OBLONG MEDIA GLOBAL INTELLIGENCE is where independent minds meet to dissect politics, society, power, and global affairs without fear or filters. This is not mainstream media.
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Finally, the bubble has burst. Water has boiled over at the All Progressives Congress (APC). The letter by the National Leader of the party Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu asking the National Chairman of the party, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun to quit office over the role he allegedly played in the outcome of the recent Ondo governorship primaries has brought home the reality that the governing party is at war with itself. The unfolding drama is, if truth must be told, not confounding to those who have been following events in the party. The signs have been there. But leaders of the…
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Please take time and read this….. Good governance requires dexterity in political pointillism – connecting the dots between purposeful leadership and service delivery. Just as it is axiomatic that the road to hell is paved with good intentions; so too, is the road to economic recession paved with good intentions. Painfully, Nigerians now know that promises premised on good intentions can have wayward consequences. Though oxymoronic, the notion of good intentions gone bad has assumed increasing validity in Nigeria. Nigeria being an outlier means that dealing with it as a normal nation becomes consequential and a huge mistake. Political promises…
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There are two statements that President Buhari made in the last few days that I find curious and misleading. I have read them over and over again and I am left with no other conclusion than the fact that we have a President that has no recollection of history and that has no memory. Firstly he said that the PDP governments that were in power for 16 years before him had achieved nothing and had “left nothing” for him in terms of development. Secondly he said that the Igbo people of south eastern Nigeria that are agitating for the sovereign…
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From my good understanding of world events, there is no nation on earth today where big is better except Nigeria. People always give instances with United States of America, United Kingdom, Canada and others, but they leave out the fact that these are loose federations with solid understanding of the content of their coexistence. I don’t know how knowingly or unknowingly APC and President Buhari arrived at this change agenda, but I guess it is right time they begin to give it a very deep thought, adapt to the challenges of the time, and begin to restructure Nigeria. I am…
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Nobel laureate Prof. Wole Soyinka has opened up on his discussion with President Muhammadu Buhari at the Presidential Villa, Abuja on Thursday, August 11, 2016. Soyinka’s meeting with the president on that day was scheduled as private and took place in the Buhari’s office. He arrived at the villa and went straight in for the meeting with the president. Thereafter, Soyinka told newsmen he discussed “national and international matters, general matters, that’s all.” He declined to give further details but said he would hold a press conference on the discussions. Speaking in an interview with an online medium, the professor…
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All Progressives Congress, APC national leader, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu has demanded the resignation of the national chairman of the party, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun who he claimed Sunday had derailed from the path of progressives. In a stinking communiqué from his media office, Tinubu accused Oyegun of sabotaging the will of democracy in Ondo State by overriding the decision of the appeal panel that asked for a fresh governorship primary following investigations that showed that the delegates’ list used had been tampered with. Tinubu in the communiqué further alleged that Oyegun’s action in allegedly subverting the will of the people…
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Truth has fallen in the street of this misguided Buhari administration; so much so that abject failure has been camouflaged as its triumph. It is amusing, if not very disturbing, to see the number of people the Buhari administration has brought out of the woodwork to sing its praises on this its one-year anniversary. Having arrested key spokespersons of the opposition, intimidated the press into silence, threatened the judiciary, and even arrested its non-politician critics, such as Olu Adegboruwa, on trumped up charges, the government has become confident that it has a free pass to feed Nigerians with lies about…
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Propaganda has an expiration date, and it must now be abundantly clear that the expiration date for the hot air of Buhari’s government has long passed. George Santayana says: “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” If Nigerians were not so forgetful, we would not now be saddled with the burdensome presidency of Muhammadu Buhari. In his first coming as military head-of-state in 1984, Buhari took Nigeria’s economy from bad to worse. Under him, our national debt rose from $14 billion to $18 billion in less than two years; with the result that Nigeria was no…
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A time like this when the country is enmeshed in a myriad of economic and political challenges can transform leaders from mere mortals into extraordinary human beings in the hearts and minds of the people. Their exploits in the service of their people become idolised in nation-building folklore. But leaders who when faced with challenges like we have resort to lamentations day and night and consistently blame others even when they are at fault never rise to the level of great men or statesmen. Instead, they earn derision, scorn and the wrath of the people. It is no longer news…
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“There is enough blame to go round but once you are in charge there is no time for blame or trying to find excuses. You do what you can. I was the minister of Abuja. I did not inherit a perfect Abuja. Those before me did many things that were not right. But I did not complain once about what they did. I looked at the situation I had on the ground and tried to fix what I could. I didn’t solve every problem. But I was not whining and crying, saying others created the problem so I can’t do…
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The news in town is that both President Muhammadu Buhari and his party, the All Progressives Congress (APC), have in words and in deeds rejected calls for the restructuring of Nigeria. Buhari emphatically declared in interviews to mark his one year in office that he would prefer to see the National Conference report, which comes close to resolving the national question and many of the contentious issues plaguing this land, gather dust in the archives. These were his words: “I advised against the issue of the National Conference. Teachers were on strike then. I have not even bothered to read…
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There is a saying in the land of my fathers that the party is good and enjoyable while it lasts, but the hangover can be a real headache. The honeymoon for the party of change has since run out, we are now in the season of hangover and it is proving to be a debilitating headache. The former Lagos State governor, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, the political godfather of President Muhammadu Buhari, the Asiwaju of South-west, the “owner” of Lagos and its people, the irrepressible Jagaban of Borgu, the Lion of Bourdillon, the ingenious political strategist of our time, the shrewd…
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President Muhammadu Buhari’s body language no longer works. Buhari’s witchcraft of ‘CHANGE’ has run out of steam, maybe due to fuel scarcity. The demystification begins. President Goodluck Jonathan was very wise in handing over peacefully to General Muhammadu Buhari. Jonathan did the best thing, ever. If Jonathan hadn’t handed over to Buhari, APC warlords would still be foaming in the mouth, ranting and throwing stones outside Aso Rock, and everyone would by now be thinking General Buhari is a miracle worker. Sometimes I feel that sudden urge to run away from my beloved country, Nigeria and some other times, I…
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Fellow Nigerians, did you read the bombshell that was exploded in an interview in Saturday Punch published July 23, 2016, by the former Joint House Leader of the defunct Peoples Redemption Party (PRP), who was also the Chairman, Foreign Relations Committee and a member of the Defence Committee in the Second Republic, Dr. Junaid Mohammed? In the interview, he pointedly accused President Muhammadu Buhari of the worst form of “nepotism” ever in the history of Nigeria. If you haven’t, then I am providing an excerpt for you to read and make your judgment. If what Mohammed stated in that wide-ranging…
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The fog of the 2015 general election is finally clearing up; the falsehoods sold to the people as change are unravelling at dizzying speeds. Even some vociferous supporters of President Muhammadu Buhari are deserting him in droves. Those who have not openly expressed some apprehension about the path the “messiah” has chosen to lead the country are grumbling and sniveling. However, a few diehards are still clinging to a tiny strand of hope that a miracle just might happen and things would change for the better under his government. Well, it is going to get old saying I told…
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Lagos – Nigeria says it has hunted down at least 700 000 firms that have never paid taxes, in a bid to seek new revenue sources to compensate for low oil prices that have pushed Africa’s biggest economy into its first recession in more than 20 years. Executive Chairperson of Nigeria’s Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), Tunde Fowler, said that he also expected 10 million individuals to be discovered by December so they could pay taxes for the first time, ThisDay reported. Nigeria economy was currently suffering as crude production, which provided 70% of government revenues, had been hit by…
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The details of statistics obtained from the Debt Management Office has showed that the Federal Government’s domestic debt, stood at N10.6tn as of June this year, up from N8.4tn a year ago. Civil rights groups on Friday berated the President Muhammadu Buhari-led administration for incurring a N2.2tn domestic debt in the last one year. The groups, in separate interviews on Friday with Punch Newspaper, said that there were no visible impacts of the borrowed money on the country in the period. It was reported that statistics obtained from the Debt Management Office showed that the Federal Government’s domestic debt stood…
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While the dust raised over the money traced to Patience Jonathan’s bank accounts still lingers, a group has spoken out about how the ex first lady made her money. The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission EFCC has been slammed by Ijaw youths over alleged deliberate witch-hunt against former President Goodluck Jonathan and his wife, Dame Patience. According to Vanguard, the youths under the auspices of Ijaw Youth Council (IYC) worldwide said it was unfortunate that the EFCC failed to learn from the fallout of the way it handled the case of Tompolo. President of the IYC, Engr. Udengs Eradiri said…
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Former Minister of Petroleum and Energy, Prof Tam David-West, yesterday, flayed those clamouring for the sale of some national assets in order to get more money to inject into the economy with a view to getting out of the current recession. He described them as unpatriotic and enemies of Nigeria. In an interview with Daily Sun in Ibadan, David-West said the clamour showed lack of understanding of the current economic quagmire. The former petroleum minister, who described oil and gas sector as the blood of the nation, said the clamour for outright selling of Nigeria Liquefied Natural Gas (NLNG),…
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Banks have been frequenting the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Window to borrow cash to boost their liquidity positions, according to the CBN Economic Report for the second quarter, released yesterday. Twenty-one commercial banks borrowed N4.06 trillion from the CBN’s Window in the first quarter- between April and June. The figure, the report said, was by far higher than N560.8 billion borrowed in the first quarter- from January to March this year, the report released yesterday showed. The funds came through the Standing Lending Facility (SLF), which is an overnight CBN credit available on banking days between 2 pm and…
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Rather simple question, won’t you say? To own a thing implies you derive utility from it. So let’s answer by examining who derives utility from crude oil in Nigeria. Utility of course means taxes. Who derives taxes from crude oil? Well before the independence of Nigeria, as at 1958, this was how crude oil taxes were shared… 1958: 1. Oil Producing States retained 67.4% of Mining Rents and Royalties 2. Federal Government got 20% of Mining Rents and Royalties 3. Non-oil States got 12.6% So the crude oil and gas was owned by the oil producing States.…
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President Buhari has asked the United Nations to put pressure on western countries to return Nigeria’s stolen funds kept in their banks. Buhari said this while speaking at the high-level meeting of the UN General Assembly to commemorate the 30th anniversary of the Declaration on the Right to Development. You would recall that when President Buhari visited Obama; The Nigerian government was asked to produce evidence that the funds were stolen; for over a year now; there was no evidence produced. Is it possible to tell the western nations to return loot without proof of conviction?????? According to a statement…
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Yahoo says hackers stole information from about 500 million users in 2014 in what appears to be the largest publicly disclosed cyber-breach in history. The breach included swathes of personal information including names and emails as well as “unencrypted security questions and answers”. It did not include any credit card data, the site said, adding it believed the attack was state-sponsored. In July, Yahoo was sold to US telecoms giant Verizon for $4.8bn (£3.7bn). The FBI has confirmed it is investigating the attack.
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Africa’s successful business mogul, Aliko Dangote has explained major reason he is interested in taking over North London club, Arsenal FC in four years time after $20bn Refinery Project. Speaking to Bloomberg Television on Wednesday, Dangote confidently believes he can turn the fortunes of Arsenal around like he is doing in the business world. “Maybe three to four years, the issue is that we have more challenging headwinds. I need to get those out the way first and start having tailwinds. Then I’ll focus on this,” Dangote exclaimed. According to Dangote, Arsenal have lost $4.4 billion this year, but acquisition…
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A Human Rights Lawyer, Femi Falana has described the call for the sale of National assets as illegal and against the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. Falana said this in his latest article titled: “Sale Of National Assets Is Illegal”, citing contitutional and historical references. Recall that Senate President, Business magnate, Aliko Aliyu Dangote including the Central bank Governor have called for the sales of Nation’s assets to revive the ailing economy. But Mr. Falana in the article said: “The sale of national assets is in total conflict with section 16 of the Constitution, which has prohibited the…
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Nigeria is always going around in circles. Its history is always repeating itself. This happens because its leaders, and the led, refuse to learn from their own history. Perhaps, that’s reason History, as a subject, was removed from school curriculums. If we were good students of History, we would be jittery over the situation in the country with August 27, 1985 in focus. That day, we were woken up with marshal lyrics, which heralded the fall of the then Buhari/Idiagbon regime. At the moment, Nigerians are passing through fire. Some who could not continue to bear the heat have resorted…
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MOST EVIL RUSSIAN PSYCHIATRIC EXPOSED, DR. SERGEY VICTOROVICH GRACHEV PAID BY UK AUTHORITIES TO ASSASSINATE PROFESSOR ALEXIA THOMAS, NHS OXLEAS BRACTON PSYCHIATRIC HOSPITAL HIS EMPLOYERS ARE ACCOMPLICES Delusional Disorder Is A Tautology; A Fabricated Jargonistic English Word Invented By Insane Rulers Of Men To Limit Idealistic Traits Of Men Ability To Stop Tyranny Of Government – By Her Knowledgeable Professor Alexia Thomas. Our Psychiatric Hospitals are supposed to be Safe Plасеѕ tо Hоuѕе and trеаt People, the Government trust Patients to their Care, but instead it is a Dungeon of Hell were the innocent are killed in silence bесаuѕе the…
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The Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi, said on Tuesday that negotiations were ongoing for the concession of narrow gauge lines across the country to General Electric (GE). Mr. Amaechi, who made this known in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja, said the agreement would be signed before January 2017. “We are negotiating to concession the old narrow gauge lines from Lagos, Kano, Funtua, Kaduna, Port Harcourt, Aba, Umuahia, Enugu, Makurdi, Jos, Bauchi, Gombe to Borno,” Mr. Amaechi said. “The entire western and eastern lines will be rehabilitated but we will concession the project to GE…
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Nigeria’s foreign exchange reserves have plummeted to a new low of $24.88 billion, indicating dwindling confidence in the economy, despite reassurances by authorities. In the last one week, it lost $230 million, understandably due to series of interventions by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), as post recession announcement pressure continued. The previous week, the reserves lost about $123 million, attributed to interventions in the interbank market by the regulator, and aimed at supporting the local currency. This is in contrast with about $93 million the reserves lost in three weeks, also reflecting reactions over the flurry of negative records…
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The National Youth Council of Nigeria on Sunday said it had traced £1.558m (N825m) to a United Kingdom account allegedly owned by the embattled former chairman, House of Representatives’ Committee on Appropriations, Abdulmumin Jibrin. The Head of the Anti-corruption unit of the NYCN, Ifeanyi Okonkwo, said this in an e-mail he sent to The Punch in Abuja. When contacted on the telephone, Mr. Ikenga Ugochinyere, who identified himself as the President of the National Youth Council of Nigeria, said, “The statement came from our anti-corruption unit. Like you can see from the documents attached, we received the information from a…
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The Federal Government is demanding $635 million from two multinational oil companies, Agip and Total, for undeclared crude oil shipped out of the country between 2011 and 2014. Two cases have been filed at the Federal High court in Lagos by senior lawyer and Senior advocate of Nigeria, Professor Fabian Ajogwu, who had handled several cases for the Federal Government on aviation, defence, energy, and financial services. Hearing will begin next week before Justice Olatoregun Isola. And there are indications that Ajogwu will also be filing claims against other multinationals, such as Chevron and Exxon-Mobil The Nigerian Government in the…
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The nation’s power generation fell by over 1,000 megawatts as four power plants were down on Saturday, bringing the total number of plants not generating electricity at the moment to 10. The nation recorded a total system collapse on Friday, September 16, 2016, the 17th time this year, industry data obtained on Sunday showed. The total power generation stood at 2,555.7MW as of 6am on Saturday, down from 3,596.2MW the previous day, worsening the outage being experienced by households and businesses across the country. Electricity from the nation’s biggest power station, Egbin, located in Lagos, hit a record low of…
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Ex-Governor Omololu Olunloyo of old Oyo State while faulting the present geo-political structure of Nigeria said that the Igbos are not fully integrated in Nigeria. He made the remark in an interview with THE SUN newspapers. Below is an abridged version of the interview with DAILY SUN: Excerpts: Abacha organized the best national conference: The best ever conference was the one organized by General Sani Abacha. But because it was Abacha, it was cancelled. Babangida had earlier organized his own, it was also cancelled. All the questions being asked now were solved by the Abacha confab including re-structuring.…
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I am of the Igbo stock from Ukala-Okpunor in Oshimili North LGA of Delta State. I am 61 years of age and have from late 1965, during my undergraduate days at Downing College, Cambridge, England, been fascinated by my people, the Igbo, and specifically by what makes them such a pulsating enigma of a people. It was, indeed, a chance remark by the late and distinguished scholar in Social Anthropology at Cambridge, Professor Meyer Fortes, which set me on my lifelong journey of private enquiry into the ethno-spiritual makeup of the Igbo. My then larger-than-life and boon companion was my…
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Speaking in an exclusive chat with Vanguard, the ex-Spokesman of Goodluck Jonathan Presidential Campaign Organisation, Chief Femi Fani- Kayode, has stated that President Muhammadu Buhari, had either lost his memory or was not well-informed when he told Nigerians that he inherited nothing from the PDP administrations of Olusegun Obasanjo, Umaru Musa Yar’Adua and Goodluck Jonathan. The former Minister of Aviation, said that in the last one year and three months, President Buhari had brought nothing but chaos, destruction, division, fear, deaths and shame to Nigeria compared to the PDP governments he was ridiculing. “It is obvious that President Muhammadu Buhari…
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Former workers of Mobil Producing Nigeria have asked the management of the company to pay them N11.4bn as their terminal benefits. It was learnt that over 1,444 affected people were engaged as service contract workers by the company and later laid off in 2012 without commensurate entitlements as contained in the Collective Bargaining Agreement reportedly reached between them and the company. The spokesman of the group, Mr. Godwin Idim, on Wednesday in Eket, said that some of their members had died in the course of the struggle to get the company pay their entitlements. The CBA, dated July 1, 2010…
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The Senate President, Dr Bukola Saraki, has disclosed that the Federal Government led by All Progressive Congress (APC) has six months left to fix the economic recession in the country before election campaign commences in 2017. Saraki who stated this while speaking with journalists in Ilorin at his residence, said that APC government don’t have any excuse on reposition of the economy for Nigerians that need common food to survive. He said, what the government need to do now was to ensure that more money were made available to the people, reduce exchange rate and compel officers on economy team…
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On this day, Jonathan begged the governors to allow Nigeria save, but Amaechi and APC Governors declared: Share the money Jonathan urges governors to support Sovereign Wealth Fund. October 9, 2012. President Goodluck Jonathan on Tuesday October 9 2012 told the 36 states governors and local government chairmen that only the culture of saving for the future can help preserve the country’s commonwealth and ensure sustained prosperity and growth. The president, who was speaking in Abuja during the formal inauguration of the Board of the Nigeria Sovereign Investment Authority, NSIA, urged the governors to eschew their opposition to the operation…
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Do you want to know the top richest States in Nigeria? Are you interested in knowing if your state is among the 15 states in Nigeria that may go bankrupt in next few years to come? Interestingly, the state considered to be top richest might shock you. Keep reading! Let’s see if it does. RICH STATES IN NIGERIA Nigeria has experienced an exponential growth in its economy in the time past. However, her natural resource is yet to be fully tapped. Many states in Nigeria have shown to contribute more to the federal government revenue as well as to…
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Barring any unforeseen circumstances, a new political party that would challenge the All Progressives Congress (APC) and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) would emerge in the first quarter of 2017. It’s been gathered from authoritative sources that the political party, which would be a third force, will be made up of aggrieved members of the ruling APC and the opposition PDP. It was also learnt that though clandestine, talks on the emergence of the party are at advanced stage with leaders of the main two political parties involved. It was gathered that meetings on the new party have been…
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The reported cold war between APC bigwigs, Bola Ahmed Tinubu and President Muhammadu Buhari has continued to deteriorate into a full blown division in the ruling party. The simmering feud between President Muhammadu Buhari and a national leader of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, is already causing disaffection amongst aides of the president, Independent has learnt. According to sources, some presidential aides who are loyal to Tinubu, who played crucial roles in the formation of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) and President Buhari’s ascendancy to power, are not happy with the treatment being meted to the…
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Presidency has been asked to clear the Air on Alleged Release of Kabiru Sokoto the catholic church bomber that killed 44 people The Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria (HURIWA ) has asked President Muhammadu Buhari to tell Nigerians if he has freed Kabiru Sokoto, who is the only Boko Haram terrorist convicted for the killing of over 50 worshippers at the Mandalla Catholic Church near Abuja. HURIWA recalled that only few months back, Justice Ademola Adeniyi of the Federal High Court in Abuja had sentenced to life imprisonment Mallam Kabiru Abu baker Dikko (aka Kabiru Sokoto) and as at…
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1. December 1964 Federal elections 2. October 1965 Regional elections 3. Post-election violence in Western Nigeria (1965/66) 4. The military takes over the Government: (January 1966) 5. Anti-Ironsi demonstrations and killing of Igbos in the North (April/May 1966) 6. Overthrow of Ironsi’s regime and death of Ironsi (July 1966) 7. Gowon seizes power, and in consultation with only Northern officers and politicians, forms government. Killings of Igbo officers continues unabated. (August 1966) 8. Ojukwu offers to confer with Gowon to end bloodshed and asks for repatriation of troops to their regional origins to lower tension; says offer was refused by…
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I am a historian and my intention for writing this is simply to enlighten, educate and inform rather than to create rancour, tension, strife, division or stress. I also proffer a solution to what I consider to be the problem that some of our northern compatriots pose at the end of this essay. It is a long contribution, so I have broken it into two parts. Each part is well worth reading and it is my prayer that you stay with me till the end. Here we go. A few weeks ago, one Mr. Adamu Mohammed wrote an essay on…
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Yet I wonder how those southern leaders who have sold their glory and heritage for a mess of pottage and who have opted to collaborate with our collective enemies and betray their own people feel about the words of men like Mr. Mohammed and Mr. Gwarzo? I wonder whether the small handful of pitiful yet identifiable key leaders from the south that joined forces with Buhari, supported him during last years election and drank deep from his ‘mai chanji magic potion’ poisoned chalice have read what these two evil men wrote and what those that share their views and disposition…
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As received: A Professor from Oyo State who has lived in Zaria Kaduna for over 30 years sent this, read the excerpts………. The story is told of how King Yunfa, the Hausa Sarkin in Gobir (now called Sokoto) hosted a Fulani immigrant called Usman Dan Fodiyo and his group in February 1804, as a result of this and since 1808 the whole of the northern region lost its kingdoms and were replaced by Fulani emirates. King Yunfa is said to have been killed in 1808 and the Fulani warrior (Usman Dan Fodiyo) established Sokoto caliphate, making himself Sultan. Gradually, other…
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Last week, Nigeria hosted one of the central deities in the global revolution called social media—in the name of Hon Triple High Chief Sir (Dr.) Alhaji Mark Zuckerberg, Grand Commander of the American Republic (GCAR), founder, chairman, chief executive officer (CEO) of Facebook International Corporation, the Eze Gburugburu of Iru Akwukwo, Oga Patapata of Menlo Park, California, and the Magajin Garin of Cyberspace. Okay, okay, you get the point. Let’s just say, then, that an entrepreneur known, simply, as Mark Zuckerberg visited Nigeria last week. And what an education he gave to all of us, from the Nigerian president down…
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APC did not plan to govern… told Nigerians what mayhem they planned to unleash should they lose and what parallel government they would establish… proffered no solution on how they would address Nigeria’s economic problems… made wild unrealistic promises… In the 2015 presidential election, the APC was more prepared for defeat than for victory. The party did not expect to win and clearly had no agenda for victory. In a 1972 Hollywood film entitled The Candidate, Robert Redford acts as Bill Mckay, a political neophyte who is drafted out of the blue into a race for the U.S. Senate. With…
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Wanted Benue militant, Terwase Agwaza AKA Ghana made shocking disclosures in an interview aired on Channels TV. Amongst other revelations, Ghana who is presently in hiding after being declared wanted by security agents, claimed that he was supplied arms by the special adviser to the Benue State governor on security, Col. Edwin Jando (rtd) to carry out nefarious activities. Ghana also claimed that he was approached by some Fulani elders in a bid to destabilize Taraba State being part of a grand plan to cause instability in Plateau, Benue, Taraba and Nasarawa States. Ghana claims he was offered 50m naira…
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Princeton N. Lyman, the former U.S. Ambassador to Nigeria and South Africa, delivered a very poignant speech on the panel titled “The Nigerian State and U.S. Strategic Interests” at the Achebe Colloquium at Brown University on December 11, 2009. Lyman suggests that rather than continually emphasize Nigeria’s strategic importance, it would behoove us to consider elements that might eventually lead to Nigeria’s irrelevance on the international stage. TRANSCRIPT OF SPEECH (TAKEN DIRECTLY FROM THE VIDEO SPEECH) Thank you very much Prof. Keller and thanks to the organizers of this conference. It is such a privilege to be here in a…
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I support Mr. Donald J. Trump’s presidential bid because he has admitted publicly that the American-inspired removal of Arab secularist leaders like Saddam Hussein, Muammar Ghadaffi, Hosni Mubarak and, more recently, the attempt to remove Bashir Al-Assad were wrong, short-sighted, counter-productive and have led to nothing but chaos. How many politicians, from either side of America’s political divide, have that level of vision and understanding of world affairs? How many have the courage to admit that successive American Presidents, including George W. Bush, who was a Republican like him, were wrong on this issue? Hussein, Ghadaffi, Mubarak and Al-Assad were/are,…
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The Ministry of Solid Minerals Development has confirmed that it is aware of the discovery of high grade nickel in Kaduna State. It, however, advised excited members of the public to be patient and await an official position of the ministry after due investigation. In a press statement issued at the weekend, the Permanent Secretary of the ministry, Mohammed Abbas, said: “The Ministry of Solid Ministry of Solid Minerals Development is aware of the excitement in the media about the discovery of nickel in parts of Kaduna State. “This is totally understandable considering the partial assay of the mineral assets…
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A solar-powered tricycle made by Arthur Energy Technology Ltd. has been unveiled. The tricycle which does not use petrol or diesel is powered by renewable energy from the sun. It is purely powered and driven by solar energy. This is the first of its kind to be invented, designed and developed in Nigeria, the Chief Executive Officer of the company, Arthur A Okeyika hails from Ihiala, Anambra State, Eastern Nigeria. This is a great technological feat at a period when the cost of premium motor spirit is increasingly prohibitive where available in Nigeria.
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The Igbo born Ali Bongo, the current President of Gabon has been re-elected for a second term in office. He narrowly defeated his opponent Jean ping, having scored 49.80% of the vote against 48.23% Interior Minister Pacome Moubelet-Boubeya told reporters on wednesday. Bongo won by 5,594 votes out of 627,805 registered voters. Turnout was 59.46 percent nationwide but soared to 99.93 percent in one of the country’s nine provinces — the Haut-Ogooue, heartland of Bongo’s Teke ethnic group — in a result hotly contested by the opposition. Recall that prior to the election reports emerged that the…
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Russian President Vladimir Putin said he did not know who was behind the hacking of U.S. Democratic Party organizations but the information uncovered was important, Bloomberg news agency reported on Friday. In an interview two days before a G20 meeting in China with U.S. President Barack Obama and other world leaders, Putin said it might be impossible to establish who engineered the release of sensitive Democratic Party emails but it was not done by the Russian government. “Does it even matter who hacked this data?” Putin said. “The important thing is the content that was given to the public.” “There’s…
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kaizen kʌɪˈzɛn/ noun a Japanese business philosophy of continuous improvement of working practices, personal efficiency, etc. I read this fantastic piece about the Nigerian operational system destined to sink us all. Please for the love of our land, can we spread this piece to sensitize, the governed and the governing. To give insight into the Genesis of our problems and probably put “us” in the right frame of mind to solving our problems and saving our land. It’s not very lengthy but captivating enough for those who really want to understand our fundamental problems and become part of the solution.…
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GOVERNOR Rochas Okorocha of Imo State has warned the Igbos the dire consequences of playing with fire if the north abandons the region and cut off food supplies to the southeast over what he describe as ingratitude to the north. The governor said the north has been the food basket to the south-east and to engage them in a cold war will not pay the region any good in the long run. He made the disclosure while speaking to newsmen on Wednesday in Owerri, the Imo State capital. According to the governor, “As we talk, the food we…
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The Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Mr. Babatunde Fashola, has warned that the Federal Government’s aim of achieving inclusion and employment, through the N6.6tn 2016 budget may be elusive; and that the people targeted may not benefit, if government’s spending or contracts are mainly handled by foreign companies. He also said the gains might not be realised if professionals were either not participating or, where they did, preferred imported goods to local ones. He urged indigenous companies, professionals, artisans and all Nigerians to take advantage of the FG’s budget of N1.8tn for capital expenditure, in particular; and N6.06trn total…
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PRESIDENT Muhammadu Buhari, I must confess, exhibited strategic intelligence in building and sustaining a perception around him for quite a long time to the extent that he became the messiah Nigerians have been waiting for since MKO Abiola’s inconclusive June 12 election. Buhari was also expected to bring sanity to the country. Buhari may not have earned amassed all the degrees and academic laurels necessary for us to regard him as an intellectual, but he managed to out-smart all the so-called intellectuals to build a cult of followers around himself. Buhari, his history apart, rebranded himself as the ultimate…
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( If Some Of These Current Biafran Politicians Can Take A Bond Step Like Akanu Ibiam Did, To Renounce British Queen And Her Evils Against Biafra? ) I am deeply and humbly constrained to present you with this letter. For many years, indeed throughout my mature life, I had been a proud but disinterested admirer of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and her peoples. The history of Your Majesty’s country is replete with heroism, discoveries which were near miracles, and institutions of higher learning of the most outstanding character and achievement. Britain, though insular and small in…
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Apparently dazed by the way civil servants have been stealing materials and food donated to internally displaced persons at the various camps across Nigeria, President Muhammadu Buhari has given the police a marching order. The president asked the police to immediately commence the arrest of such thieving civil servants and make an example of them before others. The internally displaced persons have been kept in various camps after their villages and towns were overran by the Boko Haram, a sect that has killed thousands of Nigerians and people in neighbouring countries since their emergence in 2010. Different bodies and…
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https://t.co/dVC9CPzPL0
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North Korean leader, Kim Jong-un has allegedly executed two top officials for disobeying him. The JoongAng Ilbo newspaper reports that former agriculture minister Hwang Min and Ri Yong Jin, a senior official at the education ministry, were executed using anti-aircraft guns. A source suggested that Ri Yong Jin was executed after he ‘dozed off during a meeting presided over by Kim’. ‘He was arrested on site and intensively questioned by the state security ministry. He was executed after other charges, such as corruption, were found during the probe.’ ‘I understand he was executed because policy proposals he had pushed for…
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Another domestic carrier, First Nation Airlines, has suspended its operations, the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority has said. This is coming in less than 24 hours after Aero Contractors Airlines, Nigeria’s second largest commercial carrier, announced an indefinite suspension of its scheduled flight services and its staff with effect from Thursday, September 1, 2016. The Director-General of the NCAA, Capt. Muhtar Usman, explained that the decision was taken in order to ensure that the airline carried out the required maintenance of its aircraft. Usman, however, refuted claims that some of the domestic airlines were winding down their operations regardless of the…
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OHAKIM WRITES TO GOV. OKOROCHA ON 10 KEY AREAS OF GOVERNANCE, CHALLENGES AND SOLUTIONS. A MUST READ.
His Excellency Governor of Imo State Government House Owerri, Imo State 22nd August, 2016 Attn.: Owelle Rochas Anayo Okorocha CURRENT TREND OF EVENTS IN OUR STATE I bring you warm greetings from my family, and may the Almighty God continue to keep you and your family in the light of His grace. Let me go straight to the main objective of this letter,which is to draw your kind attention to a dangerous build up of anger in the State, especially against the backdrop of some of your recent actions as the current Chief Executive. I hasten to add, however, that…
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The Brazilian first female president Dilma Rousseff has been removed from office by the country’s senate after a grueling impeachment trial that ends 13 years of Workers’ party rule. The upper house voted by a majority of 61 to 20 to remove Rousseff from office on the grounds that she illegally manipulated the national budget, she will be replaced for the remaining two years and three months of her term by Michel Temer, a centre right patrician who was among the leaders of the conspiracy against his former running mate. A separate vote will be held on whether Rousseff will…
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Wednesday, 31 August 2016 Despite the economic recession that the country is presently facing, the Presidency on Wednesday declared that the Nigerian economy is performing better than the predictions of the International Monetary Fund, IMF. It, however, admitted that the inflation and unemployment rates in the country had remained high despite efforts by the current government. The Special Adviser to the President on Economic Matters, Dr. Adeyemi Dipeolu, stated this in a statement while reacting to the Gross Domestic Product figures for the 2016 second quarter by the National Bureau of Statistics, NBS. Dipeolu noted that the report, while confirming…
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By now, there’s a preponderance of evidence the Arewa Consultative Forum is made up of war mongers who have come to the tragic conclusion that the Nigerian military is their trump card to be used against the south. In line with their military calculations, president Buhari too has decided that the only way the #Avengers of the Niger Delta can be defeated is an all out military onslaught. However, what’s even more tragic about this ill-conceived military adventurism is that it’s fraught with dire consequences. Only a few days ago, the militants gave Buhari the likely scenario as the army…
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The United Kingdom on Tuesday said 40 jurisdictions including British territories were fully committed to sharing information that would facilitate the return of all the funds stolen from Nigeria and kept in their lands. A Member of Parliament and Minister of State for Immigration of the United Kingdom, Mr. Robert Goodwill, said this in Abuja during the signing ceremony of the Memorandum of Understanding between the governments of Nigeria and the UK on the modalities for the return of stolen assets. Goodwill, who led a delegation of the UK government officials to the event which took place at the office…
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Nigeria stands the risk of forfeiting a hefty N218.3 billion ($550 million), already recovered from the late military dictator, Sani Abacha’s estate, if a suit filed by an American-based Nigerian Lawyer, against the Nigerian government in a United States federal court, is not quickly resolved. Texas-based Attorney, Godson Nnaka, who was contracted by the Nigerian government in 2004, to help find and recover funds siphoned by Abacha and his associates, has asked the court to appoint him a private Attorney General of the funds, as well as award him 40 percent of the recovered funds. He claimed he made the…
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For all the die-hard clueless Clinton morons out there who still think that crooked Hillary will have a positive influence on America if ever elected, let me share with you the reality of what will happen if the now confirmed Parkinson’s disease stricken candidate ever gets to power. On the foreign policy front – In the worst-case scenario and in pursuit of a muscular approach to confronting ISIS, she will make three related decisions that doom American foreign policy to another decade of turmoil, casualties, and terrorism at an astronomical cost. The first decision will be to send thousands of…
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California is the 6th largest economy in the world. It’s economy is larger than that of France or Brazil. The little problem is that California is not a country. It is a State in the United States of America. It has little offshore oil, yet its economy is larger than States in the US that are famous for their oil reserves, like Texas. California generates much of its revenue from non-oil products. It found a way to absorb and domesticate much of the intellectual output from its premier university, Stanford University, into saleable products within its economy. As a matter…
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Nigerians are looking to newly elected President Muhammadu Buhari to chart a new trajectory for Africa’s largest economy and most populous country. Yet a large cast of subnational politicians will play an equally important role in shaping the country’s future. Nigeria is a federation of thirty-six states, each with populations, economic profiles, and budgets comparable to small countries. The country’s latest election cycle brought high focus to the presidency, but Nigeria’s overall stability, prosperity, and business environment is determined more by day-to-day dynamics at the state-level than it is by national-level decision making. Decisions made by Nigeria’s state governors have…
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There is a leadership struggle underway within Boko Haram, the violent, extremist movement that has claimed more than 20,000 lives since 2011 and destabilized the secular Nigerian state and its neighbors. The personal struggle between Abubakar Shekau and Abu Musab al-Barnawi reflects in part the rivalry between Boko Haram and a splinter group, “Ansaru,” and are part of a complex, intra-Muslim conflict across the Sahel, including competition between rival al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) and the Islamic State. Reflecting their extreme poverty and marginalization, many Northern Nigerian Muslims are deeply hostile toward the secular state. They see the…
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Is John Kerry actually representing the United States or is he serving some incomprehensible interests? With Nigeria’s current governance predicament; the first major question would be, when has the Sultan become the country’s spokesperson on matters of corruption, security, the state of the economy? If the Sultan was a force in coordinating fights against terrorism and sectarian violence, why is Northern Nigeria still in such a security mess? Before the United States Secretary of State, John Kerry visited Nigeria last week, he placed his agenda on the table. With priority accorded to corruption and security, the august visitor also…
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This was disclosed in a statement on Friday by Bolaji Adebiyi, Director of Press in the Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, SGF. The statement also named Emmanuel Olajide Adeoye as Chairman of the NPA Governing Board and Major General Jonathan India Garba for NIMASA. Dakuku Peterside, the Director-General of NIMASA and the All Progressives Congress gubernatorial candidate in the Rivers State election, was also appointed a member of the NIMASA board. Both agencies are under the supervision of the Ministry of Transportation, headed by the Minister, Hon Rotimi Amaechi, a former Governor of Rivers State.…
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Fellow Nigerians, When in December 1983, the former military leadership, headed by Major-General Muhammadu Buhari, assumed the reins of government, its accession was heralded in the history of this country. With the nation at the mercy of political misdirection and on the brink of economic collapse, a new sense of hope was created in the minds of every Nigerian. Since January 1984, however, we have witnessed a systematic denigration of that hope. It was stated then that mismanagement of political leadership and a general deterioration in the standard of living, which had subjected the common man to intolerable suffering, were…
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On the 15th of August 1945, the axis nations fighting in the Pacific theater defeated imperial Japan and two weeks later, Japan formally surrendered to allied forces led by the U.S. General, Douglas McArthur, who formally accepted the signed articles of surrender. But though the U.S. defeated Japan, they never decimated Japan’s great technological and industrial complex. They were visionary enough to distinguish these from Japan’s military industrial complex, which they scrapped. Realizing that Japan was decades ahead of the West in many technologies, the allied powers, led by the US, allowed those industries to remain as a going concern…
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Adenuga, Niger Governor, late Ooni of Ife, Andy Uba, 106 others named in #PanamaPapers. #PanamaPapers: African Union panel wants Nigeria, other countries to take ‘firm’ action #PanamaPapers: ActionAid demands probe of Saraki, David Mark, others. #PanamaPapers: Nigerian govt’s silence ‘worrisome, repugnant’ — CACOL #PanamaPapers: Iceland prime minister resigns after he was linked to offshore company The senate president, Bukola Saraki, and his predecessor, David Mark, and other prominent Nigerians may soon be in trouble as the Presidency has ordered the investigation of present and past Nigerian officials named in the Panama Papers scandal. The chairman of the Code of Conduct…
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Shortly after Hillary Clinton left the Obama administration, the State Department quietly took steps to purchase real estate in Nigeria from a firm whose parent company is owned by a major donor to the Clinton Foundation, records obtained by Fox News show. On March 20, 2013, William P. Franklin, an “international realty specialist” at the State Department, emailed Mary E. Davis, an American diplomat stationed in Africa, instructing her to “put on Post letterhead” an “expression of interest” by the department in purchasing property at Eko Atlantic, a massive real estate development off the coast of Lagos. Franklin further instructed…
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As Theresa May takes over as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, a new visa regulations have been written and this ruled out visa requirements for citizens of Commonwealth member countries. As per this revision of the visa regulations, all citizens of Commonwealth nations of which Nigeria is among no longer require visas when traveling to the UK for a period of six (6) months. However, people wishing to stay for longer than six months are still required to obtain visas. People traveling to take up courses longer than six months as well as those settling with their families are…
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Since his reported resignation or sacked as Chairman of the Appropriation Committee of the House of Representatives, Honourable Abdulmumin Jibrin has been a household name in the Nigerian politics for blowing out everything that has to do with the padding and over padding of the 2016 budget of change of President Muhammadu Buhari. Powerful, vibrant and die-hard lawmaker was among those that fought the power that be, towards the emergence of Honourable Yakubu Dogara as the Speaker of the House of Representatives against Honourable Femi Gbajabiamila with the almighty Bourdillion garment. Here is a brief analysis of his life, education,…
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“…I found out that some officers were spending money. I asked, ‘Where did they get the money from?’ They said it was from the Military Intelligence fund… Later, I learnt that General Aliyu Gusau who was in charge of intelligence took import licence from the Ministry of Commerce, which was in charge of supplies, and gave it to Alhaji Mai Deribe. It was worth N100,000, a lot of money then. When I discovered this, I confronted them and took the case (to) the army council… I said if I didn’t punish Aliyu Gusau, it will create a problem for us……
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I have followed the drama and intrigues being played out by the sacked Chairman of the House Appropriation Committee, Hon Jibrin Abdulmumin with restrained but keen interest. I have also looked at the gamut of documents and records (that actually are injurious to collective privilege of the house under the law) and found nothing criminal or corrupt on the face of them to warrant the total dedication of media focus and the interest of the Presidency and indeed the security agencies as has been exhibited in the past week. I am at loss to understand under what powers the…
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Paper Presented by Atiku Abubakar, GCON, former Vice President, Federal Republic of Nigeria, at the Late Gen.Usman Katsina Memorial Conference, at the Umaru Musa Yar’Adua Memorial Hall, Murtala Square, Kaduna. Saturday 30 July, 2016. Protocol The theme of this conference, “The Challenges of National Integration and Survival of Democracy in Nigeria” makes two very important acknowledgements: 1) national integration and the survival of Nigeria’s democracy are related and are important; 2) they both face challenges in Nigeria today. I believe that most Nigerians would agree with those propositions although we are likely to have differences regarding how to achieve national…
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The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) on Tuesday released its zoning arrangements for the various party offices at the national level. In a report presented by the chairman of the zoning committee, Governor Dave Umahi of Ebonyi State, the position of National Chairman was zoned to the south, comprising the Southwest, Southeast and the South-south. The North takes the position of National Secretary. The party will now have two Deputy National Chairman, one for the North and one for the South. Other positions zoned to the South include those of the National Treasurer, National Legal Adviser, National Youth Leader, National Organising…
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President Muhammadu Buhari has said he was removed from office 31 years ago because he was planning to purge the military hierarchy of corruption. Buhari, who has not spared the military even in his ongoing anti-corruption war, said senior military leaders, led by former military president, General Ibrahim Babangida and General Aliyu Gusau, removed him in August 1985 to save themselves from his wrath. In an exclusive interview published in the current edition of The Interview magazine, Buhari challenged Babangida and Gusau to tell the truth on why they carried out the coup against him. “I learnt,” he said, “that…
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BREAKDOWN OF FEDERAL ALLOCATION TO THE VARIOUS STATES FOR THE MONTH OF JULY 2016 BY FAAC Thirty-six states of the Federation and the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, collectively smiled home in the month of July when they pocketed a whopping N673.324billion as their share of statutory allocation and first tranche of the excess crude earnings distribution for the period. This was revealed in a document from the office of the Accountant-General of the Federation titled: Distribution of Statutory Allocation and Excess Crude Proceeds to the three tiers of Government in July 2016, a copy of which THISDAY got yesterday. The…
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Ebeano…..!!!! !!! Booth 016 Osu -Owerri ward 1. Result for Imo state house of Assembly. APC-30 votes. PDP-71 vote. Void-27. Senate Result. APC-41. PDP-74. APGA-1. ANPP-1. Void- 11. Town school umuakagu Ehime Mbano PDP 162 APC 16 Umuogbede polling unit 003 Umuariam/Achara,Obowo LGA PDP-92 APC-28 Void -2 More Results from Obowo LGA UMUEZEALUM ODENKUME…
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Senator Ndoma Egba – Chairman Obong Nsima Ekere – MD/CEO Adjogbe Ajenakevwe Executive Director in charge of projects | Delta state. Mene Ienyie Derek, Executive Director/Head Finance and Administration | Rivers state. Donatus Enyinnah (Abia state) Frank Samuel George (Akwa Ibom state) Brambaifa Nelson (Bayelsa state) Sylvester Effefiom Nsa (Cross River state) Ogaga Ifowodo (Delta state) Uwuilekhue Saturday (Edo state) and Osita Bonaventure Izunaso (Imo state) Olatokunbo Ayotunde Ajasin (Ondo state) Harry Iboroma Dabibi (Rivers state) Bernard Banfa (North-central zone) Yahaya Mohammed (North-east zone) Mustapha Dankadai (North-west zone); Igo Weli (Niger Delta region) Mahmoud Isa-Dutse (Federal Ministry of Finance) Abdul-Kazeem…
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President Muhammadu Buhari has faced serious criticism following what a lot of people termed a lopsided method of appointment in his administration. In this opinion by Majeed Dahiru, he points out that this method of appointment will likely stir corruption and make people perceive him as a sectional leader. A more divided Nigeria Nigeria has never been more divided than it is today. The various fault lines of our geo-political space have been deepened and become more manifest in the various agitations from different segments of our society. The collective hope and euphoria that greeted the change in leadership…
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Tukur Buratai, chief of army staff, has disclosed that 700 military personnel would be deployed to Liberia for Peacekeeping operations. Buratai said this during the graduation ceremony of Nigerian Army Battalion (NIBATT) 38 United Nation Mission in Liberia, (UNMIL) in Kaduna. Hassan Umaru, chief of training and operation, represented Buratai at the graduation ceremony. He said the deployment was being undertaken by the Nigerian Army Peace Keeping Centre (NAPKC) Jaji, Kaduna Buratai, however, warned the officers and soldiers to avoid untoward incidents that could tarnish the image of the Nigerian army in particular and that of the nation in general.…
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I am writing this post with a lot of caution and trepidation. I have never subscribed to ethnic chauvinism and I actually detest being labelled as a tribal bigot. I am usually very careful because I have friends and colleagues from every part of the nation and some of my best friends are not even from my side of the country. However, recent events are making me to have a deeper reflection and I wish we- Southerners in this instance- can have some kind of introspection. Out of 25 appointments made so far, 18 are from the North, 3 are…
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New Jersey Governor Chris Christie has blamed presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, Hillary Clinton for the kidnap of the Chibok school girls in North-East Nigeria. Speaking at the Republican National Convention Tuesday night in Cleveland, Governor Christie said, ”Over the last eight years, we have seen this Administration refuse to hold her accountable for her dismal record as Secretary of State. ”Well, tonight, as a former federal prosecutor, I welcome the opportunity to hold her accountable for her performance and her character. We must present those facts to you, a jury of her peers, both in this hall and in living…
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Erstwhile governor of Sokoto State, Alhaji Attahiru Bafarawa has alleged that some former governors bought their way to the top of the All Progressives Congress, APC, with the sum of N100m each. Speaking with Daily Trust, Bafarawa described the APC which claims to be fighting corruption as the “mother of corruption.” He accused the ruling party of being the architect of the enduring rift between some of its top-notch members which is affecting the country. He alleged that the Minister of transport, Rotimi Amaechi; Kwara state governor, Abdulfatah Ahmed; Senators Rabiu Kwankwaso and Aliyu Magatakarda Wamakko and former governor of…
OBLONG MEDIA GLOBAL INTELLIGENCE 