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Tag: Bello

  • Hadiza Ibrahim: I will succeed Bello

    KOGi State All Profressives Congress (APC) governorship aspirant Hajia Hadiza Ibrahim has said that she would emerge victorious at the primary.

    She spoke with reporters, shortly after attending the meeting of APC aspirants organised by Dr Yakubu Ugwolawo and Comrade Umar Akwuh Goodman in Dekina.

    Ibrahim described herself as the best aspirant for the job, urging other contenders to support her bid.

    She thanked the conveners of the meeting for their desire to unite Igala aspirants to speak one voice ahead of the primary.

    Read Also: Kogi APC exco splits over Yahaya Bello’s re-election bid

    Ibrahim unfolded her plans to liberate Kogi from poverty, backwardness, half salary, kidnapping and other vices.

    Thanking the women in attendance for their enthusiasm,  she urged them to aupport her because she is the only woman in the race.

    The women showered praises on her for her maturity, boldness, courage and courage.

    They said her speech was inspiring, adding that she has become a role model for women.

    Ibrahim spoke on her experience in the private sector for 30 years.

    Urging party members to prepare for the primary in unity, she said Kogites will vote for the ruling APC if the right candidate is fielded for the poll.

  • Kogi poll: Odds against Bello

    Going by the results of the recent National Assembly elections in Kogi State, observers are apprehensive about the chances of Governor Yahaya Bello in the November election. The governor appears to be facing a stiff opposition within and outside the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), Rasaq Olaitan reports.

    WINNING his second term mandate is not going to be an easy ride for Governor Yahaya Bello of Kogi State. There are enough reasons to suggest that Bello and the leadership of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) are heading for a collision, ahead of the governorship primary scheduled for August. The grounds for the clash are so fertile that the governor, unsure of his fate in the APC, is said to be shopping for an alternative party to realise his second term ambition.

    The governor may have started making arrangements to seek for his re-election on the platform of the Accord Party (AP). He has denied this.

    Bello’s imminent face-off with the National Secretariat of the APC is not unconnected with a string of petitions  by individuals and groups against him. The petitioners are warning about the consequences of fielding Bello as the candidate, because his style of leadership has alienated him from  stakeholders within and outside the party. Some of the petitioners demanded that Bello should not be given a second term ticket.

    Consequently, powerful forces in Abuja and in the top echelons of the APC are said to have moved against the governor. These include the APC National Chairman, Adams Oshiomhole; Kogi-born National Women Leader Hajia Baiwa Salamotu; and the Abubakar Audu/James Faleke faction of the Kogi APC.

    A source puts it this way: “The ticket has already been taken. There will not be a second term, because Bello’s abysmal style of leadership has further subjected the state to political and economic hemorrhage and Abuja has been made to be aware of all of these and the consequences of handing the party’s ticket to him.”

    Last week, a group, Kogi Rescue Mission (KRM), embarked on a peaceful protest to the national headquarters of the APC, with numerous placards stating the group’s grievances. During the protest, the group, led by its President Ali Dan, described the Bello-led administration as a threat to welfare and the economic prosperity of the state.

    In its protest letter to the party’s national leadership, the group highlighted various anti-people activities of the administration, including suicidal deaths amongst the state civil servants whose salaries have not been paid for many months, misuse of state resources, hunger and perceived molestation of people perceived not to be supporters of the government.

    The protest letter reads: “Salaries of civil servants for November and 60 per cent of December 2017 are yet to be paid, despite the fact that the government receiving N20 billion as bailout funds, N10b development reimbursement funds, over N21 billion  from the Paris Club refund and money from the monthly federal allocations, as well as internally generated revenue.

    “As a result of the non-payment of salaries, a number of civil servants decided to take their own lives, because of their inability to meet up with their family needs, while over a hundred have died due to lack of funds to continue treatment.”

    Ali added: “Businesses have folded up, people are leaving for other states to seek refuge and workers have become paupers, feeding from hand to mouth. You will believe me that on no account will the people support and vote for a governor that operates draconian policy of this nature.”

    The KRM, who decried the dearth of public institutions in the state, also told APC national leadership that workers have been turned to internally displaced persons (IDPs) without recourse to dignity of labour, as enshrined in the labour acts.

    His words: “Workers in Kogi State are now living like IDPs; Kogi State has become hunger/poverty capital of the country, as nothing seems to be working due to the sorry state of salaries.

    “In Kogi State today, there are no public primary schools for the past two years, as they only exist in structures, without teachers to teach the pupils; due to non-payment of salaries. There are no primary health centres for the past two years; pensioners are not been paid for the past 12 months; there’s no judiciary for the past eight months, due to non-payment of their salaries and no development anywhere in the state. Everything in Kogi State is in comatose and the people are despondent.”

    Ali appealed to the national leadership of the APC not to risk giving the ticket to Bello, adding that, with his appalling style of leadership, the ruling party has no electoral destiny in the state.

    He said: “We are calling on President Muhammadu Buhari, the APC National Working Committee (NWC)  led by Comrade Adams Oshiomole and the National Leader, Sen. Bola Tinubu, not to risk the ticket of the APC for Yahaya Bello.

    “If there is integrity in our party, the APC, that means Bello will not feature in the forthcoming Kogi State governorship election on the ticket of the APC. At the moment, Kogi State owes over N140 billion and the governor recently applied for another loan of N30 billion from the Central Bank of Nigeria, which will make the debt profile of the state to rise to N170 billion.

    “We are crying for the help of President Muhammadu Buhari and the NWC of the APC, led by Adams Oshiomhole and the National Leader, Bola Tinubu, to salvage Kogi State from this extreme slavery of the Yahaya Bello-led administration.”

    Amid claims and counter claims that Kogi State government owes its workers about 38 months’ salaries, another group, the Network of Kogi State Associations, has written to the Accountant General of the Federation (AGF), seeking authentication of the sum of N309.75 billion accrued to the state in over three and half years.

    The letter by its General Secretary, Mr. Atekojo Usman, urged the AGF to authenticate the inflow of funds to the administration from January 2016 till date. The group, an umbrella body to numerous socio-cultural and political groups, said the move was in the interest of the people.

    Part of the letter reads: “As bona fide indigenes of Kogi State, we wish to request your good office to expeditiously and comprehensively authenticate financial releases to Kogi State government since Governor Yahaya Bello assumed office on January 27, 2016.”

    It said the state under Bello “obtained loans between May 2017 and January  2018, got Paris Club refunds in three tranches, got bailout refund from the Federal Government, as well as statutory allocation for the state and local governments.”

    Part of the plot to stop Bello from actualising his second term ambition, it was gathered, is the ongoing case instituted at an Abuja Federal High Court by the Haddy Ametuo-led Kogi State APC executives. The Ametuo-led party executive was allegedly removed from office by Bello with the backing of erstwhile National Chairman, Chief John Oyegun, and replaced with loyalists of the governor. The sacked executive committee is in court to demand for its reinstatement. If that happens, not only would Bello lose his grips on the party, he is certainly going to come up against a hostile executives and delegates during the forthcoming governorship primary.

    It is not immediately certain who among those currently positioning themselves to take over from Bello in the APC has got the nod of the APC kingmakers. What is certain is that the plot against the governor thickened last week with the official declaration by former Chief of Naval Staff, Admiral Jibrin Usman, to contest for the  APC platform. The decision by him to run on the APC platform came as a surprise to many who expected him to join the PDP. However, informed sources in the APC and those close to the retired naval chief indicate that the choice of party may be a part of the bigger plot to deny Bello the APC ticket.

    A source close to the naval chief who does not want his name in print said: “This is not about Admiral Jibrin Usman. It is about the choice of Kogi people, especially the suffering masses. After due consultations, we are glad he has eventually bowed to pressure and accepted to run for governorship in the interest of the masses. He was wanted in the PDP and so also in the APC. Anyway, he has always been in the APC. We decided that the APC is the appropriate platform to actualise the mission to rescue Kogi from maladministration.

    “Of course, Kogi State is very strategic and the APC at the centre will not want to lose such a strategic state to the opposition. We are confident that by the grace of Almighty God, with the level of consultations and the support of the APC apparatus right from the national, state, local government to the ward levels, Admiral Jibrin Usman will clinch the APC ticket in August and subsequently with the majority votes of the Kogi electorate, irrespective of party and ethnic considerations, he will emerge the governor-elect after the November 2 governorship election.”

    In separate statements at the weekend, two groups, the Forum of Ex-political Office Holders and the KRM, said they have endorsed Usman’s aspiration to contest the November governorship election.

    In a statement by its Secretary General, Suleiman Adaji, the Forum of Ex-political Office Holders, said the former political office holders who served under former Governor Idris Wada between 2012 and 2016 are excited about the governorship ambition of Admiral Jibrin Usman. He disclosed that if Usman wins the election, members of the forum have been assured of the payment of their outstanding four month’s salary arrears, which the administration of Governor Bello has refused to pay.

    The KRM coordinator, Comrade Ahmed Muazu, said Usman’s decision to yield to pressure to run for the governorship was an answer to the prayers of the good people of Kogi State.

    He said the support of the movement for the candidature of Jibril Usman dates back to 2017 and that it was “borne out of the deepest conviction of his capacity and capability to deliver the dividends of democracy to the people, as well as reposition the state for development.”

    The group, he stressed, “has observed with pleasure the giant contributions made by the naval boss during his service years to the development of the state”. This, he added, “is a pointer that if given the opportunity he would do more for the state”.

    Muazu listed some of the contributions of the former military chief to the progress of Kogi State to include the establishment of a naval base in Banda, Lokoja and Idah and a naval secondary school at Okura among others. He added: “His great disposition to the safety and protection of our common treasury makes him a natural solution to the restoration of good governance in Kogi State come November 2019.”

    The Special Adviser to Bello on Social Media, Aliyu Abubakar Adeiza, has taken a swipe at critics of the administration. He said the the governor has performed well to deserve a second term in office. Adeiza said the allegations of non-performance against Bello and speculations that he would not get a second term ticket are “clearly ill-conceived, ill-motivated and borne out of mischief”.

    He dismissed the speculations as mere “rumours” peddled by “diaspora politicians”. He said facts available show that the governor has done well in the areas of education, roads and health, given what he met on ground at the time of inauguration.

    Adeiza said: “It was when Governor Yahaya Bello (GYB) came in that things started improving. If anyone says GYB has created confusion in the state, it is all propaganda. We will give GYB another four years. He would do more to strengthen some of these landmark achievements. The PDP and all those padding such rumours are no match for GYB in the coming election. The only threat is the threat to the peace in Kogi, because of their inordinate ambition and apparent readiness to cause havoc.”

     

  • Gov. Bello commends corps members’ participation in election

    Niger State Governor, Alh. Abubakar Sani Bello has commended all youth corps members across the country that participated in the last general elections.

    Bello gave the commendation at the swearing-in of batch ‘A’ National Youth Service Corps, NYSC, at the Paikoro Orientation campground.

    Bello, who was represented by the state commissioner for Water Resources, Maman Musa Bosso told the corps members, ” your non-partisanship in the electoral process contributed to the successes recorded in the elections.”

    The governor also assured the youth corps members of adequate security throughout their one year stay in places of their primary assignment.

    Read Also: Bello lauds military support to internal security

    ” We pride ourselves as being the most peaceful state enjoying relative peace and security in the country.”

    Bello reiterated the commitment of his administration to partner the State NYSC management, and the security agencies to ensure safety and improve welfare as all times.

    Earlier, the state Co-Ordinator of the NYSC, Mrs. Funmilayo Ajayi said a total of 2000 corps members were posted to Niger state, out of which, 1997 have already registered.

    She urged the state governor to ensure the completion of the permanent Orientation camp, Again noted, ” the completion of the NYSC Orientation camp is an issue of great concern to NYSC.”

  • Election: We’ve made tighter security arrangements – Bello

    Governor Yahaya Bello of Kogi State, has assured residents of the state of tighter measures put in place for their security during and after Saturday’s state assembly elections.

    Kogi is among the states where governorship election will not hold.

    Bello in a statewide broadcast said that security operatives have been given the powers to do all that is possible to prevent any form of violence during the conduct of the election.

    He expressed satisfaction with measures put in place by the security services to forestall a repeat of pockets of violence witnessed in some parts of the state, during the presidential and National Assembly elections, a fortnight ago.

    He expressed sadness over the recurring “bloodletting” arising from communal clashes, particularly in Sheria and Bassa areas in the Kogi East Senatorial district, where twenty people were reportedly killed on Thursday, and fifty houses razed.

    He directed security operatives to “haunt” down those responsible for the carnage in the affected areas.

    Governor Bello expressed regret over events in the judicial sector of the state, noting that the suit filed against the administration by the state chapter of the Judicial Staff Union of Nigeria (JUSUN), over alleged non payment of six months salary, was not unrelated to the refusal of members of the union to forward their payroll to the authorities, during the pay parade exercise conducted by the government.

    The Chief Judge (CJ) of the state was joined in the suit filed by JUSUN against the governor.

    He said that money meant for the salary payment of the “innocent” state judicial workers, were however ‘sitting in the banks.”

    Full text of broadcast:

    My fellow Kogites,

    We remain grateful to God for the overall peace and security which we have enjoyed in Kogi State, both before and after the Presidential and National Assembly Elections on the 23rd of February, 2019.

    I am impressed that our security services have quickly plugged identified loopholes through which isolated instances of violence marred the last round of elections, especially during the campaigns.

    Through the efforts of vigilant operatives, and the cooperation of the various parties and their candidates, the last two weeks of campaigning for the next Elections have been generally peaceful across Kogi. Once more, I thank the men and women in uniform who protect and serve us in Kogi State for their vigilance. We look forward to their usual gallantry tomorrow.

    In other words, even though we have more candidates contesting for election into the Kogi State House of Assembly tomorrow than we had for the Presidential and National Assembly Elections a fortnight ago, we have had peace despite the higher stakes for us as a State.

    It is therefore clear to everybody now that electoral violence is a choice which individuals make out of their own desperation, and not because of any set of circumstances. Irrespective of appearances, people who provoke or perpetrate electoral violence do so because they lack inherent nobility of character and have an unwillingness to let the electorate decide.

    I wish to assure all Kogites that we have made tighter security arrangements against the elections tomorrow. The Police and other law enforcement agencies have been fully mobilised and are on red alert. They have our mandate to do anything and everything necessary within the law to keep our people safe and ensure peaceful polls.

    Accordingly, I urge parties, politicians and their supporters to continue maintaining the peace as any attempt to endanger the populace before, during and after the Elections will be met with stiff resistance.

    Staff of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and all categories of Electoral Officers and ad hoc staff who are sent to Kogi State can expect full security coverage wherever they are stationed.

    As long as they play by the rules and perform their duties with conscience they have nothing to fear. We will however hold anyone who facilitates electoral offences responsible and pursue their prosecution to the full extent of the law.

    I must now address the senseless and perrenial conflicts with which some communities in Bassa Local Government Area have continued to trouble the peace and tranquility of Kogi State.

    The people of Sheria and Oguma communities in particular must understand that we are now living in the 21st Century and there are legal ways of settling ethnic disputes over anything, including farmlands and fishing grounds.

    Government has mediated and done everything to resolve these conflicts in the past. However, the senseless bloodletting which happened overnight yesterday simply tells us that the attackers are not ready to listen to reason.

    Let it be known as of today therefore that our patience with these killings and burning of settlements is over. Enough is enough. We shall deal decisively with this matter henceforth. If people will not live together in peace, we have a duty as Government to enforce the peace and stop them from disturbing those who want to.

    I hereby direct our security agencies to spare no resources in hunting down and arresting the culprits in these recent attacks. We are going to try them for murder and request for the maximum penalty since they have no qualms taking human lives.

    In pursuit of long-term solutions, we are also considering the imposition of certain executive orders in the overriding public interest which are designed to finally abate this intolerable nuisance.

    In the days ahead, I assure Kogites that we will so trouble those who trouble our peace in this atrocious manner that they will find themselves so occupied with too much troubles of their own to plot or execute further mischief.

    I shall digress briefly at this point to address the lawsuit filed against the Administration yesterday by the Judicial Staff Union of Nigeria (JUSUN) over alleged non-payment of their salaries. I am not surprised by the timing of the case considering the season were in, and the politicisation of institutions all over the place.

    The refusal of the leadership of the Kogi State Judiciary to forward their staff payroll for the Pay Parade with the collusion of JUSUN leaders is well documented. I have pleaded unsuccessfully with them for months now to do the needful and spare their innocent members this trauma. The Kogi State House of Assembly has also tried to intervene only to be stopped by injunction from the Judiciary curiously obtained while courts claimed to be on strike. I have petitioned the Chief Justice of Nigeria to intervene since November last year, but we are yet to receive any feedback.

    We are therefore happy that the Chief Judge of the Kogi State was also joined to the suit by JUSUN. We look forward to being educated on how a pay parade across all branches and cadres of our Civil Service is prejudicial to the independence of the Judicial Arm, but not the Legislative.

    In any case, monies amounting to several months salaries due to Kogi State Civil Servants working in the Judiciary are sitting in the banks. My preoccupation is how to get that money to innocent staffers without breaching applicable service rules or our Collective Agreement with Labour. I trust the Almighty God that reason will prevail sooner than later.

    On the elections tomorrow, I encourage our people to come out en masse and vote for their representatives without fear of duress, or of threat to their lives and properties.

    God bless Kogi State.
    God bless the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

    Thank you.

  • APC suspends BOT member over statement against Bello

    The All Progressives Congress ( APC ) in Niger state has suspended one of the Board of Trustees (BOT) members Alhaji Abubakar Magaji over a derogatory statement against Governor Abubakar Bello.

    Magaji is a member of the Board of Trustees in the state and one of the founding fathers who led the defunct Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) to form APC.

    In a statement by the party’s secretary, Alhaji Mohammed Liman in Minna on Thursday, Magaji was accused of making derogatory statement during a meeting chaired by the Governor on Monday.

    According to the statement, Magaji when speaking asked: ‘Who is Party?’ a question which members termed as embarrassing to the Governor.

    Read Also: Kwara: I’m the APC candidate known to INEC, says AbdulRazaq

    “This derogatory statement in the view of the Party (APC) as embarrassing and has brought it into hatred, contempt, ridicule and disrepute which offends Article 21 (A) (II) of the Party constitution (2014) as amended.”

    The party further stated the State working committee has set up a 5- man committee to investigate the matter and recommend appropriate sanctions.

  • Why we dumped Atiku, PDP – Bello

    A couple of weeks back, the Coalition of aggrieved Support Groups numbering over 145, formally withdrew their support for the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, and pledged their support and loyalty to President Muhammadu Buhari of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), for the 2019 presidential election. The leader of the coalition, Bello Osaretin, recently spoke with Assistant Editor, Dare Odufowokan, on why they took that decision. Excerpts.

    YOUR group during the week dumped the PDP and Atiku to work for Buhari. What informed such decision?

    It is quite obvious that the leaders and chieftains of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has not learn their lessons. It is now very clear that the party is not serious about returning to power in 2019. How do you expect a party that betrayed itself in 2015 to still win election come 2019 with the same set of characters that were at the saddle of command when APC defeated the party four years ago.

    That was when the PDP was even a ruling party. They say they have changed and are now true democrats, but the issues of imposition and impunity have not been addressed. Coupled with the symptoms of  the use and dump syndrome that has vastly infested the party. Sadly too, the party lacks a reward management system for true members to be fully integrated into party activities.

    It is for these reasons and many more that we decided to be separated from the PDP and its presidential candidate, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, who we have been supporting and worked tirelessly for since he declared his interest in the 2019 presidential race. As I am speaking to you, we are no longer in support of both the PDP and Atiku. We have decided to move away from them both.

    Our decision to quit the Atiku project was occasioned by the total neglect and disregards for the sanctity of support groups existence, acknowledgment and recognition of groups contributions coupled with nepotic deployment in favour of some selected support groups with ethnic affinity, administrative recklessness in management of support groups goodwill, rebarbative use of derogatory terms such as mere volunteers and nuisance to ascribed support groups instrumental for Atiku to defeat eleven co-contestants in PDP Presidential Convention and the use of coercive force, such as thugs and political touts to unleash mayhem on support groups that we are disgruntled to the injustice prevalent in Atiku’s camp.

    But some analysts have described your actions as mere political stunt. What do you have to say to this?

    Whoever think our actions are mere political stunts must be a new entrance or a political neophyte in the game of politics. How would any rational politician think it is a stunt. Believe me, there was a good ground for us to be disgruntled. People need to understand how we feel that after our support had led to the emergence eam abandoned us. of Atiku Abubakar as presidential candidate, his team abandoned us.

    Following his victory at the presidential primary election in Port-Harcourt, we were referred to as mere volunteers. We were neglected and left abandoned. No letter of appreciation. No acknowledgment. No recognition whatsoever.

    After the victory in Port-Harcourt, the celebration was moved to Dubai, where people who never laboured for Atiku’s victory were the first to sit at the tea party, while the support groups that labored through thick and thin were neglected, abandoned, used and dumped, confirming the usual parlance of “monkey dye work baboon dey chop” which has been the usual style of PDP as a political party.

    You claimed to be aggrieved Atiku supporters. First, what are the proves that your group actually worked for Atiku?

    If we didn’t work for Atiku Abubakar there wouldn’t have been the need for this agitations. We worked serious for him by using our resources to mobilize and engage critical stakeholders, especially the delegates, because it was a structured delegates campaign. Vehicles, banners, billboard, sourvires were branded to create serious public awareness for him, amongst other things.

    And we are known to him and his handlers. That is why nobody has come out to deny us. They are now doing what they ought t have done long before we decided to cut ties with them. Our decision to quit Atiku’s presidential project is informed and inspired by the outcome of wide consultations and engagements embark upon over the past few months. We didn’t just leave, we consulted widely.

    Since when have you been supporting Atiku and what sort of relationship did you have with him and his political camp?

    We have been supporting Atiku since 2011.  The relationship has been a ecame Aggrieved because we were being used and dumped. We made efforts tot get issues resolved. We wrote several letters but all to no avail. political one. But we became aggrieved because nobody seems to give us recognition for the good job done by support groups. It was very very appalling. We became Aggrieved because we were being used and dumped. We made efforts tot get issues resolved. We wrote several letters but all to no avail.

    Do you think President Buhari can win the 2019 election?

    Why not? The man has done extremely well He has brought integrity into the governance system of Nigeria. There is no match to Buhari in 2019. It is integrity versus corruption. Nigerians are still remembering the past and comparing it with the current situation. Buhari has won the next election for the APC across the country with his performance.

    Like I told you, we didnt just leave PDP, we consulted widely and I can now tell you Nigerians prefer Buhari and the APC to Atiku and the PDP. That was why we unanimously agreed to denounce our membership of Atiku Presidential Campaign Office and as well withdraws total supports for Atiku Abubakar’s presidential ambition nationwide with immediate effect and direct all affiliate bodies to do same forthwith.

    On the flip-side, we the members of aggrieved Atiku Support Groups Coalition, warehousing more than 145 aggrieved support groups across Nigeria, are now promising to mobilise our members to give President Buhari six million votes across the country to ensure that he is not stopped by the PDP in 2019. We are of the opinion that he should be allowed to continue the good works he is doing.

    Integrity question will be at stake here. We need to put that in context. I still believe Buhari will come on top at end of the day. Also the choices of the running mates have set a voting pattern in motion. The west and the east will look at the persons running as vice president and decide which party should be given the chance. The south will determine the next election. Take my words for it, Buhari will win in 2019.

    Are you now members of the APC?

    We have not officially declared for APC, but we have pledged allegiance to Mr. President through Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu. But let me say this categorically; it is a sin to remain in PDP. Nigerians have spoken, they will never return to Egypt, so PDP will never return to power in Nigeria.

  • UAC appoints new CEO as Bello retires

    The Board of UAC of Nigeria PLC (UAC) has appointed Mrs. Omolara Elemide, the Executive Director, Corporate Services, as acting Group CEO.

    The appointment takes effect from January 1, 2019.

    Mrs Elemide, who joined UACN Board on January 1, 2018 is a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria (ICAN). She joined UAC in October 1983 and has worked in various capacities within the UAC Group, including Group Audit Manager, Finance Director of UACN Property Development Company PLC from where she joined the Board of CAP PLC as Finance Director/Company Secretary in February 2005. She was appointed the Managing Director of CAP PLC in May 2009, a position she held until last December.

    She replaces the Group Chief Executive Officer, Mr Abdul Bello,  who would be proceeding on retirement from January 1, 2019.

    In a statement  the Chairman of the Board, Mr Dan Agbor, thanked Mr Bello for his dedicated service to the company and wishes him the very best in his future endeavours.

  • Buhari running on records, say SGF, Bello

    President Muhammadu Buhari’s scorecard took the spot yesterday at various events by government officials in the countdown to the February 2019 presidential election.

    Responding to the request in various quarters for the campaign to be issue-based, Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF) Boss Mustapha declared that Buhari would run on his rich scorecard, unlike in 2015 when he ran on promises.

    Kogi State Governor Yahaya Bello also described the president’s performance in superlative terms.

    At a town hall meeting in Ibadan, two ministers handling the critical areas of infrastructure development – Babatunde Fashola and Rotimi Amaechi –  said the Buhari administration had done more in three years than the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) administration did in 16 years.

    The President himself blamed the PDP for wasting  the nation’s commonwealth during their regimes.

    Speaking at a dinner for youthful political appointees at the new Banquet Hall of the Presidential Villa in Abuja, Mustapha said: ”If we have to make a comparison of what has been achieved in the last couple of years, the 16 years of PDP administration will not constitute one-tenth of what we have been able to achieve in the last three and half years.

    “We went to the 2015 elections with promises, but we will go to the 2019 elections with our scorecard.”

    He added that “as a government arm, we have achieved so much and I am going to make available to you a document that we have put together, which captures what the government has been able to achieve in just about two and half years; what I call a mid-term report.”

    Kogi State Governor Yahaya Bello, at the same event, said: “President Buhari is a good product we know, but we must go out to sell him to Nigerians. Perception is very critical in times like this. If we fail, God forbid, the ugly narrative of PDP will overtake the land.

    “Our score card is very rich and very rich enough. We must market the incredible accomplishments of Mr. President and of his administration to every voter and in a language he or she understands.

    ”If we don’t market our product very well, a tough and progressive victory against a terrorist threat, which continues to cost the lives of our brave military and law enforcement agencies, will be mistaken for inaction.

    “If we don’t market our product very well, try our politically exposed offenders using long extant laws, which previous leaders were not willing to deploy against cronies, accomplishments will be mistaken for extra-judicial measures and disdain for the rule of law.

    “If we do not put Mr. President’s achievements before our people so that they can sight it themselves, we will be agreeing with the PDP that in fighting corruption, which he is offering again, is somehow better than the alleged incompetence of the APC which has accomplished everything I have enumerated above.”

    Bello, however, warned his party not to underrate the PDP in the election.

    REad also: Alleged N11.5b fraud: Absence of witnesses stalls trial of Alao-Akala, others

    He said: “All that the crooked PDP is offering Nigerians is that corruption is better than incompetence in quote. 2015 was about change, 2019 will be about progress.

    “As members of the APC, we will not deny that our party has a huge task in the 2019 general elections; the election will never be a walk-over; the PDP will not be a push over.

    “And we must take nothing and no one for granted. If we cannot defeat PDP, maybe we should not be influencers or we should not even go to politics.” he said

    The President expressed disappointment that the media had not highlighted the massive achievements recorded by his administration in agriculture.

    He again challenged the PDP over the power generated after claiming to have spent $16billion, Buhari added:   ”I’m very disappointed with the Nigerian press. They didn’t give this government the credit of the go-back-to-land programme. We have cut down the importation of rice by at least 90 per cent.”

    He said the country had achieved food security and remarked that he appointed Mr. Audu Ogbe as minister of agriculture because “he is somebody who has suffered in that sector.

    “Ogbeh went to a bank, borrowed money and invested in agriculture. He suffered but eventually he paid the money. So, you cannot have a better person (for the job).”

    Executive Director at the Nigerian Social Insurance Trust Fund (NSITF) Jasper Azuatalam, one of those hosted at the ceremony, said: “The worst thing we can do to this country, Nigeria, is to allow PDP to come back to power in 2019. It is the worst thing we can do to Nigeria.

    ”I will liken PDP to a lion that has been put in the cage for a long time. I have interacted with their members and I know how hungry they have become because they don’t see free money as before.

    ”If we loose this lion again in 2019, then Nigeria is going to walk more than 1,000 steps backward.

    ”Like we always said in those days we lost elections, Mr. President will always get 11 to 12 million votes whether he operates from a party or not. That’s the goodwill we had that time.

    ”But that is because a lot of people believed that by Mr. President’s integrity and his anti-corruption, he is going to do magic when he resumes office as President. That in two months, Nigeria will change. They don’t know how it would happen.

    ”But the truth is that most of these have been disappointed because they didn’t see the magic. That is why we need to do the real work.”

  • Bello gets Adamawa SDP governorship ticket

    A former member of the House of Representatives,  Chief Emmanuel Bello has been elected the Adamawa State governorship candidate of the Social Democratic Party (SDP).

    Emmanuel Bello who was the sole governorship aspirant of the SDP in the state,  got the formal endorsement of the party at a governorship primary Monday evening in Yola.

    According to the Chairman of the Electoral Panel, Mr Chris Njoku who announced the result, Bello was confirmed for the party ticket by 634 of 783 delegates, explaining that 783 delegates were accredited for the primary election.

    In his acceptance speech,  Bello urged members of the party to work towards his election as governor come 2019.

    Read Also: 2019: Don tasks INEC, political parties on credible elections

    He said, he would ensure social emancipation of youths through employment  and linkages to entrepreneurial opportunities, which according to him, would in turn boost security.

    “Where there is employment and social integration,  there is engagement and so no one will be available for thuggery and other actions that threaten security, ” he said.

  • ‘Bello has no challenger in Niger’

    Niger State Governor Abubakar Sani Bello is the only governorship aspirant in the All Progressives Conmgress (APC) chapter.

    Other aspirants-Alhaji Abubakar Katcha and Alhaji Mahmud Sani, who is the Chairman of the Rice Farmers Association of Nigeria (RIFAN), have allegedly withdrawn from the race.  Chairman had indicated interest to pick forms.  The chairman of the party, Jibril Imam, an engineer,  said ther governor has no rival.

    He added: “We can authoritatively tell you that the party is not aware of any candidate but the incumbent governor. However, it is possible that some other persons may have purchased forms and  may be screened from Abuja, but APC at the state level have not received any declaration of intent from anybody apart from the seating governor.”

    Imam said the party did not prevent any chieftain from joining the race, adding that all elective positions were open for interested members.  The chapter will organise direct primaries for all positions.