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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AU, domestic observers fault conduct of Edo governorship election saying the result announced by INEC did not tally with those his group got from the field. Foreign and international observers, who monitored Wednesday Edo State governorship election have expressed reservations about the conduct of the election, pointing out that they were denied entry into the collation centre and that security operatives at the polling units looked the other way while politicians and their agents induced voters with money. Prof Ahmed Ansari, head of the African Union Observer Team, asked the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to improve on the functionality…
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Dakuku Peterside: It is a debt recovery contract, different from the one awarded to Tompolo’s company The debt recovery and surveil- lance contracts awarded to the Global West Vessel Specialists Nigeria Limited (GWVSNL) owned by former Niger Delta militant, Government Ekpo- mupolo, popularly known as Tompolo by the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) under the Goodluck Jonathan administration and cancelled by Buhari has now been awarded to Snecou Nigeria Limited, a company presented by the Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Rivers State, Dr Davies Akanya. investigations revealed that after the award of the contract, Akanya and…
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Amnesty International says Nigeria is trying to muzzle dissent by arresting and intimidating journalists and protesters. The London-based rights group cites examples of police blocking peaceful protests. Those protests include activists demanding the government rescue more than 200 kidnapped Chibok schoolgirls, Shiite Muslims demanding the release of their long-detained leader and separatists calling for an independent Biafra in the southeast. The statement Wednesday says Amnesty has documented cases of enforced disappearances and killings of pro-Biafra supporters by security forces. It also cites the detention of several journalists critical of officials in the government of President Muhammadu Buhari. Amnesty says…
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Nigeria’s regulatory body for the judiciary, the National Judicial Council, has recommended the compulsory retirement of three judges following allegations of fraud and other judicial misconduct. The judges include the Chief Judge of Enugu State, A. I. umezulike; a presiding justice at the Court of Appeal in Kwara State, Mohammed Tsamiya; and Kabiru Auta of the Kano State High Court. They were sacked by the NJC during the council’s 78th meeting held on September 29. In a statement made available to journalists on Friday, the Council’s Director of Information; Soji Oye, said Justice Umezulike was accused of abusing his office…
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Nigeria is 56 years old today. Consequently it is time to speak some home-truths and look at where we are in the scheme of things. It is time to consider how well our government has fared since coming to power and to compare their record of service to previous governments that were in the saddle before them. Sadly the score sheet does not look too good. The rigging of elections, the persecution of opposition figures, the demonisation of dissenters, the destruction of the economy, the pauperisation of our people, the introduction of famine, the humiliation of Nigerians coupled with…
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President Muhammad Buhari has received concrete evidence that his Chief of Staff (CoS), Abba Kyari, took N500m from operators of MTN to help the telecommunications giant mitigate the fine imposed on it by the federal government, SaharaReporters has learned. Sources say the evidence was presented to President Buhari several times including during the Sallah holiday. The mind-boggling revelation is the latest in the mounting allegations of corruption involving members of the top echelon of President Buhari’s administration. Confronted with the evidence, the CoS reportedly claimed he was helping the All Progressives Congress party raise funds for the gubernatorial…
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For Nigeria to move forward and to take its leadership role in Africa, there is need for revolution without bloodshed says Ambassador Yusuf Maitama Sule – Dan Masanin Kano. Maitama Sule stated this in Gombe on Friday in a keynote address titled: “Restructuring Nigeria: Implications for National Unity and Integration” delivered at a seminar organised as part of activities marking the 20th anniversary of the creation of the state. The Dan Masanin Kano while decrying the inability of the country to positively harness its abundant natural resources, charged the youth to initiate a bloodless revolution that would bring…
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The UK Minister for Africa and Middle East, Foreign and Commonwealth Office, Tobias Ellwood, has pledged to support Nigeria end oil vandalism and environmental pollution in the Niger Delta. Mr. Ellwood, who toured the creeks in Rivers, told journalists in Port Harcourt on Friday that it had become imperative to help provide solutions to some of the challenges hindering the development in the country. He said that he was tasked by his prime minister to have a broad knowledge of the security challenge in the North East and those of oil theft which had negatively impacted the country’s economy. The…
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A Federal High Court in Lagos has ordered multinational oil companies, Total E&P Nigeria Plc and Chevron Nigeria Limited, to defend the allegation by the Federal Government that they under-declared the volume of crude oil they shipped out of the country between January 2011 and December 2014. The Federal Government accused Total E&P Nigeria Plc of short-changing the government to the tune of $245,258,640 by allegedly shipping several barrels of crude oil out of the country without making due remittance to the government. A similar suit, bordering on the same allegation was filed by the Federal Government against Nigeria…
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“Armed herdsmen are criminals —Sultan “The Fulanis we see in our villages, markets and other places, we only see them with sticks and cattle, we don’t see them with Ak 47. “Any Fulani man that you see carrying AK47, killing people instead of carrying sticks and cattle, treat him as a terrorist and not as a herdsman. The government must wake up to its responsibility and turn this tide of incessant killings of people in their villages.” Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Sa’ad Abubakar III The three Catholic priests that escaped death in the hands of suspected Fulani herdsmen. On the…
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Let me start by asking an important question: who wants to kill racy introspection? There is a cacophony of voices telling the Muhammadu Buhari administration to close its eyes to the past; that given the enormous tasks that lie ahead, history and its consequences for our nation should be the least of the government’s preoccupation at this juncture. I disagree. Let us keep a fiery memory of the past so that we don’t repeat its mistakes. Look back, look ahead. The future must of necessity be built on the foundations of the past. The Conservative Party took power in Britain…
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A former Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Prof. Chukwuma Soludo, has urged President Muhammadu Buhari not to ignore the growing call for fiscal federalism and the re-negotiation of Nigeria’s unity. Soludo specifically warned that Buhari’s attitude towards restructuring at a time when the Biafran agitation was intensifying was dangerous. He made the call during the public presentation of a book titled, ‘The Politics of Biafra and the Future of Nigeria; published by Chude Offodile, a former member of the House of Representatives. Soludo said, “If I were President Buhari, I would be very suspicious of anyone who…
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Regardless of your regional, religious and/or political affiliation, if you have any stake in a certain West African country called Nigeria, trust me, you certainly should be very worried right about now…. worried at the bundle of Shame a certain Muhammadu Buhari has turned that country into. The most important attribute of democracy is credible elections. If a people cannot freely chose their leaders, then any govt so chosen through some other crooked means cannot be said to be the true choice of the people. And if the govt is not chosen by the people through the ballot box, how…
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The man Oshi-Omo-Ole true to form has stolen and raped the people Edo of their mandate. He asked for soldiers to protect his votes when PDP’s Jonathan was in power. Oshiomole won his election and he spoke glowingly of Jonathan’s INEC, soldiers professionalism and police abilities etc. Now, juxtapose that with what the same man had mutated to today. This man was scuttled by Oshi-omo-ole: Obaseki has been foisted in just like Buhari and his conscience is not telling him it is wrong. You see why I can never be a politician? As educated as EDo people are, as sophisticated…
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One funny aspect of this “blame game” thing, is that you only see what has gone wrong in terms of “the other person” – the person you are pointing accusing fingers at. You hardly realise that as you point one finger at the other person, three of your other fingers are also accusing you, but they are usually hidden from your sight. In the Bible, Our Lord Jesus Christ warned us not to judge others, but to first of all remove the log in our eyes before complaining about the speck in the eyes of our neighbours (or opponents). We…
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Also yesterday, the Senate ordered a probe of Minister of Industries, Trade and Investment, Okechukwu Elenemah, over an alleged fraudulent movement of funds amounting to $13.92 billion from Nigeria. Adopting a motion sponsored by Senator Dino Melaye (Kogi West), the lawmakers directed its Committee on Banking, Insurance and other Financial Institutions to carry out a holistic investigation into the matter and report back in two weeks. In a motion titled “Unscrupulous violation of the foreign exchange (Monitoring and Miscellaneous) Act”, Melaye drew the attention of the Senate to “the illegal repatriation of $13.92 billion out of Nigeria by Mobile Telecommunication…
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• Urges filling of 20 vacant RECs positions The Senate yesterday expressed the fear that the 2019 general elections may suffer serious hitches. Its apprehension was born out of what it considered as critical issues of illegitimacy bedeviling the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC). With the absence of Resident Electoral Commissioners (RECs) in 20 of the 36 states, the Senate noted that the INEC cannot conduct any legitimate election at the moment. Adopting a motion sponsored by the Deputy President of the Senate, Ike Ekweremadu, the upper chamber observed that the non-appointment of RECs to fill the 20 vacancies is…
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The House of Representatives on Wednesday suspended Abdulmumin Jibrin, a lawmaker from Kano at the centre of the unfolding budget padding scandal, for 180 legislative days. The House seats three days in a week and this consequently means that Mr. Jibrin’s suspension would last more than a year. In a motion recommended by House Ethics Committee chairman, Nicholas Ossai, and adopted by the whole House, Mr. Jibrin will also not be able to hold any position of responsibility for the span of the current National Assembly. Mr. Jibrin began stirring what experts now described as one Africa’s biggest parliamentary scandals…
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Indigenous peoples have the right to the full enjoyment, as a collective or as individuals, of all human rights and fundamental freedoms as recognized in the Charter of the United Nations, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and international human rights law. Article 2 Indigenous peoples and individuals are free and equal to all other peoples and individuals and have the right to be free from any kind of discrimination, in the exercise of their rights, in particular that based on their indigenous origin or identity. Article 3 Indigenous peoples have the right to self-determination. By virtue of that right…
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The Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority says it will convene a meeting with foreign airline operators over their alleged rejection of naira payment for flight tickets. The General Manager, Public Relations, NCAA, Mr Sam Adurogboye, on Tuesday confirmed that the NCAA had received complaints from some passengers. Adurogboye said that the passengers had the right to make payments in naira. He noted that the industry was facing some challenges, particularly the scarcity of foreign exchange and inability of foreign airlines to repatriate their funds. He said, “The truth is that the airlines are beginning to reject the naira because of the…
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Between 2015 and 2016, the Federal Government spent N4.9 billion on the procurement of military and paramilitary uniforms and allied materials from foreign countries. The procurement of the items including footwear, berets, belts, cardigans, head warmers and branded stockings, from foreign markets is now a source of concern to the House of Representatives. A member of the House, Mr. Prestige Ossy (Aba: Abia: APGA) drew the attention of his colleagues to the development via a motion of urgent public importance at the plenary session presided over by Speaker Yakubu Dogara. He said the rate of dependence on foreign markets for…
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Most people have no idea of who is pictured above, but you should. The sight of this man should cause a similar revulsion to that of seeing Mussolini, Mao, Stalin or Hitler, as he committed an African genocide that resulted in the killing of over 10 million people in the Congo. His name is King Leopold II of Belgium. Most of people never learned about him in school, and have also most likely never heard about him in the media either. This is because he’s not included in the popular narrative of oppression (which includes things like U.S. slavery and…
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Former Speaker of the Imo state House of Assembly, Rt.Hon. Benjamin Uwajumogu has today been sworn in as Senator of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. Uwajumogu will represent the Imo North Senatorial district (Okigwe zone) at the National Assembly.
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Nigeria is facing difficult times. That is clear. Our Economy, Politics,Sports and other spheres of National life are in descent. It is certain that our acts of commissions and omissions in the past have contributed to our present state. That is the basic truth. But what we are today in our individual, family or corporate lives have been affected both by the choices we made in the past and the ones we make in the present. And for most individuals and Nations, it has been a mixed grill. Good decisions, bad and not soo good. The bible says that all…
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Deputy Senate President Ike Ekweremadu yesterday frowned on incessant attacks in Igbo land and other parts of the country by suspected Fulani herdsmen. He advised the affected states to pass legislations that would restrict cattle rearing to modern ranches. The senator also suggested the setting up of forest rangers to enforce such laws. A statement by his Special Adviser on Media, Uche Anichukwu, said Ekweremadu noted that unless Nigeria was restructured to make it more efficient and productive, it would be difficult for the country to wriggle out of its security challenges, pervasive poverty and retarded growth. The deputy senate…
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“The real enemy is the man that stole the city hall. The enemy is the Iragbiji upstart who seized the local government Secretariat at Glover street in Ikoyi. Our collective enemy is the greedy man who bought the old Nurses House, the Falomo shopping complex, the Lagos state Polytechnic property at Ojota, the stretches of acres at Lekki, the old Strabag yard at Alausa, the innumerable beach front properties long owned by the people of Lagos state, the billion naira Queen’s Drive mansion, the illegal Lekki Toll Gate, the First Nation Airline, the strings of media conglomerates, the Vault and…
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The Former President of Nigeria, Olusegun Obasanjo, Tuesday, accused former governors of contributing to the economic woes afflicting the nation by opposing his government’s efforts to save for the rainy day when the price of oil was higher. Obasanjo, who spoke at the 2016 World Pension Summit in Abuja, lamented that many of the former state executives frustrated his genuine attempt to save a substantial portion of the country’s resources when there was excess oil revenue. Obasanjo said at the event attended by global pension players and top government officials, “I remember when I was in government and I…
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While receiving a segment of APC chieftains from South West who paid him a solidarity visit late yesterday evening after keeping them waiting for over 5 hrs, (from 5pm to 10 pm before seeing them) Tinubu lashed out . I regret building APC and giving Buhari a platform to become president. “We all knew he didn’t merit to be president, but you know how we politicians behave when we are desperate for electoral position; We beg. That was how President Buhari always and frequently came to my private house here in Ikoyi with his entourage which included that Nasiru…
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” I have just read the wide media coverage regarding the recommen dations of the National Economic Council (NEC) as well as the Senate on the ways to reboot the economy out of the current recession. Times such as this require all brains at work and all hands on deck. Consequently, I commend both institutions for their patriotic duty in advising the President. Surely, the proposals are still mere advice or recommendations, and not approval as wrongly reported by some media. Only the President can approve any of those recommendations to become policy (both NEC and Senate are advisory bodies…
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Nigeria’s crude oil production suffered fresh set back Monday as Trans Niger Pipeline, (TNP), which exports about 180, 000 barrels of crude oil per day was shut down as a precautionary measure after a fire was seen on the “right of way” at Gio community in Ogoni land, one of the two pipelines that export Bonny Light crude oil. TNP transports crude oil to the Bonny Export Terminal and is part of the liquid gas evacuation infrastructure, critical for continued domestic power generation (Afam VI power plant) and liquefied gas exports. According to the spokesman for Shell Petroleum Development Corporation…
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There is something so amusing about the self-styled Ashiwaju of Lagos, Bola Ahmed Tinubu: he likes to mount the moral high horse during any contest. He likes creating the impression he is fighting a just cause; a battle to defeat evil and enthrone good. And that is exactly what he has done in his latest spat with John Odigie-Oyegun, former Edo governor and national chair of his ‘party’. His choice of words not only showed someone who is very bitter, but also someone who has been looking for an opportunity to ventilate for a long time. The language of the…
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The greatest lesson in life is to know that sometimes even fools are right—Winston Churchill So, that the country is in recession is not the news, has never been the news, despite all the debates, arguments, mutual consent and accusations…who is at fault and who is not at fault… I decided to share this as my admonition for this week, and it sums up why presumably Nigerians are in their current state. Only last week, Governors of the nation’s 36 states devoid of party affiliations endorsed proposals of the Federal Government Economic Management Team (EMT), not only…
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A former governor of Jigawa State and Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) henchman, Alhaji Sule Lamido, has reproached President Muhammadu Buhari for blaming the excruciating hardship suffered by Nigerians on recession. He told Daily Trust at the weekend that there were basic needs of living, which must be provided for the citizens, whatever the harshness of the sweeping recession sequel to the global oil-price crash, maintaining that it was too escapist on the part of the president to lean on recession and lament his inability to source for funds to provide such needs. “President Buhari is simply incompetent on the provision…
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Erstwhile adviser to former President, Shehu Shagari on National Assembly matters, Alhaji Tanko Yakassai, has alleged that there is an evil scheme in the Presidency to completely scheme out a national leader of the All Progressives Congress, APC, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu from the hierarchy of the ruling party.Disclosing this in Kano yesterday, Nigerian Tribune reports him as charging the former Lagos governor not to hesitate to tackle President Muhammadu Buhari if the latter is seen to be behind anything objectionable. Tinubu, had while demanding the immediate resignation of the APC national chairman, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun, stated that: “There exists a…
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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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