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Tag: Mallam Garba Shehu

  • Trying times for Obono-Obla

    These are not the best of times for the Chairman, Special Presidential Investigation Panel on the Recovery of Public Property, Barrister Okoi Obono-Obla. His office was last weekend sealed off by the police, leaving everyone guessing as to what he could have done wrong to merit such treatment.

    While there were speculations that he had been relieved of his position, the Presidency was not forthcoming on that, as the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Mallam Garba Shehu, said he had not been briefed on any such development.

    While the Presidential Panel Chairman would blame his plight on the antics of an official of the Nigerian Football Federation (NFF) who was facing corruption charges and who he said had boasted that he (Obono-Obla) would soon be removed from office, others said his problem had to do with allegations of certificate forgery that has dogged him for some time. The latter group is hinging its claim on the outcome of an extensive investigation conducted into Obono-Obla’s academic credentials by the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC).

    The picture is bound to become clearer in the coming days.

  • Maina: Garba Shehu has lost capacity for rational thinking-PDP

    Maina: Garba Shehu has lost capacity for rational thinking-PDP

    The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has advised President Muhammadu Buhari’s media aide, Mallam Garba Shehu to go for a mental evaluation.

    The advice followed Shehu’s statement accusing past officials of the Goodluck Jonathan’s administration of being responsible for bringing the fugitive ex Pensions Reform boss, Abdulrasheed Maina back into the civil service.

    However, Maina’s family members have come out to say that Maina, who was dismissed by the Jonathan administration, was brought back to the civil service by top officials in the Buhari administration.

    In a statement on Thursday by the National Publicity Secretary of the PDP, Prince Dayo Adeyeye, the party described Shehu’s statement as the height of absurdity.

    The statement read, “We are not surprised on the postulation by Alhaji Garba Shehu in which he blamed the former administration of Goodluck Jonathan as being responsible for the return of fugitive Abdulrasheed Maina. This is to say the least the height of absurdity.

    “The shenanigans surrounding the return of Maina who was under investigation and sacked by the previous administration of PDP is an issue Nigerians are privy to and even Maina’s immediate family have come out openly with their position that President Buhari was responsible for his return.

    “May we, therefore, remind Garba Shehu in case he has forgotten, that the current administration is that of the APC and not PDP, so we wonder how PDP will be responsible for the mess created by President Buhari and his cabal.

    “We had earlier in our response on this matter advised the government to properly investigate those responsible for this mess and bring them to justice and we still stand on that, because Nigerians are tired of excuses and blame game.

    “We reiterate that the body language of this APC government in the fight against corruption is mere propaganda and road-show. The idea of blaming every misdemeanour on previous administration is symptomatic of failure to deliver on promises. It’s time Garba Shehu and his likes resigned if they have nothing more to contribute in government.

    “Finally, we urge the APC led government to re-evaluate the inclusion of the likes of Garba Shehu in the administration. A man who is fixated on blaming each and every mistake of this government on the PDP has certainly run out of ideas, and must even have lost the capacity for rational thinking. We wonder the damage he may be causing to this country with his continuous stay as an Assistant to the President”.

  • Executive, Senate rift will be resolved, says Presidency

    Executive, Senate rift will be resolved, says Presidency

    The Presidency on Wednesday said that the rift between the executive and Legislative arms of government would soon be resolved.

    The Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Media and Publicity, Malam Garba Shehu made the remark in an interview with journalists at the State House, Abuja.

    He said “Our understanding is that some remarks made by the Acting President some months ago when he was the Vice President, because the President was around at that time, an opinion he gave is being misconstrued.

    “A senior Lawyer in the country offered an opinion, in which he said some categories of public officers traditionally cleared by the National Assembly need not to go through that process, that those ones can be appointed by the Presidential fiat; they don’t have to go through screening. But several months ago, in his position as Vice President, Professor Osinbajo gave a personal opinion saying what this Lawyer said makes sense,” he said

    According to him, the government or its cabinet has not taken any decision on such an issue.

    “There is no official position by the government of Nigeria and the Federal Executive Council never sat down to take a decision to say that some categories of officials will not be sent to the National Assembly any longer or that the authority of the Senate under the constitution to screen and pass nominees has never been questioned by the government or the Federal Executive Council,” he said.

    He noted that in compliance with the provisions of the law, the executive arm has been sending the names of its nominees to the National Assembly for screening and it will continue to do so.

    All parties involved in the matter, he said, will soon meet to thrash the matter.

    “From the time the Vice President gave that opinion to now, more than twenty nominations have been forwarded to the Senate and quite a number of them have been screened, sworn-in and are now occupying positions so therefore, this is not a big issue as some people want to make it.

    “The party, government and the National Assembly will sit on a round table and this matter will be discussed and resolved. I assure you,” he stated.

  • Buhari going back to London for check-up, says Presidency

    Buhari going back to London for check-up, says Presidency

    The Senior Special Assistant to the President on media and Publicity, Mallam Garba Shehu, on Thursday said that the plans for President Muhammadu Buhari to return to his doctors in the United Kingdom for follow-ups is still intact.

    On arrival in the country on March 10 after about 50 days medical vacation in the UK, President Buhari had disclosed that he will return to London after few weeks for followup on his treatment.

    But some media reports claimed that instead of going to back to London for the followup, the President had decided to bring his doctors to Abuja.

    Mallam Shehu debunked the report while speaking with journalists in Abuja.

    According to him, it was not true that Buhari had decided to bring his doctors to Nigeria instead of returning to London..

    He said, “It is false news (that Buhari is no longer going to London). We are not aware of the reported advance movements.

    “The last time the President spoke about this, he said he would return to his doctors after some time.

    “We are not aware that this has changed,” Garba stated.

  • Boko Haram releases Chibok girls

    Boko Haram releases Chibok girls

    The Federal Government has confirmed the release of about 21 girls out of the over 200 that were kidnapped in the town of Chibok in Borno state, far NorthEastern Nigeria, over two years ago.

    This is contained in a social media post from the handle of the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Mallam Garba Shehu.

    In the post on Thursday morning, Mallam Shehu said: “It is confirmed that 21 of the missing Chibok Girls have been released and are in the custody of the Department of State Services (DSS).

    He further stated that the Director-General of the DSS, Mallam Lawal Daura, who wants the girls to have some rest, (with all of them very tired coming out of the process) before he hands them over to the Vice President Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, has briefed President Muhammadu Buhari of the development.

    According to Mallam Shehu, the release of the girls, in a limited number is the outcome of negotiations between the administration and the sect, brokered by the International Red Cross and the Swiss government. “The negotiations will continue,” he added.

    The President’s media aide further said that the President welcomes the release of the girls but cautioned Nigerians to be mindful of the fact that more than 30,000 fellow citizens were killed via terrorism.

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  • Arrest of judges, not wrong – Minister

    Arrest of judges, not wrong – Minister

    • Says Govt has right to search anybody, anywhere, anytime
    • FEC okays N700 million for Federal secretariats in six states

    The Minister of Information, Alhaji Lai Mohammed on Wednesday said there was nothing wrong in stepping on judges’ toes in the fight against corruption.

    It would be recalled that the Department of State Services (DSS) had last weekend stormed the houses of some judges, arrested them and recovered the huge sum of money in different denominations.

    But briefing State House correspondents at the end of Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting presided by President Mohammadu Buhari, Mohammed said that there was nothing wrong with the method adopted by the DSS.

    Mohammed was accompanied by the Ministers of Power, Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola and Minister of State for Aviation, Hadi Sirika.

    While stressing that governors who have immunity are still open to investigation, he said that judges don’t even have immunity.

    He said: “What the government is concerned and passionate about is to fight corruption. In the process of fighting corruption, it is not unusual that you step on some very sensitive toes but the question to ask and I think these has been adequately answered by the Attorney General is that let’s remove emotion from facts.

    “One, do judges have immunity? The answer is no. Can judges be arrested? The answer is yes. Have judges that are serving been arrested in Nigeria? The answer is yes. Justice Okoli had been arrested and tried.

    “Now the next question to ask is what is the proper procedure for arresting anybody including judges? There must be properly executing of the search warrant. Was such presented? The answer again is yes. People have tried to muddle the facts about when do you search the person’s house, the truth of the matter is that under the new criminal justice law, you can search anybody, anywhere, anytime.

    “Again they have tried to muddle issues by trying to say that the NJC is the only authority that can attend complain and discipline, the answer once again is no,” he added.
    He pointed out that there is a difference between what is happening to the judges now and when a judge is accused of professional misconduct.

    “If you suspect anybody including Governors who have immunity they are still subject to investigations.” He said

    The government, he said, has the highest respect for the judiciary and does not intend to ridicule the judiciary.

    “We are not painting the whole of the judges with the same brush but we also have a duty to fight corruption at whatever level and in doing so, we will do so within the ambit of the law.” He said

    The Minister expressed displeasure that some people have started raising issues that are completely irrelevant to the matter.

    He said: “Some people are saying oh, the reason why they went to some particular judges house is because the President wants somebody from one part of the country to be Chief Justice of Nigeria. I think that is preposterous.

    “I want to assure you that this government has no intention to humiliate the judiciary and for those who are talking about separation of power, I think you are stretching it too far. I and members of the Executive, I can be invited by any arm of the government and I will go. So I think we should situate this thing in the right perspective.” He added

    He recalled when 22 out of 32 judges in Ghana, who were caught on tape by journalists asking for a bribe, were dismissed in 2015.

    He added: “Yes it’s true that what is happening today has probably never happened at this level before but frankly speaking and with all due respect we do not intend to humiliate any judge, we have no intention to humiliate the judiciary but believe me what we have done we have done within the ambits of the law.

    “I think the Federal Government is being very careful with handling of this particular issue, I want to state clearly that this government believes very much in separation of powers, this government has a lot of respect for the judiciary and for obvious reasons, not just because the constitution says so but I think probably this is one cabinet that has the highest number of lawyers as ministers.

    “As at the last count about eleven or twelve council members are lawyers and we have female lawyers also in the cabinet until death robbed us of late Ocholi we had five SANs in our cabinet and I think this is unique, therefore you can understand the kind of respect we have for the judiciary.”

    He also pointed out that the President himself, who sought to be President four times and had it thwarted three times, took his case to court on the three occasions.

    “He took his case to the judiciary, so I can say clearly that this administration has a lot of respect for the judiciary and I think I stand by what Mallam Garba Shehu said that please do not confuse the fight against corruption as a fight against judiciary,” he added

    Fashola disclosed that the FEC approved N700 million for the completion of abandoned Federal secretariats in Anambra, Bayelsa, Gombe, Nasarawa, Osun and Zamfara states.

    According to him, the fund for the completion of the secretariat projects, which were abandoned since 2012, were captured in the 2016 budget.

    He said when completed, the projects would provide office accommodation to Federal Government staff deployed to the affected states.

    “They are at various stages of completion. There have been changes in cost as a result of project designs, amendment, cases where original location and contract are changed and they have to be redesigned in such structure,’’ he said

    He said that the second memo approved by FEC from the ministry has to do with ongoing projects for the construction of the abandoned 10 megawatts Wind Farm power project in Katsina state.

    According to him, the wind farm project is part of government’s strategic plan for  renewable energy.

    He added that the project was a major component of the government’s road map towards achieving incremental power in the country.

    Fashola  noted that the contract cost of the power project escalated following the kidnapping of the contractor, who after being rescued abandoned the  project.

    Sirika said that the council approved an outline Business case for Industrial Port Development in Badagry, Lagos State.

    According to him, the Council also approved the relocation of flight training simulator from Lagos to Nigerian College of Aviation Technology (NCAT), Zaria in Kaduna state, for the training of pilots and engineers.

  • Social media bill: Penalty for violators

    Social media bill: Penalty for violators

    The proposed social media bill by The Senate on Frivolous Petitions, which passed second reading, if enacted, will subject violators to between two and four years imprisonment.

    Although, many do not know the weight of the bill, there have been reactions to the bill after it was subsequently passed to the relevant committee for consideration and to report back to the Senate within three weeks.

    On Tuesday, President Muhammadu Buhari promised not to assent to any legislation that might be inconsistent with the constitution.

    The President said this through his Senior Special on Media and Publicity, Mallam Garba Shehu, saying that he has sworn to defend the constitution and would not lend his hand to anything that was inconsistent with the document.

    “But he is not averse to lawful regulation, so long as that is done within the ambit of the constitution, which he swore to uphold,” he said.

    Shehu added that the President said free speech was central to democratic societies anywhere in the world. Without free speech, the president explained that elected representatives won’t be able to gauge public feelings and moods about governance issues.

    ‘As a key component of democratic principles,’ the president acknowledged that people in democratic societies ‘are so emotionally attached to free speech that they would defend it with all their might’.

    “Because the Senate is a democratic Senate, the President won’t assent to any legislation that may be inconsistent with the constitution of Nigeria,” he added.

    Following the controversy over the bill, Social media lovers on Tuesday stormed the National Assembly to say no to the proposed bill.

    The protesters, who gathered at the Unity Fountain Maitama Abuja, are calling on the Upper chamber ‘to immediately discontinue with the said bill as proposed by Senator Bala Ibn Na’Allah from Kebbi State.
    The bill suggests four years imprisonment or payment of between N2m and N4m fine for intentionally propagating false information that could threaten the security of the country or that is capable of inciting the general public against the government through electronic message.

    Similarly, it suggests up to two years jail term or N2m N4m fine or both for anyone disseminating via text message, Twitter, WhatsApp, or any other form of social media an “abusive statement”.
    This also involves messages intending to “set the public against any person and group of persons, an institution of government or such other bodies established by law.”

    The Direct Conflict of this Bill with Section 39 (1) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 as Amended in 2011 which states, “Every Person shall be entitled to Freedom of Expression, including freedom to hold opinions and to receive and impart ideas and information without interference.”
    It is also noteworthy that there has been a spirited effort to justify this repressive and unconstitutional action of the Senate but it does not suffice in line with the commitment seen from the senate and its senators from both parties actively arguing positively for the necessity of such a bill.
    The question that these protesters are seeking answer to is: “Who are they (the senate) afraid of?”

    Meanwhile, the Nigerian Union of Journalists (NUJ) and the Nigerian Guild of Editors (NGE) have distanced themselves from such move, urging the Senate to unconditionally suspend proceedings on the bill.

    In a statement, GarbaDeen Muhammad, President of NGE said that the broad objective of the bill was to outlaw the freedom of expression of the citizens and freedom of speech of media organisations operating in print, electronic and on-line platforms.

    The statement reads in part: “Appallingly, the bill has also included as its target very personal and private means of communication such as SMS or text messages and WhatsApp, among others.

    “The freedom of speech and expression is guaranteed in section 22 and 39(1) of the 1999 Nigerian Constitution respectively. Therefore, to enact any kind of law under any guise that will contradict these fundamental provisions is to deliberately seek to undermine the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

    “We are, therefore, concerned that a group of persons elected by Nigerians to ensure that their rights, privileges and interests are protected, should gleefully misuse the mandate given to them to the detriment of the same people that elected them,” Mohammad observed.

    Also, National President of NUJ Waheed Odusile, speaking at a lecture in Ibadan, Oyo state, vowed that the media would not allow the bill to see the light of the day.

    Odusile said what the proponents of the controversial bill were trying to do was to bring back the Decree 4 of 1983 to satisfy their selfish interests, adding that “it is a law targeted at restricting freedom of expression”.

    Imploring NUJ state councils to submit petitions at their respective state assemblies, he said the union would mobilise its members to the National Assembly to stop the bill whenever it is presented for public hearing.

  • ‘Stop bragging about fake economic achievements’

    ‘Stop bragging about fake economic achievements’

    •Bury your head in shame, presidency tells PDP

    The Presidency yesterday asked the Peoples Democratic Party(PDP) to bury its head in shame instead of bragging about fake economic achievements while in power.

    It said while the PDP was in power, the economy was gasping for breath under the egregiously corrupt administration.

    It said if the former ruling party was doing so well, the opposition parties would have found it difficult to defeat a popular ruling party.

    The presidency blasted the PDP in a statement by the Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity to the President, Mallam Garba Shehu.

    The statement was a reaction to the PDP’s claim, through its National Publicity Secretary, Olisa Metuh, that the economy was going down under the APC.

    The statement said: “The presidency has advised the PDP to stop its pathetic efforts to play down President Buhari’s achievements in his first 100 days in office and bury its head in shame for subjecting Nigeria to the worst economic plunder through corruption in its recent history.

    “The  economy of Nigeria was gasping for breath under the egregiously corrupt PDP administration, and that the country was witnessing an acceleration of poverty which  united Nigerians for change.

    “The  excruciating hardship experienced by Nigerians under the PDP misrule was unprecedented. It is ridiculous to for any sane government to artificially rebase the economy and claim to transform Nigeria into the largest economy in Africa as the PDP administration did.”

    He explained that the defeated former ruling party was artificially manipulating statistics to create the illusion of impressive economic performance record.

    He added: “One falsehood built on another cannot stand, adding that if the PDP claim of economic successes in terms of GDP, employment generation, poverty alleviation and others were genuine, Nigerians wouldn’t have voted the party out of power.

    “If the former ruling party was doing so well, the opposition parties would have found it difficult to defeat a popular ruling party.

    Malam Garba Shehu said that the PDP assumed performance was nothing more than window dressing, and a detachment from reality.

    The Presidential spokesman said: “No economy can grow with corruption, an area in which the PDP administration demonstrated more competence.

    “Criticism for its own sake is not the Hallmark of credible opposition.

    “Nigerians no longer face exploitation at filling stations because the government is taking punitive measures against marketers that punish poor Nigerians.

    “Queues have disappeared at the filling stations and the Naira is also enjoying favourable exchange rate.

    The Media aide said the Buhari administration has successfully blocked leakages and other avenues for corruption, practices which he said the previous PDP administration lacked the will or the desire to stop.

    “As a result of the measures to block leakages, the Buhari administration has frustrated the efforts by corrupt elements to divert public funds to private pockets.

    “Once the formal trial for corruption begins formally, the PDP might no longer have the moral legs to stand on, let alone talk down on Nigerians with fake claims of economic miracles under its most incompetent and grossly purposeless and sleazy administration.”

  • Blasts: Buhari seeks more vigilance, strategies against terrorists

    Blasts: Buhari seeks more vigilance, strategies against terrorists

    The presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress,  Gen. Muhammadu Buhari, has condemned the latest bombings in Yobe and Kano States, and called for greater vigilance and new strategies in dealing with the insurgents.

    A statement signed by the Director of Buhari Campaign Organization, Mallam Garba Shehu, quoted the former head of state as regretting that the latest blasts came on the eve of the first anniversary of the Buni Yadi terror attack which killed several students of a Federal Government College in their sleep.

    While regretting the frequency at which terrorists destroyed lives of innocent people, the statement said that a situation where terrorists get bolder with every passing day calls for serious reflection and concern.

    While commending the efforts and sacrifices of the counter-terrorism forces in fighting the insurgents, Buhari said there is the need for greater vigilance and new strategies.

    He said further the APC recognises the complexity of terrorism and its peculiar challenges and called for more and tougher strategies.

    The APC candidate added that a situation where the criminals outsmart the system is disturbing.

    He called on the Federal Government to take proactive steps to stem the frequency at which the terrorists penetrate security cordon and checkpoints with maximum ease and strike their targets with extreme cruelty.