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Tag: Buhari’s

  • Buhari’s New Cabinet

    SIR: Muhammadu Buhari has been inaugurated for a second term as President. What next?  A new cabinet. President Buhari has constantly said that he has not discussed with anybody, the composition of his cabinet for his second term. Nigerians hope that they will not have to wait for six months for the new members of cabinet to be named, as was the case in 2015.

    After the May 29, 2019 inauguration, the entire Nigerian state is anxiously waiting for one thing- President Buhari’s list of ministers. Most Nigerians expect the President to bring on board, men and women who will enliven his cabinet with new ideas and ‘young minds with passion for development adventures.

    President Buhari can achieve another first by taking a different direction from the previous style of presenting names of ministerial nominees to the Senate without their portfolios. If Buhari can be bold enough to send the names of ministerial nominees with their respective portfolios, it will make the screening very interesting and more productive for the Senators while also giving Nigerians a foreknowledge of how each nominee may fare in his/her post. Though, one must admit that being eloquent on stage does not necessarily translate into performing very well in the field.

    No doubt, Buhari’s second term cabinet needs some young and creative professionals, silicon-valley-like-thinkers; men and women who can move the government with the speed of the imagination of most Nigerians. But right-thinking people and admirers of Buhari should not be deceived; Buhari also needs politicians in his cabinet including some of the first term ministers. Sidelining of politicians may be a political suicide for the APC. APC as a political party needs them in some areas- especially to hold the political front for the party when the need arises. Though, during the 2019 presidential elections, most political appointees in the Buhari government became mere spectators in their states and localities, especially in the north- Buhari personally delivered himself.

    There are some ministers that did very well in the first term and deserve a return, but many performed below expectations. There are some ministries that President Buhari holds dear- petroleum, finance, solid minerals, agriculture and rural development, transportation, education, health, and agriculture. These ministries should be manned by professionals. Mr. President should be very strong in this regard. If he finds competent professionals from any village in Nigeria who can effectively steer these ministries, he should be brave enough to appoint them. When professionals are appointed to man very important ministries, they know what is expected of them. They know they are called to rebuild a system that will shift the governance away from the traditional method of concentrating on only ‘off-the-shelves’ way of improving our society. They will not only saddle themselves with the responsibilities within their portfolio; but also be team players that will bring new and feasible ideas to trigger development in all spheres of the society. They will help put in place, systems that will bring dynamism into governance.

    Buhari’s second term ministers should be individuals whose sense of judgment is centered on the challenges of unlocking the future for ordinary Nigerians.

    In fact, Nigeria needs to start a yearly continuous assessment of ministers. Each minister should be given realistic and measurable targets to achieve within a year or two. This is will leapfrog development; bring new thinking and fresh approach to governance. This will also make the cabinet an engine-room to provide broad variety of services to Nigerians, ranging from health to industrial development, security, a sound legal system, and an effective infrastructure and education system. Welcome to the next level.

     

    • Zayyad I. Muhammad, wrote from Jimeta, Adamawa state,

  • Buhari’s ‘Once Bitten’ (II)

    Parliament –especially- in Nigeria behaves always like a woman of easy virtue. And that is even if you only refer to the commonplace whoredom whereby prostitutes, to eke a living, get paid by total strangers to be laid. But the Sarakis, in 2015, took bipartisan parliamentary whoredom to a whole new sordid level. To grab the Senate Presidency, they had not only accepted to pay to get laid, they were in fact raunchily sodomized; not by total strangers, but by their hunky political enemies, the PDP. After Saraki’s parliamentary coup de main, leading to his rebellious emergence as Senate President, I wrote a piece, ‘Buhari’s Baptism of Fire’, relieving in it what lessons the President should’ve learnt, from neglecting to invest in the politics of the emergence of a party-loyal leadership for the Eight Assembly. And I said in that piece, that in spite of being virtually a child of popular revolutionary circumstances, the Saraki-led APC Assembly, had still to its credit the infamy of adding a heady new dimension to the repertoire of inanities that the Nigerian legislatures are generally famed for.

    Caesar’s Roman Parliament had taught legislators the vilest coup de tat: that by knives and daggers greedy legislators may bleed ‘ambitious’ sovereigns to death. But Saraki’s mutinous APC minority, driven quite inordinately by both greed and lust for power, had taught the world a new species of parliamentary mischief, namely sleeping shamelessly with the enemy in order brazenly to overcome and humiliate family.  We saw how, in defiance of party objective, about 19 hot-panted APC senators went to bed with 49 street-wise PDP others in a mutinous orgy of sort to hijack the Senate. And for their excellent randy services, these PDP hunkies got paid with the plum position of ‘Deputy Senate President. They had almost added sedition and treason to the abiding roguery that the NASS had already been notorious for.

    After having been electorally browbeaten in 2015 by the APC, PDP was almost then on the verge of its nunc dimitis, politically. The nation was almost preparing for the funeral rites of the old, now fangless (or so we thought) behemoth that had been knocked down by an underdog. But this was not to be. Soon Saraki’s treacherous coup at the Senate was all the oomph that a dying PDP would need to be newly risen, like the Biblical Lazarus, back from the dead. The APC had gotten the enemy right on the canvass, and then its apostate Saraki wing of the political family had gotten him right back on his feet even before the count out had stated. For their personal self-aggrandizement, and at the expense of party unity and cohesion, this tiny minority was so brazenly self-destruct it had no qualms giving a dying enemy the political kiss of life. It was a political treachery no less abominable than if fellow men of God had conspired behind the biblical David to give a dying Goliath Cardiovascular Pulmonary (mouth-to-mouth) Resuscitation (CPR).

    Meaning that just now you had won the war and had liquidated the enemy, but just now again you had to rise and be newly armored, to go to war and to engage in more searing battles to kill the enemy all over again! In Saraki’s case it has now taken the whole of Buhari’s first four years before the APC, at the last polls, has succeeded again in killing the enemy a second time. But just like in 2015, the dimly-lit embers of a once smoldering PDP opposition has been lying vengefully in wait, in the ashes to burn the feet of the ruling party again. And many Nigerians have been wondering, would the APC be as foolishly un-suspecting in 2019 as it was in 2015? Will history be repeated and the APC would be careless enough to step on the ashy red-hot charcoal so that Buhari will have to limp again through another four years with a terrible ulcer on his underfoot? Because we see now that the languid tail of the scotched PDP snake is back at its death-defying trademark again. It is angling desperately to lure to bed a new renegade strain of the APC family headed by Senator Indume. Down but not out, this scotched snake of the PDP is ululating lecherously, and a hot-panted Indume and seventeen other senators we are told, are getting ready to pay again to be sodomized by the enemy. And you can safely say that if NASS truly is a woman of easy virtue, then its whoredom, it appears, is latent only in the bitchy, libidinous minds of silly, imprudent section of its disunited APC fold.

    Nonetheless it is cheering that at last Mr. President has made the difficult leap from a democrat to a politician, and has anointed those who should lead the 9th Assembly. Contrary to the rebellious opinions of many politicians on this subject, it is well within the President’s democratic and political right to do so. It is not undemocratic for a president to be interested in who is elected to head any of the two chambers of the Legislature. Because democracy in addition to whatever it has come to be associated with-theoretically and practically- is also about consensus-building. When parties who have the democratic right either to vote or to be voted for, freely and consensually agree about who to govern their affairs, it obviates the need even for ‘voting’ -unless ‘voting’, in the circumstance, is a substantive requirement of law.

    Between a President, a ruling Party and majority of its members in the Legislature, a consensus about how to share elective offices whether arrived at ‘unanimously’ or achieved by the will of a ‘simple’ or ‘special majority’, whether by ‘acclamation’ or by ‘shadow election’, is nonetheless democratic and in fact can sometimes even be binding in law. Democracy is governed as much by laws as by time-honored conventions. Most of the powers that presidents in presidential democracies wield reside often more in conventions than in the Constitution. And woe betides the president who insists on the strict application of the ‘letters’ of the law in his dealings with the legislature, to the utter disregard of un-written conventions some of which  –often through the ferment of democratic age- can also acquire the force of law.

    The President has learnt from having been ‘once bitten’. And it appears he is not prepared to be ‘twice twice’. But from the vibes of dissent and the imminence of rebellion that have been oozing from aggrieved serving members of the 8th Assembly and even incoming members of the 9th, Buhari has to do more than just talk. He has to walk the talk to instill party discipline.

     

    Postscript

    The Eight Assembly was the one that they had warned us Tinubu was plotting to pocket. But this was the Senate that they had handed over to the dogs.  And poor Tinubu; he was concerned about a progressive leadership at the NASS that would harmoniously work with Buhari to drive the change agenda; but the hawkish reverts from PDP had told the nation that he was the one we should be wary about. But after four virtually wasted legislative years, we now know those to be wary about. It is still not Tinubu. It is those who hate the guts of Tinubu. They are the same now who are still raising that alarm, of a ‘stealthy’ Tinubu plotting to impose his men on both chambers so he can pocket the legislature. But I had said when I wrote, after Saraki’s ascendancy, ‘Tinubu’s Right of First Refusal’, that:

    “Those who ask ‘what does Tinubu want?’ cannot claim not to know that the Jagaban has always wanted this: namely to bring the progressives into power, who in turn should bring about ‘good governance’…. If Tinubu wanted to influence the election of NASS leadership so he could control the legislature –as they had alleged- the question will then arise ‘to what end would he have desired to do that’? Was it to subvert the government that he has dedicated the greater part of his political life to bring about? Or was it to do so in aid of it? Well then although Tinubu did not succeed in controlling the legislature, nonetheless the legislature has still fallen into the grip of two upstarts who have still managed to find their way to pull the trigger on us all. Meaning that if we do not deal with a ‘meddlesome’ Tinubu, we’ll now have to deal with the perfidious duo of Saraki and Dogara”.

  • Target points for Buhari’s second term

    “To whom much is given, much is expected” is a universal maxim. The Bible in the third of the four canonical gospels; Luke 12:48 affirmed it. By Section 130 (1) and (2) of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria as amended, which established the office of president, the first mandate given to President Muhammadu Buhari in 2015 expires on May 29. Since Section 135 (1); “Subject to the provisions of this Constitution, a person shall hold the office of President until – (a) when his successor in office takes the oath of that office”, forbids a vacuum, President Buhari having been declared the winner of the February 23 – presidential poll will on May 29, once again take the oath of office for the next political dispensation lapsing in 2023.

    Amidst his campaign, President Buhari launched the ‘Next level’ with litany of stunning packages, principally, consolidation of his groundbreaking policiesfor evaluation. From the policy directions, ‘Change’ is deductively, necessarily a strategic precursor to ‘Next Level’. Hence, by the umpire’s verdict, the deal isimpliedly sealed.All things being equal, the people should be reveling Buhari with accolades at the end of his second term. Therefore, not only will improvements be perceptively made, they should manifestly, be felt by the masses. Above all, the nation’s supposed status as the ‘giant of Africa’must observably be actualized. And this time; not just by numerical strength but economic empowerment, developments and significant attainments. Categorically, Buhari’s manifesto unambiguously, expansively captioned economy, education, infrastructure, health and social investment programmes, hence, their facelifts in terms of service delivery – non-negotiable.

    Essentially, the Executive Order 7 recently signed for unparalleled strides in infrastructural developments should gather momentum after inauguration. Possibly, the merged ministries positioned under a ministerduring the economic recession may have to be unbundled having prudently exited the economic crisis to enable additional capable hands come on board. This will also reduce workloads on the minister sensing that the innovative policy will likely stimulate economic and government activities making it burdensome for a minister to effectively coordinate multiple ministriessynchronously. By the strategic policy remarkably unveiled by Buhari’s administration, numerous projects foreseeingly,willsimultaneously be in progress across the nation unlike the existing ‘slow-motion’ system.

    Before I forget, amongst major tasks that demand taking the bull by the horns is slashing of outrageous allowances in the National Assembly. It is unreasonable, imprudent and exploitative for a lawmaker to collect a monthly running cost of N13.5million amidst agonizing unemployment ratio and hardships in the society. Sensibly, there’s no basis for a legislator to earn more remunerations thanprofessors, permanent secretaries or ministers let alone the inexplicably additional monthly-running costs. All the electoral malpractices and violence leading to scores of deaths of citizens are traceable to excessively attractive financial benefits attached to political offices. Unconsciously, it has gotten to the point that not one person enthusiastically wants to return to primary vocation after partaking in the outrageous packages.

    Again, Section 14(2)(b) supra emphatically provides that “Security and welfare of the people shall be the primary purpose of government”. Unfortunately, the masses interests clearly,have never been a priority in the country. Instead, masses are usually more or less like abandoned properties but only treasured during elections by the political class either for lawful franchise or thuggery. Hence, in orchestrating the ‘Next level’ programmes,federal government should encouragingly create meaningful pragmatic schemes for economic empowerment of the masses especially youths vis-à-vis nation’s revenue generation on booster dose through its commendably proactive policies. For securitization, in fact, any poll that must necessarily gather the public at designated locations without adequate security personnel for safety of the vulnerable population is not only antediluvian but a threat to security of lives.

    As preventive measures on hostility and violence during general elections which is on the increase, the government should plan to migrate to digital voting system in conventionality with other countries. If not, the ugly situation may worsen in the next general elections in 2023 due to increased political interests, conceivably for pecuniary interests. To put it another way, the population is grossly excessive for manual ballot system in relation to security and financial implications. For example, INEC recorded 82,344,107 registeredvoters for the 2019 presidential election. Abysmally, only 29,364,209 of the voters representing 35.66% showed up for accreditation.

    Imagine what would have been the situation if about 82 million registered voters had shown up to participate in the election. Sensibly, the nation cannot effectively manage the scenario vis-à-vis the available workforces. Thus, the practicable remedy remains digital electoral system where registered voters can vote from anywhere without fear of attacks, intimidations or manipulations. With that in place, the ethnic crisis that has repeatedly ensued particularly in Lagos will be averted as people can still be resident outside their home state and effectively participate in their home elections except desiredotherwise.

    On socio-economic goals, Section 16(2)(b) of the constitution unequivocally provides “the state shall direct its policy towards ensuring – that the material resources of the nation are harnessed and distributed as best as possible to serve the common good”.  The subsection 2(d) crowns it “that suitable and adequate shelter, suitable and adequate food, reasonable national minimum living wage, old age care and pensions, and unemployment, sick benefits and welfare of the disabled are provided for all citizens”. Regrettably, Fundamental Objectives and Directive Principles of State Policy in Chapter 2 which extensively contains striking socio-economic rights are non-justiciable pursuant to Section 6(6)(c) supra. Nonetheless, they profoundly and justifiably remain yardsticks for measuring progress in the court of public opinion.

    Convincingly, if the viable foundationsspiritedly laid by Buhari’s present administration will be tenaciously consolidated to the latter, without doubt, the masses in no distant timewill eventually feel a sense of belonging in the nation’s abundant resources.

     

    • Umegboro is a public affairs analyst and Associate, Chartered Institute of Arbitrators (United-Kingdom).

  • Buhari’s, Atiku’s campaign chiefs clash at presidential debate

    President Muhammadu Buhari’s campaign chief and his Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) challenger Atiku Abubakar  clashed yesterday at a debate organised ahead of next year’s presidential election.

    Segun Sowunmi, the Atiku Campaign Organisation spokesman, was tackled by Buhari’s Campaign Coordinator and Transport Minister Rotimi Amaechi.

    The debate was hosted by The Osasu Show at NAF Conference Centre and Suites.

    Sowunmi spoke as Atiku’s representative, Amaechi, though the Coordinator of the Muhammadu Buhari Campaign Organisatio, was not on the debate panel.

    Speaking on the plans of the Atiku campaign as raised by Sowunmi, Amaechi raised up his hand to ask questions from the PDP representative.

    He said the Atiku-Obasanjo led a privatisation of national assets to their cronies.

    Amaechi said: “The first question is that they privatised, to who? Who did they privatise to? To themselves, and they are coming back. Then I was a young man. I didn’t have money to buy,” Amaechi said.

    “Question number two, let me thank the woman who said power had improved. Under them, with $16 billion, we had 3,000 megawatts of power, now we have 7,000.

    Read also: Atiku in Adamawa: vote out Buhari

    “Three, and finally, on railways, we all go to Kaduna. We are talking about railway, who has the railway? Our government, right?”

    Responding, Sowunmi said Amaechi was speaking trash, rather than sticking to an issue-based campaign.

    He said: “An eight-year governor of a state in PDP comes to public space, riding on the alleged integrity of just President Muhammadu Buhari, and speaking trash to the people, what exactly is this?”

    “Now, we had assumed, we had signed up to an issue-based campaign, and we just want to beg the operators of this present government to stick to the issues.

    “We speak about opening up the economy to make sure that those who have the competencies to drive growth must be given the enabling environment to create value, and our people can plug in.”

    Sowunmi went on to speak on some of the issues regarding the campaign, on behalf of his principal, saying the government should stick to regulations and let those with the capacity run businesses.

     

  • Buhari’s backing of Oshiomhole democratic, says Ganduje

    Kano State Governor Abdulahi Ganduje said yesterday that President Muhammadu Buhari’s choice of former Edo State Governor Adams Oshiomhole as national chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC) is democratic.

    The President concurred with APC governors at a meeting on Tuesday night on their proposal to support Oshiomhole for chairman at the May 14 national convention.

    Reacting to a statement from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) that Buhari was trying to impose Oshiomhole, Ganduje told reporters after a meeting of some governors with the members of the National Working Committee (NWC), that “there is no imposition at all”. “Everybody is free to contest just as everybody is free to hold an opinion on who should lead the party. I don’t think that there is any case of imposition because it is not a guideline and not part of the constitution.

    “Just like every other person, Mr President has the right to air his opinion, but that does not mean he should stop any person who will like to contest from contesting. Mr President’s opinion is not constitutional and it is not a non-constitutional opinion as well.

    “He just voiced out his thought which will serve as a guideline to some… The issue of being undemocratic does not even arise. There is what we call guided democracy and we regard what Mr President said as such. If that is what will make the party stable and avoid the fallout after the election like we saw in the PDP, it will be better for us.”

    On the outcome of the meeting, the governor said besides the timetable for convention and congresses, the meeting agreed that zoning will be maintained for party officers, “but the only clause is that they should go and discuss with those governors in charge of the zones where the officers should come from.

    “For example, the chairman of the party will have to come from the Southsouth, the secretary from the Northeast and all other positions like that. We have resolved all issues amicably. The NWC will have to get back to us in a week’s time.”

    There were no opening remarks. The meeting, which was presided over by Natinal Chairman John Odigie-Oyegun,  started at about 2.30 pm.

    Governors Rochas Okorocha (Imo), Rotimi Akeredolu (Ondo), Nasir el-Rufai (Kaduna), Abdullahi Umar Gabduje (Kano), Ibikunle Amosun (Ogun), Rauf Aregbesola (Osun), Sani Bello (Niger), Godwin Obaseki (Edo), Badaru Abubakar (Jigawa), Ibrahim Gaidam (Yobe), Tanko Almakura (Nasarawa), Abiola Ajimobi (Oyo) and Abdulaziz Yari (Zamfara) were at the meeting. Governors Abdulfatah Ahmed  (Kwara) and Aminu Masari (Katsina) were represented by their deputies.

    Party spokesman Bolaji Abdullahi said the announced dates for congresses and convention may not be sacrosanct.

    He said there might be an adjustment in view of observations made by some of the governors that the timetable was too tight and made no room for errors.

    He said the President merely expressed his opinion to about four or five governors who went to seek his opinion on his choice of candidate for chairman, pointing out that if those governors the President confided in decided to make it public, the President should not be held responsible for that.

    Abdullahi said: “What we were told at the meeting was that the President had a meeting with some governors and they asked to know who he wanted to support and I think that he told them his preference. But that has nothing to do with the meeting we had today.”

    On whether the NWC will stand with the President, he said: “I don’t think that is a fair question to ask me because you will be asking me for my personal opinion and I am not here to give you my personal opinion. What I can tell you is that Chief Oyegun will make his position known within the next couple of days, whether he is going to contest the chairmanship or not.

    “The President is a party member and has the right to have his preferences and I don’t get the feeling that he told anyone this is the person you must support. He met with some of the governors who went to ask him and they were actually four governors. I don’t think that the governors that met him yesterday to say he told them this were up to five or six.

    “So, maybe they probably asked him and because of the relationship he has with them, he told them what his preferences are and they felt that it was important for them to make this available to the public. I don’t get the feeling that President Buhari called the governors and told them that this is the way you must go.

    “Don’t forget that it was this same office that we came to the NEC meeting on the 27th of March and the President said NEC had taken this decision regarding the tenure of party executives across the country and that he has been advised that the position was not consistent with the position of the law and asked the party to take a second look at it. He did not say he has taken a position, so there should be no more conversation.

    “The opportunity he gave the party has made us better because that is how we arrived at the position we are discussing now. The consultation he had with these governors was a private conversation. He did not address a press conference to say this is the person I want.

    “So, if those individuals he confided in felt it was necessary for them to make the position public, I don’t think it is fair for us to hold the President responsible for this. I don’t think he has foreclosed anything or that he has said this is the way everyone must go.”

    The APC spokesman, who insisted that those to contest party positions was not discussed with the governors said in view of observations made by some of the governors on the timetable prepared by the party for congresses and the national convention, there was the possibility of a review of the dates.

    He said in fixing the timetable for congresses and the National convention, the party was conscious of the forthcoming ramadan fast and did not want any political activity to take place within the month

    He said: “The meeting was called to emphasise to the state governors the need to ensure that congresses were held in a very transparent manner and that they are free and fair. We are aware that some governors have been making statements which we believe are giving the impression that we don’t intend to hold congresses in particular states.

    “So, the meeting was to emphasis to go the governors that we want congresses in a very transparent manner and ensure that the processes are free and fair. One of the major concern of the party at the beginning was that we should do everything possible to avoid rancor that could be generated as a result of the congresses. It was agreed that one of the major ways of avoiding that rancour is to ensure that the congresses are transparent to the majority of the people.

    “As you know, the governors are interested in the committees that will come to their states to conduct the congresses and we made it clear to them that this is a constitutional matter and the constitution of the APC impose the composition of the committees on the NWC only and that by Friday this week, the list of the congress committee members will be ready.

    “There was also observation on the side of the governors about the timetable for the congresses and convention and the observation was that the timetable was too closely packed and that it does not leave much room for errors. The observation was that the timetable as currently constituted was determined because of the Ramadan and we want to be sensitive to the feelings of Muslims who will be fasting during Ramadan and we wanted to, as much as possible avoid conducting any political activity during the period of Ramadan.

    “There were other observations and so, there is the possibility that the timetable may be reviewed. That is not decided yet, but it was agreed that the NWC will take a second look of the timetable and see the possibility for adjustment because there are other issues.

    “If you review the timetable, there is the possibility that all the items on the timetable will be affected. But that is not a decision that has been taken. The only decision that has been taken is that the NWC should take another look at the timetable. It may come back to recommend that the timetable be retained as it is or that the dates be shifted. We don’t think that anyone is making calls for the amendment of the timetable for ulterior motives other than the logistics of it.”

  • Buhari’s Ghadaffi comment: Presidency hits back at critics

    THE Presidency said yesterday that the criticism trailing President Muhammadu Buhari’s recent comment on the killings by herdsmen is aimed at demeaning, de-marketing and demonising him ahead of next year’s election.

    Buhari, while meeting with the Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby in London on Wednesday, had spoken on the likely impact of gunmen trained by former Libyan leader, Muammar Ghadaffi, on the killings by herdsmen in Nigeria.

    Some critics took that to mean that the President said Ghadaffi armed the herdsmen who have been on the rampage in the country.

    Buhari’s Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Mr. Femi Adesina, declared yesterday that such critics “have virtually flown off the handle, ululating as if wailing was going out of fashion.”

    Adesina, writing on his Facebook wall, said: “They twisted the meaning of Mr. President’s words (yes, some people twist everything, even the words of God; 2 Peter:3, 15,16). They claimed he was blaming Ghadaffi, long dead, for the killings in Nigeria.

    “But let’s see the vacuousness and intellectual laziness in the twist they have given what President Buhari said, out of sheer malice and evil hearts. Sadly, even a Senator was involved in the sickening display of poisonous heart. That’s what you get when small minds get into high places.”

    “Here’s what Mr President told Archbishop Justin Welby: ‘The problem is even older than us. It has always been there but now made worse by the influx of armed gunmen from the Sahel region into different parts of the West African sub-region. These gunmen were trained and armed by Muammar Ghadaffi of Libya. When he was killed, the gunmen escaped with their arms.

    ‘We encountered some of them fighting with Boko Haram. Herdsmen that we used to know carried only sticks and maybe a cutlass to clear the way, but these ones now carry sophisticated weapons. The problem is not religious, but sociological and economic. But we are working on solutions. The problem is even older than us,’ said President Buhari.

    “If anybody is not challenged with a simple understanding of English language, does this mean pre-Ghadaffi? The former Libyan leader was born in 1942, and killed in October 2011, making him 69 years old at the time of his death.

    “So, did he cause clashes between farmers and herdsmen, which the President said was older than most living Nigerians? Only rabidly mischievous minds can conceive such.

    “It has always been there, but now made worse…’If you say something has been exacerbated by a factor, does it mean such factor is the cause? Simply illogical.

    “The President talked about the influx of militia trained, armed and used by Gaddafi, who now dispersed into different countries, including possibly Nigeria, after the Libyan strongman’s death.

    “Are some people claiming ignorance of such development, despite it being global knowledge? So deep must be the ignorance of such people. Simple research will show them the Libyan influence on proliferation of small arms all over Africa, after Gaddafi’s death.

    “The President then talked about the herdsmen we used to know, who carried just sticks, and at worst a cutlass, saying those armed with sophisticated weapons were unknown to this clime. Is that not true?

    “If herdsmen have suddenly turned murderous in a country, it calls for all sorts of interrogation, including intellectual, as to what may have gone wrong. The causes could be multifarious. And solutions must be jointly proffered.

    “A President has sensitive security reports available to him. President Buhari gave another vista from which the herdsmen/farmers clashes could be considered, but rather than be reflective and do critical interrogation, the wailers engaged in their pastime: they began to wail, including senators and people who should naturally be level-headed and examine issues dispassionately. Very sorry.

    “But we are working on solutions, President Buhari told the cleric. They ignored that. It holds no meaning for them. They are interested in problems, not solutions. Problems serve their pernicious interests more. Pity!

    “That is what hatred does to the heart. It stunts the mind and poisons the soul. Such heart plays petty partisan and divisive politics with every matter. It is what President Buhari at that meeting called ‘irresponsible politics’. And as we head for general elections next year, much more of it would be seen, except such people reform, and put on their thinking caps.

    “The tendency now is to twist and slant every word from President Buhari in the negative, all in a bid to demean, de-market, and demonise him, and make him unattractive to the electorate. But those who do it are to be pitied. Sensible Nigerians know what the President is doing for the country, and would queue behind him at the polls next year. At the end of it all, the detractors would be holding the short ends of the stick and looking small, forlorn and disconsolate. Where would they then hide their faces?”

    Senator Eyinaya Abaribe had sparked an uproar in the Senate on Thursday when he called President Buhari incompetent for ‘blaming’ the incessant attacks in parts of the country by herders on militias trained by Ghadaffi.

    Senators elected on the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC) vehemently protested the statement, shouting ‘point of order’.

  • ‘Take Buhari’s advice on tenure’

    The plaintiff in the tenure elongation case against the All Progressives Congress (APC), Dr. Wale Ahmed, yesterday hailed  President Muhammadu Buhari for his objection to the “illegal” tenure extension.

    He said he had laid a good example of leadership.

    He described the President as a courageous and forthright leader who will never endorse the violation of the 1999 Constitution and the APC’s constitution by the party leadership.

    Ahmed, a former House of Assembly member and commissioner in Lagos State, recalled that party members were taken aback by the decision to illegally extend the tenure of the National Executive Committee (NEC) and the National Working Committee (NWC) on February 27.

    The aggrieved chieftain said the decision rattled many who protested the move to exclude them from the intra-party leadership elections, which the congresses and the national convention can only guarantee in accordance with the laid down extant laws.

    Ahmed applauded President Buhari, who he described as a performing leader, adding that he also has interest in serving the party as a willing compatriot and ally in good governance.

    He said the President had not failed the nation, judging by his achievements in revatalising the critical sectors of the economy in the last three years.

    Ahmed said the onus was on the NEC and the NWC to heed Buhari’s advice by putting in motion the machinery for the conduct of the congresses at the wards, local governments and states, and the national convention at the national level.

    He said: “I congratulate Mr. President for being unequivocal, courageous and forthright in addressing the issue of tenure elongation. How can a party known as the All Progressives Congress (APC) refuse to hold congresses? The decision makes a lie of the very existence of our party.”

    The former legislator said the party leadership might escalate the controversy and crisis over the tenure extension, if it refused to quickly retrace its steps and release the timetable for the congresses and the national convention.

    He added: “One extra day for the executive committee by whatever nomenclature to truncate the procedures for congresses and convention, either through the setting up of a an acting or caretaker committee, will not stand. There is simply no ground for it, both in the party constitution and the 1999 Constitution.

    “The APC, of all parties, should not even be seen to be taking any illegal step, in whatever guise, at circumventing the constitution and jeopardising internal democracy.”

    Ahmed who was silent on whether he will withdraw the case against the party, said he looked forward to the correction of the mistake already made by the NEC on February 27 by heeding the directive of the President.

    He said: “I am waiting to see how the NEC will handle the controversy after the intervention of the President, and what argument it would canvass against the constitution on the contentious issues raised by the President, who has issued a fatherly directive as the leader of the party.”

  • Rivers APC warns Wike ahead of Buhari’s visit

    Rivers APC warns Wike ahead of Buhari’s visit

    The Rivers State Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Chief Davies Ikanya, has insisted that Governor Nyesom Wike must be called to order to stop overheating the polity, ahead of President Muhammadu Buhari’s proposed visit to Rivers.

    Ikanya, yesterday in Port Harcourt, through his Senior Special Assistant (SSA) on Media/Public Affairs Consultant, Chief Eze Chukwuemeka Eze, declared that he was not so sure of the soundness of Wike’s mind, especially for his (Rivers governor’s) uncouth words on President Buhari, the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

    Wike, a chieftain of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), on Thursday in Port Harcourt, while kicking off the reconstruction of Egbelu Street and construction of link roads in East-West in Rumuodara, Obio/Akpor Local Government Area of Rivers, stated that the Federal Government had not informed him of President Buhari’s visit and the reason behind the planned visit.

    He alleged that the proposed visit might be aimed at reviving the fortunes of the APC that he claimed to be dead in the state.

    The governor urged people of the state not to be bothered about the politics or otherwise of President Buhari’s visit to the state, claiming that the state is very peaceful.

    Wike said: “Maybe the President is coming to make sure that he will improve the fortunes of the APC that is dead in Rivers State. Apart from Jesus Christ, we do not know of anyone who has risen a dead thing. APC is a dead party in Rivers State. No matter how you fast and pray, it will never wake up.

    “Let nobody bother him or herself that the President is coming for security reasons. We do not have security challenges in Rivers State. We have never had herdsmen killings or crisis in the state, except when some criminals tried to disrupt the peace and they were checked. We resolved that challenge.

    “Since the administration has abandoned Rivers State for three years, this visit may be a blessing in disguise. The President may use the visit to complete the Port Harcourt International Airport, the neglected East-West Road, the neglected sea ports and the rejected Port Harcourt-Aba Road.”

    Rivers APC chairman, however, stated that Wike attempted to incite the people of the state against President Buhari by insinuating that the Federal Government decided to abandon Rivers state since he assumed office in almost three years.

    Ikanya said: “Wike’s remarks are provoking, uncouth, inciting, unacceptable and should be withdrawn, as a matter of urgency, as members of APC in Rivers State will not for any reason risk the life of our dear President in the hands of Wike and his misguided cohorts.

    “Let Wike be warned that the proposed visit of President Buhari will not be like the visit of some Northern governors that visited Port Harcourt in 2014 to sympathise with their colleague, the then Governor of Rivers State, Rt. Hon. Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi (now Transportation Minister), over the wicked humiliation he suffered in the hands of Wike and his collaborators, but the visiting governors were attacked and their vehicles damaged at the Port Harcourt International Airport by Wike’s thugs

    “It is difficult to forget how Wike as Minister of State for Education and the then PDP’s governorship aspirant, ordered his militia group, the Grassroots Development Initiative (GDI), to attack the visiting governors in 2014. In case Wike is planning similar attack on President Buhari, he will be disappointed this time.”

  • Buhari’s case different from Yar’Adua’s, says Fed Govt

    Buhari’s case different from Yar’Adua’s, says Fed Govt

    The Federal Government spoke yesterday on President Muhammadu Buhari’s health, saying it is wrong to compare his situation with the late President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua’s.

    Buhari is on vacation in Britain. He has been asked by doctors to extend his stay for some tests.

    There was secrecy around late President Yar’Adua’s health until his situation became critical.

    Information Minister Lai Mohammed told reporters at the State House after the Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting in Abuja that the president, who is on vacation, will have a check-up just like any minister does.

    He said the rumours on the President’s health were part of the backlash against his anti-corruption war.

    Those behind his death runours are looters and victims of his anti-graft battle, he said.

    Mohammed said: “I think it was one of the newspapers that said when I was the spokesman of Action Congress (AC) I demanded for hourly bulletin on Yar’Adua’s health and that I ought to be giving hourly bulletin as minister of Information on the health of the President. And I said ‘you are comparing apples and oranges’. Mr. President is not ill; he is not in hospital. There will be no need to give anybody hourly bulletin about his health – pure and simple.

    “Mr. President, like I said elsewhere, is a victim of his own transparency. He was going on leave; he did what the constitution said he should do. He transmitted a letter to the National Assembly and an acting president was put in place and he said ‘while I am on leave I am going to conduct some medical tests, which all of us do without announcing it. And, of course, less than six hours after he got there he was pronounced dead by some people. Even those who saw him climb the aircraft in Abuja said he was flown by air ambulance.

     ”I can assure you that Mr. President is well, he is hale and hearty and no cause for concern. The Acting President speaks to him every day and he told you so

     ”I won’t blame Mr. President too because this is the third time you are declaring him dead.”

     On whether it was right for the President to go on leave during a recession, the minister said: “Absolutely yes. Our constitution guarantees that. Did Obama not go on leave? Do other presidents not go on leave? Mr. President will go on vacation when he has to go on vacation. Do you know how many ministers have gone on vacation this year?

     ”To say Mr. President cannot go on vacation that is ridiculous,” Mohammed added

     With the Information minister at the briefing were Minister of Power, Works and Housing Babatunde Fashola, Minister of Agriculture Audu Ogbeh, and Minister of Trade and Investment Okechukwu Enelamah.

     Mohammed said: “I think I can say without any equivocation that he is well, he is hale and he is hearty; no question about that. You see on a lighter note, do you think Mr. President will be ill and we will be here and go about our business like this? He (Fashola)was in Anambra two three days ago, I was in Ilorin on Monday, all our ministers are busy. But I want to assure you that Mr. President is well and he is absolutely in no danger.

  • Buhari’s, Ambode’s wives call for stronger families

    Buhari’s, Ambode’s wives call for stronger families

    Wife of the President Mrs Aisha Buhari, and wife of Lagos State Governor Mrs Bolanle Ambode have urged women to build strong family values.

    They spoke yesterday at the 16th National Women Conference organised by the Committee of Wives of Lagos State Government Officials (COWLSO).

    The event, at Eko Hotel and Suites, was attended by Oyo State Governor Abiola Ajimobi, his Osun State counterpart, Rauf Aregbesola, the senator representing Lagos Central, Oluremi Tinubu, wives of Oyo, Osun, Imo and Taraba states’ governors.

    Mrs. Buhari, represented by the wife of Imo State Governor, Nkechi Okorocha, said lack of strong family values had contributed to the rise of social vices in the country.

    “Poverty, crime and decline in school performance are some of the challenges a country could face when families are not cohesive,” she said.

    The President’s wife commended COWLSO for organising the conference.

    In her welcome address, Mrs. Ambode said the theme for the conference: ‘Strong Family, Strong Nation, ‘ was carefully chosen in recognition of the fact that the strength of a nation was linked to the strength of its family units.

    “When family units are bound together in love and children are raised in the fear of God and high socio-moral values, it begets a good and peaceful society and country, and social vices are reduced,” she said.

    Governor Akinwunmi Ambode said the importance of the family unit to the development of the nation was not in doubt. He added that emphasis must be placed in the commitment towards strengthening the family unit and building strong moral values.

    He said: “The importance of the family unit to the development of any nation is not in doubt. The family is the foundation and smallest unit of any nation.

    “The heart and conscience of a nation is formed, to a large extent, in the family. However, the issue is the amount of commitment we, in our individual capacities and as a nation, have shown towards strengthening the family unit.”

    In his short speech, Ajimobi said: “To build the world right we must first build the nation, to build a nation we must build the family. The wife is the foundation and bedrock of the family and for a man to be successful the woman must be everywhere around him.”

    Aregbesola, on his part, said women play important role in building the foundation of the society.

    “Family reflects community and the woman is the foundation of life and the basis of human existence.”