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Tag: defends

  • Ministry defends Kachikwu

    The Ministry of Petroleum Resources yesterday exonerated Minister of State for Petroleum Ibe Kachikwu of any wrong doing.

    In a statement in Abuja,  it countered a report that the chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission  (EFCC ), Ibrahim Magu  was protecting the minister from trial.

    The ministry said “We wish to state, most categorically, that no one is shielding the Minister from prosecution because there is simply no cause for anyone or institution to shield him from anything for he has done no wrong deserving of prosecution. We also wish to let the public know that the issue of false allegations against Ibe Kachikwu and the individuals and companies mentioned by PAL is, actually, not a new one.”

    In the report, a group called Patriots of Anti-corruption League (PAL) claimed that the EFCC is covering up corruption allegations against Kachikwu.

    The ministry said:  “Invidious effort to impugn Kachikwu’s integrity first started in 2016 when a shadowy group of people came out with a claim that Kachikwu, in collaboration with some individuals and some oil and gas companies, had a case to answer in relation to oil subsidy fraud, a claim the EFCC thoroughly investigated and discarded because there was no substance to it.

    “The recent claim by PAL is, therefore, an attempt to rehash and repackage an old plot with a view to either blackmail Ibe Kachikwu into conceding some unnamed and unknowable favour or tarnish his good name. Whatever may be the motive of his traducers, just as that initial action failed to achieve the sinister purpose of its sponsors, this one by PAL will similarly fail as there is nothing that Ibe Kachikwu has done in the dispatch of his remit to warrant prosecution.

    “We once again wish to invite the discerning members of the public to note that in the current round of crusade to bring Ibe Kachikwu down, the sponsored news plant by PAL first appeared on an online publication on Monday, September 3.

    ” When its sponsors observed that it did not gain enough traction, they chose a more credible medium in ThisDay by causing the plant to come out a week later.

    “Ibe Kachikwu is a well-known individual and public official who has no stain on his character and every effort by mischievous and wicked individuals to prove otherwise shall fail woefully. It is key to note that the HMSPR has been the forerunner of the very successful reforms ongoing in the Nigerian “Petroleum sector of which Transparency and Accountability are critical reforms ongoing in the sector. The publishing of the monthly NNPC financial report, resolution of the cash call bottleneck, the Gas revolution and many others are few examples of these reforms.

    “He remains focused on ensuring that the sector is investor friendly and profitable.”

  • Defence Minister defends the indefensible

    Defence Minister defends the indefensible

    THE Minister of Defence, Mansur Dan-Ali, does not give too many interviews. But last Thursday, he was cornered by reporters as he emerged from a National Security Council (NSC) meeting at the Aso Villa in Abuja, and pinned down to about two main questions: why herdsmen attacks have been left virtually unchecked; and what motivates the killers. Reporters were quite clear whatever the Defence minister had to say would be of capital importance and probably offer a peep into the government’s mindset, particularly why it has proved puzzlingly incapable of stanching the flow of blood where the attacks have taken place. The minister’s answers, however, shocked the reporters, not just because of the elocutionary difficulties that accompanied his answers and often marked his public speeches, but principally because of their incredible inappropriateness.

    Nigerians have the enterprising State House reporters to thank for gaining insight into the workings of the Defence minister’s mind, and insight into the mysterious minds of the country’s leaders and the obvious but shocking fact that the solutions to the herdsmen killings are either not anywhere in sight or have been coloured by strange and incomprehensible interferences. Perhaps confused by the insincere and colourful answers government officials continue to give to questions pertaining to the killings in Benue State, reporters felt obliged to ask the minister, who was expected to know, what factors were responsible for the crisis.

    Apart from acknowledging that he emerged from the NSC meeting with the president, the minister suggested that remote and immediate causes explained the crisis. There the wonders began. On remote causes, he blamed the constriction of grazing routes over the years, due, it seems, to economic and demographic changes, but shocked reporters by suggesting the inevitability of the clashes. He spoke nothing about the antiquated mode of cattle rearing and the need to modernise dairy farming. Hear him: ” Since Independence, we know there used to be a route whereby these cattle rearers use. Cattle rearers are all over the nation. You go to Bayelsa, you see them; you go to Ogun, you see them. If those routes are blocked, what happens? These people are Nigerians; it’s just like you going to block river or shoreline, does that make sense to you?”

    Luckily the Defence minister was honest with his answers which betrayed where his sentiments lie, not to talk of admitting that the offended herdsmen are Nigerians, not foreigners. But reporters were to receive a much bigger shock. Explaining the immediate causes of the clashes, the minister suggested as follows: “But what are the immediate causes? It is the grazing law. These people are Nigerians, we must learn to live together with each other, that is basic. Communities and other people must learn how to accept foreigners within their enclave, finish!” English can be a very problematic language, sometimes amplifying meanings quite unintended by the speaker. It was, however, clear that the minister was impatient with what appeared to him as public bias against the herdsmen. His impetuous answers demonstrate how easy it is to goad a minister into betraying his innermost sentiments.

    From all indications, those sentiments are unpleasant to the ears. And coming a few days after the president himself begged farmers to accommodate their herdsmen countrymen in the name of God, the country is assaulted by how dangerously narrow the perspectives of the federal government have become on the crisis. With a security council that does not mirror all shades of opinions and cultures, not to say have the capacity to understand production systems, it is not difficult to see why it seems the government is more concerned about the safety and survival of the herdsmen than anything else. Worse, it does not appear as if the government has ever fully discussed all points of view on the causes of the clashes and the solutions. Officials merely reinforce one another’s jaded arguments.

    The Defence minister’s point of view tallies with the president’s. Both apparently see the clashes as communal, as the Inspector-General of Police, Ibrahim Idris, first suggested before he was forced to recant, and as the Defence minister has now reiterated. This is why the anomaly and impracticability of establishing grazing colonies all over the country do not strike them in the face. This is why they are indeed surprised that many Nigerians, and particularly the news media, put too much emphasis on the killings. And this is why it must be bewildering to the public that the country’s Defence minister finds it difficult to see the contradictions in blaming anti-open grazing laws for killings that began before the laws were made.

    No one can estimate how many deeply disappointed Nigerians continue to ponder the shameful and contradictory responses those entrusted with power over the country give to the crisis. First, they suggest that the killers were foreigners, not Nigerians. But no one bothered to explain why foreigners would be so embittered by Nigeria’s domestic policies to levy war against the country, nor why, since the authorities knew the identity of the killers, they were nevertheless reluctant to take the fight to the invaders. Today, the far-fetched suggestion is that the Benue killings were orchestrated by Islamic State in West Africa (ISWA) militants. Second, there was also the suggestion that what was taking place was a clash of militias. Yet, no government official has volunteered proof regarding which militia is the aggressor and which militia is defending their lands. Sadly, the government which should help navigate a way out of the crisis is either paralysed or has proved spectacularly incompetent. Third, after spending months ignoring the killings that predated the anti-open grazing laws, and after being tongue-tied over killings in states where those laws do not exist, the government now bizarrely blames laws enacted in response to the clashes and killings.

    Until the government finds the depth of knowledge needed to appreciate the factors predisposing the country to farmers/herdsmen clashes, and develops the requisite impartiality needed to sustain the integrity and independence which the constitution demands of them, they will simply make a mess of the problem, divide the country further, and banish the peace required for long-term development. It is troubling that no one in government seems to know the right thing to do, and those who do, lack the courage to make their voices heard. The country is thus virtually divided into two on this matter, and the divisions are ossifying because the government is either complicit or incompetent.

  • Presidency defends new NIA DG over appointment

    Presidency defends new NIA DG over appointment

    The Presidency has frowned at media reports criticising the appointment of the new Director-General of National Intelligence Agency (NIA), Mr. Ahmed Rufa’i.

    A statement issued in Abuja yesterday by Mr. Abiodun Oladunjoye, Deputy Director (Information), Media Unit of the State House, quoted Malam Garba Shehu, a Presidential Spokesman, as flaying the negative reports.

    Shehu expressed concern during a send-forth for the newly-appointed Director-General of the NIA.

    The send-forth was organised by Presidential aides and staff of the State House, Abuja.

    Shehu, who is also the Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity to the President, said it was regrettable that the appointee had been maligned by a section of the media following his appointment.

    He, however, described Rufai’s appointment as well deserved.

    “Ahmed Rufai Abubakar is a perfect fit who is most qualified for the job. He has occupied various top public offices in the agency in the course of which he received several awards. He left voluntarily to go to the United Nations as a Director.

    “When he retired, he was appointed as a Senior Adviser in the Multinational Joint Task Force (MNJTF) regional coalition of countries for the fight against Boko Haram and other trans-border security threats in the region.

    “There is no doubt at all as to Mr. Abubakar’s qualifications for the job and that is what is most important,” he said.

    The Chief of Staff to the President, Malam Abba Kyari, who also spoke at the event, described the erstwhile aide on international relations to the President as “a patriot, intelligent and consummate gentleman”.

    He said: “I met him for the first time in this office after my appointment as Chief of Staff.

    “I do not think his elevation will deny us the opportunity of still working together.

    “During his stay here, he distinguished himself as a patriot and he brought his wealth of experience in working with international organisations to bear on his work.

    “At any given time, even at late hours, Abubakar was always ready to give his best. He was committed.”

    The State Chief of Protocol, Amb. Lawal Kazaure, in his speech advised the former presidential aide to surround himself with the “right advisers”.

    “Do not have people who tell you what you want to hear around you but those who will tell you the truth dispassionately,” Kazaure said.

    He urged other staff members to continually pray for the new Director-General.

    The Permanent Secretary, State House, Alhaji Jalal Arabi, on his part said the civil service has gained richly from Abubakar’s wealth of experience.

    “Hard work was Ahmed Rufai Abubakar’s middle name during his period at the State House. Please, I want you to be guided by your conscience and philosophy in your new assignment,” he said.

    On her part, Mrs. Abike Dabiri-Erewa, the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Diaspora, said she had looked forward to consummating their work plans for 2018 before the new appointment.

    She said: “When he was appointed, I got a text message from someone who said: a Yoruba man was removed from office and now a northerner has been appointed in his place, what kind of thing is this?

    “I replied: If it is this Rufai that I know and have worked with, honestly he is the best person for the job and I really don’t care where he comes from, and that ended the conversation,” she said.

    NAN reports that Ahmed Rufai, who until his appointment, was a Senior Special Assistant to the President (SSAP) on Foreign Affairs/International Relations, in the office of the Chief of Staff.

     

  • FBI chief Wray defends agency

    FEDERAL Bureau of Investigation Director Christopher Wray has defended the agency following criticism by United States President Donald Trump.

    Mr Wray told a committee of lawmakers that there was “no finer institution”.

    Trump recently lashed out at the federal law enforcement agency, saying its reputation was “in tatters”.

    Special Counsel Robert Mueller, a former FBI director, is investigating alleged Russian interference in the U.S election to help elect Mr Trump.

    Trump denies that his team colluded with Moscow.

    “There is no finer institution than the FBI and no finer people than the men and women who work there and are its very beating heart,” Mr Wray told the House of Representatives judiciary committee.

    FBI Director Christopher Wray was the man testifying before the committee on Thursday morning, but – at least for the Republican congressmen present – it was special counsel Robert Mueller in the spotlight.

    In particular, the Republicans honed in on a former member of Mr Mueller’s team, Peter Strzok, a top FBI counterintelligence officer removed from the investigation this summer after the agency discovered he had written negative text messages about Donald Trump during the 2016 presidential campaign.

  • Council poll: LASIEC defends Itire/Ikate LCDA result

    Council poll: LASIEC defends Itire/Ikate LCDA result

    The Lagos State Independent Electoral Commission (LASIEC) has defended the result of the July 22 council poll for Itire/Ikate Local Council Development Area (LCDA) which produced Apatira Hameed Olanrewaju as chairman.

    Olanrewaju, of the All Progressives Congress (APC), scored 5,403 votes to beat the People’s Democratic Party (PDP)’s Aremu Olalekan Abdullateef (2,630 votes), Labour Party (LP)’s Adebanji Femisayo Isaac (879 votes) and Accord (A)’s Bakare Oyewola Adelaja (193 votes).

    But Abdullateef filed a petition challenging the result at the Local Government Election Petition Tribunal, holden at the Lagos High Court, Igbosere, which was inaugurated last July 28, and began sitting on August 7.

    He is seeking five reliefs, including a declaration that Olanrewaju was unduly returned as winner and that LASIEC “failed in its duty to properly conduct and conclude” the polls.

    He is also seeking, among others, a declaration that “the results of 12 units not counted be declared null and void” as well as an order for a fresh election.

    The Tribunal is headed by Justice A. Olateru-Olagbegi (Retd), while Mrs. F.O Aigbokhaevbo (CM), Ms. Y.J. Badejo-Okusanya (CM), Mr. M.K.O Fadeyi (CM) and Mr. Abdulazeez Jimoh are members.

    But in an August 21 reply to Abdullateef’s petition, LASIEC, through its counsel Adesegun Ajibola SAN urged the court to dismiss the petition for want of merit.

    However, at the commencement of proceedings yesterday, Abdulateef and the PDP, in an August 18, 2017 motion, applied to change their counsel from Mrs Taiwo Oreagba to Funmi Adeogun of Funmi Adeogun and Co.

    This was not opposed by respondents’ counsel, Idris Thany.

  • Who defends the rights of electricity consumers?

    SIR: It is no longer debatable that electricity consumers in Nigeria are groaning under the yoke of the ‘privileged’ power distribution companies. It is not just the reoccurring issue of non-supply of electricity but forcing consumers to pay heavily for what was poorly supplied. In some parts of the country, it is a clear case of paying for services never rendered.

    Ikeja Electricity Distribution Company, IKDC, as an instance, stopped power supply to Idimu and adjoining communities in Alimosho Local Council Area of Lagos in September. It would amount to an understatement, arguing that currently the outage has completely grounded socio-economic activities in the areas. Shockingly, IKDC has not issued any official statement about the ugly development and there is equally no sign that it would resolve the issue soon.

    It is also very obvious that the consumers are bearing the unmerited hardship without any sympathy or support from relevant government agencies. The ones saddled with the protection of consumers’ rights are simply unconcerned. In fact, it appears that they are more concerned about their salaries and other welfare packages.

    The same nonchalant attitude is equally noticed in the appropriate law-making organ of the government. It has severally debated the shameful power supply and consumer exploitation issue without making any meaningful impact. It would be recalled that it strongly condemned and even put on hold, the proposed increase in electricity tariff. Was its directive fully obeyed by the distribution companies?

    The consumer-exploitation challenge, no doubt, pre-dated the ruling government at the centre. But, it is imperative to emphasise that she promised and is evidently concerned about effecting ‘change.’ The promise must not be limited to ‘fighting high-level corruption cases.’ She must, as a matter of urgency, initiate and implement steps aimed at addressing persistent public outcry over DISCOs’ exploitation.

     

    • Sunday Shorikwue Odiaka,

    Lagos.

  • Sani defends herdsmen

    The senator representing Kaduna Central, Shehu Sani, has defended Fulani herdsmen, following the recent kidnap of a former Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Chief Olu Falae.

    Falae was kidnapped last month on his farm by suspected Fulani herdsmen.

    Sani, in a Facebook post, said the Fulani were not terrorists or kidnappers.

    There have been calls by the Pan-Yoruba socio-cultural group, Afenifere, for the abolishment of nomadic cattle rearing.

    The senator wrote: “Fulani  are not kidnappers; they are not terrorists; they are not ‘tsetse flies’.

    “They are peaceful and humble and accommodating stock of Nigerians; they consider all parts of Nigeria and all parts of Africa as their home.

    “They are nationalists, patriots and Pan-Africanists. As long as you eat beef, you drink milk and you use leather, you are a beneficiary of the trade, skill and hard work of the Fulani herdsmen.”

  • 1st year in office: Pinnick defends N792m Nike contract

    1st year in office: Pinnick defends N792m Nike contract

    Nigeria Football Federation’s (NFF) President Amaju Pinnick has come out to defend the choice of Nike as the kits sponsors of the Nigeria’s national teams and also promised that the deal would be improved in the second year of the contract.

    In a chat with SportingLife in Abuja to mark his one year tenure in office , the former Chairman Delta State Football Association Amaju Pinnick discussed in details how the Nike contract was strenuously brokered when other kit manufacturing companies chose to distance themselves from Nigeria.

    “The question to be asked before even talking about Nike contract is first why did Adidas pull out in spite of Nigeria’s enormous success, especially within the period Nigeria won the Africa Cup of Nations, the Falconets also played in the final of the Women’s U- 20 World Cup in Germany, and the Golden Eaglets won the FIFA U- 17 World Cup in the United Arab Emirates for a record fourth time. At the height of those laudable achievements, Nike pulled out. Question should be asked why Adidas pulled out.

    “When Adidas pulled out we decided that at this stage despite the fact that Nigeria failed to qualify for the 2015 AFCON  and which means we are going to be negotiating from a weak point we decided to do a lot of trouble-shooting.

    “Every company we went was shutting us out. PUMA specifically told us that if it is Nigeria they are not interested and that the only thing they can do is for us to go and buy their (PUMA’s ) merchandise. To me I consider that as an insult. It’s a major insult. We consulted other kits manufacturers too and they did not give us positive response and this was after making several attempts in talking to Adidas. As the President of the Federation I wrote to Adidas requesting to speak with them, they declined; even getting FIFA to intervene on our behalf because Adidas are FIFA’s sponsors as well but they did not budge.

    “Tactically Adidas was trying to avoid us.  So I said if I keep waiting for this , there is going to be a problem. At the end of the day Nigeria was left with no other option than to purchase jerseys.

    “So when I saw Nike’s representatives in Malabo, Equatorial Guinea, initially they didn’t want to talk to us but I had to call Austin Jay Jay Okocha and a couple of other ex-internationals who wore Nike in their glorious days before the kits manufacturing company decided to speak with me. That is how bad the situation was then. So at this point the NFF was discussing from a very weak position. So at this point anything goes.

    “That time we had a lot of matches lined up for the national teams so were we going to be purchasing jerseys worth $20,000, $30,000 for every game? To me it was quite ridiculous. Eventually, we opened discussions with Nike. Initially, they didn’t want to give any bonus. They said they were going to supply us with kits worth about $3.6million (N792 million) for four years. If we were to pay for these items we would have paid almost the same amount.

    “So don’t look at what they are giving us as bonus but what we have saved as a country in securing that after a very tight situation. We were excited about it and that was the first step. I went a bit further when we had the second discussion in London .We opened up everything and that’s where the bonus issue started coming up about if you win this you will get this and if you win that you get that and the bonuses were quite substantial. It also encourages you to perform.

    “All those things are not  sacrosanct they are still subject to review based on performance. If I were you what will you do? Are you going to leave out the Nike contract when people are not even bothered to talk to you? I think the NFF should be praised”, Pinnick boasted.

    “But now we have been able to persuade Nike and they have come out to say okay don’t worry we are doing this. Now Nike has gone a step further by bringing some of the best kits that any country would have wished to have. So as from next year the kits that Nigeria would be wearing will be one of the best in the world”, Pinnick said.

  • Buhari defends appointment of SGF, others

    Buhari defends appointment of SGF, others

    •President says positions will go round soon

    President Muhammadu Buhari yesterday defended the appointment of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Babachir David Lawal and five others.

    The appointments, announced on Thursday, had sparked reactions, with reports of complaints in some quarters that they tilted in favour of the North.

    Appointed alongside Lawal were Alhaji Abba Kyari, Chief of Staff to the President; Col. Hameed Ibrahim Ali (rtd), Comptroller-General of the Nigerian Customs Service (NCS); Mr. Kure Martins Abeshi, Comptroller-General of the Nigerian Immigration Service; Senator Ita Enang, Senior Special Assistant (SSA) to the President on National Assembly Matters (Senate) and Hon. Suleiman Kawu, SSA to the President on National Assembly Matters (House of Representatives).

    The Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Mr. Femi Adesina, yesterday assured Nigerians that President Muhammadu Buhari’s political appointments will balance out soon.

    Adesina spoke on a radio programme, Political Platform, on RayPower 100.5FM, monitored by our correspondent in Lagos.

    Adesina said the President was aware of federal character and expressed the belief that there will be balance by the time he makes more appointments in September.

    While admitting that appointments are Buhari’s prerogative, the presidential spokesman also said that nobody can fault the fact that those that have been named so far ?were appointed on merits.

    He also said it would not be fair to blame the President for positions that were filled as a result of elections, like those of the National Assembly and appointments made on the basis of next in command, like those of the acting Chairman of the Independent Electoral Commission and Chief Justice of Nigeria.

    He assured all stakeholders that the President would keep to his promise of appointing the remaining aides and ministers ?in September.

    Adesina said: “Nobody can fault the fact that the persons appointed were appointed on merits.

    “In terms of the spread, the President has prerogative to appoint and he knows there is federal character. I am sure that there will be balance in the future.

    “These are still early days. At the end of the day, we will have a balance.

    “By the time more appointments are made, it will balance out. The President is trying to get the very best of Nigerians. The issue of key positions and no key positions should not be the issue.

    “He gave a deadline of September for the appointment of ministers, ?and he will keep to it.”

    The President’s Senior Special Assistant Media and Publicity, Mallam Garba Shehu, also issued a statement yesterday urging critics of the President’s appointments to be patient with the administration over political appointments, adding that the appointments made so far constitute less than five per cent of the total that would be made.

    Besides, he said, the people so far appointed by the President are mostly people acting as his staff or unofficial advisers, many of whom had been working with him in official capacities.

    The statement reads: “Our brothers and sisters and fellow countrymen should bear with the new administration as it takes its measured steps towards an effective take-off.

    “These appointments are just beginning. The ones down so far, apart from the security services, are mostly of people acting as unofficial advisers or staff of the President.

    “They are mostly men and women who have been doing things for the President and the positions are being formalised.

    “Statistically, the appointments don’t amount to five per cent of what is to come. There will be ministers, heads of government departments, federal boards and ambassadors.

    “At the end of the exercise, no part of the country will be left feeling left out.”

    Reacting to the appointments, a faction of the Movement for the Actualization of Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB) had described them as an insult to the Igbo race whose members he said were not appointed into any top office.

    The group, in a statement signed by its Director of Information, Uchenna Madu, said the actions of the president since he assumed office had shown that he is not a lover of Igbo people.

    “The latest appointments and previous ones since Buhari’s administration should be an eye opener to Ndigbo that Buhari is not seeing Ndigbo as part of Nigeria.

    “These appointments have further confirmed the fact that the present administration is against Ndigbo, despite the massive support some Igbo leaders like Gov. Rochas Okorocha, Chief Ogbonnaya Onu, Senator Chris Ngige and Rotimi Amaechi, among others, gave to Buhari and the APC during the last general election. This is an insult to our people.”

    In the same vein, the Ohaneze Youth Council (OYC) expressed concern over the President’s latest appointments, saying it was regrettable that no south easterner was included in the appointments.

    In a statement signed by the organisation’s President and National Public Relations Officer, Mazi Okechukwu Isiguzoro and Hon. Obinna Adibe respectively, the group said the appointments were totally unacceptable to Ndigbo, adding that they violated the principle of federal character enshrined in the Nigerian constitution.

    OYC said: “We stand to condemn the continuous exclusion of Ndigbo by the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari. Before this time, he had appointed Service Chiefs without looking the way of the South East. To make matters worse, the position of the SGF, which was originally zoned to the Ndigbo, has been denied the region.

    “We are indeed shocked by this turn of events, which are totally at variance with Mr. President’s earlier stand that he was for everybody and for nobody.”

    However, another Igbo group, Ndigbo Unity Forum (NUF), voiced its support for President Buhari.

    The Chairman of the group, Mr. Augustine Chukwudum, who is also president of the Southern Nigeria Peoples Mandate, called on the Igbo, in an interview with our correspondent, to support the President for him to achieve his aim of transforming the country.

    NUF said: “We have been watching all that have been happening in the past few weeks, all the talks about the president marginalising Ndigbo.

    “We want to use this opportunity to inform them, if they are not aware or not enlightened enough, that the President has not appointed his cabinet. I don’t see where the marginalization of Ndigbo has come in.

    “Some Igbo leaders are just making noise for nothing. After all, those people who are condemning Buhari should be ashamed of themselves.

    “We want Ndigbo to have a rethink of what is happening now. He has not done anything wrong to them.

    “As president of Ndigbo Unity Forum, I still maintain that Buhari has not done anything wrong to my people. Let Ndigbo count their teeth with their tongue.”

    Commenting on the appointments in a media briefing at the end of the 55th National Conference of the Nigeria Bar Association (NBA) yesterday, its president, Austin Alegeh, said he was convinced President Buhari was committed to the country’s growth.

    He said: “Probably, these are key technical positions that are being filled by the most competent available persons. But, you can always compensate when you are making other ministerial appointments. I think we should all adopt attitude of patience, and should always have trust and confidence in the people we have elected.

    “We must know that the president won this election with many people contributing to the election. So, let us look at the appointments he has made along those lines.

    “I have listened to the President speak and I can see his conviction in a greater and better Nigeria.

    “I am not a party man, and I am not his personal friend, but from what I have seen, I have no doubt in my mind that he means the best for Nigeria, that he will not do anything to infringe the Nigerian Constitution.

    “But let us wait for all the appointments to be in before we start talking of federal character.”

    Lagos-based lawyer, Festus Keyamo also issued a statement yesterday, saying that “the so-called ‘uproar’ over the perceived ‘lopsided’ appointments made so far by President Buhari is nothing but an orchestrated frustration of a few jobless politicians who depend only on government appointments as their means of livelihood and, of course, the noise of the latest opposition party in town.”

    He said majority of Nigerians only want to see good governance and care less about the ethnic origin of those appointed into positions.

    “My worry is that the decade-long general division of government positions into ‘juicy’ and ‘non-juicy’, and the mentality that these few ‘juicy’ positions must be shared equally amongst the major ethnic groups was nothing but a contraption of the old order from which we have just liberated ourselves,” he said.

    “To my mind, all government appointments pose an equal challenge to those appointed as a call to higher service of fatherland.

    “All public positions come with an equal responsibility to be honest, forthright and dedicated. To go further to classify them as ‘juicy’ or ‘non-juicy’ is just a euphemism for positions that have enough money from which to steal and those that are ‘dry’.

    “Therefore, any agitation from a section of the country to get ‘juicy’ positions is only an agitation for their kinsmen to be appointed to steal enough from which they would benefit.

    “I therefore unreservedly condemn, in the strongest of terms, the so-called ‘uproar’ about ‘juicy positions’ going only to a certain section of this country. All sections of this country should be happy and content with whatever positions the President deems fit, at the end of the day, to give to their kinsmen.

    “After all, the President still has a long way to go with appointments. He has not even filled up to five per cent of available positions. Please, let the President be.”

  • Uganda, Bafana friendlies: Amokachi defends invitation to Udoh, Sokari, others

    Uganda, Bafana friendlies: Amokachi defends invitation to Udoh, Sokari, others

    Stand-in Coach of the Super Eagles, Daniel Amokachi has defended his decision to hand Nigeria Professional Football League players call-ups for the forthcoming friendly against South Africa later this year.

    Kano Pillars new boy Moses Ekpai was handed his first international call-up and he’s joined by Bobby Sokari and Mfon Udoh (Enyimba), Stanley Dimgba (Warri Wolves) and four others as they will rob shoulders with their foreign counterparts and compete for places ahead of the friendly in Nelspruit, March 29 against Bafana Bafana.

    The former assistant to Stephen Keshi, Amokachi was put in-charge of the home-based Eagles team that lost 1-0 to Cote d’Ivoire; en route the Ivoriens winning the 2015 AFCON. The team bounced back in another friendly to defeat Yemen 2-0.

    Amokachi insists talents and quality players are abound in the domestic league and posits that Nigeria is one of only three countries with the largest pool of talents, and he believes they’ll come good.

    ”Talent-wise no doubt, I think Nigeria is blessed no doubt, I’ve always said it. If we talk about talent we would readily mentioned Brazil, Argentina and Nigeria in the world, no other country produces talents like these three,” he said.