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PDP Tells Fayose To Probe Fayemi’s Administration Over Debt Profile

Mohammed Useni
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PDP Tells Fayose To Probe Fayemi’s Administration Over Debt Profile

Governor Ayodele Fayose has been told by the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) to probe the administration of former Governor, Kayode Fayemi.The party said that Fayemi must give explanation for the huge debts he left behind.

Fayose has been in an exchange of word with his predecessor claiming that he left debt of N84b. Fayemi denied this and urged Fayose to study his handing over notes properly before making any monetary accusations.

Fayose has also lambasted Fayemi for spending N3.3b on building a new Governor’s Lodge which he said will be difficult for the state to maintain.

The PDP, in a statement signed by the state’s Publicity Secretary, Wole Oluwawole, said that the APC have such track record with former Governor Niyi Adebayo also leaving a debt of N5b behind in 2003.

“The facts are there for all to see and the people of the state saw what Otunba Niyi Adebayo did and what his APC fellow, Kayode Fayemi also did.

“Adebayo took about N5bn loan from the capital market and left workers in the state with backlog of salary arrears running to 16 months in some cases.

“His godson also came, followed the same line of the biblical prodigal son, took loans from capital market and other undisclosed sources, left state workers reeling under the yoke of unpaid salaries. In fact, Fayemi only came to repeat history as far as plunging the state into debts is concerned.

“He went further than his forebearer in APC by mortgaging the future of the state because of projects that have no economic values. Whereas, in the history of the state, PDP-led governments have always left the state in healthy financial condition.

“We laughed when he came up with his feeble defence that he only left over N36bn debts. He deliberately failed to mention commitments as far as workers’ salaries are concerned, he even lied that he only owed September salary, when did he pay that of August and July deductions that they squandered?” the statement said.

Indang Alibi: Are Men Dangerous Animals?

Mohammed Useni
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Indang Alibi: Are Men Dangerous Animals?

Last week, using statistics supplied from the USA itself, we looked at the parlous family institution in that country and concluded that the USA is a good example of a country which has fallen victim to what is often described as the End Times satanic agenda to destroy the family. We talked about a law in that country supposedly meant to protect women and children from men bullies but which in reality has castrated and defanged men and turned them into effeminate, toothless bull dogs, lacking both the authority and power to act as effective heads of households as ordained by God. The result of that, we said, is reflected in the grim statistics we supplied which showed the steady disintegration of the family in that God-distanced country.
This week, we are looking at a part of that aforementioned satanic agenda which is manifested in the current world-wide vociferous campaign by NGOs, feminist organisations, activists of all hues and even governments to demonise men and make them look like ogres most dangerous to the health, safety and general wellbeing of women and girls.
The campaign is being waged mostly by ‘liberated’ women and a few of their castrated men sympathisers who wish to be seen as politically correct and its central theme is what they call ‘’abusive men’’, men who are said to love abusing women physically, sexually and psychologically. You put on your TV  to watch some interesting movies, or tune your radio to listen to some important happenings around you and the world or open pages of newspapers to read some interesting and insightful commentaries and what may assault your sensibility instead may be a discussion programme or a story on ‘’abusive men’’. The way they talk endlessly about this issue, you get the impression that apart from pandemics like AIDS and Ebola, ‘’abusive men’’ has become another dreaded disease that has come upon man, more appropriately upon the feminine gender.
In this campaign, ALL men are portrayed as insensitive brutes and dangerous animals fit only for the zoo who take delight in raping and brutalizing women they should be loving and protecting. They take a few scattered incidents perpetrated by either ignorant or maladjusted men, aggregate them and magnify them out of proportion and then use them to generalize and make it look like it is all men who rape or inflict physical or psychological trauma on women. They urge women and girls who have been raped or beaten to come out and speak of their woes as if doing so will solve the problem. They ask victims to report to the police so that their husbands or men can be arrested, convicted and jailed as if the solution laid in vengeance.
They have succeeded in their mindless campaign in creating an atmosphere of hate between men and women. What this is in aid of some of us do not really know. One feels as if a war of the sexes has been declared. And the war propaganda is to demonise the enemy-men- as much as possible. And the aim is to ask for laws and actions that will make men effeminate as is now the case in the USA. For some of us, the ultimate goal is to destroy the family.
Let us be honest about some of these things some have taken as a career to rile against today: rape, beating of women by men, arm robbery. These social ills have been with man since the creation of the world. In the days of Prophet Moses, there was rape. If that ill did not exist, Moses would not have received a law from God prohibiting it. In the days of Jesus Christ, there was arm robbery. If it did not exist, Christ would not have told the parable of the Good Samaritan who was robbed and brutalized by arm robbers and left for dead.
The truth is that in our world today these ills have assumed more horrifying dimensions for a number of clearly explainable reasons. Take rape for instance. Late marriages, close settlement patterns and thus close proximity between the sexes, lack of modesty in dressing by some women, our general lack of concern about morality on the part of both men and women, the general culture of obscenity and pornography which makes the whole atmosphere perpetually charged with sex and a host of others are responsible for the rising cases of rape. It is not that men have suddenly become more beastly or that they held an all men’s meeting somewhere and decided that men must abuse women.
What this means or what it calls for is that our researchers and thinkers should try to identify the various causes of these worrisome ills; thereafter, it will be the task of leaders to take steps to correct them through education and other rational ways. The solution does not lie in talking endlessly about them and trying to blame one sex for the woes. It takes two to tango. The relationship between men and women is unique. It is unlike any other type. We often have two or more strangers from sometimes completely different backgrounds who have decided to co-habit for life. There is bound to be occasional causes of friction. Our people have a saying that there is no way the many cooking utensils in the kitchen cannot rub against one another without making noise.
For instance when you dare to suggest to women that the dressing of some of them contributes to the rising cases of rape, they will not want you to dare mention that. They tell you women dress to please themselves and not to invite undue attention to themselves and that men who claim to be affected by some kind of indecent dressing are brutes who lack self-control. This attitude is quite unhelpful. A real problem that affects people cannot be dismissed in this off-hand manner.
Take another issue of wife beating. At the root of most family fights is economic hardship quite often created by poor political leadership. Women should be taught to be more sympathetic to their husbands. Look women, it is not easy for men out there. Some do their best. It is just that their best is not always good enough and women must show some understanding instead of daily verbal assaults flung at their men which do not solve any problem. If anything they worsen the matter for everybody. The family institution is more protective of women and children than it is of the men. Women in my view therefore bear a greater responsibility to do everything to ensure that their homes do not scatter. Instead of asking for laws that will make men get to jail who abuse their wives, women will suffer even much more. Wife beating, rape and other ills against women have been on since time immemorial and they are not likely to end until kingdom comes. The solution does not lie in carrying on as if some war of the sexes has been declared. Education, enlightenment or proper socialization is what will help to minimize those incidents. Those who have made it their career to fight those ills should avert their minds to this singular most important weapon and stop assaulting us with a vile campaign that will destroy the family by unnecessarily creating a state of war between men and women. Both sexes surely need each other.

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Article written by Indang Alibi

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US Says Talks To Free Abducted Nigerian School Girls Ongoing

Mohammed Useni
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US Says Talks To Free Abducted Nigerian School Girls Ongoing

A US official on Monday confirmed that a ceasefire deal appeared to have been reached between Nigeria and Boko Haram militants, but said talks to release some 200 kidnapped girls were ongoing.

Doubts have been raised since members of the Nigerian government said on Friday that they had secured a deal with Boko Haram to free the girls captured in April and to end hostilities.

In the aftermath of Friday’s declaration by Nigeria’s military and presidency, however, reports of attacks continue to emerge, casting further doubts on the credibility of the ceasefire claim.

And a group of Nigerian elders has said only one faction of Boko Haram had been involved in the deal.

“We can confirm reports that a ceasefire has been announced, (and) appears to have been put into place,” State Department deputy spokeswoman Marie Harf said as reported by Agency France-Presse.

“We would welcome that ceasefire, call on all parties both to implement and maintain such a ceasefire, and hope that such a ceasefire would herald the return of peace to the northeast.

“This is a region that has had far too little of that.”

But she said it was Washington’s “understanding that the negotiations about a deal to release the girls continue.”

With 80 US military personnel sent to neighboring Chad for intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance, the United States is the biggest foreign participant in the effort against the Islamic militants, Boko Haram, who have terrorized parts of northern Nigeria.

Washington has also deployed surveillance drones, spy planes and about 30 civilian and military specialists to support Nigeria’s security forces.

Audu Ogbeh Apologises For #BBOG Movement Party Affiliation Statement

Mohammed Useni
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Audu Ogbeh Apologises For #BBOG Movement Party Affiliation Statement

Chief Audu Ogbeh,  a chieftain of the All Progresives Congress has expressed his sincere apology for a statement in which he said that members of the #BringBackOurGirls Movement belong to the APC.

The Presidency had in the past accused the group of being sponsored by the APC and  Ogbeh unwittingly confirmed this while speaking at  the declaration of General Muhammadu Buhari in Abuja last week. He said that members of the group belong to the APC with the group taking strong exception to the statement.

The one time Chairman of the PDP has however apologised for the slip saying that only two percent of the group are actually APC members but the the two percent are highly valued by the party.

His apology was contained in a letter addressed to the BBOG and obtained by NewsWireNGR on Tuesday.

Ogbeh said “Dear patriots, I feel obliged to let you know that my statement at our function last week was not intended to paint your group as an APC subgroup. This is because from what we know, less than 2 per cent of the group are our party members, but members we value highly.

“The rest of you are not and may not even belong to any political association whatsoever. This is not to say you have no right to be if you choose to. If my statement caused you discomfort, I do apologise, but reiterate that I have nothing but respect and admiration for you for keeping a six-month vigil and telling the world that the Nigerian conscience is not entirely dead. The world is watching and making judgement.”

The BBOG Movement has been a focal voice calling for the safe return of the abducted chibok secondary school girls. Former Education Minister, Mrs Oby Ezekwesili is one of the major facilitators of the movement. She is currently not affiliated to any political party.

Cordinator of the  BBOG, Hadiza Usman, in a statement on Tuesday decried Ogbeh for his statement. She said that though she is personally an APC member, her membership has nothing to do with the group.

“I have watched, with keen interest, recent attempts by some principal officers of the Federal Government to discredit me and the #BringBackOurGirls group. This is not new. It has been the case since we commenced our citizens-driven advocacy movement, which explains why my initial reaction was to ignore the chatter and concentrate on the noble work of the #BringBackOurGirls campaign.

“I am a member of the APC, and there has been no time I have hidden this fact or tried to mask it. But let’s be clear, when I worked to mobilise women, men, and Nigerians at large to come out on April 30th to protest that the Government should intensify efforts to #BringBackOurGirls, I did so not as an APC member, but first as a human being, as a woman, a mother, a Nigerian and an African. It was never about politics and/or my political affiliations; it was rather about our shared humanity as human beings.”

“No one should be made to make the choice of being a member of a political party and being empathetic towards issues that bother on our shared humanity; neither should any citizen be denied the right and opportunity to express their natural humanistic tendency of compassion, on the premise of divisive sentiments, interests, and affiliations. When we allow such divisive narratives as that being peddled by people paid with taxpayers’ money to fester in our national discourse, we must see that rather than gain, we lose instead. Rather than come united, we become disunited. “

She went further to say said that the issue of the girls is an opportunity to unite against insurgency and terrorism regardless of party affiliation.

“This moment therefore offers for us a unique chance to stand united as a nation, whether you are in PDP, APGA, APC, or any political party; Christian or Muslim; from the North or the South. The issue of the abducted Chibok girls is an opportunity to UNITE and not DIVIDE – to unite against insurgency, terrorism, and every common enemy that seeks to divide us as a people. We must unite to ensure that every girl and boy in Nigeria has equal access to education. We must unite to change the narrative that no matter one’s tribe, gender, religion, social strata, interests, and political affiliations, we can all come together as one to transform our beloved nation for the best.”

Prominent Islamic Cleric Pens Open Letter To Buhari, Implores Him Not To Contest But Support A Younger Candidate

Mohammed Useni
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Prominent Islamic Cleric Pens Open Letter To Buhari, Implores Him Not To Contest But Support A Younger Candidate

Sheik Ahmed Gumi, a Kaduna based Islamic cleric has advised former Head of State, Muhammadu Buhari, not to contest the 2015 presidential election.

Sheik Gumi said this in an open letter posted on his Facebook page in which he urged Buhari to support a younger candidate because age is not on his side.

He later spoke with PREMIUMTIMES confirming that the letter indeed originated from him. He said  he  wrote Buhari to avert crisis in the country and that though he could have told Buhari privately, he chose to make it public so others could learn.

“I have to write him (Mr. Buhari) that letter because we don’t want crisis in Nigeria,” he said.

In the letter, Gumi said that though he understands that Buhari has good intentions, good intentions are however not enough in governance. He said that Buhari should not allow himself to be used by those who do not have the best interest of the country at heart.

“Your Excellency, good intentions are never enough. In the past, because of your clean records and straightforwardness you were lured by men who want only the vanities Dunya to uproot a young democracy on the caprices of fighting corruption. Corruption is no doubt an evil but there is a more monstrous evil than corruption. That is turmoil and insecurity. Peace and stability are the most important part of governance that no price is to high for them.

The lack of peace, stability and security is the major predicament of this nation since independence. So when you were naively used by men to derail one, that is the greatest disservice you committed to the nation the ills of which we are yet to recover from.”

Below is Sheik Gumi’s open letter to General Buhari

Assalamu Alaikum
The Humble People’s General.

I know I have access to you privately but this is meant for others to learn also.

The Prophet -peace be upon him- told one of the most honest and truthful of his companions, Abu Zar Algafary: “Oh Abu Zar, I truly love for you what I love for myself. I indeed see that you are weak so never accept to lead even two people and never accept safekeeping of the orphans wealth.”

An honest and candid advice from the prophet that is still valid today for any leader whose weakness borders on leadership qualities.

The reason for Abu Zar’s weakness has nothing to do with his credibility or truthfulness. Never! The prophet was narrated as saying: “there is nobody under the shadows of trees or bare sun that is more honest in speech than Abu Zar”.
Abu Zar – May Allah be pleased with him- is ascetic and inmaterialistic. Abu Zar is incorruptible. And yet he is not suitable for leadership.

I am not claiming to be even by an atom’s weight anything close to our noble prophet, yet I am encouraged to give you these same advice by the virtue that you are not also close to Abu Zar in piety. We are living in a time of great tribulations and fitnah especially for this Ummah because of our collective iniquities, ignorance of religious instructions and the love of Dunyah.

Sir, your weakness is not in your past impeccable record of accountability of public wealth and the fight against corruption and indiscipline. Your weakness is in your inability to control men compounded further by your strict and obsessive rejection of corruption.

Don’t be surprised. You may need to understand that Islam being a pragmatic religion allows the use of Zakkat and public wealth as an instrument to pacify and lure influential people for the sake of righteousness, peace and stability. In modern governance today it translate to security vote.

Thus men are also controlled by money. So if your policy of governance is obsessibly centered on sealing tight the use of money, you will have great problem with men. An Arab poet said: “A fool cannot be the leader of his people but the true leader of the people must feign foolishness”.

It’s convenient for your ardent supporters to quote copiously from the annals of history your great achievements but when your failures and weaknesses were pointed out they say that was in the past. Is the lessons of past history only good for the positive achievements? Doesn’t that also explains our incessant failures?

Your Excellency, good intentions are never enough. In the past, because of your clean records and straightforwardness you were lured by men who want only the vanities Dunya to uproot a young democracy on the caprices of fighting corruption. Corruption is no doubt an evil but there is a more monstrous evil than corruption. That is turmoil and insecurity. Peace and stability are the most important part of governance that no price is to high for them.

The lack of peace, stability and security is the major predicament of this nation since independence. So when you were naively used by men to derail one, that is the greatest disservice you committed to the nation the ills of which we are yet to recover from.

Do you truly believe Allah is still not in cognizance of that? You were led to uproot a duly elected leader and incarcerate him for close to two years knowing fully well that he has no charge of even the corruption that was labeled against him. Yes, Shagari was the leader and therefore he bears all the responsibility of misdeeds in his government, so also you were a leader and you should bear all the responsibility of derailing the peace and stability of governance in this country as a consequence of that putsch.

Your weakness in control of men became evident when the very people that used you to revolt against a constituted authority came back to uproot you from the seat of power. Your own kinsmen. Without a gun cocked in your defence.

Today the corruption you were deceived to fight against has reached unimaginable level coupled with the worst state of insecurity and peace in the nation. There was just recently an attempt on your life like many of us.

All this because you the honest people that are given the privilege of strengthening the Armed forces left it to meddle in politics. We thus lost everything. Neither the power nor the security.

A believer is not stung from the same hole twice. Men used your innocence before to get power and dump you. Please be sensible today. Some other men still want to use you to get power and surely they will dump you again. You don’t share the same philosophy at all. Even though as I explained later, your obsession and philosophy of fighting corruption is not the priority of Nigeria today. What Nigeria needs utmost now is peace and stability? This can only be achieved when the religious ethnic and regional divide is tamed. And you can only tame it with people without much precedence. People without much following. Yet people that are constructive and have the ability to control men.

If Sardauna today is alive in your situation he will never contest for the presidential seat because of his deep understanding of what the nation needs. He will step down for a more acceptable younger person. It’s on record that Sardauna even at the age of under 60 said he was not going to contest again, preparing his only house in Rabah for retirement.

I’ll give you a similitude to buttress my point of priority. A person seriously injured and fractured from a road traffic accident when brought to the emergency room, the first priority of the doctors is to secure an intravenous line. Meaning get a drip set working into his veins to protect his vital organs like the heart and kidneys from the effects of shock and loss of blood. The fractures, even though serious and the source of the blood loss, may take days and weeks before they are even attended to beside the superficial dressings.

Nigeria now needs peace and stability first. Then we talk of good governance later even though it’s the source of the predicament we are facing.

The present government has already charged the situation and played the religious divide to its advantage. It’s in circulation now, a SW pastor calling on Christians and the church to vote Jonathan as their only Saviour. This religious card will be used to cover his deficiency in governance.

Your Excellency, you should understand too, that many, if not most of your supporters, are also looking up to you to protect them from the onslaught on their religion and region. This also the Christian will never believe the otherwise.

Therefore the stage is set for religious confrontation which is the least the nation needs.

What we need as a priority is peace and stability.

From my view, if APC can support as an example Ameachi or Okorocha/Kwankwaso or El-Rufai or Tambuwwal ticket and the PDP will have Akpabio/Muazu or Ribadu or Shekaru, the next four years will. – insha Allah – witness stability both in the north and south. And the electoral body will get the necessary infrastructure that subsequently the next election will be free and fair and the true reflection of Nigerians.

If you may ask, why can’t this same peace be achieved with you and another Christian running mate?

Gen. you have antagonist, and they are many and also as ardent as your supporters. Your supporters have the biggest proportion of the underprivileged of the society which is the petrol that can be easily ignited by the slightest spark. The spark will be when you’re declared the loser. And you know you can very well lose if the Christians follow their church -and why not in this era of mediocrity.

On the other hand if Jonathan comes back. BH will be real not the political one we see. The turmoil will engulf the whole country not only the north. That is why I also call on PDP to present some other candidates.

My brother in Islam, please listen to the words of wisdom. And don’t follow the whims of the riffraff. Before they used you the first time to disrupt the second republic, my father advised you against it. Today I am also advising you against contesting in the 2015 presidential election because you will be used to ignite the nation -a dream well orchestered several years ago- and also be used by bad people as a ladder to grab regional and local powers.

I rest my case here.

My best regards and condolence for your recent loss.
May Allah guide you and protect you from the evil men and the jinn. Amin.

Link for the Sheik Gumi’s open letter Dr. Ahmad Abubakar Mahmud Gumi.

Femi Aribisala: Muhammadu Buhari Running For President With An Anti-Corruption Bank Loan

Mohammed Useni
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Femi Aribisala: Muhammadu Buhari Running For President With An Anti-Corruption Bank Loan

In Nigeria, nobody gets elected as president on the platform that he is going to be an anti-corruption crusader when he gets into office.

One thing is for sure: Muhammadu Buhari would like to be the next president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. He has tried three times and has failed every time. Finally realizing it is a lost cause, he said he would not try again.

But now he is persuaded to try again. His supporters are impressed that he won 12 million votes against Goodluck Jonathan in 2011. However, they need to be reminded that he lost to Jonathan by over 10 million votes.

Since the third time did not turn out to be a charm for Buhari, what are we to call his fourth attempt? Listening to the declaration of his new-fangled presidential bid in Eagles’ Square, Abuja a few days ago, it is seems this fourth time is going to be one big charade.

The sign was provided by none other than Buhari himself. Since his one credential is that he is a man of integrity who, as president, is expected to wrestle corruption down to the ground, Buhari decided to burnish his anti-corruption image by revealing that he obtained his 27.5 million naira APC nomination form with a bank loan. However, what this declaration did was to tell Nigerians that Buhari is a pretentious anti-corruption crusader. His Mr. Clean posture is nothing but a public relations gimmick.

Question marks

In fairness, some of us have known this all along. Under Buhari’s watch as Petroleum Minister in the late 1970s, $2.8 billion (worth billions of naira today) was missing from the NNPC account. The matter was subject to Senate investigation under the chairmanship of Olusola Saraki in 1983. But before the report could be dealt with, Buhari conveniently overthrew the Shagari government in a military coup d’état.

Vera Ifudu, an NTA newscaster, revealed that Saraki told her in an interview that the missing money was traced to Buhari’s account at Midland Bank in London. For this disclosure, Vera was summarily sacked by the NTA. However, she appealed against her dismissal in court and won. She even received a handsome financial compensation for wrongful dismissal from the NTA.

Instead of clearing his name as a man of integrity, Buhari refused to appear before the Oputa Panel set up to look into the matter (among under things) by the Obasanjo administration.

Buhari claims to be an anti-corruption crusader, nevertheless, he agreed to serve under Sani Abacha, one of the most corrupt Heads-of-State ever in the history of Nigeria. While there has been no proven allegation that Buhari corruptly enriched himself as Chairman of the Petroleum Trust Fund under Abacha, it is abundantly clear that this fabled anti-corruption crusader failed to curb the rampant corruption that prevailed in the organization. Group Captain Usman Jibrin, a board member of PTF, resigned from the organization in protest over Buhari’s irregular appointments of consultants.

In 2000, the Obasanjo administration set up an Interim Management Committee to look into the affairs of the PTF, under the chairmanship of Haroun Adamu. The Committee discovered that billions of naira was stolen under Buhari’s chairmanship.

Political platform

Now the same Buhari who would not or could not curb corruption in the PTF wants us to believe he will fight corruption as president of Nigeria. However, he has chosen the APC as the political platform on which to undertake this. But the APC is an unscrupulous political party that is choc-full of corrupt politicians. It is the party of Murtala Nyako who was impeached as governor of Adamawa State for converting state money to personal use. It is the party where Buhari himself and others went cap-in-hand to Otta to beg Obasanjo to be their “navigator.”

Surely Buhari knows that he cannot fight corruption by being the presidential candidate of the APC. Whatever anti-corruption crusading Buhari had in him in the past must have ended when he decided to join the APC. Should he become president, does he intend to probe his corrupt party-members? Has he made them understand he would be coming after them once elected? If he has, does he really expect them to help him get elected so he can retrieve their stolen loot and send them off to jail?

A 72 year-old man with Buhari’s experience, who was overthrown in a preemptive coup by members of his own government, knows that in Nigeria, nobody gets elected as president on the platform that he is going to be an anti-corruption crusader when he gets into office. That is a sure signal for all the politicians in all the parties to gang up against him and make sure he never makes it.

If you really want to be anti-corruption, you have to keep your mouth shut about your plans until you get elected and then catch your corrupt colleagues by surprise. You must also have resolved not to seek re-election for a second-term. It is not only the populace, but the politicians in particular, who insist on “stomach infrastructure.” But if you are talking anti-corruption while still seeking the nomination of your party, it must be because it is well known to your corrupt colleagues that your anti-corruption stance is merely for public consumption.

Cleaning up APC

It is not surprising, therefore, that despite all the noise about anti-corruption coming from Buhari and his cohorts; he has failed to fight against corruption in the APC. We did not hear him raise a voice against the incongruity of a so-called progressive party demanding a cynical nomination fee of 27.5 million naira for its presidential primaries. One would have expected a truly anti-corruption crusader to make the point that the nomination fee is unacceptable. Instead, Buhari readily acquiesced to the requirement in order to safeguard his all-important presidential ambitions.

Since Buhari cannot, or does not, fight against this corrupting nomination fee in the APC, and insist on its reduction to something far more reasonable, how can he expect us to believe that as president in a political system with the separation of powers; against a legislature likely to be controlled by the PDP; he would be able to fight corruption? Somebody is fooling somebody here. Or else, somebody is living in a cloud cuckoo land.

Charity, they say, begins at home. If Buhari is truly anti-corruption, he should begin his crusade in the APC. Is it progressive for a political party in Nigeria to ask its candidates to come up with 27.5 million just for the nomination papers for an election where only one person will emerge as the winner? Is it not corrupt politicians that are likely to have this type of easy-come easy-go money? Is this not an open invitation for the winner, if he actually manages to secure election to the presidency, to recoup this extortionate fee from public funds?

Anti-corruption bank loan

What did anti-corruption Buhari do about this outrageous APC requirement? This is where the whole matter becomes ridiculously implausible. According to Buhari, rather than fight against the measure, he took out a ban loan to pay for it.

Buhari told us about his “loan” out of embarrassment; in a pathetic bid to validate his anti-corruption credentials. But this so-called loan indicates that Buhari does not understand what it means to be anti-corruption. For Buhari, anti-corruption is a posture; it is a swagger; it is a badge; but it has no bite and, in the usual Nigerian fashion, it will be prosecuted with hypocrisy.

Buhari wants us to believe that he cannot afford 27.5 million naira. Nevertheless, he rides around in a bullet-proof Jeep and maintains a convoy of Land Cruisers. He cannot afford 27.5 million naira. Nevertheless, he declared his candidacy lavishly in Eagle Square, Abuja. Did he also take out a bank loan for that? Four months to a make-or-break election, Buhari would have us believe he has no money. How does he propose to finance his presidential campaign? Is he going to take 1 billion naira loan from the World Bank for this?

Dubious loan

Why would a bank lend Buhari that amount for a presidential pie-in-the-sky that failed to materialize three times in the past? Is that not likely to be a bad loan? How long did it take for the loan to be processed? What did he put down as anti-corruption collateral? How does he propose to pay the money back? Mr. Integrity needs to spell all this out for the sake of his fast-disintegrating anti-corruption credentials.

I did not know loans are so easy to secure in Nigerian banks today. Perhaps Buhari could introduce me to his bank manager. I would also not mind taking this kind of soft loan. I am sure I can always come up with some unproductive excuse or the other for it. Is such a loan even legal today under Nigeria’s stricter banking laws?

How many honest Nigerians can afford to give a non-refundable 27.5 million naira to a political party, on the off-chance that they will be able to secure the party’s presidential ticket? If they win the nomination and even get elected president, how would they pay back the money?

Not presidential material

It is clear that Buhari is not only lacking the money to pay for APC nomination papers, he does not have the funds to pay for advisers, to counsel him about what to tell the public and how to prosecute an effective presidential campaign. His advisers might have educated him that there is something called “fund-raising.” Surely, the most popular politician in the North-West can find some of his ardent supporters to give him 27 million naira. Certainly, a former governor of the Central Bank can easily cough up the money.

Buhari wants to fight an election that will take place in four months time. From what he tells us, he does not have 27 million to prosecute that election now. If this is true, he is not the right man to be president of Nigeria. For a man who is running for election for the fourth time, that is the height of cluelessness. It shows Buhari is lousy at marshalling resources. Otherwise, he is fooling nobody but himself.

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Article written by Femi Aribisala

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Asari Dokubo’s Threat On Lai Mohammed, APC Writes Police Inspector General

Mohammed Useni
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The All Progressive Congress (APC) have written a letter to the Inspector -General of Police asking for questioning of Asari Dokubo on the threat he made against the the party’s National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammad.

The APC in the letter asked the Inspector -General of Police to invite Asari-Dokubo for questioning over the comments he made on an online newspaper.

The party said it finds Asri-Dokubo’s comments that he would not give a civilized response to Mr Mohammed by suing the APC Spokesperson for his remarks but that he (Asari Dokubo) warned that he will resort to “self-help by using his hands and any other means to deal with Mr Mohammed ”

Excerpts of the letter reads as follows:

“The attention of our party has been drawn to comment made by the leader of the Niger Delta People Volunteer Force (NDPVF) Mr Mujahid Dokubo-Asarri that included a threat against the our National Publicity Secretary Alhaji Lai Muhammad.

“The threat, contained in an interview granted to the online newspaper Premium Times by Mr Asari Dokubo on Friday October 17th 2014 follows a press statement which was issued on behalf of the party by Alhaji Lai Mohammed on oct 8th 2014 asking the Federal Government to explain the reported presence of Asari Dokubo on the plane that transported the U$9.3 million cash to South Africa.

“In the interview Mr Asari Dokubo said while he would not adopt a “civilized response to Mr Mohammed by suing the APC Spokesperson for his remarks he (Asari Dokubo) warned that should courts fail to deliver justice he will resort to self-help by using his hands and any other means to deal with Mr Mohammed ”

“We find this threat totally abhorring, dangerous, unacceptable and uncivilized and therefor wish to request that you call Mr Asari Dokubo to order and invite him to explain what he means by his threat to self-help we have attached a copy of the said interview to this petition”

Maku Advocates Setting Aside 1% Of Every Govt Contract For Publicity

Mohammed Useni
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Maku Advocates Setting Aside 1% Of Every Govt Contract For Publicity

The outgoing Minister of Information, Mr Labaran Maku, has advocated   one percent of every contract sum in every major project of government be dedicated to publicity.

Maku said that the job of a publicist is a tedious one made even worse by paucity of funds.

At a  send-off lunch organized by the heads of departments, agencies and parastatals under the ministry of information, Maku said setting aside such percentage of contract sum would augment for the low funds given for publicity.

“The issue of funding will be addressed, but the only way we can get out of it is that in every major contract, one per cent must be set aside for publicity.

“That fund will now be set aside to fund NAN, NTA, VON and FRCN to move out and report, we need this as quickly as possible.

“I hope the next person who will succeed me will have the opportunity to get it through so that we can have the resources to back up our energy to get the job done with ease,” he said.

He then urged the media to be fair in the reports and do their best not to drag the country’s image in the mud. He said media reports focus so much on bad news and as such dent the image of the country.

“Stories on Boko Haram, oil theft, kidnapping and others continually dent our image to the extent that the good things happening in the country are buried under the headlines of the bad ones.

“We have to go out to physically tell people what the government is doing,” he said.

Maku stressed the need for the indigenous radio and television stations to step up their games to stand neck to neck with the likes of CNN, Aljazerra, Fox News and others.

He said there was no reason why a president should not go to CNN whenever he needed to make a speech that would transcend the African region and reach the whole world.

“Nigeria is the giant of Africa and our media should reflect international recognition. The nation’s media must play the role of the international media hub,’’ he said.

Maku resigned as the Minister of Information to pursue a governorship ambition in his home state, Nasarawa state.

Go With The Most Popular Aspirants- Jonathan Tells PDP Governors

Mohammed Useni
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Go With The Most Popular Aspirants- Jonathan Tells PDP Governors

President Goodluck Jonathan has told  Governors under the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) that they must go with popular candidates who are capable of winning elections in 2015.

He advised against handpicking of candidates and suggested that flagbearers should be decided by consultation with leaders, elders, stakeholders and party members in the state, He also insisted that that primary elections should be held in all the states.

The Vanguard reports that the President told   the Governors  at  a closed door meeting on Sunday.The Governors  had called for the meeting in  order  to express their displeasure over the stoppage of consensus endorsement of their candidates ahead of 2015 general elections and their own candidature by the National Working Committee, NWC.

Present at the   meeting were Olusegun Mimiko (Ondo State), Isa Yuguda (Bauchi State), Ibrahim Dankwambo (Gombe State) and Martin Elechi (Ebonyi).

Others were Emmanuel Uduaghan (Delta), Godswill Akpabio (Akwa Ibom), Saidu Dakingari (Kebbi), Liyel Imoke (Cross River) , Babangida Aliyu (Niger), Umar Garba (Acting Governor of Taraba) as well as the deputy governors of Sokoto and Nasarawa states.

The President  was said  to  have told the governors that the party cannot afford to loose any state to the APC because of the presentation of unpopular candidates, adding that the Party was working towards winning the states that were presently being controlled by the opposition in addition to the PDP states and not having any one won by the APC because of wrong candidates.

The governors were said to have raised the issue of endorsement, automatic tickets for them especially those who were rounding off and warming up to come to the Senate, to ensure that their preferred successors get tickets as well as automatic tickets for first term governors.

Of the present nineteen PDP governor, those who are not rounding off their various tenure in office and want to come back for second term are governors Murktar Ramalan Yero of Kaduna State; the Acting Governor of Taraba State, Garba Umar; Ibrahim Dankwambo of Gombe; Henry Seriake-Dickson of Bayelsa; Capt. Idris Wada, the Present Adamawa State governor, Bala James Ngilari, among others.

Besides Governor Sule Lamido of Jigawa; other governors of PDP who are outgoing have got the machinery of the party and some persons in their states to anoint them for the Senate. They are Governors Godswill Akpabio of Akwa Ibom; Gabriel Suswam of Benue; Emmanuel Uduaghan of Delta; Saidu Dakingari of Kebbi; Theodore Orji of Abia; Sullivan Chime of Enugu; Ibrahim Shema of Katsina; Isa Yuguda of Bauchi; Jonah Jang of Plateau and Babangida Aliyu of Niger.

This  latest decision will further  annoy the Governors  having unanimously  endorsed Jonathan as the party’s   sole Presidential candidate; they expected  that the  President  would give  them such freedom to likewise pick their preferred candidate.

You Wasted N3.3B On Governor’s Lodge – Fayose Blasts Fayemi

Mohammed Useni
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You Wasted N3.3B On Governor’s Lodge – Fayose Blasts Fayemi

The Ekiti Governor, Ayodele  Fayose, on Monday said the N3.3bn spent on the new Governor’s Lodge built by the former Governor, Kayode Fayemi was too expensive and difficult for the state to maintain.

He said this while administering the oath of office on the newly appointed Secretary to the State Government, Dr. Modupe Alade, and other special assistants in Ado Ekiti.

Fayose said that considering the level of poverty in the state, spending  such  amount on a building   was extra-vagant “My heart nearly failed me when I got to the new Government Lodge on Thursday. The mansion cost N3.3bn. It was initially awarded for N2.3bn and later increased to N2.7bn, while a sum of N640m was used to procure fittings and furniture.

“And this building will cost a sum of N150m for maintenance annually. Ekiti cannot sustain this and we have to do something about it. How can a governor be living in such a house when the masses are living in abject poverty?”

Reacting to the allegation that the Government Lodge was too expensive, Fayemi’s media aide, Mr. Olayinka Oyebode, said he would not dignify Fayose by responding to the allegation.

He said, “That is a non-issue and does not deserve a reaction. He is entitled to his opinion.”

Justice Served!!! Pistorius Bags Five-year Jail Term

Mohammed Useni
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Justice Served!!! Pistorius Bags Five-year Jail Term

Oscar Pistorius’ seven months trial has finally  come to an end as he has been sentenced to to five years in prison by South African judge, Thokozile Masipa for killing his girlfriend, Reeva Steenkamp on Valentine’s Day in 2013.

In her judgment, Judge Masipa said Mr Pistorius had acted “negligently” when he fired four times through a lavatory cubicle door, killing Ms Steenkamp. But she accepted that he had genuinely mistaken his girlfriend for an intruder, and dismissed charges of murder and premeditated murder.

The 63-year-old judge, a former journalist and social worker, went to great lengths to explain her reasoning. Sentencing is about “proportionality”, the judge emphasised, and an appropriate sentence must be “neither too light nor too severe”. Judge Masipa disregarded much of the terrifyingly negative evidence on prison conditions from probation officer Annette Vergeer, a paid defence witness, and said she accepted that South Africa’s correctional services department can accommodate disabled inmates. “It would be a sad day for this country if an impression was created that there is one law for the poor and disadvantaged and another for the rich and famous,” Judge Masipa said.

The Pistorius family’s reaction was grim but resigned. Arnold Pistorius, an uncle, told reporters that “Oscar will embrace this opportunity to pay back society.” Pistorius, looking dazed, was calmly removed from the courtroom and booked into Pretoria’s Kgosi Mampuru II prison. Ms Steenkamp’s parents and friends seemed accepting of the sentence, and simply relieved the trial was over. “It’s right,” said her mother, June Steekamp, smiling gently, as she left the courtroom. But the public response appears to be far more negative. The seemingly light sentence handed down to Mr Pistorius will do little to dispel widely held perceptions of “chequebook justice” in South Africa. City Press, a South African weekly, estimated Mr Pistorius’ legal costs at 3.7m rand ($337,000) during trial days alone.

In the end Mr Pistorius may only serve one-sixth of his sentence—or ten months—behind bars, his lawyers said. The rest may be served under house arrest. The state may yet appeal Judge Masipa’s dismissal of the murder charge, and it has two weeks to decide whether to do so. A spokesman for the National Prosecuting Authority said it was “disappointing” that Mr Pistorius was convicted only of culpable homicide, as manslaughter is known in South Africa, and not murder, though he said the jail time was a “consolation”.

Olamide Reveals ‘Street OT’ Album Track-listing

Mohammed Useni
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Olamide Reveals ‘Street OT’ Album Track-listing
Nigerian rapper, Olamide is set to drop his fourth album next month and already, he has released the album art and now, we have got the track-listing of the album which contains 22 tracks.
The album features collaborations with Pasuma, Lil Kesh, Don Jazzy, Chuka, Chinko Ekun, Viktoh, Reminisce and Penenazi. The producers he worked with are: Pheelz, Bbanks and Young John

Olamide’s Street OT Album track-listing

 1. Olamide ft Pasuma and Lil Kesh – Oga Nla

 2. Olamide – Zero Joy

 3. Olamide – Blood Money

 4. Olamide – Ya Wa

 5. Olamide – Hood Rap

 6. Olamide – The Real MVP

 7. Olamide ft Viktoh – Up In The Club

 8. Olamide ft Don Jazzy – Skelemba

 9. Olamide – Prayer For client

 10. Olamide – Batifeori

 11. Olamide ft Chinko Ekun & Lil Kesh – Bang

 12. Olamide – Goons Mi

 13. Olamide – 1999

 14. Olamide – Falila Ketan

 15. Olamide ft Phyno – In My Circle

 16. Olamide – Alaaru

 17. Olamide ft Viktoh & Chinko Ekun – 100 To Million

 18. Olamide – Story For The Gods

 19. Olamide ft Reminisce – Hustle Loyalty Respect

 20. Olamide B-Banks – Possible

 21. Olamide ft Lil Keshi, Chuka, Chinko Ekun & Penenazi – Usain Bolt P

 22. Olamide – Eni Suun

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