The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Muhammed Abubakar

  • Bauchi governor loses polling unit to PDP

    Counting of votes has commenced in polling units in Bauchi, producing its first shocker as incumbent governor Muhammed Abubakar of APC lost his polling unit to Bala Mohammed of PDP.

    Announcing the outcome of the election in the governor’ s Gindin Durumi polling unit of Bauchi metropolis, Presiding Officer, Mr Chinedu Onora, said the governor polled 288 votes while the PDP candidate garnered 358 votes, a difference of 70 votes.

    Onuora put the total number of invalid votes at 59.

    There was wild jubilation by voters at the unit after the announcement.

  • Buhari, APC governors meet in Aso Rock

    President Muhammadu Buhari on Wednesday met behind closed doors with some governors of the All Progressives Congress (APC) at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.

    The meeting, which was held at the President’s office, started around 4.p.m.

    Among the State Governors that arrived for the meeting around 4.pm included Akinwunmi Ambode (Lagos), Muhammed Abubakar (Bauchi), Rochas Okorocha (Imo), Abdullahi Gamduje (Kano), Kashim and Shettima (Borno).

    The Wednesday meeting came barely a week after nine APC governors met with Buhari last Thursday over primary elections in their states.

    The meeting was still in progress at the time of filing this report.

  • Bauchi SDGs Office executes N1.2bn projects in two years – Official

    Bauchi SDGs Office executes N1.2bn projects in two years – Official

    The Bauchi State Office of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) says it has executed projects, worth N1.2 billion, across the state within the last two years.

    Hajiya Fatimah Halilu, the state Director-General of the agency, said this in Bauchi on Friday, while briefing journalists on the achievements of the agency in the last two years.

    She said that the projects, which included health, water and environmental schemes, were executed under the 2015 Conditional Grant Scheme (CGS) of the agency.

    Halilu, who noted that the projects were jointly funded by the federal and state governments, said that the two tiers of government contributed N6 million each.

    She said that 19 primary health centres, staff quarters and VIP toilets were constructed in various locations across the state during the period.

    “We also drilled 33 solar-powered boreholes, 57 hand-pumped boreholes, supplied six ambulances and equipped 19 primary health centres, which were constructed across the state.

    “In spite of challenges, most of the projects have been completed and ready for inauguration, while a few are nearing completion.

    “We are awaiting executive approval from Gov. Muhammed Abubakar (of Bauchi State) to start the inauguration of the projects,” she said.

    Halilu said that the state SDGs Office, in conjunction with Google Nigeria Ltd., had trained 2,340 unemployed youths in digital applications.

    She said that the beneficiaries were expected to set up their own enterprises as digital marketing experts, as part of efforts to achieve the targets of SDGs in the country.

    She said that the governor paid N4.68 million as allowances to the beneficiaries, in addition to the stipend which the SDGs Office gave them during the training.

    Besides, Halilu said that the SDGs Office organised various capacity building workshops for its workers to enhance their service deliver.

    She said that management staff of the agency had undertaken advocacy and public sensitisation visits to all the six emirate councils in the state.

    She said that it had placed advertisements in the print and electronic media to further enlighten the citizens on the specific goals of the SDGs.

  • Police widows beg for jobs

    Police widows beg for jobs

    Some wives and children of policemen killed by Boko Haram insurgents, yesterday appealed to the government and the police to provide them with vocational training and jobs.

    The widows and other members of their families made the appeal in Kaduna during the distribution of bags of rice, vegetable oil and a cow by the Inspector General of Police, Mr. Muhammed Abubakar.

    Margaret Ishaya, widow of one of the deceased officers, said she and her colleagues were ready to accept job as cleaners.

    She said that it would go a long way in fending for their families and appealed to the police authorities to consider them during recruitment.

    The wife of late Inspector Sunday Badeh, who died in the process of detonating a bomb, urged the police to fast track the payment of benefits to the affected families.

    Mrs. Badeh, however, commended the support from the police authorities following the demise of her husband.

    Also speaking, the widow of Sgt. Yakubu Musa, who was killed on April 18, 2012 at Rigasa said some of them needed jobs to have a steady income.

    The IG assured the widows and other families of deceased officers of the Police continuous support for them.

    Abubakar, represented by the Commissioner of Welfare, Mr. Usman Yakubu, said the distribution of food items was aimed at alleviating the hardship the families of the deceased officers were facing.

    He said that the police have so far distributed food items to families of deceased and injured officers affected by the insurgency in 10 states.

    “Though they have paid the supreme price so that Nigeria and Nigerians can live in peace you will continue to be regarded as active members of the Nigeria police family,” he said.

     

    The Kaduna State Commissioner of Police, Mr. Olufemi Adenaike, said that the command recently distributed N10, 000 each to families of the 29 policemen killed between 2011 and 2013.

    Adenaike said that the effort was aimed at providing them with succour during the yuletide and New Year.

  • Reps back Senate on Maina’s sack

    Reps back Senate on Maina’s sack

    he House of Representatives yesterday backed the Senate in its call for the sack of the Chairman of the Pension Reform Task Team (PRTT) Abdulrasheed Maina.

    The House ordered the Inspector-General of Police, Alhaji Mohammed Abubakar, to appear before the Committee on Police Affairs to give reasons why he did not act on the warrant issued by the Senate.

    The lawmakers defied picketing by over a thousand sacked National Identity Card Management Commission ( NIMC) to attend plenary yesterday.

    The Senate on February 13 passed resolutions requesting that Maina be dismissed from the public service and that he should be disengaged from the acts relating to the public.

    The posture of the House yesterday was surprisingly at variance with an earlier position of its Committee on Pension, headed by Ibrahim Bawa Kamba, which at the onset of the face-off between the Senate and Maina flayed the Senate report and urged President Goodluck Jonathan to give Maina more protection to carry out the pension reforms in MDAs and parastatals.

    The resolution of the House yesterday was sequel to the adoption of the prayer of a motion moved under Matters of Urgent National Importance, by the Chairman of the House Committee on Rules and Business, Albert Sam-Tsokwa.

    Tsokwa, while presenting the motion, said it sought the concurrence with the earlier resolution of the Senate, which sought the dismissal of Maina.

    “Maina has been having a running battle with the Senate on the issue of pension. The committee had summoned Maina to appear several times, but he refused,” the lawmaker said, adding that there is need to present a united front to uphold the integrity of the parliament.

    “It is a constitutional responsibility that the resolutions that should carry the weigt of the law should be agreed to by the two chambers,” he added.

    According to him, the step taken by the House would send a strong signal to the executive arm of the government to stop impunity and disregard for due process in the conduct of government business.

    The Minority Leader of the House, Femi Gbajabiamila (ACN-Lagos), while supporting the motion, noted that the House was not transgressing on the powers of the executive by requesting the sack of Maina, but asking it to act.

    “A constitution that has no efficacy is no law. It’s a useless provision. There are provisions here that give us the power to recommend as in Section 5 of the constitution,” he said.

    Another member, Abike Dabiri-Erewa (ACN-Lagos), said there was no need to beg the executive to do its job and that the joint resolution should send a message to those allegedly protecting Maina.

    “It’s only in this country that such things can happen. Even if he’s not guilty, he must show up to answer the allegations against him. The resolution has the force of law and must we beg the executive to do its job? If Maina is not found, the Head of Service must lose his job.”

    A lawmaker, Bitrus Kaze, expressed surprise that “it has to take a resolution of the National Assembly for a person to be disciplined and the executive arm has no interest in doing such. It shows the National Assembly can’t bite.”

    Samson Osagie (ACN-Edo) alleged that the executive arm of government had continued to ignore the resolutions of the National Assembly even when the workers of the affected organisations had protested against their management

    Other members like Forte Dike (PDP- Anambra) and Aminu Suleiman (PDP-Kano) agreed that the legislature was constitutionally empowered to do what it was doing concerning Maina since he was being protected and shielded from arrest by people in high places.

  • ACN chieftain decries alleged security threat

    A chieftain of Ondo State Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) and Special Adviser to Osun State Governor on Environmental Matters, Mr Bola Ilori, yesterday alleged that some politicians planned to cause security breaches in the October 20 governorship election in Ondo State.

    Ilori noted that there would be an election when there is peace.

    He urged the Inspector-General of Police (IGP), Muhammed Abubakar, to ensure that the police perform their duty without bias.

    The politician told reporters in Osogbo, the Osun State capital, that the spate of political violence in Ondo State was threatening the preparation for a peaceful election.

    According to him, if the political unrest continues, victims of the violence might resort to self-defense and aggravate tension in the state.

    Ilori said it has become imperative for security agencies to be proactive ahead of the poll, following incessant attacks on ACN members by suspected Labour Party (LP) thugs.