President Muhammadu Buhari on Wednesday met behind closed doors with former President Goodluck Jonathan at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
The former President arrived the State House in black Range Rover SUV around 1:57pm.
The meeting was still in progress at the time of filing this report.
President Muhammadu Buhari on Tuesday assured that Nigeria is working hard to resolve the power problem facing the country.
He noted that the problem is also affecting other neighboring countries who are depending on Nigeria for their power supply.
Buhari spoke while receiving the Togolese President, Faure Gnassingbe, at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
He said: “They say seeing is believing, you can see the efforts private investors are making. We are also building pipelines but it is not as formidable as what Dangote is doing, we are improving on it. We also have the LNG that is helping us to liquidify the gas and then turn it into gas with modern technology and modern technology is making it flexible.
“And if you will recall, I made mention to President of Benin, We have power problem and Benin has power problem because they depends on us and we are working very hard to stabilize the situation. The resources are available, the technology is available we are trying to stabilize the situation.
“If we improve power which means our productivity can be competitive and God’s willing we are going to achieve our objectives.
He also said that they discussed the unfortunate incidents in South Sudan, Burundi during the closed door meeting.
“It is an agonising situation, several citizens are living under primitive conditions, we hope at the AU meeting we will be able to stabilise the situation in South Sudan and Burundi with the efforts being made.” He stated
The Togolese President said that he was impressed by the Dangote investment which brought him to Lagos State.
He said: “Because we have been talking of Socio-economic integration and promoting trade among African countries. If you want to promote trade you have investors that are very competitive and will contribute to reduce import from non-African countries.
“I was told the gas pipeline that will be built will be buried under the sea to make it. It means if you want to promote blue economy, our ocean needs to be very safe. We need security,” he said.
According to him, he was also in Abuja to invite President Buhari for the maritime summit billed for Togo on the 15th of October, 2016.
President Muhammadu Buhari has requested the Senate to confirm nominees into positions of Chairman, Executive Commissioner, and Non-Executive Commissioners of Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC).
Mr Femi Adesina, the president’s Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, said Buhari made the request through a letter dated Aug. 2, sent to President of the Senate, Abubakar Bukola Saraki.
The statement said Sen. Olabiyi Durojaiye (South West) was nominated as Chairman, while Mr Sunday Dare (South West) got the nod as Executive Commissioner, Stakeholders Management.
Those nominated as Non-Executive Commissioners, according to the statement, are Aliyu Sa’idu Abubakar (North East), Clement Omeiza Baiye (North Central), Chief Okoi Ofem Obono Obla (South South), Pastor Ezekiel Yissa (North Central) and Sen. Ifeanyi Ararume (South East).
“The nominations are in accordance with Section 8(1) of the Nigerian Communications Commission Act 2003,” the statement said.
Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Plateau state, Hon Damishi Sango, has said that High Chief Raymond Dokpesi is being persecuted by the All Progressives Congress, APC, because of his unflinching support for the PDP.
In the same vein, the chairman of PDP, Benue state chapter, John Ngbede said the days of imposition of candidates will no longer be tolerated in the party.
Sango, who spoke on Tuesday, when Dokpesi led his campaign organisation to the state, said the harassment and intimidation of Dokpesi is a plot by the APC to destroy him and the PDP.
He noted that President Muhammadu Buhari used same tactic after the military overthrew the democratically elected government of the second republic.
“For those of us that were old enough when the military took over power in 1983, this harassment is not new to us. We warned the younger ones of what is happening now. High Chief, I knew they will pick you up when you make that popular statement that a leopard will not change his skin. You hit them hard and they came for you. You said the truth and we are living witness to it that a leopard will not change his skin,” Sango said.
He reiterated that Dokpesi has contributed greatly to the PDP and is seen as a threat by the APC. He assured the chairmanship hopeful that the Plateau State chapter of the PDP knows its friends and at the convention will do the right thing.
The Deputy Speaker of Plateau House of Assembly, Rt. Hon. Yusuf Gagdi, said PDP needs a man of integrity and experience to restore its glory.
Dokpesi thanked the Plataeu delegates for waiting for him till as late as 10:30pm, noting that it is a show of their love for the party and a confirmation that the state remains PDP, adding that the first convention of the party was held in Jos.
President Muhammadu Buhari has declared that his administration will abide by the decision of the International Court of Justice on the Nigeria – Cameroon border.
Speaking on Monday while receiving a United Nations (UN) Mission led by a Special Representative of the Secretary General, Mohammed Ibn Chambers, President Buhari said that Nigeria will not do anything to hamper the work of the various UN committees on the border.
In a statement by the Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, Buhari said: “We will abide by the law. Having accepted the judgment of the ICJ, we are ready to support the security and logistics requirements of the Cameroon-Nigeria Mixed Commission (CNMC) to carry out the border demarcation,”
He expressed total support for the exercise, recalling that as Military Head of State between 1984 and 1985, his administration instituted the demarcation of the Nigeria land borders from Benin to Bakassi and urged that all committees be allowed to carry out their functions in line with the ICJ decision.
Speaking earlier, Chairman of CNMC, Mohammed Ibn Chambers, had informed President Buhari that 2,001 kilometers out of 2,100 kilometers separating Nigeria and Cameroon had been marked, leaving a balance of 99 kilometers to conclude the demarcation.
He expressed hope that the remaining area will be completed latest by the first quarter of next year following the relative calm that has returned to border areas earlier inhabited by Boko Haram terrorists.
The Speaker of the Federal House of Representatives, Hon. Yakubu Dogara as well as other principal officers of the House implicated in the budget padding scandal in the House have been advised to step down for proper investigation into the matter.
Reacting to the issue, a lawmaker in the Lagos State House of Assembly, Hon. Moshood Oshun, who said that he could not reach any conclusion on the matter until the whole thing is made clearer, added that the matter should be handled with caution.
“If we are saying that the Speaker should step down, other people that were accused with him should step down. I am not a member of the Federal House of Representatives, but if he steps down, what happens after that, will he be allowed to go back to the seat if he is innocent.
“Many people were complaining, when President Muhammadu Buhari delayed in signing the 2016 budget, but if what is happening now is substantiated, that means he was right,” he said.
Oshun stressed that one of the primary functions of the legislature is to approve budget by looking at the economy of the country and the available fund, adding that the legislators need to know what the people want.
The lawmaker said that it is not enough to say one wants to build a hospital, when what the people need is a school, saying that a legislative house has the right to either reduce the budget, leave it as it is or increase it depending on what they feel the people need.
Oshun, who is representing Lagos Mainland 2 in the Assembly, said that there has been allegations and counter allegations over the issue, but that the people still need to wait to see the end of the matter.
“Dogara said it did not happen and the former chairman of the appropriation committee, Hon. Abdulmumin Jibrin said that it was padded after it had been approved by the House. So, the whole thing has to be investigated.
“Inviting the EFCC and ICPC to investigate the matter would reduce the power of the House because the House has the right to regulate itself.
“The legislators have the right to reduce or increase the budget once they feel it is good for the benefit of the people.
“If the House feels that a project, like a hospital is needed in Lagos Mainland for instance, we would approve it regardless of the contractor that would handle it. Where I have problem is when something is added after the budget has been passed by the House,” he said.
The lawmaker explained that if the budget is debated on the floor of the House and members agreed, then there should be no problem about its content.
He emphasised that it was not wrong for the House to have a team to discuss with the executive to work on the budget for the purpose of the people, for the interest of Nigerians.
He said: “We don’t have to fight because we belong to different arms of government. What we should be interested in is to do things that would benefit the people. As legislators, we are representing the people.”
Kaduna State Governor, Mallam Nasir El-Rufai, has credited Pastor Tunde Bakare for contributing to his becoming governor of the state.
He also urged Nigerians to have faith in President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration, saying the President has the best interest of the country at heart and is working assiduously to restore the country’s fortunes.
President Muhammadu Buhari has approved five new appointments for critical agencies in the Nation’s Health Sector.
The appointments, according to a statement issued on Friday by Director (Press) in the office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation Bolaji Adebiyi, disclosed that Professor Babatunde Lawal Salako is now Head of Nigerian Institute for Medical Research.
Dr. Chikwe Adreas Ihekweazu is Head of the National Centre for Disease Control; Dr. Sani H. Aliyu – Head of National Agency for the Control of AIDS; Professor Echezona Ezeanolue – Head of National Primary Healthcare Development Agency; and Professor Usman Yusuf – Head of National Health Insurance Scheme.
Dr. Salako before the appointment was the Provost, College of Medicine at the University of Ibadan. He graduated from the same University in 1986.
He is a fellow of the Royal Colleges of Physicians in both Edinburg and London. He is also a member of an International Panel of Experts, United States Institute of Disease Control in Atlanta.
Dr. Ihekweazu is currently the Managing Partner of EpiAfric, a public health consultancy firm that focuses on Africa. He obtained his medical degree at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka in 1996 and had worked in Berlin, Germany, the United Kingdom and in South Africa before he established his consulting firm in 2014.
Dr. Aliyu is currently a Consultant in Microbiology and Infectious Diseases at Cambridge University, United Kingdom. He got his medical degree from Ahmadu Bello University (ABU), Zaria in 1993. He worked as a medical officer at the State House Medical Centre, Abuja and from there moved to Cambridge in 1998.
He rose through the ranks until he became a Consultant in Microbiology.
Professor Ezemolue is currently a Professor of Paediatrics and Public Health at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, USA.
He got his medical degree at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka in 1995. He did his paediatric internship and residency at the Howard University, Washington DC, USA and obtained his Fellowship in Paediatric Infectious Disease from New Jersey Medical School.
He moved to Nevada in 2005 where he remains to date practicing Paediatric medicine.
Professor Yusuf is currently a Professor of Paediatrics at St. Jude Research Hospital in Memphis, Tennessee, United Sates of America.
He graduated in medicine from Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria and worked in the University Teaching Hospital from 1984 – 1989.
Professor Yusuf worked in the United Kingdom from 1990 – 1995 from where he moved first to South Carolina, USA, where he rose to become a fellow in Paediatric Hematology/Oncology in 1998.
He is a Fellow of Royal Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene, the West African College of Physicians and the American Academy of Physicians.
The umbrella body of Ijaw youths, the Ijaw Youth Council (IYC), Worldwide, on Thursday, told President Muhammadu Buhari that members of the militant group, the Niger Delta Avengers (NDA) were within his government.
The President of IYC, Mr. Udengs Eradiri, who briefed the press at the Headquarters of the council in Yenagoa, Bayelsa State, also lamented constant linkage of avengers and criminals in Lagos State to Ijaw people.
Eradiri advised President Buhari to begin the search for avengers within his government insisting that members of the militant group were in Aso Rock villa.
He wondered why the military was laying siege in Gbaramatu Kingdom for members of NDA whom he said were not in the community.
He said: “Why are they always quick to attack our communities. Gbaramatu is not the headquarters of avengers. It does not habour any avenger. Do you think that the community people are happy that they are under siege and cannot go about their normal duties?
“The more they are doing this thing, the more Ijaw people will begin to come together and we will never be divided. The government should stop harassing our people.
“The NDA is within them. They know themselves. They are blocking the President left, right and centre so that he would not see them. The NDA is with him and his people there”.
Eradiri also insisted that the Ijaw people were not behind the violent attacks on communities in Lagos and Ogun states by militants regretting that some people deliberately ascribed such criminalities to Ijaw to cause ethnic war between Ijaw and their Yoruba neighbours.
He asked the security agencies to do their job by flushing out the perpetrators of Lagos violence and stop making public statements that could create ethnic tension.
He said: “There are some groups in Lagos engaged in criminal activities and those activities are now threatening the brotherly relationship our people have enjoyed in Lagos.
“First, Nigeria should stop ascribing anything that happened in the Niger Delta to Ijaw people. For the avoidance of doubt, Niger Delta Avengers are not Ijaw people. I am tired of answering questions about Niger Delta Avengers.
“I am the President of the Ijaw Youth Council. I am not the President of NDA. NDA are not Ijaw people. We don’t know who Niger Delta Avengers are. If the security agencies know avengers, they should arrest them. They should do their jobs.
“They should stop transferring their jobs to community leaders or youth Organisations or leaders of ethnic nationalities. Their duty is to maintain law and order, to gather intelligence and do whatever they deem fit to ensure that there is peace in the country.
“Please stop ascribing negative things to Ijaw people. We are the fourth largest ethnic nationalities in Nigeria and I agree that we are the people who refuse to eat sand and call it food. But that does not mean that every little thing that happens in the region will be ascribed to Ijaw people”.
Eradiri said the Lagos issue has assumed a worrisome dimension adding that all the criminal activities in communities hosting the Arepo Atlas Cove pipelines in Lagos and Ogun States were being perpetrated by thieves who were out to enrich themselves.
He said there is widespread economic crimes along pipelines in the country and that the Lagos scenario involved people from all the ethnic groups.
He said: “So, Nigerians should stop ascribing it to Ijaw people. Ijaw people are peace-loving people. For over hundreds of years, our people have cohabited with other ethnic nationalities. We have never been known to be hostile people.
“We sympathise with families that have lost their lives especially during the Ogun-Arepo crisis. As much as our hearts grieve with the affected families, we want to say that the aggressors are not Ijaw people. They are common criminals who are stealing refined products for economic reasons.
“Therefore, the police and other security agencies that are sustained by taxpayers money should go and do their job. It beats our imagination when a police commissioner will stand up publicly to ascribe such crimes to ethnic nationality.
“However, whichever way we can assist to resolve the issues in Lagos, we are willing to support. But the problem is snowballing into crisis between Ijaws and Yorubas and that is why we are concerned.
“We will not support any negative thing that will be done to destabilise Lagos and its environs because our people are peaceful and law-abiding. We appeal to the Yoruba community, all those who are fanning the ambers of ethnic crisis should stop it. There are some individuals who are behind it and any little thing that happens they want to ascribe it.
“This is just to build bad blood against our people. The government should be very vigilant because just on Wednesday, properties of the Ijaws were destroyed within the outskirts of Lagos because of media propaganda against our ethnic nationality”.
He added: “We appeal to the Yoruba people; don’t allow yourselves to be used by people because they just want to create conflict. Conflict in Lagos will never help any of us. We still remember the injuries that were inflicted upon both sides during the OPC, Ijaw crisis.
“Go back and investigate the issues, you will be amazed that one nonsense matter that has no bearing that caused it. Yoruba nation must know that we are their brothers. We share the same aspirations.
“Ijaws will not sit down and said lets go and destroy Lagos. Lagos share the same terrain with us and we cannot destroy our home because we see Lagos as home.
“We see Ogun as home. Let’s not be deceived into an unnecessary conflict. The security agencies are to be blamed. They should go and do their jobs. The waterways should be policed properly”.
President Muhammadu Buhari has approved the appointment of a Chairman for the Revenue Mobilisation, Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC) and the Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer for Nigerian Bulk Electricity Trading Company (NBET).
According to a statement by the Director (Press) in the Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Bolaji Adebiyi, Elias Nwalem Mbam, is the new Chairman for RMAFC.
Dr. Marilyn Amobi, the statement said, is the new Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer, NBET.
“Mrs. Amobi’s appointment is for a tenure of four years, ‘’ the statement stated.