Customs Arrest Man With $375,000 (N135m) At Kaduna International Airport (Picture) The Nigeria Customs Service on Tuesday, March 6, 2018, handed over the sum of 375,000 USD (Three Hundred and Seventy Five Thousand United States Dollar) and one Adamu Rabiu Muhammad with passport number A50280997 to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, Kaduna Zonal office.  The suspect, a business man from Kano was intercepted at the international wing of the Kaduna International airport, traveling on board ET941 Ethiopian Airline to Dubai on a business trip. A team of Custom officers on patrol, led by CSC Medugu Y.D. apprehended the suspect on Saturday, March 3, 2018 at about 12:22hrs. While commending the Nigerian Customs Service for its vigilance, EFCC Kaduna Zonal Head of Operations, Ibrahim Bappa, enjoined other Law enforcement agencies to work with the EFCC for a corrupt free Nigeria. |
Wednesday, 7 March 2018
Benue Plans Another Mass Burial For Victims Of Herdsmen Killings On Friday
Benue State Government has said it will organise another mass burial on Friday for the latest victims of suspected herdsmen attacks in the state.
The first mass burial was conducted on January 11 for 73 persons who lost their lives on new year day in two local government areas.
This second burial is for the 29 persons who were massacred Monday evening in an attack on Omusu village in Okpokwu Local Government Area of the state as fourteen of the victims are women while two were children.
The attackers had invaded the community after they reportedly lost their cattle and two herdsmen.
Governor Samuel Ortom who spoke on plans by the government to hold the second mass burial demanded the arrest and prosecution of the suspected herdsmen.
He made the call during an assessment tour of Omusu when he visited the village Tuesday to ascertain the level of destruction and provide immediate relief for the displaced.
Ortom described the attack as unfortunate, saying such barbaric acts were unacceptable in the 21st century.
He reiterated his call for the arrest of the leadership of Miyetti Allah Kautal Hore whom he said were sponsoring the Fulani herdsmen militia and still moving freely in Abuja and giving directives to the mercenaries.
While directing the State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA) to immediately provide relief materials for the displaced persons, Ortom appealed to the community not to embark on reprisals, stressing that the security agencies had been mobilised to forestall further attacks on the community.
The governor visited St. Mary's Hospital, Okpokwu, where the injured were being treated and proceeded to the general hospital in the town where the bodies of dead victims had been deposited.
The governor had initially announced that 24 were killed in the Monday attack, only to get to the hospital where another three victims had died from their injuries.
Another two bodies were also discovered in the village, bringing the death toll to 29.
Even Our Worst Critics Will Agree We Have Tried On Security – President Buhari Asserts
Even Our Worst Critics Will Agree We Have Tried On Security – President Buhari Asserts President Buhari has said the security situation in the country has improved since his assumption of office in 2015 that even the worst critics of the party can attest to it. This was asserted, in a statement signed by his Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Mr Garba Shehu after the President's visit to condole with the families of the victims of killings in Taraba State. He said his APC-led administration had focused on securing the country since assumption of office, adding that the "worst critics of APC will agree that we have tried in improving the security situation in the country, right from the Boko Haram attacks.' I came here mainly to have this forum with leaders, traditional rulers and the state government to extend my condolences to all those who have lost loved ones and properties. "I am appealing to the traditional rulers not to give up in pursuing peace. The country has to be secured before you can manage the economy." |
Chinese man convicted in Nigeria
The convicts ran into trouble when the daughter to the first convict Ma Yongbin, was arrested at the Aminu Kano International Airport while trying to board Egypt Air to China by officers of the Nigeria Customs Service. Upon her arrest, it was discovered that she was carrying the sum of N420,000 undeclared.
During investigation, Cao Xue, daughter to the first convict, disclosed in her statement that she was transporting the cash on behalf of her father.
When Mr. Yogbin was interrogated as to where he got the money, he revealed that he bought the money from the second and third convict, Abdullahi Obaka and Rose Anyaele. The duo were subsequently arrested at Lagos Street, Kano where they engage in buying and selling of Nigerian Naira without lawful authority.
Upon arraignment, Mr. Yongbin and his co-defendants pleaded guilty and were accordingly convicted by the court.
The convicts entered a guilty plea based on plea bargain agreement with the prosecution.
After reviewing the facts of the case, Justice Daggard sentenced the convicts to six months imprisonment with option of N50,000 (Fifty Thousand Naira) fine each.
The court also ordered that the sum N393,000 be forfeited to the Federal Government of Nigeria while the remaining N27,000 be returned to the first convict.
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Porn star sues US President Donald Trump
Los Angeles lawyer Michael Avenatti posted on his Twitter account a copy of what appears to be the suit filed on behalf of the porn star who goes by the name Stormy Daniels. Her real name is Stephanie Clifford.
The hush agreement does “not exist, because, among other things, Mr Trump never signed” the document with a Superior Court of California stamp, the suit says.
It alleges she had an intimate relationship with Trump from 2006 to 2007, which she sought to reveal after Trump won the Republican Party nomination for president and other women claimed to have had sexual encounters with him.
With help from his lawyer Michael Cohen, Trump then sought to “aggressively… silence Ms Clifford as part of an effort to avoid her telling the truth, thus helping to ensure he won the presidential election,” the document says.
Cohen prepared a non-disclosure agreement, a copy of which is attached to the lawsuit and which required a $130,000 payment to be wired from a company known as Essential Consultants LLC to Clifford in return for her silence, according to the documents.
Using the pseudonyms Peggy Peterson and David Dennison, Clifford and Trump were to sign the agreement, along with Essential Consultants.
Days before the November 2016 presidential election which Trump won, Clifford put her name to the document, as did Cohen for Essential Consultants, it says.
“Mr. Trump, however, did not sign the agreement, thus rendering it legally null and void and of no consequence,” the document adds.
Cohen told US media last month that he paid Clifford $130,000, prompting her manager to suggest a non-disclosure agreement had been broken.
Cohen declined to give details such as why he made the payment, or if Trump was aware of it at the time.
“Neither the Trump Organization nor the Trump campaign was a party to the transaction with Ms Clifford, and neither reimbursed me for the payment, either directly or indirectly,” Cohen said, according to the New York Times.
Trump declined to comment on the issue. The White House has dodged questions about whether allegations of an affair are true, claiming the matter was dealt with during the campaign.
Cohen’s comments came after the watchdog group Common Cause filed a federal complaint in January arguing that the payout may have violated campaign finance rules.
AFP.
Nigerian man emerges first black Senator in Italy
Tony Iwobi, an Italian of Nigerian origin, who is the chief immigration spokesman for the far-right League party, has been elected as the first black senator in the country.
Iwobi, whose party has been accused of stirring up xenophobia in Italy, was elected in the industrial city of Brescia in northern Italy — a major immigration hub.
"It is with great excitement that I can tell you I have been elected senator… A new adventure is about to begin," Iwobi said on Facebook on Tuesday following Sunday's elections.
Born in Gusau in northern Nigeria but living in Italy since the 1970s, Iwobi has been a supporter of the League for more than two decades and used the campaign slogan #StopInvasion — a reference to the more than 690,000 migrants who have landed on Italian shores from North Africa since 2013.
Along with party leader Matteo Salvini, Iwobi has argued that illegal immigration into Italy has led to an increase in racism.
"Discrimination begins when there are no rules and the state… lets anyone in. Illegality leads directly to violence and a racist response," he said in January.
"The League supports healthy and controlled immigration which can act as a bulwark against racism," he said.
Italy's general election left the country with a hung parliament in which no single party or coalition commands an overall majority. Political horse-trading is underway as parties bid to form a working coalition government.
The League, led by Matteo Salvini, was the winning party in the right-wing alliance that took the most votes on Sunday but fell short of an overall majority.
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JAMB Lists 16 Prohibited Items For Candidates As UTME Kicks Off On Friday
The Joint Admission Matriculation Board has again fired warning to about 1.6 million candidates who are expected to write the examination in 602 centres across the country from Friday.
A document obtained by PREMIUM Times and signed by the JAMB registrar, Ishaq Oloyede, warned its candidates of ahead of the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) which will begin on Friday, March 9 to March 17.
The Joint Admission Matriculation Board (JAMB) has again warned candidates against bringing in prohibited items into the examination halls, adding that the prohibited items were banned in order to secure the sanctity and integrity of the board's examination.
He said: "Kindly note that the examination officials are allowed to scrutinise eye glass or similar devices and when convinced that such item may compromise the sanctity of the examination, the examination official should confiscate it."
The registrar said that entry into the examination venue by unauthorized person will be sanctioned.
"Where examination official (Board staff or Adhoc staff) or any authorized person is found with any of these prohibited items in the examination hall, such compromising action would be treated as a deliberate act of examination sabotage and necessary sanction will be applied", the registrar said.
About 1.6 million candidates are expected to write the examination in 602 centres across the country.
Here are the list of prohibited items:
1) Watches2) Pen/Biros
3) Mobile phones or similar electronic devices
4) Spy reading glasses which should be scrutinised
5) Calculators or similar electronic devices
6) USB, CD, hard disks and or similar storage devices
7) Books or any reading/writing material.
8) Cameras
9) Recorders
10) Microphones
11) Ear pieces
12) Ink/pen readers
13) Smart lenses
14) Smart rings/ jewellery
15) Smart buttons
16) Bluetooth devices.
We Will Help Ghana Fight Corruption” – President Muhammadu Buhari.
While addressing an audience at the 61st Independence day celebration of Ghana in Accra earlier today, President Buhari promised to help the Ghanaian government fight corruption in their country.
The head of states, during his speech, noted that with the right leadership and implementation of public policies, Africa's quest to eradicate poverty and entrench democracy was on course.
He commended the Ghanaian president, Nana Akufo-Addo, on his achievements in his first year in office with particular reference to his committed efforts towards stamping out corruption from Ghana.
He's quoted as saying:
"Your Excellency can be assured that you have a good partner in me as I look forward to any form of collaboration between Nigeria and Ghana in tackling the menace of endemic corruption.
From Nigeria, I have watched closely your achievements, ranging from your ingenious approach to creating jobs for the teeming youths through various initiatives, including the repositioning of agriculture for modern farming, 'Farming for Jobs and Food', Senior High School (SHS) free education, One-District-One-Factory, and One-Village-One-Dam as well as the improvement being recorded in the Republic's macroeconomic indicators.
All these efforts, I am aware, have made Ghana to become a good destination for foreign direct investment just like Nigeria. Accept my congratulations! I congratulate both the government and the Parliament for the quick passage of the Office of the Special Prosecutor Act and its signing into law.
Given all these public policies, it becomes reassuring that with the right leadership, Africa's drives to eradicate poverty and to entrench democracy is on course," he said
Thursday, 15 February 2018
BREAKING: Fire breaks out at National Assembly
IMSU First Class Graduate Gets N13Million From Rochas Okorocha
Dr Chigozie Ekenze, the best graduating student at the 2016 combined convocation ceremony of Imo State University IMSU, Dr Chigozie Ekenze, broke down in tears yesterday after he was gifted the sum of N13,700,000 (Thirteen million, seven hundred naira) by Governor Rochas Okorocha.
Dr Chigozie Ekenze got the prize money to go pursue a Post Graduate Program in London.
According to a statement released by Mazi Anayochukwu Abasiodu Idiong, Special Assistant to Rochas Okorocha on Social Media, Chigozie Ekenze lost his father shortly after gaining admission to study Optometry at Imo State University.
Chigozie was threatened to withdraw for lack of funding as his mother's vegetable trade could not sponsor his education.
After becoming governor in 2011, Rochas Okorocha declared free and compulsory education from primary to university and that would rekindle the spark of greatness in the young doctor to soar to greatness.
Yesterday, while receiving a cheque from Mrs Ugo Nneoma Rochas Okorocha, containing the huge sum, the doctor went on his kneels with utter gratitude to God. He continued to cry uncontrollably for several minutes with overwhelming joy from family and friends.
Governor Okorocha had earlier granted Dr. Chigozie automatic employment as a lecturer in IMSU.
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Money-eating snake and other Nigerian ‘miracles’
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By now, almost everybody in Nigeria has heard, and, maybe, laughed out loud over Philomena Chieshe and her spiritual money-eating snake. The bizarre tale is the illogical submission to an audit at the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board Makurdi's office. Chieshe's fantastical tale has seen domains that nominally ignore Nigerian news featuring the story on their websites.
While a big part of me thinks she is a phoney, and the story is an attempt to deceive, there is also a little part that also wants to believe that the woman might be sincere after all. No, I did not just suggest she was telling the truth as it happened; I meant that she might sincerely believe that it was possible for a supernatural agent to creep into JAMB's safe and swallow money in paper currencies.
Ms. Chieshe's tale of the snake that eats money is congruent with Africans' belief about how reality can be folded and unfolded, and which are spun into tales of supernatural happenings. The woman is no different from some Christian leaders who testify about driving 200km on an empty tank, or church folks who place a church sticker on their cooking gas cylinder, so they never had to refill it.
What I deduce from the issue is that we either have a case of corruption by an individual or a group of people, or, a series of theft by any person who knew the office safe's combination. Rather than question her competence, the woman did what many Nigerians do when confounded – seek refuge under the banner of the Devil. Whatever happened, most of us can agree that no snake can -or did-crawl into any office and swallowed money.
While the extremity of the case draws hilarity, the belief system that undergirds her reasoning is not atypical. The Yoruba, for instance, believe in Agbana (devourer) and Anabo (metaphysical fraud in which money paid in a transaction vanishes and returns with everything in the seller's pocket). Both are concepts that illustrate how one can be materially impoverished through the acts of supernatural agents who steal from one's resources. If you think those beliefs are firmly locked in the past and have no place in our modern existence, please, turn on a Yoruba Nollywood film.
Beliefs about supernatural forces that crawl into people's houses, minds, and bodies in different forms are a staple feature. Filmmakers draw from the repertoire of cultural beliefs because they are spectacular. Nollywood picks its stories from popular beliefs; their audience watches the films and uses the realistic portrayal to validate their prior beliefs about the supernatural. Thus, we are locked in an ouroboros cycle of self-validating, self-reproducing, and self-fulfilling charlatanry. Even if we argue that films are mere fictions and the Deux ex Machina used in the film are narrative devices, they resonate with the Nigerian religiosity and its obsession with the spell of the supernatural. In some churches, the stories pastors narrate about supernatural activities in the natural make you wonder if you are reading a D.O. Fagunwa, Amos Tutuola or Ben Okri's novel.
In all my experience of this phenomenon, the most intriguing of them all is the Mountain of Fire and Miracles church. I have read about two dozen "tomes" authored by their pastor, Dr. Daniel Olukoya. I have listened to a number of his sermons as well. I admit I am baffled by the MFM's penchant for storytelling. Olukoya tells stories of witches and wizards who relentlessly pursue people all their lives; people who develop mysterious sicknesses after being fed some food in their dreams; humans that transmogrify into snakes to enter offices in hyper-urban areas; animals that turn into beautiful women to ruin an unsuspecting brother's faith; those whose glorious destinies turned to ashes after someone from their village visited them either in their dreams or physically. All the tales one sees in Nollywood and deems illogical are regularly reproduced in his books and sermons.
Now, the curious part is that all his books' blurb never failed to indicate that he graduated from the University of Lagos with a First Class degree and that he has a PhD in Molecular Genetics from the University of Redding, UK. Also, that he has about 70 scientific publications to his credit. I am infinitely curious about Pastor Olukoya's trajectory – how does a man go from being a scientist to peddling some of the most anti-science beliefs in the world? Why does he do so while still proudly displaying his "scientific" credentials? What is his Saul to Paul story? Olukoya's religiosity negates the most basic principles of science yet they are propped by his certification as a scientist. Has he ever considered that the stories he tells have a tremendous impact on our social and political life, an example being this money-eating snake?
One cannot merely look down on people who hold the belief in money-eating snakes as simple-minded people who lack sophistication. These ideas are strong in the imagination of even folks who have multiple university degrees to their name. We were all witnesses to how a former presidential spokesman, Dr. Reuben Abati, claimed there were demons in Aso Rock. His successor, Femi Adesina's rejoinder agreed that problems could be caused by supernatural agents. Adesina even narrated a story of a man whose "spiritual" eyes were opened to see spirits walking with their feet up on Broad Street Lagos. When those demons slapped someone with their feet soles, the person developed an incurable ailment. It is striking that while other cultures are busy researching in their laboratories to understand and find cures for diseases, people serving in the uppermost echelons of political power in Nigeria peddle urban legends. Then, we had the case of the NDDC top shot who paid hundreds of millions to a sorcerer for charms guaranteeing a lifetime stay on the board!
Belief in the supernatural is so powerful that people argue that as Africans, we are inheritors of certain realities science cannot explain. When people say such, they, unfortunately, set a border wall around the pursuit of knowledge. They declare some things "unknowable" forgetting that what we do not know – yet – are so because we have not asked the right questions, used the right tools of inquiry, or attained a level of knowledge that clarifies other details. When they claim we can never know, they bracket off insight.
We can all laugh at the ridiculousness of the JAMB official's story all we like, but she reflects popular cultural beliefs and the attitudes that make us turn to the supernatural to explain natural and human-caused phenomena. Almost all of us will agree that the woman could not have told such an outlandish story if she did not think that her fellow Nigerians would relate to tales of supernatural beings that are mysteriously deployed to places as a human surrogate to carry out mischief.
Hers is a popular belief in our cultural ecosystem, and she is being ridiculed because having been Nigerians for so long, we can pick the familiar scent of corruption and public manipulation through familiar narratives. That her desperate attempt to use a phantasmagorical tale to narrate her issues brought her scorn is an irony of sorts. If she had gone to any of our religious houses, Christian or Muslim, and told the same story about how a snake ate her personal money and how she was later delivered by the power of her pastor or Alfa's prayers, people will welcome her accounts with shouts of praises to God for her testimony. This time, she is subjected to ridicule over her money-eating snake tale not because the story is considered incredible per se, or that given other conditions her story would not have been bought. Her story made us uneasy because we saw the absurdity of our cultural beliefs reflected back at us through the serpentine tale deployed towards an alleged case of public funds theft. When we are done laughing at her, we will still believe them.
Buhari should heed Tinubu’s advice and retire — PDP
The party in a statement by its national publicity secretary, Kola Ologbondiyan, on its official Twitter handle on Wednesday said the former Lagos State governor Bola Tinubu has "weighed Buhari and found him not fit to remain in office beyond 2019."
The APC leader, reacting to statements by two former leaders, Olusegun Obasanjo and Ibrahim Babangida, who recently advised President Buhari not to seek re-election in 2019, said they should join what he called the retirees' club and collect pensions.
Mr. Tinubu said this on Tuesday while addressing State House correspondents after he and a former interim chairman of the party, Bisi Akande, met with the president at the Presidential Villa, in Abuja.
The PDP's statement reads in part:
"Every discerning Nigerian has discovered the fact that Tinubu is subtly passing a critical message to President Buhari and his supporters that he should not contest the 2019 election and that Nigerians have already moved on even without them.
"Even Tinubu knows that President Buhari, for obvious reasons, is the most qualified of all our elder statesmen to join the retiree's club and save the nation the agony of more years of misrule characterised by untold economic hardship, heavy bloodletting and general indignation.
"The supporters of President Buhari should therefore accept the reality by reading the handwriting on the wall and heed wise counsel from well-meaning Nigerians.
"In any case, the APC is already on a death throe, having led the worst government in the history of our nation and will end up as the first party in government at the centre that will be rejected by Nigerians at a second attempt."
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South Africa: Jacob Zuma resigns as President
Jacob Zuma, the president of South Africa, has resigned after days of defying orders from the ruling African National Congress to leave office and on the eve of a no-confidence vote in parliament.
In a televised address to the nation late on Wednesday, the 75-year-old said he was a disciplined member of the ANC, to which he had dedicated his life.
"I fear no motion of no confidence or impeachment … I will continue to serve the people of South Africa and the ANC. I will dedicate my life to continuing to work for the execution of the policies of our organisation," Zuma said.
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"No life should be lost in my name. The ANC should never been divided in my name. I have therefore come to the decision to resign as president of the republic with immediate effect."
The resignation ended an extraordinary day in South African politics, which had begun with a dawn raid on a business family at the centre of the recent corruption allegations levelled at Zuma.
At noon, ANC officials announced they would vote for an opposition party's no-confidence motion in parliament on Thursday.
Late in the afternoon, Zuma gave an angry and rambling TV interview to justify his refusal to obey his own party's order to step down.
But his speech was more confident and warm.
The president started with a joke with journalists about the late hour, and his trademark chuckle. He expressed his gratitude to the ANC and South Africans for the privilege of serving them at the "pinnacle" of public life, before saying thank you and goodbye in three local languages.
Zuma's resignation leaves the path clear for deputy president, Cyril Ramaphosa, who took over the leadership of the ANC in December, to be elected by parliament to the highest office.
Zuma, a former anti-apartheid activist who has led the ANC since 2007 and been South Africa's president since 2009, was due to leave power next year.
His tenure has been marred by economic decline and multiple charges of graft that have undermined the image and legitimacy of the party that led South Africans to freedom in 1994.
Buhari’ll not get north’s votes -Kudla
Satumari Kudla is a chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). In 2015 he contested to represent Askira/Uba and Hawal Federal constituency of Borno State, but lost. In this interview, he speaks on why President Buhari won't win the 2019 general election.
Before the 2015 election, an APC member, now a governor, called the sitting president a Boko Haram and the president too, as a candidate then, said any attack on Boko Haram amounted to an attack on the north. Why is your party silent on the matter?
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Everything that is happening today is to the advantage of the PDP. The party respects the rule of law and gave an opportunity for freedom of expression. Just like someone said, you are free to say what you have and you are also free after you have said it. We cannot say the same of this present government. There is the free of speech. But it depends on what speech that is made and by whom. Freedom after your speech is no longer guaranteed in this government. PDP is the only party that is national in character and composition. Just like the issue you raised on statements made, they may not have understood the complicity when they were making those statements. Otherwise, someone would not say that if there is no electricity after certain period of time 'you should stone them.' That it is only a bad government that won't be able to provide electricity in six months. We are running to almost 25 months and nothing is being done differently. So the lack of appreciation may have made those people to say that and it was out of bitterness and anger over certain things. We are only talking to Nigerians to weigh the differences.
Most of those people may not return to the position they are occupying because the election of the president was predicated on three major things in 2015. The first is that he was not tested. He was only tested when he was military Head of State. Two, People experienced PDP and not APC. Another issue is that of tribalism. The north felt short-changed following Yar'Adua's death, whom they saw as an extension of former president, Obasanjo, who was responsible for the victory. The last issue is religion. Buhari is a Muslim. So in 2015 election, there was no sentiment that was not thrown into the election to the extent that some of the Muslims in the north were seeing him as their candidate. I am not going to blame him also. Even some Christians saw Jonathan as theirs. The issues led him to get those votes.
So what will happen next year?
2019 may be different in the sense that we have tested his (Buhari) governance and we know how it is. Again the PDP, which is the strongest party, has announced that their candidate would emerge from the north. It is going to be north versus north, and not south versus north. The last is that the candidate that will emerge on the platform of the PDP, from the north will also be a Muslim. All the states in the north that gave him (Buhari) high votes will not return the same thing next year.
For instance, in Kano, where Kwankwaso, comes from, the votes is likely going to be divided into two. Also, Malam Ibrahim Shekarau is also a factor in Kano. So if they come together there might not be a 2 million votes coming from Kano. I also heard that Makarfi has closed rank with former Vice President, Namadi Sambo in Kaduna and the reaction of southern Kaduna to the way issues of insurgency and attacks on their people was handled by El-Rufai is not going down well with them and they form a major block of votes. So Kaduna may not give him the kind of votes he got in 2015. In Bauchi, we hear '8 o'clock' , what that means is that on Election Day, the party would be voted out because they don't like their governor and it is rubbing on their love for the president. Going to Sokoto, we do not know where Tambuwal is at the moment. But his name is being featured as a likely candidate that may come to PDP or form the 'third force.' We hear story about him being tipped as a possible presidential candidate. Recall that when president Buhari was in London the members of the cabal saw him as a disloyal member of the party. He is seen as not been loyal to Buhari. Should he move, he is most likely to move to the PDP. And Attahiru Bafarawa, whether you like it or not, is a factor.
Is the PDP prepared for the next election?
As a matter of fact, it is the people that are reaching out to PDP as an alternative platform, going by the experience that they have had under the APC. And PDP has always accepted the outcome of election result and other issues. And we follow due process if we have any grievance. Like most of the election that took place in Borno State, it has been challenged in the court because the outcome of those elections, even by the margin of victory you will know that PDP is a very strong party in the state. More so, PDP has never protested violently the outcome of any election result and has never being a party that blame others for their failure.
Borno is synonymous with the fight against Boko Haram. What is the situation today?
I think we have reason to say that the situation has improved. There is no capacity for Boko Haram to hold on to a territory any more. But I sincerely believe that even if it was President Jonathan that continued, the situation would have also improved because we noticed that in 2015, when the date of the election shifted to allow security agents clear the insurgents to the extent that election was able to take place in the state, including in Chibok where nothing took place. But that is not to underrate the good work that the Armed Forces have done to roll back the attacks of the insurgents and majority of the local government have seen people returning gradually. We are just thinking on how to accommodate them by reconstructing the place. We should commend the state government in areas that they have done well. However, it is not yet Uhuru.
2019: PDP’ll pay for abandoning South West -Osuntokun
Mr. Akin Osuntokun served as Political Adviser to former President Olusegun Obasanjo. In this interview, the former Managing Director of News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) said the refusal of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to cede its chairmanship to the south-west will hurt in the 2019 elections. Osuntokun who is currently the Director, Media and Communication of the former president, Olusegun Obasanjo-led National Coalition, claimed that the nation is a bad shape.
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You have been quiet over recent political happenings. Is it an acceptance of the state of affairs?
No, I have been talking. In fact I had interviews with some journalists on the state of the nation. I don't know where people got their optimism that President Buhari would do magic. He told Muslims to vote for Muslim and that kind of context emphasised his shortcomings.
But no one has been able to provide evidence…
It was at an event in Sokoto State. He said they should vote for someone who will defend their faith. Did he also deny what he said about Boko Haram? It was in the context of his bitterness with Obasanjo. In fact, it was the bitterness that made him to mount the pulpit.
But President Jonathan's people also said that Christians should vote for Christians. Why did people not complain?
I don't believe in the concept of Christian justifying why they should vote for their person. Jonathan has gone and he has failed for whatever reason. So let us apply the same yardstick to President Muhammadu Buhari. We should hold him responsible for some of the things happening in the country.
If President Buhari is alleged to have supported Boko Haram, has he not also fought the insurgency single-mindedly since he took over?
I don't know the full story of Boko Haram. But look at what he is doing with the Fulani herdsmen menace. They are murdering people recklessly. Is it not suspicious? Even when they are killing people, he seems to be condoning it. As we speak, he has not visited victims of family in Benue. He has been trying to minimise the enormity of what the Fulani herdsmen are doing. That is why the allegations against him are credible. If he was somebody who was known to be nationalistic before now, it would have been difficult for things to stick on him. Rather than changing the narrative, he is even confirming it. Look at the security architecture of the country; when in the history of the country have we ever heard that all the security heads of the country came from a particular region?
Some people have also justified that we are having the worst challenges from that part of the country…
So are you saying that no other Nigerian can do the job other than those who come from the north? If that is the case, why don't we allow state police? If you are saying that it is one people from an area who can do the job effectively, then let us apply it all round. Or is he the only president Nigeria has ever had? Did Obasanjo need to bring people from the south-west to be in charge of security agencies to attack OPC? What kind of injustice is that? Or did Jonathan employ people from the south-south to head security agencies? This kind of argument is gross and lame. You cannot be talking about national unity and you are appointing your own people. That means he does not trust others. On what basis did he measure trust? It takes two to tango. He needs to reach out to other tribes. This kind of attitude alienates people. People react to love and hate. If you show love to people, they will show you love. If you show hate, same will you get. I am not from Benue. But look at what the Fulani are doing to them. Look at the governor. He was somebody who was dedicated to the APC before. He has been turned into a radical now. That is when you will know the extent of what we are talking about. Can that kind of person respect the party again? It is a sad commentary.
What is your take on the Obasanjo's letter to Buhari?
One thing you must understand is that Obasanjo is no more running the day-to-day affairs of the country. He does not have the power to have anything done in this country. I cannot direct myself to Buhari. Whether you agree with Obasanjo or not, he has spoken. By the way, what has he said that Nigerians have not said? He just echoed the sentiment in Nigeria. We have no decision to take on Obasanjo because he is now a private citizen. But as far as Nigeria is concerned, which you and I are citizens, and our welfare is at stake, the one who is responsible is President Buhari. So, I am yet to see any Nigerian president that would do better than Obasanjo. I am not saying that he was a fantastic president. But I have not seen any president who is better than him. He dealt with OPC and instructed any person parading himself as a member to be shot on sight. Is he not a Yoruba man? Do you think it didn't cost him? But that is leadership? There is no basis for comparing the two of them. Has President Buhari done that with the Fulani herdsmen? Obasanjo's presidency was like a national rainbow. On a daily basis, you see people from different tribes on the dining table with him discussing national issues. He fostered the spirit of brotherhood.
Is it not ironical, Buhari that hasn't done well according to some Nigerians, gets African Union's award on the fight against corruption?
I have no issue with AU giving President Buhari an award. Look at the way he is handling the issue of Ibrahim Magu and the senate. As we speak, Ibrahim Magu has not been confirmed because somebody who works for Buhari also said that he is not clean. He has not been confirmed as the chairman of the commission and he is still there because he works for Buhari. Is that how a government should be? Is it me or Obasanjo who created that? The Attorney-General of the country wrote to the senate not to probe a fugitive, Maina, after the debacle of smuggling in. There was a mess all over the place. The man absconded. The senate wanted to take over the matter, AGF went to court to stop it. If you need the AU to make up your mind, that is up to you.
Obasanjo also said that Nigerians should not support PDP, that the party is as bad as APC. Do you agree?
The opposition party is always their ideal government. Because it would promise you what the government in power is not doing correctly. So any opposition party is an ideal one because it has not been tested. PDP has been scandalised especially during President Jonathan's government. Most of the scandals are their fault. The final nail on the coffin of PDP was the mismanagement of the national convention. You call yourself a national party, yet you cannot handle an assignment properly. Especially in Nigeria, we are so much into the federal character. The higher you grow as a national party, the higher the chances of winning elections. That is why it is in the constitution- how power should be distributed to reflect the mandate of the party. The south-west has not held the position of the national chairman. There is an assumption that the presidential candidate will come from the north and former president, Jonathan came from the south-south, the south-east has held the position of the national chairmanship several times. The logic is so elementary that they should have known what to do. If you need to strengthen your competitive power, you need to strengthen yourself in all the zones. Rather than doing that, they deliberately weakened themselves in the south-west zone. Even those who are not in PDP felt offended.
But some argued that it was the south-west that caused it, by refusing to unite. What is your take?
If that is the case, why didn't they leave it exclusively for the people of the south-west? That kind of argument is being mischievous. It is a self-defeating argument.
But do you think that decision is likely to hurt the party in the next general election?
That is what I am saying. The party had an opportunity of grounding itself in the south-west, but the leaders botched it. As of the time they did that, APC was desperately unpopular in the south-west. The party would have posed itself as an alternative. These are some of the things that baffle me. I was a political adviser to the president. That was more of a political strategist. So I am speaking from that point of view. Forget whether I like PDP or not. We need to look at the strategy in place to inform this kind of behaviour. It is an indication that those who are managing the party do not know what they are doing. Or they don't really care if the PDP is viable. Maybe it is sufficient for them for the party to be in charge of the south-east and south-south.
But how will the idea of coalition recommended by Obasanjo affect the party?
The coalition would be a harvest of all Nigerians who disagree or agree with Obasanjo that President Buhari should not be re-elected. We don't even know if he is going to seek re-election. It is just the first coalition. The second is the presentation of a candidate of higher standards that we have had before. We know their capabilities and shortcomings. So, using that as a basic will now help us to look at attributes of the person that would be presented to become the president next year. We don't want to sell ourselves a dummy again, because people who canvassed for Buhari are now disappointed. I know him in a way many Nigerians do not know him. It was my duty as the director of publicity in 2003 for Obasanjo's re-election to have an adequate knowledge of his politics. And again, I studied political science.
So I was in a unique position to plot a political strategy. In addition to that, it is the evidence he churned out on a regular basis. Hear what he said before he became the presidential candidate of APC about Boko Haram. He was one of those who almost foisted the Muslim-Muslim ticket.
The APC came up with a committee on true federalism, advocating state police and resource control which were what the National Conference recommended, but the APC government rejected it. Were you surprised?
I am not. It is part of effort to distract the polity. It is a gimmick. They think with that they would be popular. It is not at this stage, because if we were serious about restructuring, it is not now when everything is in disarray. Some people see it as suspicious. There is nothing in President Buhari that tells me that he will support restructuring.
Will it still be best for the south-west to support the PDP even in its bitterness and what is the best strategy the party can adopt?
There is no other option other than that. More than any other zone, the south-west should see the coalition as God sent. And that is where I am at the moment. And I can also tell you that you can take the word literally. If you know the kind of people who are behind it, you will be pleasantly surprised.
Rest assured that there is no part of this country that is not supporting it. Take that from me. The coalition is almost unstoppable.
Why I Got My Daughter Pregnant – Father Confesses
One Mr. Viashima Titus Ukegi, 44, has impregnated his teenage daughter, Mary Doosur Ukegi.
It was gathered that Ukeji, who is an indigene of Awe Local Government Area of Nasarawa, did not enroll Mary in school but rather confined her to doing domestic tasks and looking after his shop.
The fORUM reports that Ukegi's wife, Cecilia Torkwase, died soon after giving birth to their daughter, Mary in 2001.
While recounting how it happened, Mary told the FORUM: "We were very close like a normal father and daughter, and I thought he was taking care of me as a father but somehow he became attracted to me.
"Then, one evening, after taking my bath, I tied my towel around my armpit. As I walked through the palour to my room, he looked at me in a particular way and called me to come close. He said he noticed a mark on my neck.
"When I went close, he touched my chest and said something funny. He used to say funny things to me. Later that night when I was about to sleep, he came to my room with biscuits and a bottle of coke and insisted that we take it together.
CONTACT US FOR YOUR CAKES AND BAKERY JOBS
"As we were drinking the coke, he began to touch me all over my body as we were sitting together on the bed. It was very confusing and I tried to suppress my feelings. He told me how he felt about me and I was shaking.
"Somehow, I knew that what was about to happen was wrong. Then he kissed me for the first time while running his hand over my body. Suddenly he pulled off his trouser and attempted to enter me, because I was still a virgin.
"It was strange and the pain was very much. He took my Vaseline and rubbed on my private part and tried again. He pressed hard and then deflowered me. From then on, we kept meeting regularly. Eventually I missed my period and before I knew it, I was three months pregnant," she said.
Speaking also on the issue, the father said: "It was a terrible thing that in my mind I was like I was seeing my late wife.
"My daughter had very good shape and reminded me of her mother and I was feeling bad that one day somebody will enjoy her, so I decided to take my own share and that resulted in pregnancy."
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