The Nation Newspaper

Tag: PRESIDENCY

  • IDPs: Shettima visits Aso Rock

    IDPs: Shettima visits Aso Rock

    The Presidency on Wednesday summoned the Borno State Governor, Kashim Shettima, over reported deaths and malnutrition among children at Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) camps in the state.

    Doctors Without Borders- (Médecins Sans Frontières), an international humanitarian aid organization had last week released a statement and photographs, stating that about 24,000 IDPs were in dire health situation with at least 30 people, mostly children dying every day.

    President Muhammadu Buhari, according to sources, was angry over the report despite billions of naira being spent by the different levels of government and donor agencies and philanthropists on the IDPs.

    Shettima was sighted coming out from the office of the Chief of Staff, Abba Kyari, at the Presidential Villa.

    When approached by journalists for comments on the allegations and why he was at the seat of power, the governor declined comments, saying it was a private visit.

     

  • Presidency leaves DHQ to determine Army chief’s fate

    Presidency leaves DHQ to determine Army chief’s fate

    Following outcry over $1.5million properties, the Presidency has left the Defence Headquarters to determine the fate of the Chief of Army Staff, Lt. General Tukur Buratai.

    But PRNigeria,  military under-cover media machinery, yesterday said the government has investigated and cleared the Chief of Army Staff, Lt. General Tukur Buratai over his assets and military acquisitions.

    Although the platform was silent on whether it was the Ministry of Defence or the DHQ that cleared Buratai, it said the nature of his offshore investments has been shown to be based on capital market principles of shareholding.

    Buratai has been under heat for allegedly buying two properties in the United Arab Emirates(UAE).

    The said properties are allegedly owned by the Chief of Army Staff and his two wives.

    A top source, who spoke in confidence, said: “The Presidency has asked the Defence Headquarters to handle issues on some assets traced to Lt.Gen. Buratai and his wives in the UAE.

    “The same DHQ will determine his fate on whether or not he has violated any law and if he has to be sanctioned or not.

    “Whatever the DHQ’s findings will be forwarded to the Commander-In-Chief accordingly.  Let the military conduct its findings in line with its rules and regulations.”

    But according to PRNigeria, the government has looked into the allegations against Buratai and cleared him of any fraudulent deal.

    It said the discreet probe of Buratai indicated that he and his wives only bought shares in some companies instead of wholly owning the properties

    The PRNigeria said: “The capital market principle that governed the properties in issue, as it was found by investigators, was akin to having shares in companies instead of wholly owning the properties.

    “The government, after investigating a recent media report over the acquisition of properties in Dubai, United Arab Emirates (UAE) by General Buratai, discovered that he and his wives invested as “shareholders” like many other persons in the properties mentioned in the publications and were not the sole owners.”

     

  • Presidency: Fayose is confused, needs prayers

    Presidency: Fayose is confused, needs prayers

    •‘He should produce evidence linking Buhari’s wife to U.S. congressman’

    THE Presidency yesterday faulted an attempt by Ekiti State Governor Ayo Fayose to link President Muhammadu Buhari’s wife, Aisha, to United States (U.S.) Congressman William Jefferson’s bribery scandal.

    Jefferson was convicted for the offence in 2009.

    According to a statement by the Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Malam Garba Shehu, Fayose’s position was shameless and blatant distortion of facts.

    He said the Presidency would ordinarily have ignored Fayose as he “is a man childishly obsessed with the desire to grab the headlines and insulting people at will because of his incurably boorish instincts”.

    But the Presidency, he said, decided to react on the issue in order not to allow Fayose mislead innocent Nigerians.

    He added that ignoring the governor risked giving traction and credibility to outright and brazen falsehoods inconsistent with the status of anybody that calls himself a governor or leader.

    The presidential aide explained that Mrs. Aisha Buhari had no direct, indirect or the remotest connection with William Jefferson’s corruption scandal in the U.S.

    He challenged Fayose to tell Nigerians if the so-called Aisha, whose pictures he proudly, but ignorantly shared, was the same Aisha married to President Muhammadu Buhari, or if the Aisha of his idle imagination had any relationship by blood or any relationship in whatever form with Buhari’s wife.

    He urged the governor to produce evidence from the records of investigation and subsequent trial of Jefferson to prove that the president’s wife was in anyway linked to that scandal.

    The presidential aide asked Fayose to show proof when and where Mrs. Buhari was invited for interrogation in connection with the Congressman’s bribery scandal, let alone indicted for a crime locally or abroad.

    Shehu explained that common names alone were not enough to automatically link innocent people to crimes or scandals, especially in an era of identity thieves.

    He said free speech did not entitle Fayose to falsely accuse innocent people of crimes they knew nothing about.

    He said Mrs. Buhari was entitled to protect her reputation from being recklessly maligned, stressing that political opposition was not a licence to attack people’s reputation brazenly without legal consequences.

  • Presidency threatens to sue lawyer over Buhari’s certificate

    The Presidency has condemned the attempts by a lawyer, Mr. Nnamdi Nwokocha, to prejudice public opinion against President Muhammadu Buhari over his alleged lack of certificate by declaring the President guilty on the pages of newspapers.

    Reacting to Nwokocha’s media interviews, the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Malam Garba Shehu, said it was unfair for a lawyer, who is a litigant to a case in court, to hijack the power of a judge by declaring the President guilty of what he is accused of.

    The presidential aide noted that newspaper pages were not the alternatives to the courts where a lawyer could declare anybody guilty of any allegation, especially when the court had not formally given a judgment on the matter before it.

    “The interview splashed on pages 56 and 57 of ThisDay on Saturday, June 11t, breaches a lawyer’s ethical code. We hope that the court and the Nigeria Bar Association (NBA) will take notice of this,” Shehu said.

    According to him, any lawyer who sincerely believes in judicial process and the rights of other parties to a case will not engage in an inappropriate and unprofessional practice of trial by media.

    Shehu said it was appalling that Nwokocha openly declared the President guilty, when the court had not made same declaration.

    The presidential aide noted that gag orders emerged in the United States of America (U.S.A) because of lawyers’ inappropriate conduct of trying and convicting people on the pages of newspapers or the court of public opinion.

    He said free speech was not synonymous with recklessness and wanton abuse of the rights of other parties in a court case.

    Shehu said: “The litigant’s unabashed claim that he was a card-carrying member of the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), which lost power in the last election, clearly indicates a scheme that seeks power by circumventing the democratic process of elections.”

    The presidential aide noted that if Nwokocha failed to stop his abuse of free speech, the President’s competent team of lawyers would use the law in dealing with his unethical actions.

    He added that no-one should be a litigant and be a judge at the same time.

  • Presidency: Buhari not ill

    Presidency: Buhari not ill

    ‘President not incapacitated’

    the Presidency yesterday maintained that President Muhammadu Buhari is not incapacitated by his ear infection from carrying out his functions.

    The Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Femi Adesina, who spoke with reporters at the Presidential Wing of the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja as the President was leaving for London, said it was wrong to refer to the “ear infection” as “illness”.

    According to him, there is nothing wrong for a President to take 15 days rest in one year in office.

    He said: “The buzz going round town is that the President is ‘ill’, but ‘ill’ will be a misnomer, it should not be the right word to use.

    “The President is going for a 10-day rest and during that period he will see specialists who will look at his ear because he has been treating that ear locally for sometime.

    “Nigerian physicians have looked at it and now they have said you are going to UK, now that you will be there let specialists look at the ear. They have treated it locally, so it is not a question of whether the President is ill. If he is ill, it presupposes that there are certain things that he cannot do.

    “Till the very last minute that he is traveling, the President performed the duties and functions of his office as the President.

    “So illness is not the issue, but as a human being yes he can rest. He has been President for one full year; you know that in February he took five days leave; he is taking another 10 days now; that means 15 days leave in one year.

    “You and I take more than that, so it is natural that the President as a human being is taking 10 days rest but he is not ill.”

    He urged Nigerians to show goodwill and patriotism, pray and wish the President well.

    “Things about health, life and death are in the hands of God, but I believe that all is well with out President and God will take care of him and take care of the country,” Adesina said.

    Asked of his message to Nigerians, President Buhari said: “I have already told Nigerians that I am going for 10 days to get my ear checked.”

    Replying to the question on how to calm the tension that will follow a President falling sick, Buhari fired back: “Is there anybody that doesn’t fall sick?”

    On whether he has informed the National Assembly as required by the law, he said: “The National Assembly knows; they have been formally informed.”

    By informing the National Assembly, Section 145 (1) of the 1999 Constitution allows Vice President Yemi Osinbajo to be Acting President.

  • Presidency: Buhari is not sick

    Presidency: Buhari is not sick

    The Presidency yesterday denied an online report claiming that President Muhammadu Buhari was ill and treating an ear infection.

    Speaking on telephone with our correspondent, the Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Femi Adesina, dismissed the report as false.

    The President, Adesina said, was fine and discharging his duties as President of Nigeria.

    “It is not true. It is the imagination of the writer. The President is fine and has been performing his duties.”

    The report claimed that the President was ill with  infection in his left ear, known as Meniere Disease, and that the President was being treated at the Presidential Villa by his personal physician and other experts from the State House Clinic.

    The website also claimed that the illness has reduced the President’s outings in the last one week.

     

  • CAN presidency: More intrigues, permutations trail postponement

    CAN presidency: More intrigues, permutations trail postponement

    Forces within the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) have returned to the drawing block following the postponement of the presidential election of the body.

    Members of the National Executive Council (NEC) of the apex Christian at an emergency meeting last Tuesday in Abuja moved the election slated for May 17-19 to June 14-15.

    The postponement, according to investigations, was to douse tension due to the inability of the TEKAN/ECWA bloc to produce a candidate for the election.

    The development has threatened to tear the body apart with some northern Christians vowing to break away from the umbrella body should Rev. Dr Jeremiah Gado, their preferred candidate from the bloc, prevented from standing election.

    The embattled Gado, who is also the President of Evangelical Church Winning All (ECWA), was technically nullified from the election because of wrangling in the bloc.

    The bloc leader, Dr Emmanuel Dziggau, claimed he was about sending Gado’s nomination when a counter letter was received from the Secretary of the bloc contesting the exercise.

    Besides, he wondered why Gado was in a hurry to be nominated when he (Dziggau) and two other leaders of the bloc were in the den of kidnappers.

    The non-resolution of the crisis left only Elder Professor Joseph Otubu of the Organisation of African Instituted Churches (OAIC) and Rev Dr Supo Ayokunle of the Christian Council of Nigeria (CCN) in the presidential race.

    But the Electoral College headed by Dr Williams Okoye, which was constitutionally required to prune candidates down to two and recommend them to NEC for election, said it will not proceed with the exercise until the TEKAN/ECWA crisis was resolved.

    The hard stance led to some serious protests in CAN with some church leaders rooting for the disbandment of the College on the basis that it had overstepped its bound.

    At the emergency meeting last Tuesday, it was gathered that NEC members expressed serious regrets over how the transitional programme had been politicised.

    It was learnt that the leaders vowed to fight off internal and external attempts to manipulate the election following allegations that some presidential aides were interested in the exercise.

    CAN, according to them, is free from government interference and must remain an independent umbrella body for Christians.

    Sources hinted that members of the Electoral College were chided for insisting the TEKAN/ECWA bloc must present a candidate, a development many church leaders said was overbearing.

    But it was gathered that reasons prevailed when some pleaded that the bloc be allowed to sort out the crisis in the interest of fairness.

    A source at the meeting hinted: “Some were angry but at the end we felt it was better to give them a final opportunity to sort themselves out.”

    Based on this, the bloc was granted a two-week latitude to conduct a fresh primary for the presidential contest.

    But investigations revealed that the primary may be scuttled again following the determination of some forces to stop Gado at all costs.

    The TEKAN element in the bloc has produced a new candidate who is expected to give Gado, believed to be backed by some forces in Aso Rock, a tough run.

    Besides, it is an open secret that there is no love lost between Gado and Dziggau.

    Also, Gado is expected to face stiff opposition from ECWA, which produced the current National Secretary, Rev Dr Musa Asake.

    The emergence of Gado will mean that Asake has to give up his second term ambition in the National Secretariat of CAN.

    Asake, who was former General Secretary of ECWA, has large followership in the church and has been selling the idea that it is better for ECWA to stick to certainty as against pursing uncertainty (presidency).

    Also, Gado is seriously battling with perception problem following insinuations that he is backed by the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Engineer Babachir David Lawal, who is a pastor in the church.

    The tag that the ECWA president is a government candidate is causing many leaders in CAN to have a harder look at him.

    But his supporters are optimistic he will pull through the opposition.

    One of them told our correspondent: “Gado will scale through. That I can assure you. They know he has all it takes and that is why they want to stop him at all costs.”

    It was gathered that his camp has devised strategies to reach out to influential Christian leaders for support.

    But first he has to win the primary to stand a chance of having a shot at the CAN presidency.

    On his part, Ayokunle, who is President of the Nigerian Baptist Convention (NBC), is backing that he will benefit from the crisis in the TEKAN\ECWA.

    Should Gado’s ambition be scuttled at the primary level, the race will be between Otubu and Ayokunle.

    Ayokunle’s backers told our correspondent that he will be on the standby to see how the crisis goes.

    The Baptist Convention President was initially thought to be in the race to retain his seat as Vice President of the body.

    But he started showing serious interests some two weeks ago, fuelling speculations that he could be the candidate of the outgoing executives.

    But many believe it is not the turn of CCN to produce the next CAN president.

    Archbishop Peter Akinola of Church of Nigeria Anglican Communion handed over to the current occupant, Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor.

    The OAIC and TEKAN/ECWA are the only blocs yet to produce the president of the organisation.

    Otubu, the General Evangelist of Motailatu Church Cherubim and Seraphim Worldwide (MCCSW), won a keenly contested primary with Archbishop Daniel Okoh, some weeks back.

    The retired gynecologist is seen as a cleric with a professional background, an attribute many say the Christian body needs for now.

    His supporters said he will give CAN the much-needed facelift, if elected.

    Come July 19-20, one of these three candidates will take over from Oritsejafor whose tenure had been marred by many controversies.

  • Our goal is to regain Presidency in 2019 – Dickson

    Our goal is to regain Presidency in 2019 – Dickson

    The Governor of Bayelsa State, Mr. Seriake Dickson, has said that his party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) was restrategising to regain control of the Federal Government in 2019.

    In his remarks at the party’s state congress in Yenagoa, the governor called on members of the PDP nationwide to work hard at getting back power at the national level.

    Dickson in a statement signed by his Chief Press Secretary (CPS), Daniel Iworiso-Markson, on Wednesday, asked the state chapter of the party to sustain the existing unity in the state.

    He congratulated the electoral panel for the successful conduct of the congresses from the ward to the state level.

    Dickson said that, in the last four years, his government has worked hard to reposition the state and its political culture.

    The governor spoke amidst crumbling economy of the state arising from backlog of unpaid salaries of all categories of workers in the state.

    He acknowledged that the task ahead of the party leadership was enormous and urged them to collaborate with other stakeholders in the South-South and across the country towards winning the general elections in 2019.

    Dickson also expressed his optimism over victory at the Governorship Election Petition Tribunal.

    In his remarks, the Chairman of the Election Committee from the national secretariat of the party, Abuja, Mr. Edwin Anayo described the congresses in Bayelsa as the most peaceful and transparent in the country.

    The new State PDP officials elected are, Mr. Cleopas Mose (Chairman), Ebi Sunny-Goli (Deputy Chairman), Keku Godspower (Secretary), Gbalipre Turner (Treasurer) and Ebi Fafi (Financial Secretary).

    Others are Osom Makbere (Publicity Secretary), Luke Demeoru (Organising Secretary), Amalala Atua (Youth Leader), Perekeme Richard (Legal Adviser), Numuomikari Walte (State Auditor) and Eunice Akene (Women Leader).

  • Herdsmen attacks: Jukun accuse Presidency, Arewa of silence

    The Jukun people in Taraba State have bemoaned what they called the “graveyard silence and inaction” of the presidency, Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF) and Northern Governors’ Forum (NGF) over their plight in the Fulani herdsmen-farmers’ crises.

    The people, through the Jukun Development Association of Nigeria (JDAN), highlighted the atrocities being allegedly committed daily by Fulani herdsmen in Southern and Central Taraba State and much of the states in North central Nigeria, saying: “As we speak, hundreds of thousands of cows are occupying destroyed homes and farmlands across the region making sure that indigenous population never return to their homeland again.”

    At a press conference in Lagos which was addressed by the association President, Bako Benjamin, the Jukun people said despite all these, “We and the entire people of Jukun have waited patiently for strong words and actions from the presidency.

    “But the silence is becoming disturbing and dangerous, more disturbing is the graveyard silence of our  own Arewa Consultative Forum and Northern Governors Forum who have chosen to look the other way as fellow Northerners are been butchered and displaced from their ancestral homes and been replaced by new Fulani Herdsmen population.”

    Benjamin therefore stated that: “On behalf of the Jukun People all over the world and the traumatized Christian minority tribes in the North Central Nigeria, we call on the state and federal government of Nigeria to make a public pronouncement concerning these killings and displacements immediately to demonstrate concern and reassurance, otherwise the people of these regions will have no choice than to take drastic measures to defend themselves and protect their ancestral homes.

    “We once again call on the Taraba State and federal government to immediately send security agents to forcefully send packing all Fulani herdsmen illegally occupying farming communities and arrest the perpetrators of these genocides including village heads and their collaborators.”

    The association noted that another “disturbing aspect of this discriminatory bloodbath” is that the herdsmen always attribute “their wanton massacre to cattle rustling as the motives for the wanton killings, but facts point to Jigawa, Kebbi and Zamfara states as the headquarters of cattle rustling in Nigeria.

    “But curiously, Nigerians have never heard of any killing, burning of human beings, destruction of homes and farmlands and permanent armed occupation by Fulani herdsmen in farming communities in those areas,” JDAN stated, adding,

    “We want to make it abundantly clear to everyone today that this medieval-style territorial expansion and genocides in this 21st century is capable of triggering another round of Nigeria’s second civil war if not checked immediately by the authorities.

    President Muhammadu Buhari has reacted to the violence by directing the security agencies to take all necessary action to stop the carnage.

    Apart from condemning the killings, the president has also said that stopping the attacks is a priority, and that security agencies should bring the attackers to justice.

  • Ita-Giwa hails Presidency, National Assembly on budget

    •Ex-presidential aide urges speedy assent

    A former Presidential Adviser on National Assembly Matters, Senator Florence Ita-Giwa, has hailed the meeting between President Muhammadu Buhari and the leadership of the National Assembly to resolve the impasse on this year’s appropriation bill.

    In a statement at the weekend in Lagos, Ita-Giwa urged the Presidency to assent to it speedily so that meaningful development could take place.

    She said in a democracy, there were bound to be misunderstanding and disputes, adding that when properly managed, such differences would contribute to a healthy rivalry between the two arms.

    According to her, sitting together to resolve the grey areas is a welcome development.

    Ita-Giwa said when the President assents to it, the ministries and corporations should implement the budget on a large scale.

    She said there should be cordiality and collaboration among the three arms of government, despite the fact that the rule of law provides for separation of powers to prevent abuse and arbitrariness.

    The former adviser recalled that during her stints at the National Assembly under two former successful presidents, she mediated well between the Executive and the Legislature on budgets and other matters.

    She said the successes she recorded were the products of the cordial relationship she established and sustained with the principal officers of the National Assembly.