The Nation Newspaper

Tag: ISA YUGUDA

  • Bauchi needs N1.2b for education

    Bauchi needs N1.2b for education

    Bauchi State Governor Isa Yuguda said yesterday the state needs N1.2 billion to transform the education sector.

    He asked teachers in primary and secondary schools to rededicate themselves to their duties.

    The governor challenged civil servants to reconsider taking up teaching appointments or teach for at least four hours as part of their contribution to the development of education

    Yuguda spoke when he received 26,000 text books donated by Standards Plus Books, a Los Angeles based publishing company in California, United States of America.

    The books will be shared among primary, secondary and tertiary institutions.

  • Yuguda frees 147 inmates

    Yuguda frees 147 inmates

    Bauchi State Governor Isa Yuguda has freed 147 inmates. Commissioner for Justice Almustapha Suleiman Hassan told reporters that the inmates were selected by a committee set up to review their cases.

    Of the number, nine were granted state pardon, the remaining had their fines paid by Yuguda.

    Hassan said: “The governor granted the pardon under Section 212 of the 1999 Constitution and Section 6, cap 144 of Bauchi State laws on Advisory and Prerogative Mercy.

    “The inmates were convicted of minor offences but were jailed due to their inability to pay the fines.”

  • Boko Haram: North’s governors meet U.S. officials in Washington

    Boko Haram: North’s governors meet U.S. officials in Washington

    •Sect kills two

    •Troops kill 8 in Yobe

    Governors of some states in the North are in Washington to meet with top United States officials to seek the solution to Boko Haram insurgency.

    It could not be ascertained how many of them were already in the United States but Borno State Governor Kashim Shettima and Bauchi State Governor Isa Yuguda who arrived on Sunday took the opportunity of their early arrival to meet with the world’s richest man, Bill Gates, to get support for their states on polio eradication.

    They were at the headquarters of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation yesterday for the meeting.

    They are expected to meet with White House officials, President Barack Obama, Congresssional leaders, the National Intelligence Council and the European Union (EU) developmental agencies, among others.

    In spite of the search for the solution to the Boko Haram insurgency, there is no let to the sect’s brutality. Suspected members of the sect invaded Pela Birni village in Hawul Local Government Area of Borno State, killing two residents before setting ablaze two churches and many residential houses.

    Pela Birni is one of the populated and remote village under Kwajjafa District in southern Borno with Christian domination, and about few kilometres drive to Garkida town in Adamawa State.

    Witnesses said the gunmen who came to the village on Sunday night bore sophisticated weapons.

    Mallam Musa Anjili Pela Birni said he narrowly escaped being killed by the attackers. The house in which he was sleeping was set ablaze.

    “The gunmen invaded our village at about 10 pm on Sunday, They started shouting Allahu Akbar (God is great). They ordered residents of houses to vacate then before setting the houses on fire.”

    Another resident, who did not want his name in print, told our correspondent that most of the houses near the Church of Brethern were set ablaze. Two people died. Many others were injured.

    The gunmen used AK47 rifles, petrol bombs and Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs).

    Troops operating in the Northeast ambushed a group of terrorists on a mission to penetrate and attack Goniri Community in Gujba Local Government Area of Yobe state.

    In a statement  yesterday in Abuja,  Maj.-Gen Chris Olukolade, Director of Defence Information, said: “Troops are still in pursuit of the fleeing terrorist elements after the encounter which resulted in some casualties on both parties.

    “Rockets and machine guns were freely used by the terrorists who eventually lost over eight of their fighters with several others wounded.

    “ Arms were also captured from the terrorists while others fled.

    “ The troops, however, lost a soldier while an officer was seriously wounded in the encounter, ‘’ he said.

    Goniri is not far from Buni-Yadi where the terrorists killed pupils.

    He said troops, operating around Gamboru Ngala and Dikwa Local Government Area towards the borders of Chad and Cameroun, were busy throughout the weekend.

    He said the weapons recovered in one of the locations include four anti-aircraft guns, five machine guns and over 500 rounds of ammunitions.

  • Bauchi denies owing N6b pension

    Bauchi denies owing N6b pension

    Bauchi State government has denied owing pensioners a backlog of arrears of N6billion.

    Chairman, State Local Governments Pension Board, Danladi Abubakar, said this yesterday when the Chairman State Pensioners Association, Habu Ga and Chairman Bauchi Local Government Pension Association Yahaya Umar visited him in Bauchi.

    Abubakar said: “The backlog of pension is not up to N6billion as claimed. We have challenges of paying pensioners due to dwindling resources, and because pensions and gratuities increase every month, we have to compile the figures and the actual amount before we pay.

    “Pensioners ought to appreciate what the Isa Yuguda-led administration has done for them. The governor raised pension from N4,500 to N7,000 and when the Federal Government increased the minimum wage to N18,000, Yuguda also increased pension to N12,500.”

    On why 2013 retirees have not been included on the list, Abubakar said: “We did not include them but we have documented them and we are waiting for approval, when we receive the money, we will pay them.’’

     

  • Between Barometer, Yuguda and PDP chairman

    Between Barometer, Yuguda and PDP chairman

    LAST week in this place, Barometer inexcusably described Governor Isa Yuguda of Bauchi State as former governor and new PDP chairman. This is nothing short of a time warp. The columnist may wish the clamorous governor to assume the post of party chairman whenever it becomes vacant, and furthermore that the post could even become hereditary for Bauchi governors, but the fact today is that the PDP chairman is former Governor Adamu Muazu, whom, by the way, Barometer had mentioned in this place a few times. Governor Yuguda of course made the views attributed to him by this columnist, but his identity is nothing like what Barometer described.

    But perhaps Barometer was in a trance, or was being prescient. In case tomorrow Governor Yuguda covets the PDP post, let him recollect that the seed of that ambition was cheerily planted in his heart by Barometer. And in case Alhaji Muazu chafes that Barometer wishes his downfall, let him take heart that the homicidal inclination ascribed to Governor Yuguda was not ascribed to him. This column shudders to think what the two gentlemen would have done in the courts had Barometer mentioned them in terms lawyers describe as malicious and wicked statements calculated to expose them to public ridicule and odium.

  • Yuguda and his dangerous panacea

    Yuguda and his dangerous panacea

    AS proof that most Nigerian leaders are really not what they are cracked up to be, the new chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), former Governor Isa Yuguda, told bemused newsmen in Ghana where he went to receive an award that those who advocate the partitioning of Nigeria in the national conference should be murdered. Well, he didn’t quite put it as graphically as that, but what he suggested amounted to murder anyway. “They should be stoned if they advocate secession,” he said with a carefreeness that belittles his office.

    Here is how he put it airily and indecently: “What I have always said is that any person who goes there to talk about partitioning Nigeria should be stoned out of the conference because I believe in the unity of this country. Our parents could not have shed blood to unite this country only for our own generation to decimate the country or partition the land and say we cannot live together. Nobody in Nigeria is greater than the Almighty God, who carved out a country called Nigeria. It is also the Almighty God who put the resources we are enjoying today and nobody should use religion or tribe to break our country. The conference should rather focus on issues that will unite us and not divide us.”

    Mallam Yuguda’s views are not only undemocratic and denigrating; they negate the very essentials of free speech, distort the fundamentals of constitution-making and promote self-help. Mallam Yuguda also unthinkingly embraces President Jonathan’s deterministic theology, now roundly discredited. The president had recently argued that Nigeria, like all other countries, was put together by God, but did not explain why other countries put together by God had fractured over the centuries, nor explain the mysterious fact that God retains the sovereignty to put together and to dismember, using people as instrument.

  • Bauchi spends N425m on scholarship

    Bauchi spends N425m on scholarship

    The Bauchi State government has paid N425 million as local and foreign scholarships for the 2011/2012 academic session.

    Chairman of the Scholarship Board, Kulloma Hardawa, announced this yesterday in Bauchi.

    He said the scholarships were part of government’s effort to reduce the financial burden of students and parents.

    Hardawa said 48,075 students were studying various courses here, besides the 35 in over 20 foreign countries.

    The chairman said the board would payment N83.6 million to 8,120 students, who were admitted in 107 higher institutions.

    He said the board paid the 2011/ 2012 allowance in 2014 because funds were not released on time, but hailed Governor Isa Yuguda for approving the funds.

     

     

     

  • Relief materials donated in Bauchi

    Bauchi Local Government Area of Bauchi State distributed yesterday relief materials to Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) from Adamawa, Plateau and Yobe states.

    Caretaker committee Chairman Lawal Babamaaji said the donation was in line with the mandate of Governor Isa Yuguda.

    The relief materials were distributed at Mararaban Liman Katakum, 15 kilometres from the state capital.

    Babamaaji urged them to live in peace with one another and refrain from rumours that may trigger violence and disharmony.

  • National conference sign of failure of the past -Alaafin

    National conference sign of failure of the past -Alaafin

    The Alaafin of Oyo, Oba Lamidi Olayiwola Adeyemi III, yesterday observed that the clamour for a national conference is a testimony to the failure of past efforts to build a Nigerian state out of a the many ethnic nationalities.

    The monarch made the declaration in Oyo town while conferring the chieftaincy title of ‘Obasayero’ of Oyo on Bauchi State Governor, Mallam Isa Yuguda, and various titles on his four wives, Aisha, Abiodun, Mariya and Nafisa who bagged titles of Yeyeloyin, Yeyeniwura, Yeyeniwura and Yeyedunni Obasayero, respectively.

    The Alaafin declared “The crisis of the Nigerian state has assumed frightening and bewildering dimensions threatening our corporate existence as a country. The national question has thus far remained unresolved, one hundred years after amalgamation, making calls for a sovereign national conference strident.”

    Oba Adeyemi however observed that the conferment of the chieftaincy title on Mallam Yuguda “is a reflection of a beautiful handshake across the Niger.”

    The royal father remarked that he first had an encounter with Mallam Yuguda during his (Yuguda’s) National Youth Service Corps scheme in Oyo town when he visited the palace along with his colleagues and he (The Alaafin) prayed for him that he would be successful in life.

    Oba Adeyemi also remarked that Mallam Yuguda donated N10m to Oyo State Government during the aftermath of the 2011 flood disaster in the state.

    “Alhaji Isa Yuguda is today being admitted into the pantheon of Yoruba political mystery on personal merit and in recognition of what he represents as the Governor of Bauchi State. The historical linkages between Yoruba land and Hausa/Fulani land are multi dimensional and inter-penetrating,” the Alaafin added.

    Yuguda, in his response, said he would always be grateful to the Alaafin and the entire Yoruba race for the titles conferred on him and his wives.

    He said, “Kabiyesi, your conferment of the title of Obasayero on me is a clear testimony of your unprejudiced disposition on the unity of our great country, Nigeria. To describe your majesty as a great bridge builder in this regard is an understatement. As a royal father, your action has lent credence to the generally held view that the traditional institution holds the hope for the continued existence of Nigeria as a united entity.”

    The occasion which equally witnessed various cultural displays, was witnessed by dignitaries across Nigeria, including Governor Abiola Ajimobi, Speaker of the Oyo State House of Assembly, Hajia Monsurat Sunmonu, former Oyo State Governor, Dr. Victor Olunloyo and Iyalode Alaba Lawson, among others.

     

  • Brief PDP NEC meeting shows unity among members, says Yuguda

    The Bauchi State Governor, Mallam Isa Yuguda has  maintained that the short period of the National Executive Committee (NEC) of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) meeting in Abuja showed that there was unity and all was well with the party.

    While many had expected a stormy NEC meeting  on Thursday, the meeting which was attended by President Goodluck Jonathan at the National secretariat of the party lasted less than one hour.

    The meeting ratified three items on the agenda.
    Speaking with State House correspondents after a meeting with President Jonathan, the Bauchi State governor said that the meeting was conducted peacefully.
    He said: “It went on very well, very short and straight to the point. It was just for the ratification of the date for the convention. That was all.

    On what to expect from the convention, he said “A lot of goodies. People were disturbed that it lasted for only 15 minutes. It shows that the family is together and that everybody is working  together.

    According to him, it was a sign of good things to come.

    “Oh, yes, we are now happy with one another. The family is together and if there was a problem, we would have stayed longer to solve it.” He stated