The Osun Police Command on Tuesday announced the arrest of a
27 year-old man Isa Adamu, who allegedly conspired with others to
kidnap and later murder his 55 vear-old father after collecting ransom
from his family.
The murdered man was identified as Ibrahim Adamu.
Mr Fimihan Adeoye, Osun Commissioner of Police, while parading
suspects at the Police Command in Osogbo, told newsmen that on April 27,
the senior Adamu was kidnapped in his house in Ede, Osun, and driven
away in his car by a gang of kidnappers.
He said when the case was reported to the police, a prime suspect,
Jola-Anabi Saheed was arrested and charged to court for the kidnapping.
He said the prime suspect later jumped bail.
Adeoye said the action of the prime suspect led to further
investigation by the police, which resulted in the arrest of three other
suspects, including the son of the kidnapped victim.
He said the police, after interrogating the three suspects,
discovered that it was the son of the suspect that hired the others and
the fugitive prime suspect to kidnap his father.
He said it was also discovered that the suspects killed their victim after collecting N3 million ransom from his family.
He said the suspects confessed to have buried their victim’s body
near a river and it is now believed that the corpse had been washed away
by the river.
He said the son of the kidnapped victim confessed to the police that
his accomplices promised to give him N500,000 from the ransom collected
from his family but only gave him N45,000.
Adeoye said another four-man robbery gang, terrorising Owode, Ede,
Osogbo and it’s environs was also arrested by the police and two
vehicles, electronics and other items were recovered from the gang.
NAN in the Sun
Tuesday, 4 September 2018
‘Two easy wins now in doubt’: Trump renews attack on Sessions
President Trump gestures while speaking at the Harris Conference Center in Charlotte, N.C. President Trump attacked Attorney General Jeff Sessions and the Justice Department on Monday in connection with the indictments of two GOP congressmen on corruption charges, saying they could hurt the Republican Party in the midterm elections.
“Two long running, Obama era, investigations of two very popular Republican Congressmen were brought to a well publicized charge, just ahead of the Mid-Terms, by the Jeff Sessions Justice Department,” he said on Twitter. “Two easy wins now in doubt because there is not enough time.”
“Good job Jeff......” he added, in a sarcastic comment. Calling the agency the “Jeff Sessions Justice Department” is the president’s ultimate insult, Trump advisers say.
Trump did not address the charges themselves or name the congressmen, but the tweet was apparently referring to the indictments this summer of Reps. Chris Collins of New York and Duncan D. Hunter of California, the president’s two earliest congressional endorsers.
Collins was charged with insider trading, accused by federal prosecutors of tipping off his son about a biotechnology company’s failed drug trial to avoid significant investment losses. The alleged tip-off took place not during the Obama administration, as Trump’s tweet suggests, but in 2017, after Trump had become president.
Hunter was charged with using more than $250,000 in campaign funds for personal expenses, including family vacations, school tuition and theater tickets.
Collins has suspended his reelection campaign, while Hunter is running for reelection, alleging political bias by the Justice Department.
Sen. Ben Sasse (R-Neb.) criticized the president’s tweet. “The United States is not some banana republic with a two-tiered system of justice — one for the majority party and one for the minority party. These two men have been charged with crimes because of evidence, not because of who the President was when the investigations began,” he said in a statement.
A few minutes after the tweet on Sessions, Trump added a second tweet attacking former FBI director James B. Comey, asserting that Democrats did not like Comey until Trump fired him in 2017.
“The Democrats, none of whom voted for Jeff Sessions, must love him now. Same thing with Lyin’ James Comey. The Dems all hated him, wanted him out, thought he was disgusting - UNTIL I FIRED HIM! Immediately he became a wonderful man, a saint like figure in fact. Really sick!”
The tweet on Sessions was an unusually harsh salvo, even for a president who sometimes expresses his thoughts on Twitter to the chagrin of his staff. The tweet indicated that his attorney general should base law enforcement actions on how it could affect the president and the Republican Party’s electoral success. It also seemed to indicate that electoral popularity should influence charges.
There has typically been a separation between the White House and the Justice Department, but Trump has frequently disregarded those norms, giving orders to Sessions. Sessions recently pushed back, saying publicly that he will not allow political manipulation of the department.
Trump recently told Bloomberg News that he would keep Sessions as attorney general until after the midterm elections.
“Repeatedly trying to pervert DOJ into a weapon to go after his adversaries, and now shamelessly complaining that DOJ should protect his political allies to maintain his majority in the midterms, is nothing short of an all-out assault on the rule of law,” former deputy attorney general Sally Yates said in a statement Monday.
Trump’s attacks on Sessions — and his efforts to force his attorney general to quit his post after Sessions recused himself from the investigation into Russia’s interference in the 2016 presidential election — are now part of an obstruction investigation into the president by special counsel Robert S. Mueller III and his team.
Also under investigation is Trump’s conduct in dismissing Comey, particularly why he fired him and whether he pressured him to be generous to Michael Flynn, the president’s former national security adviser. Flynn has pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI.
Trump stayed at the White House on Monday, watching television. He emerged earlier in the day, apparently about to join a waiting motorcade, before returning inside.
The White House had no comment on the president’s tweets but said he decided to remain at home and focus on trade calls.
Abdulsalami noted that the genesis of Africa’s
political problems was “the action of its sit-tight leaders, who amend
the constitution to perpetuate themselves
Godwin Tsa, Abuja Former military head of state, Gen. Abdusalami Abubakar
(retd), has revealed the process that led to former President Goodluck
Jonathan to concede defeat to President Muhammadu Buhari after the
result of the 2015 Presidential election.
Abdulsalami, who made the disclosure at the 2018 Annual General
Conference of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), noted that the genesis
of Africa’s political problems was “the action of its sit-tight
leaders, who amend the constitution in order to perpetuate themselves.
“These leaders have the tendency to manipulate very vital democratic
organs, particularly the legislature and, sometimes, the judiciary, to
suppress any dissenting voice.
“Despite all these, Africa is now harvesting an influx of leaders and
politicians. The young people who are emerging are more educated and
internationally exposed than the current old leaders
we have all over Africa. And these young men and women are trying to
make their marks. However, as you know, they are hampered by the high
cost of electioneering in developing countries and, indeed, the world,”
he said. Abubakar, who delivered a keynote address on “Political
transitions in Africa: Lessons to learn” gave credit to former President
Jonathan for not only conceding defeat, but for congratulating
President Buhari who was a candidate of the opposition party.
He said: “All analyses of political trend in the run up to Nigeria’s
2015 general elections pointed to above scenario playing out. Very early
on, I teamed up with some well-meaning non-partisan stakeholders and
elder statesmen to engage the key contestants and party leaders with a
view to forestalling such a scenario.
“Under the auspices of a peace initiative, we brokered an agreement
with leading contestants, in form of a Memorandum of Understanding, for
them to accept the outcome of the elections, preach cordiality in relations and conduct peaceful campaigns.
“It is gratifying to note that, courtesy of our humble effort and the
goodwill extended to it by the contestants and the Nigerian public, the
2015 national elections were conducted peacefully.
“To his eternal credit, the then incumbent President Goodluck
Jonathan, who lost the polls had the magnanimity to concede defeat and
congratulate the candidate of the opposition party. In the end, peace,
amity and political stability prevailed in the land.”
The retired army General further disclosed the process that led to
the transfer of power to a democratically elected leader in 1999.
He said when he was appointed to lead the country in 1998, there was
political apathy and that the political class was already fatigued, with
some voices calling for a return of the country to parliamentary
system.
Also, speaking at the conference, a former chairman of the Independent National
Electoral Commission (INEC), Professor Attahiru Jega, said while strong
leaders and institutions are important for political transition,
emphasis should not be placed on the strength of the leader at the
detriment of the leader’s competence and disposition.
“To my mind, we need strong institutions and strong leadership; but,
it is not just the strength of the leader that we require. What we
require most is the competence and the capacity of the leader to take
decisions and to be assertive in ensuring that those decisions are
actually implemented.
“So, we have to be very careful in thinking that strong leaders can
really help. Just as a weak leader can wreak an institution, a strong
leader who has just the power and courage, but lacks capacity, ability
and competence to lead, could also wreak strong institutions. So, it is
very important that we recognise this important aspect of the leadership
that we require,” he said.
Culled from The Sun
Wednesday, 11 July 2018
Needs a new wife, fasts once a week, Nigeria is tough… 7 things Dangote revealed in FT interview-Mayowa Tijani
Aliko Dangote has revealed that at 61, he is not getting any younger, and he is willing to take on a new wife.
Speaking with David Piling in a Financial Times interview, Lunch with FT,
the multi-billionaire, who is Africa’s richest man, revealed a soft
side of himself and talked tall about his ambitions to buy Arsenal
Football club after successfully leading Nigeria’s oil refining
revolution.
DANGOTE REALLY NEEDS A NEW WIFE
Dangote
revealed that his schedule is inhibiting romance. The founder of Dangote
Group, who is twice divorced and has three grown-up daughters, told FT
that he is on the lookout for a new bride.
He however adds a
caveat: “I’m not getting younger. Sixty years is no joke. But it doesn’t
make sense to go out and get somebody if you don’t have the time. Right
now, things are really, really very busy, because we have the refinery,
we have the petrochemicals, we have the fertiliser, we have the gas
pipeline.”
But he agrees that he needs to “calm down a bit”.
FASTS AT LEAST ONCE A WEEK
Who
will believe that the man who has one of the biggest food chains in the
country, actually fasts at least once a week? Dangote told Pilling that
he tries to fast at least once a week, adding that “it helps to clean
your system”.
TAKES MORE THAN 100 CALLS A DAY
As expected,
Dangote has a very busy schedule, but who would have guessed that he
may also be one of Africa’s busiest, taking over 100 calls per day.
Speaking
of his relationship with Tony Blair, former British prime minister,
Dangote says Blair only makes three calls per day. But he has to battle
with scores, and tonnes of emails.
About his mails, he says: “you
try to be polite and reply but they come back to you with a longer
email, not minding that here is a very, very busy person”.
“Look Aliko, the world is not going to fall apart if you don’t answer your phone,” Dangote says of his golden advise from Blair.
NIGERIA TO BE THE LARGEST EXPORTER OF PETROLEUM PRODUCT
The
serial-entrepreneur says once his $12 billion refinery is done, Nigeria
will for the first time in her history, become Africa’s biggest
exporter of petroleum products.
“When we finish this project, for
the first time in history Nigeria will be the largest exporter of
petroleum products in Africa,” he said.
NIGERIA IS TOUGH; ONLY THE TOUGHEST SURVIVE
The
man with the most amount of the money in Nigeria — officially — says
only toughest of the tough survives in Africa’s largest economy.
Dangote
say with his new refinery, he is out to make new enemies, stating
that “you can’t just come and remove food from their table and think
they’re just going to watch you doing it”.
“They will try all sorts of tricks. This is a very, very tough society. Only the toughest of the tough survive here”.
NIGERIA NEEDS DRACONIAN POLICY TO STOP MILK IMPORTATION
The
Kano-born billionaire is not happy with Nigeria’s inability to produce
what she eats, locally, and wants some hard policies to stop importation
of some products.
“What Nigeria needs is to produce locally what
we can produce locally. Nigeria still imports vegetable oil, which makes
no sense. Nigeria still imports 4.9m tonnes of wheat, which does not
make sense,” the $14-billion-man said.
“Nigeria still imports 97
or 98 per cent of the milk that we consume. The government needs to
bring out a draconian policy to stop people importing milk, just like
they did with cement.”
STILL OUT TO BUY ARSENAL
Dangote is
not a man known to give up on his dreams, and his dreams about Arsenal
Football Club will not be different, he reveals.
“I love Arsenal and I will definitely go for it,” he told FT, adding that the club should be worth about $2bn.
Speaking as the owner of the club, Dangote said he would involve himself in rebuilding the team — “chipping in my own advice”.
“When
I buy it, I have to bring it up to the expectations of our supporters,”
he said, stating that his refinery is priority now. “Once I have
finished with that headache, I will take on football,” he concludes.
Culled from Cable In Financial Times
Thursday, 5 July 2018
‘An all-American city that speaks Spanish’: Immigration isn’t a problem for this Texas town — it’s a way of life
American flags hang in a shop window in downtown McAllen, Texas on July 3. (Carolyn Van Houten/The Washington Post)
MCALLEN, Tex. —
Maria’s Restaurant offers Pollo en Mole for $8.25 and patriotic red,
white and blue peanut M&Ms for a quarter in a gumball machine near
the front door.
The menu in this family
restaurant, about seven miles from the U.S.-Mexico border, is a
reflection of the blended community it has served for 41 years. But now
this town built on immigration has become ground zero for the nation’s
nastiest political battle in the angry summer of 2018.
“This
is a border culture, so these people are not monsters to us,” said
Carolina Garza, 31, a third-generation Mexican-American whose family
runs Maria’s.
She was talking about the masses
of Central American immigrants flowing across the southern U.S. border
by the thousands this summer seeking asylum, work and refuge from their
violent homelands.
McAllen is home to the
massive U.S. Customs and Border Protection facility where families
crossing the border illegally have been separated and children have been
housed under the administration’s “zero tolerance” policy. The
detention center for children is known as the “dog kennel” for its rooms
made of chain-link fencing.
The
separations of about 2,400 children from their parents have sparked
protests across the country and news coverage around the world. McAllen
has suddenly become world-famous for something that it has no control
over, which residents say is at odds with the city’s bicultural nature.
Hundreds
of activists, lawyers, protesters, religious leaders, journalists, a
heavy presence of federal law enforcement officers and even National
Guard troops have poured into this city and the rest of the Rio Grande
Valley in recent weeks.
The policy is seen as
unwanted and unfair in this border city of 142,000 whose population is
90 percent Hispanic and so fully bilingual that roadside anti-littering
signs say “No dumping basura” (trash).
“A lot of people want to blame McAllen for what’s happening,” Garza said. “It feels kind of disgusting, to be honest.”
As
McAllen prepared for its massive annual Fourth of July parade and
fireworks display of patriotism, this city found itself feeling like a
punching bag in the furious national immigration debate.
Mayor
Jim Darling, who keeps U.S., Mexican and Texas flags in his downtown
office, said McAllen has suffered because of some of Trump’s statements
and policies.
“I wrote the president, and I
said, ‘We’re Americans, too, and some of the rhetoric hurts
Americans,’ ” he said. “We’re an all-American city that speaks Spanish.”
Mayor Jim Darling talks about the photos in his office, of McAllen through the years. (Carolyn Van Houten/The Washington Post)
Darling
said that although McAllen is often portrayed as a “dusty border town,”
it is a vibrant industrial hub closely linked to factories across the
border in the much larger industrial city of Reynosa.
He
said McAllen spends more than $1 million annually recruiting businesses
in Japan, Korea and other countries, mainly to invest in factories in
Mexico. Many of the engineers, executives and other managers who work in
those factories live in McAllen.
He said
McAllen has 18 million visitors a year, about 40 percent of whom come
from Mexico. For decades, La Plaza Mall has been a destination for
Mexican shoppers, who obtain a U.S. Border Crossing Card that allows
them to cross into Texas as long as they stay within 25 miles of the
border.
McAllen
raises more sales tax per capita than almost any other Texas city —
about $60 million last year, greater than its property tax revenue,
Darling said. And nearly a fifth of that comes from La Plaza.
In
recent years, that resource has been hurt by increasing violence in
Mexico, the falling value of the Mexican peso, and Trump’s anti-Mexican
rhetoric.
Trump so angered some Mexicans last
year that they started an #AdiosMcAllen social media campaign urging
Mexican shoppers to boycott McAllen. Darling traveled to Monterrey to
reassure Mexicans that his city still welcomed them. He said the city
spent about $300,000 on a marketing campaign called “Amigos Always” to
counter the damage.
“My face is still on billboards in Monterrey,” he said.
Now the family separation issue is creating new image problems for McAllen. The city has been through similar strainsin the past, including in 2014 when a flood of unaccompanied children from Central America ended up being processed in McAllen.
But
this time is the most intense anyone can remember. The Rio Grande
Valley is the U.S. Border Patrol’s busiest sector, accounting for 40
percent of the apprehensions of illegal border-crossers along the entire
2,000-mile U.S.-Mexico border. Migrants use the valley as a gateway to
cities across America, but few stay in McAllen.
“There’s
some impression around the world that people are dying to come to
McAllen, and that’s just not the case,” said Police Chief Victor
Rodriguez. “It happens to be a crossing point, but the destinations are
everywhere else in the country.”
Moses
Cariaga, 9, left, watches with other participants as his mother, Audrey
Cisneros, takes part in the Break Bread Not Families event, a 24-hour
hunger strike and prayer chain in downtown McAllen, Tex., on Tuesday.
(Carolyn Van Houten/The Washington Post)
He
said crime in the city is at a 33-year low, and there have been no
murders this year. He said drug-related violence has increased in parts
of Mexico, adding that it has not affected McAllen.
“We’re
about to celebrate our day of independence and freedom, and we keep
incarcerating young children and people who have only come here looking
for work,” said Marco Antonio Lopez, 31, who began his 24-hour fast on
Monday.
Lopez grew up here in the Rio Grande
Valley, the son of immigrants, and became a citizen at 20. He said he’s
never seen so much law enforcement in McAllen, and he said it feels
alien and is upsetting to him.
“It’s really strange,” he said. “This is not who we are. We need people to wake up.”
At
Maria’s Restaurant, the breakfast crowd started rolling in when the
doors opened at 7 a.m. Tuesday. Families with young children, older
couples, and office workers in crisp dress shirts sat at tables
surrounded by walls painted vibrant yellow, orange, blue and green.
Michael
Mata, 44, and his wife, Adriana Mulato, 43, sat down to order breakfast
in English and Spanish that blended as easily as scrambled eggs.
“I’d like one egg, over hard, sin tortillas,” said Mata, a police officer in nearby Pharr.
“Tienes bisquetes?” asked Mulato, a Mexico-born waitress who now lives with her husband in McAllen.
Michael
Mata and Adriana Mulato eat breakfast at Maria's Restaurant in McAllen,
Tex., on Tuesday. (Carolyn Van Houten/The Washington Post)
Mata
said his department trains officers in “customer service” and requires
them to complete regular cultural diversity classes to keep their
certification.
“I have no problem with people who are coming here for a better life,” Mata said. “Everybody had a right to peace of mind.”
He
said he has breakfast almost every day with a friend, a retired doctor
from Oklahoma, who is a big Trump supporter and wore his Make America
Great Again hat to one of their meals last week.
“People have different views of this administration,” Mata said with a laugh. “But we treat everyone with respect.”
Across the dining room, a 76-year-old man sat reading a Spanish-language newspaper.
“There’s
a general feeling of tension and apprehension here because of the
threats and the policies coming from Trump,” the man said.
The
man said he was a permanent legal resident and declined to give his
name because he said he was afraid of repercussions from authorities. He
said he had read stories about Border Patrol officers in other parts of
the country questioning people simply because they were heard speaking
Spanish.
“That has a chilling effect,” he said. “People are much more careful now.”
Chief Tobby Anumaka, Patron Okpoko Igbo, a Pan Igbo
Socio-Cultural Organisation and a chieftain of the All Progressives
Congress (APC), has explained how the coalition of major political
actors in Imo APC against imposition of candidates ahead of 2019, tamed
the governor of the state, Rochas Okorocha.
He also dismissed speculation that the results of the party
congresses in the state may be cancelled to accommodate Okorocha,
insisting that the governor has no option but to heed President
Muhammadu Buhari’s advice to put his house in order and forget the idea
of his son in-law succeeding him in 2019.
Governor Rochas Okorocha said some of you ganged up against him in
the just concluded APC congresses. What would you say made many,
including you, his friend turned against Okorocha?
We didn’t conspire against Governor Rochas Okorocha who was and still my
friend during the recent congresses of my party, APC in Imo State. The
governor is supposed to join hands with us to ensure APC retain Imo
State in 2019, instead he chose to be an emperor and a stumbling block
on the way of the party by trying to impose his will on the people. As
stakeholders, we cannot fold our hands and watch Okorocha destroy our
party because of his selfish interest. So, leaders of the party both at
ward and state levels have clearly told the governor that he cannot
impose his son in-law on the people as his successor. You were an exponent of Okorocha up to few months ago, why the sudden change?
Governor Okorocha and I are still and will always be friends and only
a true friend can tell his friend the truth. The way Okorocha is going
about who succeeds him turned him against most of us his friends and
other stakeholders in our party. I called and advised him to forget
about plotting for his son in-law to succeed him and that he can’t
impose somebody on the people of Imo with over five million people and
that the governor cannot force his will on us. He didn’t listen to some
of us who campaigned and ensured he won his second term to govern the
state. To tell you how much I supported Okorocha’s administration, I
used my personal money to construct projects and I told my people that
it was done by Okorocha’s government. He refused to consult major
stakeholders in the state especially members of our party on who
succeeds him in 2019, rather he went about it as if he has pocketed the
people and nobody would have the gut to ask him why.
But Okorocha in a recent statement vowed that the executive
produced by the congresses will not lead APC in Imo and since there were
parallel congresses of the party in the state, do you consider the
governor’s statement as mere threat?
There is no parallel executive of APC in Imo State because the
National Secretariat told us that any congress not supervised by
representatives of the national body will not be recognised. So, we had a
successful ward and state congresses. Is there any plan to resolve the matter before the national Convention of your party slated for Jun 23?
The governor remains the leader of the party in the state, but that
doesn’t mean we won’t tell him the truth. We won’t allow him to continue
to act like an emperor or maximum leader. There is a difference between
leadership and rulership, so Okorocha is supposed to be a leader and
not a ruler. We have known the governor as a leader but at a point in
time he started acting like an emperor. You will agree with me that most
emperors are rulers and not leaders. Imo is just one case out of many where APC had parallel congresses, is it not going to affect the party’s chances in 2019?
The case of Imo is unique unlike other states where there are
misunderstandings but not the governors trying to impose candidate on
the people or making attempts for their son in-laws to take over from
them. What Okorocha want to prove is that after his wife has become
First Lady his daughter will become First Lady and we say the governor
cannot achieve this in Imo State. There are a lot of people who have
shown interest in the governorship seat and all they are asking for is a
level playing field. Okorocha ought to know that the party constitution
is supreme and the constitution states that we should accommodate
rotation of positions. If that is true why not allow Owerri zone to produce the next governor?
APC has not produced any other governor apart from Okorocha in Imo.
Nobody is saying Owerri zone should not contest; rather what we are
demanding from the governor is to allow for a level playing ground for
all contestants to convince the electorate or delegates to nominate or
elect them as candidates of their choice. Okorocha should remember that
there are other political parties in the state ready to wrestle power
from APC in 2019 and that is why we must unite to ensure we retain the
state because a house divided against itself shall not stand. So, we
must go to the political battle as a unified body, but I’m surprised the
governor is going about it alone. What is the way out?
Okorocha has ran to President Muhammadu Buhari twice and making
statements, yet we have not made any statement. What we are waiting for
now is the National Convention which will produce the national
leadership of the party and finally nominations of candidates that will
fly the party’s flag in various positions. However, after the national
convention of our great party, we would address the fallout of the
congresses in all the affected states. Whatever internal crisis we face
in APC, I consider it as a family affair and would be resolved before we
go into the general election. Many will be on the side of Okorocha considering his efforts
in sustaining APC in the state and his contribution to President
Buhari’s victory in 2015, are you saying that the president will abandon
the governor at this stage?
During the second and recent visit to the President in the
Presidential Villa by Okorocha accompanied by the former Edo State
governor, Adams Oshiomhole, where he went to plead with Buhari for
soft-landing for Okorocha, the President advised him to go and put his
house in order. Yes, President Buhari and APC stakeholders in Imo
acknowledged the effort of the governor in the success of the party in
the state, but that should not be a guarantee for Okorocha to turn the
ruling party in the state into a private enterprise. This is exactly
what he is trying to do and we say no and this is the cause of the
problem in Imo APC. I know that President Buhari will never support
personalisation of the party in state, which is the reason he advised
Okorocha to accommodate other stakeholders because a tree does not make a
forest even if it is an Iroko tree. Are you not concerned that the dispute may cost APC the governorship seat?
That is exactly what we are making Okorocha to understand, that
Imolites are not robots, they have minds of their own and politically
active and should not be taken for granted. If Okorocha refuses to heed
to the voice of the people and he goes ahead to push further for his son
in-law, Uche Nwosu to succeed him, I’m afraid APC may lose Imo and that
will be the end of Okorocha’s political career. The governor is
fortunate to have been tolerated to this extent by Imo people and it is
just because of the love we have for President Muhammadu Buhari that is
why Okorocha is still governor. The people of Imo want to be in the
mainstream of the country’s politics and have resolved to vote for
President Buhari in 2019. So, the best Okorocha can do to sustain his
political legacy beyond 2019 is to allow the people chose who succeeds
him. Many especially, the major opposition party, the Peoples
Democratic Party (PDP) has faulted President Muhammadu Buhari’s
highlight of key areas of his administration’s achievement as contained
in the May 2018 Democracy Day broadcast, what is your take?
The APC- led administration under the watchful eyes of President
Muhammadu Buhari has delivered on its campaign promises. This government
has continued to be applauded both locally and internationally for its
laudable achievements especially in the fight against corruption. The
one that gladdens my heart most is the promise by the President that he
will in a couple of months sign into law the Not-Too- Young-to-Run Bill
which has been passed into by the National Assembly. And he did as
promised.
You will agree with me that electricity supply has improved; all
drain pipe through which public funds were siphoned have been blocked,
the home grown feeding programme is going on in 25 states and soon it
will be extended to the remaining states.
In the case of security, we all knew how Boko Haram took over some
local government areas in Borno, Yobe and Adamawa States in 2015, but
today those areas have been reclaimed by the military and Sambisa forest
that was dreaded has been busted and military barrack constructed.
Normalcy has returned to the North-east as some people in the Internally
Displaced Persons (IDP) camps are returning to their homes. The rescue
of some Chibok and Dapchi schools girls is a promise kept by President
Buhari which the President of the United States, Donald Trump attested
to when he received President Buhari in the White House recently.
On Agriculture, you will agree with me it has regained its place of
pride once again. Most Nigerians have gone back to the farm because the
sector has been made attractive by the government, that is why the
youths are taking to farming and food production is being boosted. The
N-Power programme of this government has earned young people opportunity
to be meaningfully engaged.
The President has promised to bring those who disguise as herdsmen,
killing people especially in the North-central to book. So, to me,
Buhari has done well and I assure you that he will be re-elected in 2019
to continue the work he is doing.
Culled from Sun
Tuesday, 22 May 2018
Northern Youths Ask Buhari, Atiku to Shelve Presidential Ambition
• PDP remains with APC, says Baraje
• Oshiomhole pushes for ideology-based ruling party, says APC not for all comers
Onyebuchi Ezigbo in Abuja and John Shiklam in Kaduna
The Coalition of Northern Youths has
called on President Muhammadu Buhari and former Vice-President Abubakar
not to contest the 2019 presidential election.
“We had advised him (Buhari) to look for
a younger person who has the integrity like him to run for the
presidency. Anybody above 70 years of age should give way to the younger
generation,” the group, which last year issued an ultimatum to
Nigerians of South-east origin to leave the North, said.
The Northern youth coalition explained
that the advice became imperative in view of the fact that Buhari and
Abubakar who are both in their 70s “participated in debates that gave
birth to the current national arrangement that is largely acknowledged
as having failed our national aspirations”.
The group maintained that Nigerians are
worried that older people who have dominated the political stage since
independence have not moved the country forward.
“Frustrated young Nigerians, having paid
their dues in the national development efforts, have been manifestly
left to suffer from the suffocating consequences of the prevailing
exclusive and defeatist leadership selection process that has been
imposed on the country over the years, by succeeding ruling elite.
“It is time they formed a rallying point
from which younger Nigerians can make a strong demand for a new
political order to usher in a generational power shift as reparation for
past marginalisation in the nation’s political leadership,” the group
said.
It also frowned on what it described as
“the seeming endorsement by some Northern leaders of a brand of
restructuring that clearly places the region at a disadvantage”,
declaring that it was unacceptable and must be discountenanced.
The group said the North will “not settle for any restructuring plan that is not total, comprehensive and wholistic…”
nPDP’s Grievances
The push for the generational shift in
Nigeria’s leadership came just as the ruling All Progressives Congress
(APC) acknowledged Monday that the issues raised by its aggrieved
members, who form the defunct new Peoples Democratic Party (nPDP) bloc
of the ruling party, were genuine and needed to be addressed.
The group, which left the then ruling
PDP at the height of its crisis in 2013 to fuse with the APC coalition,
had accused the latter and the Muhammadu Buhari-led administration of
marginalising and maltreating their members, despite the role they
played in bringing APC to power in 2015.
Specifically, they complained of being treated as outsiders in a party they helped to build and sustain.
The group also lamented that while some
of their members had been denied security cover to visit their
constituencies, others were being prosecuted and faced a witch-hunt by
agents of the government.
The members led by Alhaji Kawu Baraje
issued a seven-day ultimatum to the leadership of the party to arrange a
meeting with them in order to address their complaints.
The group’s ultimatum elapsed last week, fuelling fears that the APC may have called their bluff.
However, addressing reporters Monday
shortly after an hour-long meeting with the aggrieved group at the APC
national secretariat in Abuja, the Deputy National Chairman of the APC,
Senator Shauib Lawan, said the party considered their grievances
legitimate and something that should be looked into.
He said although the matter was yet to be resolved, the party was taking it very seriously.
“We have not yet resolved the issues.
They wrote a letter to us, they are party men, they have grievances, we
have looked at the letter and their grievances are genuine,” he said.
While explaining the apparent delay in
addressing their grievances, Lawan said: “They requested a meeting
within seven days and before the seven days expired, I called them and
they were not ready to come, they said we should shift the meeting till
today, which we did.
“So, we are listening to them, we have
listened to them and we are taking up their matter seriously, we will
address it. We don’t ignore our people except if you don’t send your
grievances to the party. But if you send them, we will always address
your grievances.”
Speaking on the outcome of the
much-anticipated peace talks, Baraje said his group will remain with the
ruling APC, but discussions were still at their infancy, noting however
that the nPDP was satisfied with the response of the APC leadership.
According to him, “So far so good. We
have just started. And when you start a race, you don’t say whether
somebody wants to see you until you get to the middle or to the end. But
it’s a good start, it’s a good beginning.
“As you are aware, we requested that we
wanted to see the party, and the party, very sensitive party, very
responsible party, responded to our requests adequately and we think it
was a very encouraging thing.
“Since last week, they got across to us,
but because of one logistic or the other, we couldn’t come until today.
We begged the party to shift the date until today, and today we have
seen our party leadership.
“We are party members, this office is
our office, we have only come home to discuss those observations we
wrote in our letter. The meeting was very beautiful.”
When asked in specific terms what was discussed, Baraje said: “We have not concluded and the discussions will continue.”
Baraje also dismissed the splinter group
led by Senator Abdullahi Adamu, saying that as far as he was concerned,
99.5 per cent of the members of the nPDP were in support of the demands
he made.
Earlier, Senator Lawan had said the APC leadership did not receive any letter from the Senator Adamu-led group.
Members with Common Ideals
Meanwhile, former Edo State governor and
aspirant for the position of the national chairman of the APC, Mr.
Adams Oshiomhole, has declared that the ruling party should only admit
people who share its ideology and who will add value to the party, going
forward.
Oshiomhole, who spoke Monday during a
visit to former Abia State governor, Orji Kalu, said political parties
are not an all-comers affair but for those that are ready to add value
to their activities.
He said as a party, the APC should be
able to tell some people whose beliefs run counter to the ideals of the
party to look elsewhere for membership of a political party.
He said political parties ought to be
governed by a set of value-adding ideals that members must subscribe to,
“otherwise you are not supposed to be a member”.
Oshiomhole, who expressed concern over
the continued feud between the executive and legislative arms of
government, said that the party could not afford to be an onlooker in
the current rift between both arms of government.
He said as chairman of the party, he
would make sure that all party organs are made to function as
constitutionally mandated, adding that “when the party organs are not
functioning, then we are just a collection of people”.
According to the chairmanship aspirant, the responsibility of a political party goes beyond providing a platform for elections.
“The party should monitor the conduct of
its members as well as how elected representatives of the people are
keeping faith with the manifesto of the party,” he noted.
Continuing, Oshiomhole said: “We are at a
critical juncture in our country and over the next couple of months,
the political environment will be heated up when all the aspirants and
candidates would have emerged and our party is expected to, as the
governing party, lead by example.
“I believe that after the historic
amalgamation of the four and half parties that now form the APC, it is
enough for us to have welded into a party and provide the kind of
leadership that Nigerians expect from a political party that is based on
the principle of social democracy which was why we carefully choose the
name ‘Progressives’.
“It is not a secret that we have our own
fair share of internal challenges. I believe that there is nothing
wrong in parties having internal challenges, but what matters is a
leadership that has the capacity to manage those challenges and
encourage internal democracy and evolve a style of leadership that is
based on inclusion rather than exclusion.
“We must strengthen the process of the
bottom-up approach to decision making so that when we talk about a party
position, it will be one in which party leaders and members will say,
yes, we participated in the process that led to this decision.
“The organs of the party must be made to
function. When organs of the party are not functioning, then we are
just a collection of individuals.
“It is my hope that we move beyond
creating a platform that is simply there for election purpose, just like
a public taxi. It should also be a platform to continue to engage all
those who are elected on the platform of the party and ensure that what
they do and how they do it is in line with the manifesto and the core
values that bind the party together.
“I think it is the duty of a political
party leadership to monitor the activities of government and the various
organs, and where there are disagreements, you intervene in a way that
will provide solutions.
“In the real world, you get what you are
able to negotiate. In a democracy, we must have the skills to
negotiate, skills to persuade, skills to reach a compromise, and as they
say, the strength of the people in power is measured by the way they
deal with those who are completely powerless.
“The gains of democracy are the promises
to protect the weak. Working with leaders like you, I believe we can
build a functional, democratic mass base – a membership driven and
membership funded political party that is accountable to its members.
“That way, Nigerians will begin to see
the difference between the APC and other parties. We must begin to
consciously work towards building a strong party. So, if a reactionary
element wants to join the APC with his antecedents, and we feel that his
values and actions do not conform with the core values of social
democracy, we should be able to engage such a person and say, Mr.
Applicant, maybe you might look elsewhere.
“I don’t think we should be a platform
for all, beginning from the extreme right to the extreme left and even
fascist, if they are able to manipulate the people in their
constituencies.
“I think over time, this must be the
objective so that in the years to come, Nigerians should be able to say
the APC, this is what they stand for on issues.
“In opting to join or leave a party, it
should be based on what you believe in or what you know that the party
stands for; anyone wanting to contest elections at any level must be
someone that subscribes to these core values.
“This is a task I believe we must work
together to build. So that Nigerians should be able to make informed
choices on Election Day.
“We have seen it from the PDP that
because that bond was simply based on money, and the philosophy was
about sharing the money, once access to the money was disconnected, the
centre could not hold. So, there are huge lessons to be learnt from that
– that money as a glue to bind a party together is not sustainable.
“What is sustainable are shared values, a
shared commitment to an identified goal and creating a platform for
contestants and allowing policy choices and how best to get there, even
when the goal is not in dispute.
“You know that one of the challenges we
have at the moment is the problem between the Executive and the National
Assembly. Again, I believe that the party should not be a spectator in
moments like that and wait for things to get out of control.
“Party business is not a casual business
and a political party is not an unorganised organisation. It is a
formally structured organisation based on rules and those rules provide
us with the basis to be able to interrogate those involved in any
contestations and realise that at the end of the day, you can debate and
realise that common goal we all subscribe to.”
Responding, the former Abia State governor expressed support for Oshiomhole.
He also expressed optimism that there
would be no rancour after the party’s convention and urged Oshiomhole to
remain a statesman and ensure that party leaders whom he would be
succeeding are treated with respect when they step down.
Culled from Thisday
Thursday, 29 March 2018
JUST IN: Lagos on total lockdown as Buhari visits, residents groan
Segun Adio
Lagosians woke up on Thursday to a hectic situation as most part of the metropolis were on total lockdown.Thousands
of residents of the state are currently bstranded and are made to trek
several kilometres to various destinations as major roads in the
metropolis have been locked down by stern-looking military men and other
paramilitary personnel.
President Muhammadu Buhari is billed to visit Lagos on Thursday to
commission some projects and also participate in the 66th birthday
anniversary of national leader of the All Progressives Congress (APC),
Asiwaju Bola Tinubu.
Some of the closed highways were ever-busy Lagos-Abeokuta expressway
(both ways), Ikeja-Agege motor road, among others. Daily Sun observed
that some pedestrians trying to use their mobile phones to video the
development were manhandled by security operatives.
Culled from Sun
Thursday, 22 February 2018
Teacher Flogs Student to Death
A
teacher at Government Day Secondary School Sankalawa in Bungudu Local
Government Area of Zamfara State has allegedly flogged a student to
death.
The incident was revealed wednesday by the Deputy Speaker of the state House of Assembly, Alhaji Muhammad Abubakar-Gummi.
The deputy speaker, who spoke under
matters of urgent public importance during the assembly’s sitting in
Gusau, said that the house had received several reports on the issue.
According to him, another incident at
Government Female Day Secondary School, Kwatarkwashi, has led to the
injury of a student in the school after the Vice Principal allegedly
subjected her to heavy punishment.
“These problems apart from discouraging
our children from acquiring education, also revealed poor attitude to
work on the part of teachers in this state,” Gumni said.
He urged the assembly to invite the
Commissioner for Education, Science and Technology to explain steps
taken to address the issues.
The Speaker, Alhaji Sanusi Rikiji
described the actions of the teachers as unfortunate and vowed that the
assembly would not allow the matter to pass.
“It is part of our responsibilities to
ensure effective security and good learning atmosphere for our children
for their future development, therefore, we cannot allow teachers to
continue harassing our children from schools,” he said.
The Speaker directed the House Committee on Education, Science and
Technology to invite the commissioner to appear before it on the matter.
Meanwhile, the Assembly has passed into law the bill for the establishment of Zamfara State University, Talata-Mafara.
Thisday
Thursday, 25 January 2018
'I'm not afraid': Former Labour Minister Tessa Jowell reveals details of her rare, aggressive brain cancer
Dame
Tessa will today speak out in the House of Lords, calling for more
options for cancer sufferers to risk experimental treatments
Dame Tessa Jowell reveals she has rare and aggressive brain cancer
Dame
Tessa Jowell has revealed the extend of her rare, aggressive brain
cancer for the first time, but insists she is "not afraid."
The
former Minister for Public Health and Culture Secretary will today speak
out in the House of Lords, calling for greater collaboration in cancer
research - and for cancer sufferers to be given greater freedom to risk
experimental treatments.
She told the BBC the diagnosis came without warning.
"It
was It came with absolutely no expectation," she said. "Absolutely none
at all. I had not a single apparent symptom and I was on my way to host
a centre for children - [I had a] seizure and I was unconscious for
three or four days."
Despite her condition, she is determined to
keep campaigning for greater collaboration between hospitals - and even
internationally - to beat cancer.
(Image: PA) She said new developments in technology create opportunities for hospitals in different countries to connect.
Baroness Jowell was diagnosed with glioblastoma, a high-grade brain tumour, in May last year.
She
has received treatment on the NHS, but has also had consultations with
doctors in the United States and in Germany, where she underwent an
experimental immunotherapy treatment.
Ahead of her speech in the
House of Lords today, she told the BBC's Nick Robinson patients with
aggressive forms of cancer like hers should have the freedom to take
part in 'adaptive' drug trials, which can maximise the chance of
success.
She said: "The important fact about an adaptive trial is
that it can start, not achieve what you want and then move on to the
next version.
"Brain cancers happen very quickly. You have to
show that there’s been change quickly and if you don’t do that then
basically nothing changes."
The trials allow doctors to try more than one type of treatment without having to wait for weeks and months between trials.
It can increase the chance of success, but brings with it the risk of side-effects.
But Baroness Jowell said: "Shall I tell you something? I am absolutely 100 per cent trying to stay alive.
"That is exactly the kind of risk that patients should be
free to take. Risk that they have the chance to take and it’s certainly
what somebody like me wants."
But despite her diagnosis, she is determined not to just "curl up on the sofa".
She
said: "That would be absolutely impossible. I have so much love in my
family, my children, my close friends. It’s the most extraordinary,
blessed and recreating sense and I feel that I want that to be
experienced by so many other people as well.
"I was deeply touched by Seamus Heaney’s last words when he said “do not be afraid”
"I
am not afraid. I feel very clear about my sense of purpose and what I
want to do and how do I know how long it’s going to last? I’m certainly
going to do everything I can to make it a very long time."
Mirror
Wednesday, 24 January 2018
Govs, Lawmakers, Political Leaders Meet on How to Form New Party
Tobi Soniyi
As former President Olusegun Obasanjo’s
bombshell to President Muhammadu Buhari, advising him not to re-contest
the 2019 presidential election sent shock waves across the country
Tuesday, governors, legislators and political leaders cutting across the
two major political parties – the All Progressives Congress (APC) and
the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) – met Tuesday night at an undisclosed
location to continue discussions on the formation of a new major
political party.
Sources conversant with the move to form
a third major political party to wrest power from the APC, informed
THISDAY that the meeting Tuesday night was a follow up to previous
meetings held by the amorphous group of political leaders in Dubai,
Saudi Arabia and London, with the objective of forming a “third force”
that can meet the aspirations of its members.
One source who provided clarity on the
coalescing of politicians that can trounce the APC and PDP in the next
general election, explained that the concept of a third force in the
political firmament has two strands.
“One is the Nigeria Intervention Movement (NIM) that is not a political
party but is trying to galvanise professionals, civil society groups and
activists to support credible candidates in different parties.
“The second is an amorphous group of
political leaders, serving and former governors and National Assembly
members of both parties, as well as retired military leaders who have
been meeting in places like Dubai, Saudi Arabia and London to fashion
out a modus vivendi for the new party that will challenge both the APC
and PDP,” he said.
The source, however, explained that even
though the political leaders had bought into the formation of a third
major party and were waiting in the wings to step out once it is formed,
they are conscious of the fact that there may be insufficient time to
get it registered by the Independent National Electoral Commission
(INEC) before the elections.
“Since time is of the essence and most of the politicians who want to
dump the APC and PDP for this new party know that there might not be
enough time to get it registered, they are also on the hunt for one of
the already registered political parties that they can use as a platform
to actualise their goals,” he said.
Providing more insight into what may
have galvanised some politicians from the two main parties to push for
the formation of another party, the source said those from the APC are
unhappy with the trajectory of the ruling party and the fact that it has
lost legitimacy, especially in the Middle Belt region of the country.
“As you know the clashes between herdsmen and farmers, especially in
Benue and Taraba States, and its mismanagement by the Buhari
administration, has caused outrage and left many people in both states
and the rest of the region bewildered.
“Key supporters of Buhari in Benue,
Taraba and other Middle Belt states like General T.Y. Danjuma are
bewildered over the way these conflicts have been handled. They believe
the president could have intervened promptly, but he has failed to do so
and has allowed the problem and killings to get out of control,” he
said.
Another source further explained that Benue is the archetypical swing
state in the North-central zone that has always voted with the winning
party.
“In 1979 to 1983, Benue people backed
the then ruling party, National Party of Nigeria (NPN), and it formed
the government; in the current Republic, the state also backed the PDP
and it formed the government; it also voted for APC and it has formed
the government.
“But the killings in Benue State have caused its political leadership to
reassess their support for the APC, because Buhari has been slow to act
and has allowed the problem to fester,” he said.
Furthermore, he disclosed that several
APC leaders desirous of a new platform are also unhappy with the Kaduna
State Governor, Nasir el-Rufai, and the Minister of Transportation,
Rotimi Amaechi, who have been accused of taking over the Buhari
political machinery, and have used divide and rule tactics to sideline
many members of the ruling party.
He added that several APC politicians
have read the writing on the wall and know that the party has eroded the
goodwill on which it rode to win the 2015 elections.
“As such, they are seeking a new platform which is not the PDP, because
both the APC and PDP are not popular with the Nigerian people.”
Continuing, the source said the reason
PDP was not considered as an option stemmed from the fact that the
opposition party had become too “toxic” and has been hijacked by the
Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Wike, and his Ekiti State counterpart,
Ayodele Fayose.
“Even Obasanjo alluded to their procurement of the Supreme Court
judgment and how one of them is now dictating the tune in the PDP to do
his bidding.
“Also many familiar with the move to
form the new party know that the South-west is a no-go area for the PDP
because of the way it treated its South-west leaders at the last
national convention of the party.
“The PDP is a tainted brand and is deemed by millions of Nigerians as a
corrupt party, so there is no way it can be factored as an alternative
platform for aggrieved APC members,” he added.
Thisday
Thursday, 18 January 2018
Men are still paid more than women in EVERY single occupation
Differences in pay are small at younger ages, but from 40 onwards they widen, reaching a peak between 50 and 59
Occupations with the smallest pay gap have almost equal employment levels between men and women (Image: Taxi)
The gender pay gap for full-time workers is entirely in favour of men in every occupation, a new study reveals.
Differences
in pay are small at younger ages, but from 40 onwards they widen,
reaching a peak between 50 and 59, said the Office for National
Statistics (ONS).
Occupations with the smallest pay gap have almost equal employment levels between men and women, the research found.
Between 2011 and 2017,
men's pay has increased by 10.4% to a median rate of £14.48 an hour
compared with a 12% rise for women to £13.16 (Image: Image Source) Between 2011 and 2017, men's pay has increased by 10.4% to a
median rate of £14.48 an hour compared with a 12% rise for women to
£13.16, said the ONS.
On average, men were paid £1.32 an hour more than women last year, a gap of 9.1%.
Almost three out of four employees in the highest paid occupations, such as chief executives, were men, said the report.
The increased pay gap for older women could be explained by having time time off work to have children.
Labour's women and equalities chief Dawn Butler has slammed the government's record on tackling the gender pay gap (Image: PA)
Almost three out of four employees in the highest paid occupations, such as chief executives, were men, said the report (Image: Aurora Creative) Dawn Butler, Shadow Minister for Women and Equalities,
said: "The findings are a damning indictment on the Government's failure
to tackle the gender pay gap.
"While
the Government claims progress, this latest analysis exposes severe
work inequalities faced by women across the country and it is clear that
we need urgent action to address it.
Thursday, 11 January 2018
Ayes to the Left podcast: Theresa May's terrible start to 2018
The
Mirror’s Jason Beattie, Ben Glaze and Nicola Bartlett discuss the
reshuffle, Theresa May’s cringeworthy PMQs and whether we have reached
peak Corbyn
The Prime Minister's reshuffle did not go according to plan (Image: Getty Images Europe)
Theresa May had hoped to use this week's reshuffle to relaunch her faltering government.
But
the Prime Minister’s best plans quickly fell apart when she delivered
one of the most disaster-strewn ministerial shake ups in recent memory.
It
started with Chris Grayling being named as Party Chairman for 27
seconds, saw Jeremy Hunt refuse to move jobs and ended with the
resignation of Justine Greening.
In the latest Ayes to the Left
podcast, the Mirror’s Jason Beattie, Ben Glaze and Nicola Bartlett
discuss why it went so wrong and what are the implications for May’s
government.
They also talk through the first PMQs of the New Year which saw Mrs May trip up again.
The Mirror team discuss if we have reached “peak Corbyn” and why this year may not be plain sailing for the Labour leader.
And they name the politicians to watch in 2018.