President Muhammadu Buhari on Friday swore in Ibrahim Tanko as the new acting Chief Justice of Nigeria to replace embattled Justice Walter Onnoghen.
Read Also: Buhari signs Executive Order 007
Tag: BUHARI
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Breaking: FG suspends Onnoghen
The Federal Government ( FG )on Friday suspended the embattled Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Walter Onnoghen following the order of Code of Conduct Tribunal of January 23rd.
According to the Federal Government, the suspension stands till the conclusion of his trial at the Code of Conduct Tribunal.
To replace him, President Muhammadu Buhari on Friday swore in acting CJN in the person of Justice Ibrahim Tanko Mohammed from Bauchi State.
Read Also: I’ve not resigned, says Onnoghen
He was conveyed to the Presidential Villa at about 4:30pm in a black Mercedes Benz C240 with number plate GWA: 900FA.
Details later...
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Breaking: Buhari signs Executive Order 007
President Muhammadu Buhari on Friday signed the Executive Order 007 of 2019 focusing on Road Infrastructure Development and Refurbishment Investment Tax Credit Scheme.
Its pilot scheme is targeting 19 critical roads across 11 states of the federation.
The order, signed at the Council Chamber of the Presidential Villa, is also expected to open up opportunities for investors to finance infrastructure development, especially roads infrastructures with tax credit incentives.
Buhari, at the occasion, lamented inability of the Federal Government to invest in critical infrastructures due to paucity of funds.
But he said the N100b Sukuk fund has been successfully deployed to the construction of 25 critical roads.
He said that 19 roads are to be undertaken by the six firms who are expected to recover their costs through tax rebates.
The President appealed to investors to submit proposals for the roads to enable government cover the entire 36 states.
Buhari announced the federal government has set up a management Committee headed by the Minister of Finance, Zainab Ahmed with Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola as Vice Chairman.
He charged the Minister of Finance to promptly inaugurate the management committee so that they can begin to discharge their duties in a transparent way.
Among the states to benefit from the initial projects include Borno, Kaduna, Benue, Kogi, Abia, Ogun, Lagos, Rivers and Edo states.
The Minister of Finance appealed to investors to take advantage of the initiative to improve road infrastructure in Nigeria.
She disclosed that investors will only be eligible to recover the cost after it has been properly verified and approved, based on set parameters.
Executive Orders signed by the President have full legal effects and are described as “a rule of order issued by the President to the executive branch of government and having the force of law.”
Chairman of Dangote Group, Aliko Dangote, while applauding the initiative, said his firm has already flagged off the construction of the Apapa/ Oshodi road as part of the initiative.
According to him: “The President has taken a bold step to change the PPP narratives in Nigeria, as government is expected to free revenue for other public project expenditures.”
He appealed for the immediate gazetting of the programme to expedite action to commence the construction of the affected roads.
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Traders assure Buhari of 10 million votes
Nigerian Traders, under the auspices of Nigerian Traders For PMB, has vowed to mobilize over 10 million votes for President Muhammadu Buhari in the forthcoming presidential election in appreciation for his achievement so far.
In a statement signed by its National Coordinator, Prince Paul Ikonne, the Group said: “by standing by his words at all times as we find it difficult to comprehend the position of the former president concerning the wellbeing of Nigerians.”
The group sad further that “Having told Nigerians consistently how well he knows Atiku and why Nigerians should not trust Atiku, why this dance in the market place? We, therefore, urge former President Olusegun Aremu Obasanjo to please speak so that we can listen.”The group asked its members to mobilise their households, neighbours, and friends to support and vote for President Muhammadu Buhari in the forthcoming presidential elections in order to exceed the 10 million vote target.
Read Also: Buhari congratulates Tshisekedi of DRC over election, inauguration
The group remind “Traders that based on the achievements of PMB ranging from road infrastructure, security of life and property and more especially the Trader Moni among many others, there is need for PMB to be re-elected for the second term in order to consolidate on these achievements.
“PMB is a trader friendly president and as such traders will do everything within the law to mobilise support across board in order to exceed the 10 million votes they promised the president.”
It frowned at insinuations that the president is shielding corrupt politicians especially the recent publications on different dailies concerning Orji Kalu’s N7.2b fraud trial where the judge was quoted saying “the court would await further directives to proceed with the trial
“Nigerians know that the fight against corruption is something that the president is passionate about and thus, such directives could not have come from him. We, therefore, warn politicians not to play politics with the fight against corruption.
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Buhari congratulates Tshisekedi of DRC over election, inauguration
President Muhammadu Buhari has congratulated the newly elected President Felix Tshisekedi of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) on his victory and inauguration.
The President, in a statement by the Special Adviser on Media and publicity, Femi Adesina, also commended the Government and people of DRC for their determination and commitment to democratic principles, which resulted in the first peaceful transfer of democratic power since independence in 1960.
The Nigerian leader and ECOWAS Chairman, also saluted the Congolese people for peacefully exercising their franchise during the national elections in their country.
Read Also: Buhari unveils CBN project at UNEC
Following the affirmation of President Tshisekedi’s victory at the December 30, 2018 polls, by the Constitutional Court of the country, President Buhari urged all Congolese, especially political stakeholders to rally behind the new leader and support his vision to build ‘‘a modern, peaceful, democratic State for every citizen,’’ as succinctly expressed in his inauguration speech on Thursday.
Recognizing the important role played by former President Joseph Kabila in the historic electoral process and transition, President Buhari assured the new Congolese leader of Nigeria’s readiness to work with his government to consolidate peace, stability, reconciliation and development in the Central African country.
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APC decides 2023 presidency, says Chime
Former Enugu State Governor, Mr Sullivan Chime says the leadership of the All Progressives Congress (APC) will have the final say on the zone that gets the president in 2023.
Chime disclosed this on Thursday night in Enugu while fielding questions from newsmen following the campaign tour of President Muhammadu Buhari in the state.
The former governor said that the appropriate organ of the party would make the decision at the appropriate time.
He said that the party was currently preoccupied with the reelection of Buhari.
Chime allayed the fears in certain quarters that the South West was positioning to usurp the chance of the South East to produce the president in 2023.
“At the appropriate time the party will take a final decision. However, we have always been of the view that we have the reason to say it will come to us.
Read Also: Sylva leads protest against intimidation of APC
The reason is simple: Power is shared between Northern and Southern Nigeria. The South West and South South had taken their turns remaining the South East,” he said.
Chime, however, said that the South East must work to justify its clamour to produce the president in 2023.
He called on the people of the zone to vote massively for Buhari in the Feb. 16 presidential election to stand the chance.
The News Agency of Nigeria reports that the Director General of Buhari Campaign Organisation, Mr Rotimi Amaechi had at the Nnamdi Azikiwe Stadium during the APC presidential campaign said the South East will produce the president in 2023.
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Atiku’s endorsement splits Ohaneze Ndigbo
Chieftains of Ohaneze Ndigbo are split over the purported endorsement of the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Alhaji Abubakar Atiku by the organisation.
It would be recalled that an arm of the organisation known as ‘Ime Obi’ arising from its meeting on Thursday, declared support for Atiku on the grounds that he was running with an Igbo man, Mr Peter Obi.
This endorsement is in clear contrast of earlier stance of the Igbo apex socio-cultural organisation of not endorsing any of the presidential candidates.
However, a former Secretary General of the organisation, Chief Obiora Ozobu, described the move as a hoax and personal invention of the President General of the organisation, Chief Nnia Nwodo.
Ozobu, who disclosed this in Enugu on Thursday during a media briefing appealed to the people of the area to ignore the endorsement.
He described it as a mischievous act aimed at causing division among Ndigbo.
He said that Nwodo lacked the capacity to summon a meeting of ‘Ime Obi’ because his tenure as president general had lapsed.
He also wondered why such meeting was held on a day President Muhammadu Buhari was in Anambra and Enugu States for his presidential campaign when the Zik mausoleum was inaugurated.
He said that the leaders of the organisation were expected to participate actively in the inauguration ceremony of the project which was started 23 years ago but completed by Buhari.
Ozobu said that the meeting could be best described as a meeting of friends of Atiku and did not represent the wishes of the people of the area.
“The meeting is an attempt to perpetuate Nwodo in office. Granted that there were attempts to extend the tenure of Ohaneze executives to four but such has not materialised,” he said.
Also speaking, the Minister of Labour, Dr Chris Ngige described the move as unfortunate, adding that the endorsement of presidential candidates had never done anything good for Ndigbo.
Ngige said that Ohaneze as a socio-cultural organisation had no business endorsing a particular candidate.
The minister said that it was obvious that Nwodo had divided the organisation along party lines, adding that “we will fight this out.”
Former Enugu State governor, Mr Sullivan Chime noted that the said endorsement was done by those that had left office.
“It was not a meeting of Ohaneze Ndigbo but a meeting between Nwodo and his friends. Ohaneze has no business doing what that group did,” Chime said.
The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Chief Geoffrey Onyeama, similarly said that it was inappropriate for such a meeting to hold at a time Buhari was in the South East for his campaign.
Onyeama described the purported meeting as a calculated attempt to exclude a significant number of people from such gathering, assuming it was a meeting of Ohaneze.
Read Also: Between Ohaneze Ndigbo and Nnamdi Kanu
“A significant number of the membership was not present at the meeting assuming it was a meeting of Ohaneze. So it is inappropriate to have a meeting of such magnitude,” Onyeama said.
Former Senate President, Chief Ken Nnamani, said that such a position made no meaning to the people of the area.
“Our sons and daughters belong to many political parties and our people have never voted as a block but according to their conscience,” he said.
Nnamani said that such position was not in the best interest of the people and would not stand.
In a reaction, the Personal Assistant to the President General of Ohaneze Ndigbo, Mr Emeka Attamah, said that everyone was entitled to their opinions.
Attamah said that Ohaneze Ndigbo had endorsed who they wanted, adding that the people kicking against it were members of the All Progressives Congress (APC).
He said that it was misleading to say that the tenure of the executive members of the organisation was two years, adding that the constitution had been amended to reflect the current four-year tenure.
“The tenure is four years and they should go to court to contest,” Attamah said.
The News Agency of Nigeria reports that other chieftains of the organisation at the briefing are the Minister of Science and Technology, Chief Ogbonnaya Onu and Chief Osita Okechukwu among others.
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Buhari’ ll achieve landslide victory, says SGF
SECRETARY to the Government of the Federation (SGF) Boss Mustapha has said that President Muhammadu Buhari will achieve landslide victory in the forthcoming presidential elections.
He spoke Wednesday night during a meeting of All Progressives Congress (APC) stakeholders at the home of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Minister, Malam Muhammad Bello, in Abuja.
Mustapha urged the party faithful to forge a united front in this campaign season as it is only through unity and purposefulness would the party be able to achieve victory at the polls.
“The APC as a big family, we have already put behind us the sad chapter of what transpired during the primaries in a consolidated manner. It’s going to be landslide victory for President Buhari and we are rest assured that God willing, we are going to the next level,” the SGF said.
It was agreed at the meeting that Bello should lead APC campaign council as the party prepares to win the elections in the FCT.
Bello emphasised that the party was going into the electioneering campaign as one family.
As chairman of the APC Campaign Council, the FCT Minister, is head of the main policy-making and strategy planning body. Bello is to be supported by the APC State Chairman, Abdulmalik Ahmed Usman, as his deputy.
According to a statement issued yesterday by the Chief Press Secretary to the FCT Minister, Cosmas Uzodinma, other members of the council include National Assembly aspirants, Board of Trustees members, National Executives representing FCT, Area Council Chairmen and the Campaign Director-General among others.
The campaign, the minister said, will begin with tour of the FCT Area Councils, culminating in a mega national rally of the party billed for the Abuja Capital City.
The FCT Minister added that the setting up of the campaign council followed the reconciliation committee set up by the APC in the FCT, headed by Senator Sidi Ali, to reconcile aggrieved aspirants and other party members after the primary elections.
The Campaign Director-General, Musa Yahaya Mohammed, said: “We held a stakeholders meeting where the leadership resolved that the FCT is solidly for APC and we have resolved also that we are going to give President Muhammadu Buhari the highest number of possible votes in the APC.”
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Southeast to Buhari: give us IGP, Security Council slot
The Igbo tendered yesterday a list of requests as President Muhammadu Buhari visited Onitsha, the Southeast’s business and commercial honeypot, to push his re-election bid.
They demanded that Buhari should:
- appoint a Southeasterner as Inspector-General of Police (IGP);
- stop Boko Haram’s insurgency and herders-farmers clashes; and
- address marginalisation claims made by some regions.
The Acting Inspector-General of Police (IGP) is Mohammed Adamu from Lafia, Nasarawa State. He succeeds Ibrahim Idris, who retired on January 15.
It was a huge carnival in Onitsha, as thousands thronged a rally addressed by the President.
The All Progressives Congress (APC) campaign train berthed in Anambra State with Buhari, who is seeking re-election, inaugurating the Mausoleum of the First Republic President, the late Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe, in Onitsha.
The late Owelle of Onitsha’s final resting place was completed by the Buhari-led administration after years of abandonment by previous governments.
Among the sea of people were traders and artisans, who thronged the expansive Holy Trinity field in Onitsha, where Buhari and other leaders took turns to address the rally.
Party faithful sang the President’s praise repeatedly at the rally.
Before inaugurating the mausoleum and the courtesy visit to the Obi of Onitsha, Alfred Achebe, the President was welcomed to the state by Governor Willie Obiano.
The first port of call for the President and his entourage, comprising Lagos State Governor Akinwunmi Ambode and some ministers, were the Obi of Onitsha’s palace, where Igwe Achebe, received them in the company of members of his cabinet.
In line with the Onitsha tradition, Igwe Sunday Okafor spoke for the Obi of Onitsha.
He prayed for Buhari’s success and tabled the requests, which are believed to be the Southeast’s.
He also reminded him of the appointment of a Southeasterner into the Security Council.
The monarch praised Governor Willie Obiano for seeing that the Inosi Onira compound of the late Owelle Azikiwe was kept in good shape.
Buhari said the inauguration of the mausoleum confirmed Anambra as his home and one of his strongholds.
He said: “I have nothing to say than to remind you of the situation we met this country, and the promises we made to you.
“So, the best we can do for our country is to return the APC to power. The biggest gift we can give to our country is security and sufficiency of economic prosperity.”
The President said the APC administration had so far addressed the security situation in the country, regional development and equal ministerial appointment.
He said the economy was recovering and the country on the track of development.
The President said: “The larger population is made up of youths between the ages of 35 and below. Nigeria has lots of work to do, to get you employment.
“We have stopped spending our foreign reserve to import rice; there is sufficiency in rice and we now produce it locally, including the Anambra rice.”
Buhari said the mandate given to him by Nigerians required their support, especially for peace and economic development. He said his administration would use all recovered looted funds for the well-being of the citizens.
He, however, promised that his administration, if re-elected on February 16, will continue to make life easier for all by fighting corruption and insecurity.
Buhari said: “The anti-corruption fight is difficult in the current democratic dispensation, compared to the period I was a military Head of State, when those who looted the economy were arrested and prosecuted.”
The President said he had reached an agreement with militants in the Niger Delta on how to protect and ensure safety of natural resources.
He also said the government was tackling kidnapping for ransom, herders/farmers clashes, armed banditry and remnants of the Boko Haram insurgents.
Buhari, therefore, called on the Anambra people to vote for all APC candidates in the forthcoming general elections to enable the party complete all ongoing projects across the country, particularly in the Southeast.
“We have made some progress. What you need to do is to come out on the day of the election and vote for the APC from top to the bottom,” the President said.
He assured the electorate that the APC administration will not betray Nigerians and will not allow anyone to do so.
APC National Chairman Adams Oshiomhole said that the fundamental issues of the campaign were the pronouncements by the PDP that they were ready to change from their old ways of fraudulent administration”, which he said were all lies.
He said the people should resist that move by not voting for them.
Oshiomhole said: “With what I have seen here today in this light of the nation state, the APC has already won the general elections.
“I am, therefore, calling on you to ensure that you vote for all of the candidates of the APC from top to down during the general elections.”
APC Campaign Council Director-General Rotimi Amaechi urged the electorate to vote the party all through to ensure a smooth running of the APC administration.
He said: “Whereas the PDP was in power for 16 years, the APC in power for three years had accomplished far more, including rail, roads and fiscal prudence”.
Amaechi, who is the Transportation minister, urged the electorate to reject the PDP, which he said, should be blamed for the deplorable condition of roads in the Southeast and the Southsouth.
Labour and Employment Minister Chris Ngige said Nigerians needed a stable and people-focussed government to develop the country forward.
Ngige said: “Join us in this journey to the ‘Next Level’ of a prosperous, strong and stable Nigeria.
“We have worked hard to fulfil our promises and while the road may have been difficult, over the last three and half years, we have laid the foundations for a strong, stable and prosperous country for the majority of our people.”
The state coordinator of the Buhari Campaign, Senator Andy Ubah, said the large turnout of supporters at the rally showed that the APC and its candidates will win the February 16 presidential election and March 2 governorship and Assembly elections convincingly.
The party’s senatorial candidate for Anambra Central Senatorial Zone, Sylvester Okonkwo, noted that Buhari’s achievements were not only completing and commissioning of Zik’s mausoleum, but working on abandoned federal projects in the Southeast and training and empowering of youths across the country.
Okonkwo said the President had shown enough love to the Igbo, predicting that he (Buhari) would rake in enough votes in the state and Southeast in general during the 2019 election.
Read also: CBN plans new capital control rules
According to him, the completion and inauguration of the mausoleum was the fulfilment of the promise Buhari made to Azikiwe’s son, Chukwuma, before he died in 2014.
“It was there that Mr. President in discussion with Chuma Azikiwe, lamented the ugly state of Zik’s mausoleum, his last resting place.”
The state acting chairman of APC, Basil Ejidike, said the President’s promise had come to pass.
Others at rally were: APC National Youth Mobiliser Tony Nwoye; former Senate President Sen Ken Nnamani; Charles Odedo; Lady Sharon Ikeazor and all the APC candidates vying for various positions in the state.
The presentation of party flags to the candidates was one of the highpoints of the rally.
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Lagos residents in street protest over Apapa gridlock
Residents of Apapa and its environs have petitioned President Muhammadu Buhari over the gridlock in the area.
They also issued a fresh 21-day ultimatum to the Federal Government to relocate articulated vehicles causing traffic jam.
Chairman of the Residents Association Brig-Gen Sola Vaughan (retd) yesterday led hundreds of residents on a peaceful protest to Area ‘B’ Command in Apapa.
A protest letter for President Buhari was handed over to the police boss at Area ‘B’ Command in Apapa by the protesters.
Read also: Trial of CJN: Court of Appeal orders CCT to stay proceedings
Vaughan said the association would take a legal action against the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) and all the shipping companies if no action was taken to address the situation at the expiration of the ultimatum.
He lamented that residents of Apapa and its environs over the years had abandoned their homes and businesses due to hardship caused by indiscriminate parking of trailers and tankers.
Another resident, Mrs. Ronke James, said hoodlums had taken advantage of the situation to unleash terror on the residents.
Receiving the protest letter, Assistant Commissioner of Police Mohammad Ahmadu promised to deliver it to Police Commissioner Imohimi Edgal for transmission to President Buhari.