Fayose visit Osun state Governor; says "Yoruba nation must not be rubbished"

"My interest is the unity of the Yoruba nation and that's why I am here."

"I was moved by the historic visit of the Ooni of Ife to the Alaafin of Oyo and I am of the opinion that Yoruba leaders must unite."

"The Yoruba nation must not be rubbished. Our leaders must not be rubbished irrespective of the political they belong to."

"I remain in PDP to play the opposition role.
Without opposition in a democracy, there will be dictatorship and those promoting dictatorship in a democracy will end up in the stomach of the dictator."

~ Gov Fayose told Osun Gov, Aregbesola when he visited the governor in Osogbo today.

Details below

I'm concerned with unity of Yoruba race, I remain in PDP

Ekiti State Governor, Mr Ayodele Fayose has said that he visited Governor Rauf Aregbesola of Osun State today, as part of his efforts to foster unity among Yoruba leaders.

The governor, who said that he was not in Osun for any political reason, pointed out that he was not ready to abandon the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) for the All Progressives Congress (APC).

Governor Fayose stated that against all speculations from some quarters that he was coming to Osogbo to ask Aregbesola help him beg President Muhammadu Buhari, he was in Osun for the unity of Yoruba race.

He said that the Yoruba race was greater than any political office hence his belief in the development of the race.

The governor averred that the visit of the Ooni of Ife to the 45th coronation of the Alaafin of Oyo was instructive, hence the need for every Yoruba sons and daughters to see to the unity and progress of the race.

He said, “This is my first official visit to any APC state in Nigeria. I am not in Osogbo to ask Aregbesola to help me beg as being speculated in some quarters. We are all Yoruba, politics is like water, it can flow anywhere.

"I was moved by the historic visit of the Ooni of Ife to the Alaafin of Oyo and I am of the opinion that the Yoruba leaders must unite.

"The Yoruba nation must not be rubbished. Our leaders must not be rubbished irrespective of the political they belong to.

“I believe in the Yoruba race, the race comes first before the office of the governor. The race is eternal while that of governor is momentary. We must watch today to be guided by tomorrow. I am here for the unity of Yoruba as it affect the Oodua, the progenitor” Fayose emphasised.

While reiterating his ressolve to remain in the PDP, the governor said, "I remain in PDP to play the opposition role.

"In all of this, there must be fairness. There must be equity and the rule of law must be followed. We should remember that power as it was transient for the PDP, it can also be transient for the party in power now.

"For me, I don't want to contest which party is dead now or which one is alive. Whether or not PDP is dead, time will tell.

"Opposition is the major ingredient of democracy and without opposition in a democracy, there will be dictatorship. Those promoting dictatorship in a democracy will end up in the stomach of the dictator."

Responding, Governor Aregbesola
described the visit of Governor Fayose to Osun as demonstration of maturity, saying it takes a very matured human being to know that at the end of every public office, he will be left with humanity.

He said, “Osoko has said that he is not going to leave his party, but I want my good friend and brother to know that PDP has exhausted it’s stay in Nigeria, it can no longer be revived, let us look at a political party that will give hope to our people. Opposition must be for a purpose, I stand by you on the unity of Yoruba land and that our leaders not put down in the country."

He assured Fayose that he will stand by him in his effort to galvanise the people of South-west for accelerated development.

The Governor who lamented the present economic situation of the country noted that there was an invasion on the economy of Nigeria to the extent that the country is loosing 75 percent of its income due to oil glut.

“The country is facing a very serious crises with the rate at which the crude oil price is falling. There is an invasion on the economy to the level that we are loosing 75 percent of our income which is not good.

“At this point, wise people must have an alternative to oil which part of it is your visit. We must use our culture and affinity to form a bond that can make our people live a normal life, it is a duty that we owe our people, States and Nigeria as a whole”.

- Lere Olayinka

SA Public Communications & New Media 

Ekiti State Government

Saraki To Political Office Holders: We Have No Choice But To Deliver

Senate President, Dr. Abubakar Bukola Saraki, on Monday said the nation’s political office holders have no choice but to deliver on their promises to the people.

Saraki who stated this in a goodwill message he delivered at the 2016 National Political Summit in Abuja said those who fail to deliver would risk being voted out by the electorate in the next elections.

He also said that the 8th National Assembly will work closely with the executive to eliminate corruption and entrench accountability across all spheres of the public sector.

According to a statement by his Chief Press Secretary, Sanni Onogu in Abuja, said that discretionary spending of government resources, unbudgeted expenditures, procurement abuses and diversion of public monies for personal gains must stop.

Saraki said: “The 2015 general election has changed Nigeria for good. Its implications will continue to redefine the Nigerian political space for sometime to come. For the first time, the voice of the Nigerian people was definitive and unmistakable. They wanted change.

“For those of us who by this election have been entrusted with shaping the destination we travel from now, there is a clear and distinct warning, the change demanded by Nigerians from the 2015 election are not without consequences. The victory was won out of turmoil and strife. It was an election won on the belief that Nigeria, together, is our best chance of becoming the greatest of all black nations.

“This victory represents the abiding desire and struggle of the Nigerian people to build a just and decent society where the people matter and are the reason for government.

“This was a victory won with sweat and blood for Nigeria to turn this page. The change Nigerians demanded from the 2015 electoral victory is based on the idea that Nigeria can be made great again through a dedicated and law respecting political class with the right political value and vision,” he stated.

He said that the present hardship is a blessing in disguise as it would definitely challenge the leaders and Nigerians at large to think out of the box and evolve innovative solutions to weather the present economic storm.

He said that the National Assembly is reinforcing its oversight role to ensure procedural and output integrity in the administration of the country.

Saraki said: “Our people have called us to stamp out corruption, improve governance, accountability, transparency, service delivery and human right protection, and the National Assembly is ready to roll out an array of reforms on, accountability, revenue management, budget processing, policing and public service performance monitor that would see our resources better used, engender better public participation in governance, oversight and virile public service that is service oriented.

“Let me make our position absolutely clear, the present National Assembly is working and will continue to work hand-in-gloves with the executive arm to rout corruption and entrench accountability across all spheres of our public sector.

“The days of business as usual are over. Discretionary spending of government resources, unbudgeted expenditures, procurement abuses and diversion of public monies for personal gains must be eradicated.

“As part of our agenda, the National Assembly is strengthening her oversight systems to ensure procedural and output integrity. All public spending must be within the Appropriation Act. We can no longer afford waste,” he said.

The Summit with the theme: “2015 General elections: Consolidating the gains and building positive political culture for sustainable democracy in Nigeria,” according to the the Senate President represents the surest way to deepen the nation’s democracy.

He said: “Our problems are too complex for simple slogans and simple solutions to take them away in one fell swoop. We cannot solve them without effort and sacrifice. But we have the will and we have the way necessary to surmount all our challenges.

“We need platforms like this for those in government and other leaders outside to talk to ourselves. This is the surest way to deepening our democracy. The situations we face, be they economic, political, or insecurity, demands thoughtfulness, steady nerves, resolute and focused attention.

“They demand national will, cohesion, political wisdom, economic sacrifice and a willingness to pull together in one direction not pull apart,” he said.

Signed:

Sanni Onogu

Chief Press Secretary to the Senate President

Attempt to indict me in arms scam a joke – Okonjo-Iweala

Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala

A former Minister of Finance, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, has described as a joke attempt by Lagos lawyer, Mr. Femi Falana, to link her to the raging $2.1 billion arms scandal.

A statement issued by her media adviser, Paul Nwabuikwu, said the ex-minister “has absolutely nothing to do with the alleged misuse of $2.1billion by the office of the former National Security Adviser.”

The statement said, “Falana and his sponsors are simply trying to invent a connection where there is none.”

Okonjo-Iweala she sought and received the approval of former President Goodluck Jonathan for the release of part of the returned Abacha funds to the ex- NSA, Sambo Dasuki, for purchase of arms which is totally separate from the $2.1 billion.”

She added: “Some of the funds recovery was done under the regime of Gen. Abdulsalami Abubakar and the first term of President Olusegun Obasanjo when Dr. Okonjo-Iweala was not even in government.”

During her time as Finance minister in the Obasanjo administration, Okonjo-Iweala said $500million was recovered by the government.

“As documented by the field study conducted by the World Bank with the assistance of national and international NGOs, this amount was properly applied. Falana’s insistence on the contrary shows how despicable he is and how he is ready to ignore facts and concoct a fiction in the service of his sponsors,” the ex-minister stated.

Source: The Nation

Nigeria’s Poor Economy – Blame Ibrahim Babangida!

I woke up this morning to a report in the media that Chief Audu Ogbeh is holding former dictator, Ibrahim Babangida and SAP, responsible for the current poor state of the economy. Babangida introduced SAP and led Nigeria to an over-reliance on oil and that is why we are where we are today. There is nothing wrong with historical illumination. There is everything wrong when it becomes a tired cliché constantly mobilized as alibi when you don’t appear to have the answers to setting a new course.

That is the trouble with President Buhari’s ministers. When a few months ago, Lai Mohammed blamed President Jonathan, I urged Nigerians to be glad that he did not blame it on Sir Abubakar Tafawa Balewa. The rate at which President Buhari’s Ministers are scrambling irresponsibly to blame the past instead of doing their work and facing the future – and let the anti-corruption efforts proceed on other fronts – is alarming. If President Buhari does not rein them in, they will blame Lord Lugard. I am compelled to reproduce an apt excerpt from “Building Rome in One Day”, the inauguration lecture I delivered in Kaduna for Nasir El Rufai on May 28, 2015. Read on:

“The sky is falling! Nigerians, please bear me witness: my predecessor has emptied the treasury o. My predecessor has shackled me with debts o. He has borrowed money that we must pay for the next sixty years o. Things are so bad. There is nothing to work with. I will probe him; I will not probe him; yes, I will probe him.”

As true as these statements are in terms of the actualities they describe, it is also true that they are cliché, repeated ad nauseam by every in-coming administration. Nigerians heard it from Chief Obasanjo and all the governors in the 1999 set; they heard this rhetoric again in 2003; heard it in 2007; heard it in 2011. To hear it in 2015 would be the very definition of continuity because there is nothing in that rhetoric that the people have not heard before.

It is because they are tired of this rhetoric of continuity that they voted massively for people they believe can perform miracles and deliver on miracles. And this is why I do not envy our Governor-elect and also General Buhari at the centre. This is why I have only bad news for them. All the realities which led to a rhetorical culture of blaming outgoing administrations are still here with us and have even worsened beyond our wildest imagination under the outgoing administration.

Make no mistake about it, President Jonathan and the outgoing ministers and governors have exercised no prerogative of mercy on Nigeria. They have wrecked and destroyed this country. In South Korea, Malaysia, Indonesia, or China, they would have been tied to the stakes and executed as economic saboteurs. Yet, I must signal solemnly to Mallam Nasir El Rufai and President-elect Buhari that we are at a moment in our national history when the corruption and brigandage of an outgoing administration can no longer be mobilised as legitimate points of departure by an in-coming administration.

The outgoing administration repeatedly told us to be patient; that transformation and the dividends of democracy could not be delivered with a magic wand; they said that Rome was not built in a day. Then they went ahead to unleash all the goats in Rome on all the yams in Rome and the city of Rome was set on fire in the ensuing commotion. Those who said that Rome was not built in a day then fiddled and danced azonto, even as the city of Rome burned.

This is why Mallam Nasir El Rufai does not have the luxury of saying that Rome was not built in a day. I have already heard that rhetoric from our President-elect and I hope that Mallam Nasir will pass the message on to him that we, his supporters, ask him to desist from using that language forthwith.

At the national level and here in Kaduna state, we have elected leaders who we believe can do precisely that: abandon the rhetoric of the old leadership and build Rome in a day. And because there is currently no money anywhere – the outgoing government having looted everything – the new leadership must build Rome in a day with only one kobo. This is what the people expect and it is not up for discussion or negotiation by the new leadership.

For the people, therefore, change begins when the leadership in which they have invested such an overwhelming mandate makes a radical departure from that rhetoric and its associated mental universe and invents a rhetoric bordering on the possibility of miracle. The new leadership must not say that they are not miracle workers because that is precisely what the people voted for: miracle workers.

The new leadership must tell the people: “I knew that things were bad, very bad, really bad, before I offered myself for service. Hands-on, proactive approach to delivery will now replace the rhetoric of excuses. No action of the outgoing government, no matter how horrible, will be valid enough an excuse for me not to deliver. We shall punish their corruption. Those who looted shall face the full prosecutorial force of the laws of the land. But we shall not use their crimes as justification of inertia on our part.”

By: Pius Adesanmi

SAVE THE NATION MOVEMENT A GROUP OF BLACKMAILERS AND MISCHIEF MAKERS

NIGERIA ARMY PRESS RELEASE

The Nigerian Army has noted with dismay the attempt to rubbish the hard earned name and reputation of the Chief of Army Staff, Lieutenant General Tukur Yusuf Buratai and the Nigerian Army by a faceless group that called itself Save the Nation Movement (STNM) through orchestrated campaign of calumny in the media. In a release signed by Steven Chilaka, its National Secretary on Sunday, they wanted the Chief of Army Staff to be included among those indicted in the ongoing probe of abuse of funds meant for the procurement of arms simply because he was the Director of Procurement at the Defence Headquarters (DHQ).

The public will recall our earlier warning of this type of campaign of calumny against the Nigerian Army and the Chief of Army Staff. This has reared its ugly head again. Unfortunately, the movement could not get their facts right as has always been the case with people with dubious intents.

Contrary to their mischief, it should be noted that General Buratai was Director of Procurement at Defence Headquarters from March 2014 to May 2015, not from 2012 to 2015 as they wished to mislead the public. Furthermore, there is the need to educate the ignorant group that, Defence Procurement in Nigeria is decentralised each Service is responsible for its procurement. It is advisable for the group to look elsewhere if they want to attack the Chief of Army Staff. For the avoidance of doubt, the Chief of Army Staff has never been involved in any questionable act throughout his career as military officer let alone when he was at the DHQ.

As a matter of fact, the Chief of Army Staff has always been a reference point in exemplary conduct, probity and integrity. It is on record that he voluntarily declared his assets both as Commander MNJTF and as Chief of Army Staff. In addition, he has directed all Nigerian Army officers to do so. One wonders what the faceless groups motive is and why they are in a hurry to rubbish the good name of the Chief Army Staff and the Nigerian Army, when there is a Presidential Panel already working selflessly. Why is the group trying to jump the gun. Let these mischievous elements which Steven Chilaka represents, allow the Panel to discharge its duties dispassionately as it is doing.

It is advisable also that the faceless group should get their facts right and not just merely speculate or disturb us with their wishful thinking. They should further understand that whatever mischievous intentions they have against the Chief of Army Staff and indeed, the Nigerian Army, both would not be deterred, we shall remain focused and never to be distracted. Consequently, the public is please requested to disregard the so called Movements evil machinations which would surely fall back on them.

Thank you.

Colonel Sani Kukasheka Usman
Acting Director Army Public Relations

Treason: Court To Decide On Nnamdi Kanu’s Bail Application Friday

Federal High Court in Abuja has fixed next Friday January for ruling on the bail application brought by the embattled leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) and founder of Radio Biafra, Nnamdi Kanu.

Mr. Kanu and two others are charged with treason. 

The court today heard legal arguments over his bail application. Prosecution counsel Mohammed Diri argued that the application put up by the defence does not satisfy the requirements of the Evidence Act. 

He urged the court to consider the weighty evidence against the accused, including a statement in which he admitted that he was a British citizen; that he sneaked into Nigeria without a passport, and that he was the operator of Radio Biafra in London, and asked that the application be refused. 

Objecting, the defence counsel, M.U Udechukwu, told the court that the document being cited by the prosecution has not been admitted by the court in evidence, and that the prosecution therefore lacks the right to make reference to it before the court. 

He argued that there are procedures to be followed before such a document can be admitted as an exhibit, and therefore prayed the court to grant the defendant bail as the offence committed is not a capital offence. 

Earlier, a mild drama ensued in the court premises when Kanu was brought in handcuffed, but refused to come out of the prison vehicle because of the press cameras.  His co-accused, who were also in handcuffs, had already alighted.  

An alternative entrance in the back of the court was eventually found and Kanu was ushered into the court through the elevator that is normally reserved for judges.

A similar drama followed the hearing when Kanu, exchanging greetings with friends and relatives, was reluctant to move towards the elevator as demanded by prison officials, pointed warning fingers at them and dared them to hurt him.  

The situation nearly led to fisticuffs before it was brought under control and he was led into the prison vehicle.                        

Kanu is standing trial on six of treason preferred against him by the federal government of Nigeria.

Source: Sahara Reporters

PDP Spokesperson Metuh Gave Me $2 Million In $100 Bills To Invest – Witness

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission on Monday opened its case with two witnesses against the National Publicity Secretary of the Peoples Democratic Party, Chief Olisa Metuh, in the charges of money laundering involving the sum of N400m which he allegedly collected from the Office of the National Security Adviser in November 2014.

Mr. Olisa Metuh arriving court today from prisonSahara Reporters Media

The trial commenced before a Federal High Court in Abuja after the trial judge, Justice Okon Abang, overruled objection by Metuh’s lead counsel, Mr. Onyechi Ikpeazu (SAN) to adjourn the trial.

Ikpeazu also informed the judge on Monday that since Metuh had been unable to meet the bail conditions granted him on January 16, the defence had filed an application for variation of the terms.

He urged the court to adjourn the proceedings as the inability of his client to meet the bail conditions had adverse effect on his preparation for the defense.

The prosecution led by Mr. Sylvanus Tahir, opposed the application for adjournment and his objection was upheld by the judge.

Tahir then proceeded to open the prosecution’s case on Monday with the testimony of an employee of Asset and Resource Management Company Limited, Nneka Ararume, who narrated how he collected a total sum of $2m cash from Metuh at his house in Prince and Princess Estate, Abuja.

Ararume who described her position with the company as Wealth Manager, said the instruction given to her by Metuh was that the money should be invested.

She explained further that she went ahead to change the money to its naira equivalent through two bureau de change operators she engaged.

She said, “He gave me the sum of $2m in $100 bills. It was taken to bureau de change operators who would then transfer the money to ARM. From there (Metuh’s house) I proceeded to Mr. Sie Iyenome’s office at Wuse 2 where I gave him the sum of $1m.

“I also invited Mr. Kabir Mohammed and I also gave him the sum of $1m to transfer the naira equivalent in favour of Destra Investment Limited. Later on the same day, December 2, 2014, Mr. Kabir and Mr. Sie Iyenome confirmed the receipt.”

The prosecution also called Iyenome as its second prosecution witness, who also narrated how he changed the $1m to its naira equivalent and paid it to ARM.

Both witnesses were cross-examined by the defence counsel.

Trial has been adjourned till tomorrow for the prosecution to call more witnesses.

The prosecuting counsel said he had 16 more witnesses.

Source: Sahara Reporters