Buhari, Why Are You Not Buying Arms For the Military? Femi Fani-Kayode Asks

Let it be said loud and clear that since President Buhari came to power he has not bought one bullet for the military. Considering the fact that we are in the middle of a protracted and very bloody war I believe that this is utterly shameful. If you say you want to fight and defeat Boko Haram then why are you not buying arms for your troops?

 

 

This brings me to other matters and raises other questions about our President's sincerity of purposes and commitment.

 

 

You say that you are fighting Boko Haram yet you are travelling the world drinking tea with world leaders whilst your soldiers are secretly being slaughtered.

 

You say you are fighting Boko Haram yet you were nominated as their spokesman and chief negotiator 2 years ago in proposed peace talks with the Federal Government.

 

 

You say you are fighting Boko Haram but the man you appointed as your National Security Adviser was retired from the army a few years ago for ordering the release of Boko Haram terrorists under suspicious circumstances.

 

 

 

You say you are fighting Boko Haram but the first thing you did when u came to power was to remove military checkpoints.This guaranteed Boko Haram free movement and access to the entire country.

 

 

You say you are fighting Boko Haram yet last year you told the world that an attack on Boko Haram is an attack on the north.

 

 

You say you are fighting terror yet since you came to power Boko Haram has grown in strength, has regained lost territory and has been declared the ''worlds number one most deadly terror group'' by the Global Terror Index.

 

 

 

You say you are fighting terror yet since you came to power Nigeria, according to the Global Terror Index, has been declared as not just having ''the first most deadly terror group in the world'' which is Boko Haram but also of having ''the fourth most deadly terror group in the world'' which is a group that the Index describe as the ''Fulani militants'' and that we call the Fulani herdsmen.

 

 

 

You say you are fighting Boko Haram yet since you came to power Nigeria has been declared the world's ''third most terrorised country'' by the Global Terror Index after Iraq and Afghanistan which were declared first and second respectively whilst Syria and Pakistan were declared fourth and fifth.

 

 

 

 

 

 

You say you are a ''born again democrat'' yet you voted against the protection of human rights at the United Nations alongside Iran, Zimbabwe and North Korea.

 

 

You say you respect human rights yet you barricade Colonel Sambo Dasuki, the former National Security Adviser, in his home, endanger his life, deny him medical attention, flout court orders and make him critically ill.

 

 

You say you respect human rights yet you arrest Governor Boni Haruna simply for standing as surety for Dasuki and you try to force him to abandon his friend.

 

 

You say you respect human rights yet you raid  Governor Attahiru Bafarawa's home and arrest and detain his son simply because he is friends with Dasuki.

 

 

You say you respect freedom of speech and human rights yet you lock up Nnamdi Kanu indefinitely and your security agents shoot two unarmed and harmless pro-Biafra youths to death in Enugu simply because they were involved in a peaceful demonstration.

 

You say that you are a believer in the rule of law yet you ordered your secret police to storm a sitting governors official home in Akwa Ibom knowing that he enjoys immunity from such matters.

 

You say you love Nigeria yet a bomb goes off in Kano killing over 21 people and instead of coming back home to mourn with your people you continue junketing around the world.

 

 

 

You say you know how to run Nigeria but according to Paul Wallace and Michael Cohen of the United States magazine known as Bloomberg Business your ''bounce has become bust'', your ''policies irk investors'', you have ''destroyed Nigeria's economy'' and you ''do not have the capacity to move the country forward''.

 

 

You say that you know how to manage the economy yet stocks and shares have crashed, small businesses are folding up, our foreign currency has dried up, industries are collapsing, agricultural output has decreased, our foreign reserves have been spent and the value of the naira has depreciated since you came to power and it continues to fall.

 

You say you know what you are doing and how to manage Nigeria's affairs yet the U.S,-based Washington Times newspaper says that you lied to America about your so-called good intentions for Nigeria and that you have ''duped the United States of America'' with your false promises and empty words.

 

 

 

 

 

You say that you are fighting poverty yet according to the Business Day Newspaper Nigerians are ''getting poorer for the first time since 1999''.

 

 

 

 

 

You say that you will restore our countries fortunes yet the fuel queues are back and the prices of food, transport and basic commodities are soaring by the day.

 

 

 

 

You say that you are a man of your word and after you were declared winner of the election you promised not to malign, persecute, witchunt, demonize, disrespect or go after President Goodluck Jonathan and members of his administration unless you had concrete evidence of wrongdoing yet when you came to power you did precisely that.

 

 

You say you are fair-minded, true to your friends, loyal to your supporters and always reasonable yet you did not concede even one ministerial slot or approve one ministerial nominee of the two men that helped you more than any others to win the presidential election, namely President Olusegun Obasanjo and Governor Bola Tinubu.

 

 

 

You say that you want the country to change, that you believe in fairness and equity, that you are a progressive, that you believe in a generational powershift and that you want the country to move forward yet you are trying to destroy Governor Bukola Saraki simply because he won an election and became Senate President.

 

 

You say that you are fighting corruption yet no-one has been made to face the music or brought to book over the 25 billion naira REMITA and Systemspecs scandal and neither has the matter been clarified or resolved even though it has been established that the whole deal was struck under your watch.

 

 

You say you love Nigeria and all Nigerians yet your Fulani kinsmen, under the guise of herding cattle, are slaughtering thousands of innocent people all over the south and Middle Belt, yet you remain their Grand Patron and you refuse to utter to a word of condemnation for their actions. 

 

 

You say you respect Nigerians yet every time you travel out of the country you spend your time telling foreigners and the foreign media how useless, rotten and corrupt your people are and how you are the only saint in Nigeria.

You refused to shake the hands of your female Ministers on religious grounds yet you went to Malta and gleefully shook the hand of the Queen of England

and you went to Germany and merrily shook the hand of Angela Merkel. 

You said that you will rescue and bring home the Chibok girls yet instead of doing so many more girls have been abducted, raped, killed and captured by Boko Haram under your watch.

You promised to pay unemployed graduates five thousand naira per month if elected yet instead of doing so you ushered in more unemployment, poverty and despair into the land.

 

You promised to pay a minumum wage of eighteen thousand naira per month to workers if elected yet when you got there you changed your mind and dishonored your word.

You promised to protect human rights yet instead of doing so you arrest and detain the sons of your perceived enemies and no less than twenty of Colonel Sambo Dasuki's staff.

In view of all this I am constrained to ask whether President Muhammadu Buhari has a conscience or is it that he has just lost touch with reality? Everything that I said about him during the Presidential campaign has been confirmed and in just six months he has betrayed the trust and squandered the goodwill that the Nigerian people bestowed upon him in the March presidential elections. I have to say that I am not surprised by this because his ''change'' mantra was just an illusion.

 

 

 

 

What he and his APC failed to disclose to the Nigerian people during the campaign is that what he meant by ''change'' was a change from light to darkness. Sadly our people trusted him and now he has plunged our nation into that darkness.

 

 

 

 

May God enable him to find the courage to retrace his steps before it is too late and may the Lord deliver Nigeria from those that are around him that fail to tell him the truth.

 

 

 

I gather that they call those of us that oppose President Buhari and that are PDP supporters the ''wailing wailers''. That is an interesting expression because by the time Buhari finishes with Nigeria I have little doubt that the entire country will be wailing.

 

The truth is that I would rather be a ''wailing wailer'' that posterity vindicates than a ''lying liar'' or a ''howling howler'' who has lost his way and who continues to have confidence in a man like Buhari and a party like the APC that is hell bent on destroying our country and our cherished democratic institutions with their Rambo-like insensitivity and total ineptitude.

 

 

 

 

All those ''lying liars'' and ''howling howlers'' that voted for President Buhari should clap for themselves for the terrible mess our country is now in. We will remember them in our prayers too.

Prophet T.B Joshua Absence Stalls Building Collapse Trial

 The founder of Synagogue Church of All Nations (SCOAN), Temitope Joshua, was absent in court on Monday at the start of the trial over the collapse of a refurbished six-storey building inside his church premises in 2014.
The building collapse killed 116 people, mostly South Africans.
In July, Oyetade Komolafe, a coroner, indicted the church and the engineers in charge of the building of “criminal negligence” leading to loss of lives, and recommended that the church and its engineers be prosecuted for manslaughter.
The case kicked off a year and 18 days after the incident, and after several injunctions by some of the defendants failed to stop it from going ahead.
Justice Ibrahim Buba of the Federal High Court in Lagos dismissed a fundamental human rights enforcement suits filed by the engineers (who are listed as defendants), who constructed the collapsed six-storey building.
Though Mr. Joshua was not directly named as a defendant in the trial at a Lagos State High Court in Ikeja, as a member of the church’s board of trustees, he was expected to be in court.
The board of trustees merely sent a representative.
When asked why Mr Joshua was not in court, Oluseun Abimbola, the church’s counsel said the board of trustees is a legal entity which could be represented by anybody and not necessarily the church founder.
Lagos State government originally stated that while the engineers would be charged for manslaughter, the church would be charged for a lesser offence of failure to obtain requisite permit before refurbishing the building that was originally a two-storey structure into six storeys.
However, in an email on Sunday, the government said the church’s board of trustees would be the charged alongside the engineers.
Charges where not read to the defendants because the trial could not take off as planned over the failure of the prosecutor, Lagos State government, to serve some of the building engineers.
Therefore, the trial judge Lawal Akapo, adjourned the case to December 11, to allow the state government serve the engineers, Oladele Ogundeji and Akinbela Fatiregun, notice of the trial.
The Attorney General of Lagos State, Adeniyi Kazeem, who led the state’s legal team, said the two defendants couldn’t be served as their addresses were invalid.
Mr. Abimbola stated that the defendants were served notices in a related case at a magistrate court that the government should have sent the notice to the same addresses.
Mr. Kazeem said they were served through their lawyers in the previous case, but because this is criminal case, they wanted to serve them directly.
Mr. Akapo, who was initially furious that only one of the five defendants wad in court, ruled that it was necessary that the defendants be properly served before trial could commence.
“Service in any proceeding with civil or criminal is very fundamental and anything done in the absence of service is said to be a nullity,” he ruled.
He there gave Mr. Abimbola, who had indicated he could get the correct address of the two defendants, 72 hours to make it available to the government so they can be properly served.
While adjourning the case, Mr. Akapo stated that due to the sensitive nature of the case, he would dispense with it as quickly as possible.
“Cases of this nature should be given accelerated attention and if possible on a day to day bases.”
Newspot

Nigeria’s Foreign Reserves Drops To $30.04bn – CBN

Nigeria’s foreign reserves dropped to $30.04 billion by Thursday, November 26, the Central Bank of Nigeria has said.
The bank disclosed this on its website on Monday.
It said the figure dropped by $7 million, from $30.11 billion recorded on October 26.
The bank said the $30.04 billion represented the “gross” amount, while $29.33 billion was “liquid” and $719.32 million “blocked”.
Nigeria’s foreign reserves has oscillated between $28 billion and $36 billion in the last one year.
The reserves hit $36.3 billion in October 2014, fell to $32.4 billion in January 2015, and stood at $28.6 billion by May 2015.
Under the new government of Muhammadu Buhari, it gained marginally to $31.9 billion by July, before sliding again to $29.9 billion by September.
The CBN said the continuous pressure on the foreign exchange market was due to the rise in the internal demand for dollars.
According to the bank, the price of crude oil at the international market stood at 44.27 dollar per barrel as at November 30.
(NAN)

Judge Threatens to Revoke Bail of Pension Fraud Suspect

Judge Threatens to Revoke Bail of Pension Fraud Suspect

Justice Dairus Khobo of the Kaduna State High Court sitting in Kaduna today threatened to revoke the bail granted to Muhammed Sodangi, an accused person standing trial on 13 counts of personation and stealing to the tune of N66million, over the continued absence of his counsel, Jafar Abbas in court.

Sodangi was arraigned in May 2014 by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC for allegedly defrauding the Kaduna State government of N66million by abusing his position as pension consultant to the state government, to smuggle his name into the pension payroll.

The EFCC has so far presented four witnesses ( two from banks and two officials of the state government)  and was set to present  its last two witnesses today but  for the absence of the defence counsel.

When the matter was called, prosecution counsel Sylvanus Tahir informed the court that he had his witnesses in court and was ready to continue with the hearing. 

However, the accused who was already in the dock, had no legal representation. On enquiry, Sodangi told the court that his lawyer sent him a text message, informing him of the session today, on  Friday, November 27, 2015. "My lord, I tried calling him but I could not get through. I do not know his whereabouts or why he is not here," he stated.

The presiding judge noted that the accused person’s response confirmed that his counsel was aware of the date for the hearing but deliberately stayed away. He reminded the accused that criminal trials are supposed to be conducted expeditiously.

“If you were in prison am sure your relations will do the needful to get your lawyer to come." Justice Khobo urged the accused to contact his counsel to ensure the trial continues or risk the revocation of the bail earlier granted him by the court.

The Judge then adjourned the matter to January 19, 2016.

Wilson Uwujaren

Head, Media & Publicity

30th November, 2015

Arms procurement: EFCC arrests Dasuki’s top staff

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, is reported to have arrested a top staff who worked with the embattled former National Security Adviser, Col. Sambo Dasuki (rtd), over the arms contract scandal.
Also reported to have been arrested are 20 other staff members that worked with the ex NSA.
Some of the staff alleged to have been arrested as disclosed by an insider source include:
1. Shuaibu Salisu, Dasuki’s Director of Finance,
2. Aminu Baba Kusa, a member of the National intelligence Agency (NIA),
3. Mohammed Baba-Kusa., a former NNPC General Executive Director
4. Abba M.T. Usman,
5. Evegny Kundaev,
6. Attahiru Maccido,
7. Salisa Umar Garu,
8. Oyinmiebl Bribena,
9. Olukoya Olusegun Godwin,
10. Olukayode Raimi.
Another source at the NSA office promised to call DAILY POST back to disclose further the true situation of things.
DAILY POST recalls that President Muhammadu Buhari had on November 17 directed the relevant organisations to arrest and prosecute all individuals who were found complicit in the illegal and fraudulent acts relating to arms purchase during the past administration.
This followed the submission of the interim report of the committee constituted to investigate the procurement of military hardware since 2007 to date.
DAILYPOST

"Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly..." (Colossians 3:16) What does Paul means writes Kenneth Copeland

Today at 8:05 AM

Abide in the Word If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you. – John 15:7 That word abide is so important. When Jesus told us to obey His commandments and keep His Word, He wasn't just telling us to follow a bunch of religious rules and regulations. He was telling us to allow His Word—which is a living thing!—to make its home within us. He was telling us to spend time with it, to meditate on it, to fill our minds and our mouths with it, and to let it guide our every action. The Apostle Paul put it this way, "Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly..." (Colossians 3:16). Most believers don't have any idea what that means. That's one of the reasons they're so short on power. Oral Roberts once said that when the Word is really abiding in you, when it's alive and producing like it should, you can hear it. You know what it's like when you get a song on your mind and you just keep hearing it over and over inside you? Well, when you start abiding in the Word, you're probably going to hear it in much that same way. Many times, I've been in desperate situations, wondering what I was going to do when suddenly I'd hear a scripture down on the inside of me. Suddenly, I'd know exactly what the answer to my situation was. I'd be delivered by the Word of God that was dwelling in me. So, invite the Holy Spirit to go to work on your behalf. Just keep telling Him, "Whatever You bring to my remembrance from the Word is exactly what I'm going to act on. I'm going to be obedient to every command of Jesus that You bring to mind." Make a quality decision to abide in the Word. You'll soon discover that the Word is abiding in you. Scripture Reading: Colossians 3:1-16 © 1991 Eagle Mountain International Church, Inc. aka: Kenneth Copeland Publications All rights reserved.

Boko Haram: Kukah Blames Arewa Elites

The Catholic Bishop of Sokoto Diocese, Matthew Kukah has accused northern elite of responsibility for insurgency through their manipulation of religion to deceive poor Muslims.

Kukah said this in his keynote address at a conference organised by the Islamic Welfare Foundation at the Fountain University, Osogbo.

At the event titled, ‘The Muslim agenda for Nigeria: Challenges of development and good governance’, the cleric said the fresh agitation for an Islamic state by Boko Haram could be traced to the promise made by northern leaders to ensure the total implementation of Sharia law.

He said, “A hypocritical elite continues to believe that it can claim the benefits of democracy but use it only to consolidate its hold on power. This is what has laid the foundation for what is now Boko Haram.
“We must locate the current crisis of Boko Haram within the context of the inability of the northern Muslim elite to live by their own dubious creed of being Muslims. They preached Sharia Law but only for the poor. They preach a religion that encourages education, yet their own people are held in the bondage of ignorance.

“They came to power on the basis of a democratic society but they turned around and declared Sharia to generate a false consciousness among the poor that they want a theocracy.

“They did not wish to live by the same standards, so they decided to live their own Islam in the capitals of the world away from the prying eyes of their own people. Boko Haram began as a revolt against this mendacity, subterfuge and hypocrisy.”

Kukah said northern leaders failed to explain to the poor masses that Sharia law and democracy could not co-exist.
The cleric stated that the normal argument that Boko Haram was not a Muslim group was nonsensical because Boko Haram’s aim was the total implementation of Sharia law, which Muslim leaders had promised them in the past.

Kukah added, “Now, I hear Muslims in northern Nigeria hiding under the cover of the facts by saying: ‘These Boko Haram people are not Muslims. They do not represent us’. Well, first, they are your own children. You must take responsibility for what has made them what they are today and to the rest of society.

“They claim they have been inspired by the Quran and no other holy book. They say they want to build an Islamic state. So, they are Muslims. After all, from the debates of the Constituent Assemblies of 1979, 1988, and 1995 and beyond, did their fathers and grandfathers not stage walkouts, demanding Sharia Law? Was it not to tame them that President Ibrahim Babangida declared what he called ‘no-go areas’ in the debates about our constitution?”
The cleric noted that the kidnapping of the Chibok girls and the use of girls as sex slaves in the North were in line with the ideology that a girl, who is still an adolescent, could be married off to an older man.
He said, “The promise to institute Sharia has become the most potent tool for political mobilisation and organisation. Till date, the tactics may have changed, but the essence has not. Rather than face the tough questions of how and why over 15 million children in the northern states are on the streets; how and why the northern states are falling behind on almost every index of development, the northern Muslim elite continues to live for just the moment, with no plans for tomorrow.
“Should we pretend that a society that allows the forced marriages of its young daughters could frown on the idea of a group kidnapping and forcing young girls into sexual slavery? Islam must have an honest look at the mirror and have an internal discussion.”
The Catholic bishop urged northern leaders to stop pretending as if they did not know the root cause of Boko Haram.
He said they should ask themselves why Boko Haram was headquartered in the North and not in other zones of the country.
Kukah added, “Although we all seem to pretend that Boko Haram has caught us unawares, the worst thing is that we continue to hide our heads in the sands of self-deception by further denying the roots of this ugly side of our humanity.
“That Boko Haram, its disciples and victims are localised to northern Nigeria, should be instructive. What this calls for is an honest review of the root causes. We need to ask what it is about the past or the present that has led us to this ugly and deadly path.
“It is my considered view that northern Islam has to confront the realities of taking its religion into the modern world of democracy seriously. Muslims in northern Nigeria cannot accept democracy and reject the inclusive nature of its philosophy as it is the case today.” Punch

NIGERIAN AIR FORCE RELEASES PROMOTION OF SENIOR OFFICERS

1.      The Nigerian Air Force has released the promotion of its senior officers to the next higher ranks. The newly promoted officers include 14 Air Vice Marshals, 26 Air Commodores, 22 Group Captains and 91 Wing Commanders.

2.      Those promoted to the rank of Air Vice Marshal are the: Chief of Aircraft Engineering at the Headquarters Nigerian Air Force, Air Vice Marshal Onyemaechi Osahor; Director of Works at the Headquarters Nigerian Air Force, Air Vice Marshal Shehu Adamu; Director Air Intelligence at the Headquarters Nigerian Air Force,  Air Vice Marshal Mohammed Usman; Principal Air Staff Officer to the Chief of Air Staff, Air Vice Marshal Muhammad Abdul-Wahab; Commander 75 Strike Group Yola, Air Vice Marshal Isiaka Amao; Commander  303 Flying Training School Kano, Air Vice Marshal John Baba; Commander 81 Air Maritime Group Benin, Air Vice Marshal Okechukwu Ntukogu; a Directing Staff at the National Defence College, Air Vice Marshal Humphrey Okpala; Commander 203 Medium Airlift Group Ilorin, Air Vice Marshal Yekeen Ishola; Director of Information Communication Technology at the National Defence College, Air Vice Marshal Christian Dii; the Managing Director Nigerian Air Force Housing and Construction Company, Air Vice Marshal Sambo Usman; Commander 335 Base Services Group Kaduna, Air Vice Marshal Auwal Muhammad; Director Search and Rescue, National Emergency Management Agency, Air Vice Marshal Charles Otegbade, and Commander 333 Logistics Group Kaduna, Air Vice Marshal Isyaka Bukar.

3.      The senior officers elevated to the rank of Air Commodore include Group Captains Emmanuel Udenyi, Aliyu Bello, Iboro Etukudo, Chiebonam Ozougwu, Abidemi Marquis, Abubakar Liman, Pius Oahimire, Kabiru Aliyu, Ubrufih Uzezi, Nkem Aguiyi, Sule Lawal and Paul Masiyer. Others are Group Captains Isah Muhammad, Kurotimi Obidake, Dalhat Ladan, Adeniyi Amesinlola, Olagoke Ogunmola, Raheem Tijani, Obainana Imafidor, Framah Batnah, John Dibal, Mohammed Sini, Barisi Keenam, Sunday Ogba, Habib Adamu and Emma Enam.    

4.      The recent promotions are in line with one of the key drivers of the Chief of Air Staff, Air Marshal Sadique Abubakar’s vision which is to promote and inculcate the core values of integrity, excellence and service delivery. As an annual exercise, the purpose of promotion is to encourage officers to rededicate themselves to assigned duties as well as the development of the Nigerian Air Force and the nation as a whole.

DELE ALONGE

Air Commodore

Director of Public Relations & Information

Mark, An Asset To The Nation –PDP

  Says It’s Behind Him For Another Victory

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) says the party and the people of
Benue South are solidly behind the former Senate President, Senator
David Mark to repeat his electoral victory in the rerun election ordered
by the Court of Appeal.

The party, which described Mark as an asset to the nation said it is
assured that the people of Benue South Senatorial zone, as ardent
members and supporters of the PDP since 1999 would remain steadfast in
giving him another resounding victory at the rerun election.

PDP National Publicity Secretary, Chief Olisa Metuh in a statement on
Monday said the confidence of the party of retaining the Senatorial seat
is even stronger now that the deceit of the All Progressives Congress
(APC) has become obvious to all Nigerians.

The PDP said the inexplicable ruling of the Appeal Court, even when all
evidence pointed to Mark’s victory as upheld by the lower tribunal, is
yet another evidence of APC's dangerous interference in the judiciary,
which negative consequences the PDP has continued to alert the nation.

The party also noted the significant contributions of Senator Mark in
growing and stabilizing the nation's democracy through his mature,
responsible and patriotic leadership of the Senate, a value that is
still highly needed in the polity.

The PDP therefore urged its members in Benue South to resist any attempt
to intimidate them, especially in their determination to ensure
effective and result-oriented representation in the Senate as typified
in Senator Mark.

Signed:

Chief Olisa Metuh
National Publicity Secretary

APC Procession In PH, Illegal, Treasonable, Security Breach, Inciting –PDP

….Calls For The Arrest of Dakuku, Abe, Uchendu, Other Rivers APC Leaders

The chairman, Peoples Democratic Party, Rivers State chapter, Bro Felix Obuah, says he is further disappointed and concerned about the continued show of disrespect for the law and breach of public peace by members of the All Progressives Congress, APC, led by Dakuku Peterside, Magnus Abe, Andrew Uchendu and other leaders of the party in the State.

The PDP chairman, in a statement signed by Jerry Needam, the Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, observed and considered today’s event tagged, ‘Rivers Black Day,’ organized by the APC, which according to them, was to remember those killed during the 2015 general elections, as clearly a demonstration of impunity, and disposition to cause crisis, and to incite not only their members but the people of the State against the security commands and constituted authorities in the State.

The PDP is aware that following recent incidences of violence associated with public demonstrations in the State, the Rivers State government, in collaboration with the State security agencies, placed a ban on all forms of public protest, wondering why in spite of the subsisting order, the APC leaders still went ahead to organize such  procession in the State. This, to us, is a flagrant disobedience and disregard for the law and State authorities, and should not be taken for granted.

It is also a cause of concern that the remembrance event is being held this period and on this date, which in no way, was not the date the alleged deaths took place. It is therefore, an undisputed fact that organizers of the event deceitfully dressed up a public procession aimed at causing violence and crisis in Port Harcourt and making cheap political points by blackmailing the PDP and perceived political opponents in the State.

The PDP also wishes to draw the attention of the security agencies and other relevant government authorities to the fact that the State APC failed governorship candidate, Mr Dakuku Peterside, was always being referred to as ‘the Governor’ by speakers at the event, which was televised live on the NTA network during the session. To us, this is a treasonable offense and should be investigated and those culpable be arrested and prosecuted accordingly.

Again, our charge to the Police and other security commands in the State is to forestall further breakdown of law and order by arresting organizers of this illegal and rebellious procession in the State to serve as deterrent to others, otherwise, other groups may refer to the APC procession as a precedence and carry out their protests. A stitch in time saves nine. 

The PDP again, vehemently denies allegations of killings leveled against its members and leaders by the APC, describing such allegations as fabricated, misleading and diversionary.

Signed:

Jerry Needam, JP

Special Adviser on Media and Publicity

To the Rivers PDP Chairman, Bro Felix Obuah

Monday, November 30, 2015

Don't Cede Your Platforms to Divisive Elements, Minister Tells Broadcast Media Owners

The Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, has appealed to the private broadcast media owners in Nigeria not to allow their platforms to be used to propagate ideas that can hinder national unity.

The Minister made the appeal in Abuja on Monday when he met with the Northern Broadcast Media Owners Association (NBMOA), who paid him a courtesy call in his office.

''They (private broadcast media owners) must realize that in order to be able to practice their profession at all, they must first have a peaceful and united country. It is important for the private broadcast media owners to avoid the temptation to use their platforms to promote ethnic or religious agenda that are inimical to the emergence of a strong, peaceful, united and developed nation,'' he said.

Alhaji Mohammed reminded the private broadcast media owners that irrespective of their location, they have a wide reach because their news and programmes are routinely uploaded to their websites, where they can be assessed by anyone with access to the Internet within and outside the country.

The Minister said radio and television constitute a very powerful platform, because they are instant, emotive and are the sources of news and information for a large number of people.

''That also increases their ability to help shape opinions, one way or another. This is why owners of such powerful platforms must exercise a high level of responsibility, be patriotic and also ensure that they put the national interest above sectional or sectarian considerations.

''Lest we be misunderstood, we are not asking you to shut out those whose opinions may not agree with yours. We are saying you must show great restraint in turning your platforms over to those whose opinions serve to divide us as a people,'' he said.

To buttress his point, Alhaji Mohammed mentioned the role played in the 1994 Rwandan genocide by the Radio-Television Libre des Mille Collines (RTLMC).

''RTLMC, which began broadcasting In June 1993, helped to prepare the ground for genocide in Rwanda by demonising the Tutsi and encouraging hate and violence. In the end, over 800,000 people died in that genocide,'' he said.

The Minister said that for too long, Nigerians have taken the country's unity for granted, adding: ''We have failed to make a conscious effort to continue to play up those things that unite us,
while playing down the ones that divide us. We have failed to take a cue from countries like
Canada, which would have lost the province of Quebec but for its consistent and conscious effort to work on the country's unity.''

He sought the support of the NBMOA for the nationwide campaign, to be launched soon by the ministry, ''to change the way we, as Nigerians, do things'', as well as support for the war on terrorism to enable Nigerians to know that it is not just a war for the military but also a war for all Nigerians, hence they must give the military all the necessary support.

Responding to the issues raised by the Chairman, Executive Council of NBMOA, Dr. Ahmed Tijjani Ramalan, the Minister assured the association that he would consider their requests in a most impatial and objective manner, especially the need for a level playing field for all broadcast media owners.

Earlier, Dr. Ramalan congratulated Alhaji Mohammed on his appointment as Hon. Minister of Information and Culture and expressed the commitment of the association ''to positively respond to government policies that will be aimed at rebuilding nd preserving the sanctity, integrity and unity of the Nigerian state''.

He said the NBMOA consists of 15 licensed private broadcast operators with a combined platform of 22 radio and television stations, employs more than 5,000 Nigerians and has an audience base in excess of 50 million

Segun Adeyemi
SA to Hon. Minister of Information and Culture
Abuja
Nov. 30th 2015

A Third Party Memo to President Buhari

 PENDULUM BY DELE MOMODU, Email: dele.momodu@thisdaylive.com

Your Excellency, it’s been months since I wrote my desperate memo to you. I wish to thank you once more for reacting promptly and swiftly at that time and for giving me the honour and privilege of meeting you in your office. I remember presenting you a special compilation of my articles, especially the many admonitions to your immediate predecessor, President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan. After handing over the book to you, Sir, I promised to continue acting in my self-appointed capacity as Special Adviser because of the need to tell you what those very close to you might not be able to say.  They might be afraid of you and your reaction. The truth is you are a plain and simple man imbued with a mission and a passion to save this great country but you cannot do it on your own.  You can only do it if people close to you, who should be advising you, tell you as it is so that you can do that which you were elected to do.

Sir, it is on the above basis that I’m back today for reasons some of which you probably know already from your own personal observations and readings. But before I go further, kindly permit me to set some records straight before some conspiracy specialists step forward to ascribe other people’s opinion to me. I shall clearly expose my personal views and state where I belong or stand for any avoidance of doubt. Everywhere I go people refer to me as Buhari’s man and ask “what’s your Baba doing ooo?”. I seriously have no problem with that. I’m proud that I joined so many other Nigerians as well as foreign friends in supporting a man of impeccable pedigree and solid integrity. No matter your view of President Muhammadu Buhari, one thing his bitterest enemies give to him is the fact that he is way above the level of most mortals in matters of uprightness.

This is why many of us volunteered to scream your name to high heavens and we were ready to follow you to Golgotha. Many of your opponents have not gotten over the thrashing you gave them and would forever seek everything and anything to smear you with. It is therefore not surprising that there has been so much noise about what you’ve done or left undone. Whether they are right or wrong in their assessment, I feel it is right and proper to let you know what people are saying about you including your most ardent fans and supporters. Sir, please, let’s not dismiss them as mere rabble-rousers. A groundswell of public opinion can easily metamorphose into an ocean of disenchantment and cataclysmic confusion. In short, I believe your enemies are skilfully setting you up for failure in order to be able to taunt your supporters later by saying we “we told you so!” In this regard it is pertinent to always bear in mind the Yoruba saying ‘ehin kunle l’ota wa, ile ni a se ni ngbe’! Loosely translated it means “the enemy lurk outside in the backyard but your foe resides inside your house.”

What is the matter this time? Many Nigerians are lamenting that the change you promised them is fast becoming a mirage. It is certainly not what they are seeing right now. They insist that your style and methodology appear too slow for a nation in dire straits and in need of urgent and miraculous deliverance. They are not happy that you are no longer the prudent man they used to know. They think you’ve already capitulated by frolicking with members of the bourgeois class and junketing around the world while Nigeria burns like Dante’s inferno. They are miffed that you are still keeping the Presidential fleet when you are supposed to have sold most of them off, if not all. They are worried that the mandate of four years they gave you is being unwittingly frittered away and before you know it all the goodwill you garnered would have evaporated and vamoosed. Time, they say, waits for no man!

The economy and the free fall of the Naira have become worrisome. There are all manner of rumours that may make matters worse, if true, about the current state and status of our banks. Though the Central Bank of Nigeria has come out forcefully to dispel the dangerous rumours, they want you to unleash your economic master-plan as soon as possible, so that what was once a baseless rumour does not somehow become harsh reality. They are expecting a blue-print that would guarantee a farewell to poverty. On this I agree with the opinion that something drastic has to be conjured up to arrest this drift to perdition. Nothing amplifies this monumental tragedy than the debit card fiasco which stipulates that Nigerians cannot live in a civilised world by walking into any international hotel or shop of their choice and paying with their cards. This is terribly depressing.

What this means in plain terms is that Nigerians must patronise the black market and run the risk of carrying cash recklessly whenever they travel abroad. It makes a mockery of the cashless society that the CBN has fought so hard to put in place and jeopardises your fight against corruption because government officials who travel abroad must of necessity carry large sums of cash if they are not to be embarrassed or even disgraced. Sir, the most important thing is that this is not healthy at all. The last thing your Government should be telling the world is that we are so broke that we are on our knees.  The world laughs at us and treats us with derision because we have resources other than crude oil which should make us one of the richest in the world if we properly harness them. We must stop giving the impression that we are so impoverished when it is leadership, brigandage and a lack of focus that has failed us.

The other matter that continues to embarrass Nigerians is the issue of Boko Haram. The matter is made worse by the fact that you are a retired army General who should know and have what it takes to drastically reduce if not exterminate the cankerworm. But rather the menace has exacerbated. It has snowballed into a seemingly unquenchable conflagration. I had argued repeatedly that the military alone cannot achieve this result. Intelligence seems to be the key word here. Also identifying and locating some of the cells and prominent sympathisers is crucial. Those who arrogantly and naively say that no form of negotiation should take place are very far from the theatre of war. They have probably not heard of a group called IRA, the Irish Republican Army, that terrorised Great Britain for God knows how many years. I and my directors at Ovation International were lucky to escape a massive explosion that shattered the peace and tranquillity of London Docklands when a bomb went off inside the South Quay light rail station which was next to our office at Beaufort Court. The battle of wits and the war of attrition had to be fought using the carrot and the stick approach. It was the carrot approach that eventually succeeded and the United Kingdom has now been rid of that hitherto interminable scourge for many years!
The Boko Haram issue has defied every effort made so far and it is time to expand the options for the sake of our fellow citizens in the heart of this conundrum. When over 200 girls vanished into thin air, we were so sure they would return very soon but that has remained an illusion. This should tell us that this issue is not a joke and that we need to keep all windows open. Sir, Nigerians want to see government show a different approach and better compassion than what we had in the past. They are waiting to see how you will do this with minimum collateral damage.

Sir, you have a herculean task ahead but it is not a mission impossible. Other nations are experiencing almost similar challenges and they are forging ahead. The first indicator to exhibit our seriousness is when we stop the business as usual syndrome and tighten the belts of government officials and politicians. If the idea is to continue along the path of profligacy then Nigeria is contagiously jinxed. The Republic of Tanzania has already taken the lead. I will publish a report that has already gone viral below this letter as a veritable example of what is possible.
I wish you well as always Sir.

CHANGE, THE TANZANIAN WAY
Before I’m accused of plagiarism, let me say quickly that I don’t know the author of this widely circulated story which was forwarded to me by WhatsApp. I found it too good to be true but worth sharing all the same. I pray our politicians would pick some patriotic inspiration from it:

“(This is what is called change) UPDATES FROM TANZANIA POST ELECTION ACTIVITIES

Last weekend they were opening parliament and there was a state dinner planned for all guests that was going to cost about 300m. President Magulufi cut the budget to 25m and ordered that the rest be taken to buy hospital beds for Muhimbili. They got 300 beds and mattresses and 600 bedsheets from that money.

On 23rd Nov 2015 he announced that there will be no official ceremonies for Independence Day on 9th December, the money is to be used for more pressing issues and the day should instead be spent cleaning up our environment.

On Saturday 21st Nov 2015 a group of 50 people were about to set off for a tour of commonwealth countries (don’t know for what) but President Magulufi cut that list down to 4 people, saving government 600m in tickets, accommodation and per diems.

No more foreign travel, embassies will take care; if it’s necessary to go, special permission must be sought from him or Chief Secretary.

No more 1st class and business class travel for all officials except President, Vice, and Prime Minister.

No more workshops and seminars in expensive hotels when there are so many ministry board rooms available.

President Magulufi asked how come engineers are given V8s when a pick-up is more suitable for their jobs.

No more sitting allowances. How the hell are you paid allowance for a job which you have a monthly salary? That also applies to MP’s.

President Magulufi has literally pressed the reset button; returning Tanzania to default factory settings, because that was the TZ Nyerere left us with.

On the day after he was brought to power, in the morning as State House officials were showing him round he decided to take a walk to ministry of finance, told them to get their act together, asked why some employees weren’t in office (ever since then the traffic jam in mornings has become worse) and ordered TRA to scrap all tax exemptions, everyone must pay taxes especially the big guys

President Magulufi went to Muhimbili Hospital unannounced and walked through the worst parts that they keep hiding from important visitors. He fired the director, fired the hospital board and ordered that all machines that weren’t working (so that people go to private hospitals owned by some doctors) to be repaired within 2 weeks otherwise he fires even the new director; the machines were repaired in 3 days

Finally, last week when going to officially open parliament President Magulufi didn’t go by plane, drove the whole 600km from Dar to Dodoma.

President Magulufi has reduced the size of the presidential convoy, even reduced the size of presidential delegation that travels with him

President Magulufi chose a Prime Minister we haven’t heard of before, a guy with reputation for hard work and no corruption. All the big guys we expected could be PM have been let wondering what hit them.

His motto is: Hapa Kazi Tu

After President Magulufi visited ministry of finance and Muhimbii Hospital without announcing, it is said the ports, (most corrupt, delaying, thieving officials) were all of a sudden the most efficient place. No loads are missing, things are done quickly and that habit of forcing for a bribe so that your container is released is no more.

Oh, they say when he was confirmed as winner people started congratulating him and wanting to bring gifts to his place he turned them back, saying he will receive all congrats over the phone, nobody should visit him.

All individuals/firms that bought state companies that were privatized but haven’t done anything (20yrs later) are to either revive the industries immediately or hand them back to the government.”

How I wish President Buhari and Vice-President Osinbajo will take some cue from this truly ‘change’ agent!

THISDAY