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Tag: President Muhamadu Buhari

  • APC urges Nigerians to keep faith with Buhari

    The All Progressives Congress (APC) has called on Nigerians to keep faith with the President Muhamadu Buhari-led administration, saying it is on a rescue mission.

    Malam Lanre Issa-Onilu, APC National Publicity Secretary made the call at a news conference on Tuesday in Abuja.

    “As the ruling party on a rescue mission, we call on all well-meaning people of Nigeria to keep the faith with the administration.

    “The graphs are on the positive upward swing, Buhari is laying a solid foundation for a prosperous future, we must endure and be steadfast.

    “We have already turned the corner, leaving behind the years of the locusts under the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

    “We are headed towards a future that guarantees stability, economic buoyancy, world class infrastructure, reward for hard work and for honesty, and the security of our nation,” he said.

    He added: “The PDP remains our collective national vomit which we must never go back to.’’

    He, however, added that the year 2018 was significant to the APC for many reasons as it witnessed shameful attempt by political predators to launch themselves back into reckoning.

    This, he said, was especially so as those who were roundly rejected by Nigerians in 2015 for their grievous crimes of corruption, impunity, and maladministration struggled to rise up from the dungeon the people had dumped them.

    “They were fierce and reckless in their wicked attempt to return to power to continue their primitive appropriation of our commonwealth for themselves and their immediate family.

    “The actions from these elements who have raped our nation for close to two decades were disruptive to the course of progress, being vigorously pursued by the Buhari-led administration,” he said.

    Issa-Onilu added that 2018 particularly was a tough year for the APC Government as it had to confront the “monsters” who had found their way into the party during the merger in 2014.

    He further added that the said monsters pretended to have cured themselves of their insatiable greed and callous selfish disposition while joining the APC.

    He stressed that enemies of the country, however, found out that the beats had changed and their strenuous efforts to steer the APC administration towards their ignominious ways, as they practised under PDP, had become impossible under Buhari.

    He added that predictably, the forces of evil finally gravitated towards themselves and were now ensconced in their wicked nest, called the PDP.

    “Unfortunately, they did a lot of damage to our determined efforts in the last three and half years, by constituting themselves into a stumbling-block,” the APC spokesman said.

    This, he said, they did using their vantage position in government in conjunction with their associates outside government.

    He added that their associates were deploying ill-gotten wealth to pervert justice, create a state of insecurity, propagate falsehood and promote dissent.

    Issa-Onilu said it was a callous strategy design to pull the wool over the eyes of Nigerians.

    He maintained that as frustrating as their activities were in 2018, they met more than their match in Buhari, adding that their Dubai-made strategy collapsed like a pack of cards.

    He alleged that the PDP, led by its presidential candidate, Abubakar Atiku paid huge sums of money to some foreign con men in Dubai who posed as strategists.

    Their job Issa-Onilu said was to spurn daily fake news and make spurious and unsubstantiated allegations against Buhari, his family members, the Vice President, and APC National Chairman.

    He said they were also paid to make allegations against notable government officials, and public institutions to deceive Nigerians.

    “The reality has dawned on the fortune seekers in PDP that it is not possible to tag a label of corruption on Buhari as a de-marketing strategy.

    “Neither is it possible to campaign based on issues of governance as the achievements of this administration have shown.

    “It is obvious that the PDP has found itself in a fix, many in the leadership of the main opposition party are finding it difficult to identify with a character like Atiku,” he said.

    Issa-Onilu said it was worthy of note that a few of the PDP leaders, with some residual credibility, were battling with their conscience.

    This, he said, was especially so as they were increasingly becoming uncomfortable with the level of immorality that underlines the PDP’s politics.

    The APC spokesman said that anyone with a modicum of decency would not be proud of the reputation of PDP, noting that its campaign had failed to present any programme to Nigerians.

    He added that the PDP campaign had become a stillborn, saying that like a lion, it roared, but it didn’t last.

    “It has joyfully ended up as the bleating of a goat,” Issa-Onilu said.

    He stressed that the PDP had nothing to offer Nigerians and had no reason to return to power, adding that its return to power would amount to returning Nigeria to the past.

    “The past when our collective wealth was being stolen by a few wicked elites, the past when monies meant for the development of our economy were being pocketed.

    “The past when no road, no railway, and no power plant was ever completed, even though huge sums of money were being allocated and released every year.

    “The past when labour was stripped of dignity; when the harder you worked, the poorer you became.

    “The past when people with no defined business raked in billions of dollars from our economy, acquiring mansions as if they were buying shoes they never had while growing up,” he said.

    He recalled that while the PDP was in government, the country was a butt of a joke among the comity of nations and dubious characters were acquiring fleet of private jets.

    He added that it was heart-warming to see the PDP campaign crash-land before it reached any threatening altitude.

    Issa-Onilu said it has become apparent that PDP was technically out of the race before the election start.

    This, the APC spokesman said, was so considering the level of disdain and apathy being demonstrated by the voters across the country towards the party.(NAN)

  • Dotun is a ‘Lazy Nigerian Youth’

    Cool FM OAP, Oladotun Ojuolape Kayode, better known as Do2dTun, has hinted that he is a Lazy Nigerian Youth. This is coming after the President of Nigeria, President Muhamadu Buhari declared that majority of Nigerian youths are lazy and depend on the government to do everything for them.

    During a session at the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in London, President Buhari said; “Our population is estimated conservatively to be 180 million. More than 60 percent of the population is below the age of 30. A lot of them haven’t been to school and they are claiming that Nigeria is an oil producing country, therefore they should sit and do nothing and get housing, healthcare and education free.”

    This sparked a reaction among Nigerians online, most of whom took to Twitter to list out how they have to do two or three jobs to survive the challenges they face. Using the hashtag #LazyNigerianYouths, young Nigerians expressed displeasure at the president’s statement.

    However, on a lighter note, Dotun posted a photograph on himself sitting idly in a studio. He captioned it, ‘I am kuku not doing anything #LazyNigerianYouths.”

  • Concerns as weeds overtake Cross River Superhighway

    Concerns as weeds overtake Cross River Superhighway

    It was all excitement, high hopes and pomp when on towards the end of 2015 President Muhamadu Buhari visited Cross River State, the first state he visited after been sworn in as president, to flag off the construction of the 274km Superhighway, the flagship of Governor Ben Ayade’s signature projects.

    President Muhammadu Buhari, at a colourful and well-attended ceremony in Obung Village in Akamkpa local government area where the flagging off was carried out, expressed the commitment of the Federal Government to the signature projects of Cross River State governor, Prof Ben Ayade.

    “That I am here in person underscores the importance the Federal Government attaches to this. It is indeed a significant milestone in the economic and policy of the governor. This is the first ground breaking under my presidency. I commend Ayade and his team for their foresight in conceptualising this project. I want to assure you of the commitment of the Federal Government to ensure the completion of the project. I promise I will come back to commission it. I urge the governor to ensure work is done on it quickly,” Buhari had said.

    The governor had said the road would serve as an evacuation corridor for the new deep seaport in Bakassi, another signature project of his. The governor said some features of the road, which he described as digital, would include broadband Internet connectivity, speed cameras and ambulatory services.

    The superhighway, which was to run from the southernmost part of the state in Bakassi, to the northernmost part in Obudu, was estimated at about N800 billion.

    Governor Ben Ayade always passionate when he talked about the project, which he believes would immensely improve the economic life of the state had promised the project would be completed in his first term in office, despite how unlikely it seemed.

    Speaking at a thanksgiving Mass at the St Theresa The Little Flower Parish, in his hometown in Obudu local government area, shortly after he resumed office, Ayade had assured that the superhighway will be completed in his first term.

    His words, “If after four years I have not achieved the superhighway I promised then I am not Ayade. I am going to shock the country. I promised that I will deliver. I will not fail the people. I will work hard to wipe out poverty in the state. I promised God I will do everything possible to help my people. That is what I owe God.”

    He had vowed to shock Nigerians by achieving set goals, which many believe are unattainable.  The governor’s passion and vigour gave many a glimmer of optimism that despite the odds, his ambitions may have been attainable, thereby translating for the overall good of all.

    However with about a year to the end of this administration, such feelings of positivism have given way to those of despondency and frustrations, as the project appears to have been abandoned.

    A visit to the site in Obung Village, where the flag off for the project was carried out, gave the indication that the project may have been forgotten, with weed growing wildly everywhere. It was observed that the path for the highway which was cleared then had been overgrown and there was no machinery in site to give the impression, anything was being done.

    Although the state government had faced various obstacles ranging of issues of injury to the environment to issues of indiscriminate destruction of property and farms of the people without compensation, illegal logging of wood, communities and NGOs protesting, among others, the government has continuously insisted that it has overcome these challenges and was forging ahead with the project.

    But an in indigene of the Obung Community, Mr Collins Njar, who spoke with our reporter said, “They came here, cleared our lands and farms and took our names to pay claims and damages, but since then in 2015 we have not heard from them or even seen them here again. The community did not stop them from doing the road. In fact the community was very happy for them to work the road, but until now they have not started anything. Since after the day President Buhari came here, we have not seen any of them again. You can see over there is where the road should have passed, but now it is just grass everywhere. The bulldozed it before for some kilometres but after that flag off, they have abandoned it. They left after about a week, they just packed their equipment and disappeared.

    “So for those whose farms were destroyed, it has affected them negatively. They have to look for somewhere else to do their farms and no one has even answered them. They collected their names, phone numbers and other details for them to get their claims, but since then till now, nothing. The community was very happy they would experience Superhighway passing through their community, but now they have lost from both sides. There is no superhighway and they have lost their source of livelihood, which are their farms. It really is not fair on the people and something should be done about it.”

    With the state government receiving a conditional Environment Impact Assessment approval by the Federal Government to carry on with the project, many now question not just the possibility of the project, but the sincerity that should go with it.

    Many wonder, despite the governor’s various assurances that funds would not be a problem to the actualisation of the problem, how a state which earns roughly N2 to N3 billion with virtually no internally generated revenue would, among a myriad of other commitments, successfully complete a project that would gulp almost a trillion naira.

    Presenting a budget proposal of N1.3 trillion to the House of Assembly for the 2018 fiscal year recently tagged “Budget of Kinetic Crystallization” to the State House of Assembly, Ayade, said the size of the budget is meant to create room for the warehousing of expected investors’ fund now that the actual construction of key projects of the administration such as the Bakassi Deep Seaport and the 274km superhighway has commenced.

    The governor in every fora where he mentions the project still expresses confidence about its actualisation.

    However it appears a majority of Cross Riverians at this point no longer share such optimism with the situation of things on ground.

    “The only thing that would make us believe otherwise is if we see the so-much-talked-about road functional right before our eyes. Else, everything else is just talk and no action. To be honest, a majority of us don’t even believe in this road, and the onus is right now on the governor to prove us wrong,” Mr Etim Effanga, a resident of Calabar said to The Nation.

     

  • Biafra: Groups fault US lawyer’s calls to investigate Buhari, Buratai

    Biafra: Groups fault US lawyer’s calls to investigate Buhari, Buratai

    The National Committee of Yoruba Youth (NCYY), the Southeast Professionals in Diaspora and the Coalition of Civil Society Groups against Terrorism in Nigeria, has berated a United States constitutional lawyer, Bruce Fein, over his calls that the United Nations should refer President Muhamadu Buhari and Chief of Army Staff, Lt.-General Tukur Buratai, to the International Criminal Court (ICC) for investigation in the on-going military operation against the Indegenous Peoples of Biafra (IPOB) in the South East.

    In an article published in HuffPost on Sunday, and other various insidious videos, Fein accused the military of carrying out a genocide against the Igbo people, He also made an unfounded and highly preposterous allegations of persecution of Christians in Nigeria.

    The groups, at a Press Conference in Lagos on Wednesday, described Fein’s call, as an attempt to blackmail President Buhari, and prevent the Nigerian Army, from carrying out its constitutionally guaranteed responsibility, of protecting Nigeria and Nigerians, against any form of Internal and external aggression, many of which Nigerians have been subjected to, as a result of the terrorist activities, of the Indigenous People of Biafra IPOB.

    Speaking on behalf of the groups, Comrade Oladimeji Odeyemi, wondered “why Mr. Fein and some foreign collaborators like the Amnesty International,  who have clearly shown bias towards  the Nigerian Nation,  most especially the Nigerian Army should been seen as encouraging the secessionist agitations of the IPOB.

    “They have even pretended not to understand the basic responsibilities of President Buhari and Nigerian Army, towards defending the territorial integrity of Nigeria, as a sovereign nation, that we are.

    “We believe every society would do what it needs to do to prevent individuals or a small group of people from creating scenarios that would endanger the rights of the majority. If the government finds it necessary to declare a group actively seeking and practising violence and terrorism while threatening the existence of the Country a ‘a Terrorist Group’ and proscribe it’s activities,  it is ingenious for some characters and their foreign collaborators to see a way to arm twist the government with legalese not to act when the security of the Country is what is at stake,” the group said, adding that every government must act in a manner that protects the majority.

    “We wonder if Fein and his collaborators wanted the Nigerian government to fold it’s arm and allow IPOB  and other terrorist organisational just to take over Nigeria. If that happens, God Forbid, this same characters would be the ones saying the Nigerian government has lost control,” it noted.

  • Buhari urged to dialogue directly with N/Delta militants

    Buhari urged to dialogue directly with N/Delta militants

    An Economist, Prof. Simon Momodu has urged President Muhamadu Buhari to directly dialogue with the Niger Delta militants as a way of ending oil installation vandalism.

    Momodu, a lecturer in the Rivers State University of Science and Technology made the call when speaking to newsmen in Port Harcourt on Wednesday.

    He said that having such direct interface with the militants in the region would be more effective than using representatives.

    According to him, various discussions about the region in the past have not yielded needed results because the `real people’ are left out.

    He said that the government had kept interfacing with the same people that had failed to accord the region effective representation in the past.

    “How can you be discussing with the same old leaders who are no longer trusted and expect to achieve results,’’ he said.

    The university teacher said that achieving peace and calm in the Niger Delta was crucial to ensure effective funding of the 2017 budget.

    “We are talking about the region that provides revenue for funding the budget, if the right environment is not provided, then revenue will not be generated.

    “The president needs to come down and talk with the people, you will be surprised at the result that will be realised,’’ he said.

    Speaking further on the budget, Momodu said that enough money was not allocated for education to tackle the decay and demands of the sector.

    He also stated that effective implementation of budgetary provisions remained crucial to ensuring better services for the people.

    “No matter how flowery a budget speech may look or sound, not to have it effectively implemented means that nothing will be achieved.

    “So government needs to do the needful to generate the needed money and ensure effective implementation of the budget in the interest of the people,’’ he said.

  • Buhari, AGF to court: Dismiss suit challenging arrest of judges

    Buhari, AGF to court: Dismiss suit challenging arrest of judges

    President Muhamadu Buhari, the Director General, Department of State Service (DSS), Lawal Daura and others have faulted a suit challenging the recent arrest of some judges by the DSS.

    The suit by a lawyer, Olukayode Ogungbeje, seeks to among others to restrain the Federal Government from taking further steps in connection with corruption allegations raised against the judges.

    Other defendants in the suit marked: FHC/ABJ/CS/809/16 are the Attorney General of the Federation (AGF), the Inspector General of Police (IGP) and the National Judicial Institute (NJC)

    In their notices of preliminary objection and counter affidavits to the suit, the defendants queried the competence of the suit and prayed the court to dismiss it for lacking in merit.

    Of the six defendants, the IGP and the NJC have not reacted to the case.

    In a joint preliminary objection by President Buhari and the AGF, filed by their lawyer, Chiesonu Okpoko, they argued that the plaintiff, who claimed to have filed the suit on behalf of the affected judges, lacked locus standi (legal right) to approach the court.

    They argued that there was no dispute between the plaintiff and the defendants to warrant his filing the suit.

    The President and the AGF added that “the applicant’s suit as constituted and conceived is a mere academic exercise and raises hypothetical issues”.

    They also argued that before the plaintiff could invoke the judicial powers of the court as enshrined in section 6(6) (b) of the 1999 constitution, he must show how his civil rights and obligations were affected or would be affected by the act complained of.

    In the notice of objection, the DSS and its DG asked the court to strike out suit for lack of jurisdiction.

    They argued that, “the applicant in this matter has no locus standi to institute this suit; and

    “That this court lacks jurisdiction to hear and determine this matter as the applicant in this suit lacks the legal capacity to institute the matter.”

    It a counter-affidavit filed with their objection, the DSS and its DG argued that should the court proceed to restrain then from further taking steps against the arrested judges, it would be tantamount to preventing the agency from performing its statutory duties.

    The counter-affidavit deposed to by a litigation officer at DSS, S. Azer, stated in part, “That granting this application is tantamount to preventing the respondents in this matter from exercising their statutory responsibilities.”

    Justice Gabriel Kolawole of the Federal High Court, Abuja has adjourned hearing of all applications and the substantive suit to December 14.

  • Buhari approves governing council, board for Ogoniland cleanup

    Buhari approves governing council, board for Ogoniland cleanup

    President Muhammadu Buhari has approved a 13-member Governing Council and 10-member Board of Trustees (BOT), for the cleanup of Ogoniland in Rivers.

    The Minister of Environment, Mrs. Amina Mohammed, announced this in statement signed by the Permanent Secretary in the ministry, Dr. Bukar Hassan, in Abuja, Saturday.

    The minister said the structures would ensure inclusiveness, accountability, transparency and sustainability of the exercise.

    Mohammed acknowledged the concerns raised by stakeholders on the perceived slow pace of the clean up, saying Nigerians have a right to voice their concerns.

    “We have responsibility to deliver. The launch was the first step in a 30-year journey. We continue to make strides toward the implementation,” the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) quoted the minister as saying in the statement.

    “We ask for patience as we lay solid foundations for the cleanup. The context is complex and stakeholders are diverse. All must be taken along”, Mohammed said.

    Accordig to her, Buhari remains steadfast in his conviction to see Ogoniland and other parts of the Niger Delta cleaned up.

    She said the ministry was working with the Ministries of Petroleum Resources, Niger Delta, NDDC and key stakeholders in implementing the UNEP report.

    The minister said the exercise was a collective responsibility and urged all the Niger Delta communities, especially the Ogonis, to support the remediation and restoration efforts of government.

    The UN report estimated that the cleanup of Ogoniland could take up to 30 years with the initial remediation taking five years and the restoration another 25 years.

    President Buhari inaugurated the clean up on June 2 at Bodo in Gokana Local Government Area of Rivers.

  • Nigeria needs Buhari in this crisis period, says APC chieftain

    Nigeria needs Buhari in this crisis period, says APC chieftain

    A chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Cross River State, Dr Mathew Achigbe, says Nigeria needs a firm and upright leader like President Muhamadu Buhari, at this time to take on crisis and find lasting solutions to the country’s problems.

    Achigbe called on Nigerians to be patient and use the end of Buhari’s tenure to judge him.

    He said, “For the benefit of Nigerians, we need a firm and forthright leader like Buhari who is prepared to take the bulls by the horn and bring lasting solution to some of our crisis that we have experienced especially in the leadership of this country.  I will only appeal to Nigerians to be patient. Let us use the end to justify some of these pains we are passing through.”

    He stressed that the problems Nigerians are facing did not start today and urged that all should join hands to ensure the president succeeds.

    He said, “It looks as if Nigerians have very short memory and it is very obvious that we have a high degree of ability to tolerate and forget. What embarrasses some of us is the fact that they see fuel scarcity and other issues as peculiar to President Buhari’s administration and I find it difficult to talk on this issue because of the pains that Nigerians experienced during all this period.”

    He assured that eventually, with the commitment of the president and the support of Nigerian, everything would be stabilized and Nigerians would be happier for it.

     

  • Budget: NASS to override Buhari

    Budget: NASS to override Buhari

    The National Assembly has threatened to override the President Muhamadu Buhari at the end of 30 days if he fails to accent to the 2016 Appropriation bill which was passed by the legislature.

     

    The member representing Afikpo North/South constituency in the Federal House of Representatives, Idu Igariwey stated this yesterday.

     

    The Lawmaker who chided those blaming the National Assembly for making changes to the bill said the lawmakers should not be crucified for doing there constitutional duties.

     

    He said, “Truth of the matter is that the budget came with a lot of difficulties. The budget came almost like a stillborn baby and so it needed the legislators to put life to it. Either because it came in a hurry, was hurriedly conceived and poorly digested before it came to us. Maybe those were the reasons. But at the end of the day, the NASS had to do due diligence to the budget by looking at the various figures and the various areas of allocation of resources”.

     

    “For instance, let us look at the budget for the Works Ministry. If you saw the analysis that was made, you will discover that most parts of the budget were supposed to go to one part of the country. A state like Ebonyi had nothing to do with that budget as it concerns federal roads! And this is a budget that ran into over # 300 billion, I think the only thing that came to Ebonyi state was only # 28 million out of that whooping amount which was maybe to provide shoulder for the Abakaliki-Enugu Road already being completed”.

     

    “And we are only talking about 36 states in this country and so how can you assign #28million out of #300 billion to Ebonyi? And this also happened in other states of the south East. And we as legislators from the East you don’t expect us not to kick against such unequal distribution of our common wealth. So, it was now our duty to ensure that this budget did not go back the way it was conceived by the Minister for Works. We now made sure that some of the items also went to the South East by way of roads”.

    “And that is what the constitution empowers us to do. That is why the constitution gave us the power of appropriation and that is why the document comes to us. There is no legislature in this world where the budget proposal goes to the legislatives and it goes back the same”.

     

    “Then why did you even bring it to the legislature? If there is no need for us to make inputs into it, then the constitution should have conceived a system where the executive will formulate, appropriate, implement and maybe also oversight”.

     

    The lawmaker while recognizing the right of the President to withhold accent noted that the National Assembly also has the right to override him and pass the budget into law”.

     

    “The constitution clearly has made previsions for Mr. President to withdraw his assent as regards any bill, not just the money bill, but the same constitution has given us power within 30 days to override him”.

    “These things were all contemplated by the constitution. So, if Mr. President is withholding his assent, then it is still within his constitutional powers. But he should also expect us as expected by the constitution to also exercise our rights as also provided for by the constitution which is to override his withholding of his assent and when we do, that budget which is the money bill will become law. It’s as simple as he withholds his assent, then we override him”.