019 general elections.

The PDP National Chairman, Prince Uche Secondus made the appeal when a UN delegation led by Mohammed Ibn Chambas, visited the PDP National Secretariat on Wednesday, in Abuja.

Secondus said the PDP has lost confidence in the ability of INEC to conduct credible polls, warning that Nigerians will resist any attempt to impose an unpopular government.

"INEC has not lived up to expectations. It should come out in clear terms and be seen as an umpire. Since they took over, a lot of issues have trailed their conduct of elections.

"There are no perfect elections anywhere in the world but there are glaring issues of concern. We suspect that INEC will rig the elections. We suspect that the rigging will start from Borno State, especially with the number of people in the Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) camps," he said.

He added that INEC had registered under-age voters in the North, as part of the rigging plan.

Secondus also challenged Vice President Yemi Osinbajo to provide facts and figures on how the President Goodluck Jonathan-led government allegedly shared the sum of N150 billion few weeks to the 2015 general elections.

The PDP boss said it was incongruous for the ruling party to ‎continue the blame game instead of delivering on the campaign promises to Nigerians.

"‎They have stolen money more than all the governments in Nigeria since 1960, put together; this current government. What is going on is looting of public treasury.

"So we challenge the Vice President to come out with facts‎ and figures. Blame game for three years?" he queried.


https://www.dailytrust.com.ng/pdp-asks-un-to-wade-into-inec-apc-s-plot-to-rig-2019-polls.html

‘Over 100,000’ dump PDP, APC for SDP in Adamawa

Over 100,000 people in Adamawa State have dumped the PDP and APC for SDP.

National Chairman of SDP, Chief Olu Falae, stated this yesterday during the official defection rally of Chief Emmanuel Bello to SDP at the Lamido Cinema in Yola.

“I have come to receive Chief Emmanuel Bello and a 100,000 others who have dumped APC and PDP to join SDP. From today, they have become bona fide members of SDP,” he stated.

He said SDP had been in existence for long, saying late MKO Abiola and Babagana Kingibe flew its ticket during the 1993 transition that was truncated.

“Bello is a man who believes in changing the change,” Falae said.

National Leader of the SDP, Professor Jerry Gana, said this was the first outing they made in 2018, adding that the SDP train was on the move to move Nigeria forward.

https://www.dailytrust.com.ng/-over-100-000-dump-pdp-apc-for-sdp-in-adamawa.html

The Vanguards for The Defence of Democracy in Nigeria (VDDN), yesterday, chided an ex-President, Olusegun Obasanjo, for allegedly visiting Benue State to score a political goal instead of commiserating with the people.

At a press conference in Abuja, National Coordinator of the group, Sharon Faliya Cham, said Obasanjo had made up his mind to use every negative opportunity to discredit the Federal Government ahead of next year’s general elections.

“In his usual self-serving style, he jumped into the Benue communal clashes and the hands of his former political foot soldier, Mr. Samuel Ortom, to play on the emotions of the people of Benue State with the sole aim of sowing seed of hatred against President Muhammadu Buhari, and by extension, his government and political party, the APC.

“To Obasanjo, politicising the deaths is permissible so long as the hatred of President Buhari is achieved. And so, he was shown all over the media laying a wreath by the graveside of the victims of these clashes. But the good people of Benue are not stupid. They know Obasanjo was shedding crocodile tears, they know that he was there on a political mission,” Cham said.

The group said if he meant well, Obasanjo should visit Zaki-Biam in the same Benue State and lay the same wreath near the graves of locals killed under his watch while he was president. “They deserve to be officially commiserated with too. Obasanjo was in Bayelsa State recently for another political mission. He should go back on a condolence and apology mission in Odi community; those that were fortunate to survive are still mourning their loved ones.

“In Taraba State, over 1,000 people were gruesomely murdered. It should be noted that the massacre happened three months before that of Benue, yet Obasanjo did not care.

“Two other places that Obasanjo will surely avoid to lay wreath of flowers are Plateau and Southern Kaduna. First and most important reason is that Obasanjo is not at home with the two governors there. They are not likely to dance to the tune of his political music,” the group said.

https://www.dailytrust.com.ng/group-tells-obasanjo-to-stop-playing-politics-with-crises.html

Chief Ralph Uwazuruike, the leader of Biafra Independence Movement, BIM and founder of Movement for Actualization of Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB) has predicted that Nigeria will break into six different republics before 2023.

Uwazuruike added that the present six geo-political zones of the country would develop into the six republics.

In a press statement issued yesterday in Onitsha, Anambra state, shortly after BIM’s Anambra South Zonal meeting held at Uga, Aguata Local Government Area of the state, he said South-East will become the long agitated New Biafra, while South-South becomes Niger-Delta Republic.

He added that South-West and North Central will become Oduduwa and Middle-Belt Republics respectively, leaving North-East and North-West as Arewa Republic.

Uwazuruike who was represented by a member of Biafra Elders–in-council, Mazi Chris Mocha, observed that “the obvious lack of trust in the relationship or union between the northern and southern Nigeria is too inexplicable that Nigerians cannot continue to co-exist as one nation.”

He stressed that “the faulty amalgamation of the northern and southern Nigeria in 1914 which expired since January 2014, also made it imperative that the country must surely break up in the near future, based on Biafran constitution which provided that any section of the country that is dissatisfied with the union will be at liberty to secede.”

https://www.dailytrust.com.ng/-how-nigeria-will-break-up-before-2023.html

Serious business man

Perhaps the easiest way of creating a siege mentality within the mind of a leader is to criticise everything he or she does whether good or bad. This is analogous to the situation that is developing between President Muhammadu Buhari (PMB) and the National Assembly (NASS). Bearing in mind that both are controlled by the same political party, their ongoing battles are indicative of a lack of leadership or guiding philosophy within the All Progressives Congress (APC). There is little doubt that PMB has not surrounded himself with the best personnel, or that the frenzied passion which greeted his election has faded, but the last thing anyone would have expected is that his problems would come from the NASS.

In their ongoing battle the 2018 budget is yet to be passed, critical appointees are yet to be confirmed, the electoral act is being tinkered with, and generally the nation is more consumed by revelations of corrupt practices than any earth-shaking legislation. The NASS has long since lost credibility amongst the populace. Revelations of their immoral allowances, political shenanigans and corruption in oversight functions have left their reputation in tatters. There is simply no reason to believe that anything they do is in the public interest. On November 24th 2016 they passed a Bill approving the establishment of the Nigerian Peace Corps as an agency under the Ministry of Interior.

The National Peace Corps (NPC) Establishment Bill was sent to the Presidency in the last week of December 2017 and the 30-day window under which the President should assent to a Bill lapsed on 31st January. By implication the Bill has been thrown out and the only option is for the NASS to veto the Presidents rejection with a two thirds majority of its members. There is absolutely no logical reason why PMB should assent to the Bill and he should be commended for rejecting it.

Unfortunately the only reason he gave for the refusal was scarce government resources. There are several others. Firstly the whole matter reeks of insincerity bordering on fraud. The existing Peace Corps was formalised in 1998 when it was registered by one of its founders. There is no reason to assume that this is the same organisation that was approved by the NASS in 2017 to be part of the Ministry of Interior. The ineloquent self-styled “National Commandant” of the Peace Corps has been accused of obtaining from young job seekers under false pretences. Many of them parted with sums as high as fifty-thousand Naira to purchase uniforms and other paraphernalia. Even the fact that the organisation is for youths is not true. Anyone who has seen or heard their “National Commandant” speak will know that he is by no means a youth, as indeed are none of their other leaders! Although the Corps is supposedly modelled after a similar named volunteer outfit in the United States of America called the National Peace Corps Association, and they registered as a non-governmental organisation, the only logical reason why they are now fighting to be taken over by government is to justify the sums the obtained from applicants who were guaranteed secure employment.

In advanced nations groups such as the Peace Corps operate without transmuting into government outfits, and there is really no reason the situation should be different in Nigeria. There is simply no need for it. It would just be another set of individuals behaving with the legendary indiscipline of uniformed Nigerians. As far as the objectives of the Peace Corps are concerned it has been severally pointed out that they duplicate the functions of seven existing organisations including the Nigeria Police Force and the Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps. In a quite silly attempt to justify the need for the Peace Corps its supporters defined their activities as those which would not overlap with existing agencies such as national clean up exercise, population census, voters registration, elections, maintenance of peace and order in schools and public places and general neighbourhood services as their activities.

How on earth any of these things could be said not to be already catered for is beyond imagination. It is also fallacious to present the Peace Corps as a vehicle for mass mobilisation and engagement of youths into regimental community development and ad-hoc interventions. There is both a Ministry of Youth and a National Orientation Agency (NOA). It is true that the current Minister of Information has failed woefully in supervising and directing the NOA to be relevant, preferring instead to make himself an object of ridicule as a hardly believable government spokesperson.

Paradoxically, in spite of not having presidential assent, the Peace Corps cannot be disbanded. Its Trustees have been duly registered under the Companies and Allied Matters Act, and there are two judgements of the Federal High Court restraining the police from harassing or intimidating members of the organisation. The police have, as is their habit, refused to obey court orders to quit the headquarters of the Corps and pay N12.5 million in compensation so the stalemate continues.

Quite frankly as far as the NASS is concerned they have lost the moral right to pontificate over the matter. Renowned for acting only in their own interests, it has been alleged (and frankly there is little reason to disbelieve it) that each of them was given a certain number of slots in the unapproved set up. It’s infantile to defend the Peace Corps simply on the basis that it will provide unproductive employment. The simple truth is that although the 2018 budget hasn’t been passed, there is no provision for financing a Corps whose annual salary is projected to be approximately N50 Billion. There is however one solution. It has been suggested that if Senators are so enamoured with the Corps, then they could offset the expected monthly wage bill by forgoing their illegal allowances of N13.5 Million a month, otherwise PMB was right there is no money.

https://www.dailytrust.com.ng/peace-corps-buhari-is-right.html

The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) has urged its 2018 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) candidates to patiently await the results of the just concluded examinations.

The Head of Media of the Board, Dr Fabian Benjamin, stated this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Saturday in Abuja.

He said the board was working diligently to ensure that the results are processed and posted on the board’s website soonest.

Benjamin said that modalities were being put in place to ensure all the results are transparent and accurate.

He reiterated that the board was delaying some of the results because each has to undergo total scrutiny before being posted on its website to avoid cancellations later.

According to him, some of the results would be ready by Monday, March 19.

He also assured that all technical difficulties encountered to access the website were being addressed.

NAN reports that number of candidates, who sat for the examinations earlier, were yet to receive their results.

While some said that they received the reply of “your results are not ready yet”, others complained that the site says “you did not register for this examinations.’’

NAN also reports that the examination, which was scheduled to end on Saturday, March 17, ended on Friday, March 16.

https://www.dailytrust.com.ng/2018-utme-jamb-gives-latest-about-results.html

A Senator reresenting Kaduna Central, Senator Shehu Sanni yesterday in Ibadan said the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) may not have the moral right to seek for votes from Nigerians in 2019 if herdsmen killing in different part of the country continues.

He said if the party cannot guarantee peace and stability of Nigeria, it has already given up the moral right to seek for Nigerians votes again.

The senator who spoke at the 5th development summit of the Olalekan Olomide platform for development, held at the Press Centre Iyaganku yesterday urged the leadership of the party to urgently intensify effort in the crisis before it is too late.

He however noted that the party has achieved in the area of its anti corruption war and fight against insurgency, but there are areas where the government needs to do more.
"We must honestly admit that there are success achieved by this administration but mindless killings, violence, and bloodsheding in most states of federation is mind budging and concern.
"The crisis is also a threat to the peace and unity of Nigeria. The killings is not acceptable and that is why I said the president must stand up to the reality of our country today. If our party cannot guarantee the peace and stability, we factually have given up our moral right to ask people to vote for us into power again."

Speaking on the role of the southwest played to vote in APC in 2015, the senator urged the region to speak in one voice and have a black and white agreement in demanding for their right from the ruling party.
"The southwest is the heartbeat of the APC and if by chance we suffered a stroke here, that is the end of the story. The region should put it's house in order and have a written agreement with the ruling party that after supporting the party in 2019, it is the turn of the region. This is important because the political class are not gentlemen and they don't respect a gentleman agreement."

Earlier, a Professor Emeritus, Professor Oladipo Akinkugbe had urged the political class to consider the masses in their policies and programmes for betterment of the society.


https://www.dailytrust.com.ng/apc-may-not-have-moral-right-to-seek-for-vote-in-2019-shehu-sanni.html

source...

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A Former Governor of Niger State, Mu’azu Babangida Aliyu, yesterday, said the PDP is fast regaining its lost glory because Nigerians have realised it is the only party that can liberate them from despondency.

Aliyu sated this while fielding questions from Daily Trust in Dutse in the aftermath of the PDP’s mega rally in Jigawa State.


He explained that PDP was prepared for taking over power from the APC; saying they had since started giving the ruling government sleepless nights.

“People are tired; so we have to rebuild their confidence and hope. PDP is the thing, PDP is the party and we will have 2019. We are already prepared for taking over government in 2019,” he said

http://www.dailytrust.com.ng/pdp-s-regained-glory-ll-save-nigeria-chief-servant.html

The Buhari Support Organisation (BSO) yesterday insisted that giving his excellent performance in office, President Muhammadu Buhari will win with a landslide next year.

The Coordinator of the group in Katsina State, Ibrahim Kallah, was reacting to a statement credited to a factional chairman of the PDP in Borno State, Zanna Gaddama, who said the Buhari ‘Tsunami’ will not happen in 2019, meaning the electorate would vote out politicians that did not perform.

Kallah said President Buhari had achieved a lot and Nigerians would vote for him again. “There is no doubt that Gaddama and those close to him are beneficiaries of the improved security in Borno. Residents are now sleeping with their two eyes close since the inception of Buhari administration.”

He said Buhari deserved credit for recovering 14 local government areas and territories previously under Boko Haram control in Borno. “We have to rejoice the fact that about one million displaced people in North East have returned to their communities in the last two years; and thousands of youths have acquired skills acquisition training under the National directorate of employment NDE.”

While advising Gaddama to appreciate the laudable project being executed by the APC administration rather than resort to criticism, Kallah affirmed that Buhari would win the 2019.


Read more at https://www.dailytrust.com.ng/buhari-tsunami-will-work-even-better-in-2019-bso.html#UUzVtoLbUtU1Qwlt.99

President Muhammadu Buhari will tonight meet with principal officers of both chambers of the National Assembly.

The meeting will hold at the New Banquet Hall of the Aso Rock Presidential Villa in Abuja.

The Senior Special Assistant to the President on National Assembly Matters, Senator Ita Enang, confirmed this to Daily Trust this evening.

It was gathered that the meeting would discuss, among other things, issues surrounding the delay in the passage of the 2018 budget.



Details later...

https://www.dailytrust.com.ng/2018-budget-buhari-meets-national-assembly-leaders-tonight.html

chai...

Beautiful!

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Happy married life

President Muhammadu Buhari said yesterday his administration will invest all necessary resources in developing military might to crush Boko Haram insurgency.

The president who paid a sympathy visit to the parents of abducted schoolgirls at Government Girls Science and Technical College Dapchi, said the insurgents would pay dearly for the abduction of schoolgirls in Chibok in 2014 and now Dapchi.

He said he had read a comprehensive report on what the Federal Government was doing to rescue the schoolgirls in good health.

“We’ll not spare Boko Haram. We’ll use our military might to crush them and provide a lasting peace in the country. We have deployed police, including those in plain clothes, soldiers, Army, Navy and Air Force and other security operatives to continue searching until they rescue our children in good health,” he said.

Asserting that much had been achieved against Boko Haram already, Buhari said,

“The insurgents were before now controlling some areas in Borno and some parts of Yobe but they have now been reduced to brainwashing of little children to commit suicide bombing in mosques, churches and other public places.”

The president said during a stakeholders meeting in Damaturu that he would negotiate for the unconditional release of the Dapchi schoolgirls.

“I am here in Yobe State to express my sincere sympathy with the parents, government and all the people of Yobe whose daughters were abducted by the un-repented terrorists. I want to reiterate our resolve to negotiate for the unconditional release of the girls,” he said.

He pledged that any agency, person or group found to be negligent in the process that led to the abduction of the girls would be punished.

Earlier welcoming the president at the Government House, Damaturu, Governor Ibrahim Gaidam expressed his appreciation to the federal government for its efforts for the state. He said, “I wish to express my deepest appreciation to Mr. President for the show of fatherly concern. So far Yobe State government has received four federal government delegations since the unfortunate incident, which shows that it has concern for its citizens.”

Gaidam pledged the support of the people of Yobe state for the federal government in its efforts to rescue the abducted girls.

The president visited the Government Girls Science and Technical College Dapchi, where he had face to face meeting with parents and students.

The Chairman of Dapchi abducted schoolgirls parents, Bashir Manzo, said the prompt response by the president and his visit had renewed their hope that government was willing to reunite them with their children.

https://www.dailytrust.com.ng/boko-haram-will-pay-dearly-for-abducting-schoolgirls-buhari.html

The erstwhile member of the House of Representatives, Abdulmumin Jibrin, has resumed work at the House yesterday.

Jibrin who was suspended since September 28, 2016 for a period of 181 days was recalled to the House on Tuesday, following an announcement by Speaker Yakubu Dogara that the lawmaker had apologized to the House.

The lawmaker, in company of Chief Whip Alhassan Ado Doguwa, stepped into the House chamber some minutes to noon and headed straight to the table where the mace was kept and bowed.

Doguwa then took him to Dogara for a handshake before he finally went back to take his seat.

A former chairman of the appropriation committee, Jibrin was suspended due to the budget padding allegations he raised against some leaders of the House, including Dogara, his Deputy, Yussuf Lasun Suleimon; Chief Whip, Alhassan Ado Doguwa and Minority Leader, Leo Ogor.

He also accused all members of the House of collecting unjustifiable amounts as monthly running costs.

Jibrin was later subjected to an internal investigation of the House, and the ethics and privileges committee that investigated the matter recommended him for the suspension.

He was also given the condition to apologize for his wrongdoing before he could be re-admitted into the House. He was also barred from holding any position up to the expiration of the current 8th Assembly.

https://www.dailytrust.com.ng/jibrin-resumes-work-at-house-of-reps.html

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Senator Dino Melaye, representing Kogi West Senatorial District is alleging that a vigilante group, ‘Vigilante Service Group’ recently created by the Kogi State Government is on a killing spree.

He also alleged that the establishment of the group was an attempt to introduce state police in the state.

While making the allegation at the plenary on Wednesday, Melaye moved a motion seeking the intervention of the Senate on the legalisation of the armed group in Kogi.

Melaye, who read from a copy of the law establishing the group, emphasised Section 15 of the law which empowers the group to carry “dane guns, hunter’s gun and other light weapons” that are commensurate with their duties and responsibilities.

According to him, it was similar to how ‘Maitasine’ started in Kano which was not contained and became damaging.

“This is how Boko Haram started. This is how Sarasuka started. The Senate will not fold its arms and close its eyes, where a state government is equipping militia groups to wreck havoc on innocent citizens.

“This group is already killing in every part of Kogi State,” according to Melaye.

He stated that the establishment of the VSG in Kogi was in conflict with the Constitution.

He alleged that the functions of the group was in conflict with those of the Nigeria Police Force as stipulated in Section 214 of the Constitution.

https://www.dailytrust.com.ng/kogi-vigilante-group-on-killing-spree-dino-melaye.html

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