The winner of BBNaija 2018, Miracle who was promised a cash gift and land by the Imo State Governor shortly after the end of the show, has finally received it.
Senate President Bukola Saraki was given a rousing welcome in Ilorin, Kwara State as embarks on a courtesy visit.
The winner of BBNaija 2018, Miracle who was promised a cash gift and land by the Imo State Governor shortly after the end of the show, has finally received it.
Gov. Abdulfatah Ahmed of Kwara on Tuesday requested the State House of Assembly to approve the extension of the tenure of the Chairman and councillors of Offa Local Government Council.
Thierry Henry Thierry Henry is quitting his job as a pundit for Sky Sports in order to focus on a career in management.
Emir of Kano Muhammadu Sanusi II
• Blames Sharia governors for states’ underdevelopment
• CAN cautions presidency, police over threat to democracy
• Restructuring is answer to nation’s challenges, Markarfi insists
Emir of Kano Muhammadu Sanusi II has cautioned politicians who hide behind the mask of religion to exploit Nigerians.
He regretted that the North, in the last two decades, was robbed of focus due to the politicisation of religion and culture.
Politicians turned religion into a vehicle for campaign, thereby exploiting the religious character and ignorance of the people, he said.
Rather than solving problems in the education and health sectors, governors were busy promising to deliver religion, which led to the underdevelopment of many states, the emir noted.
He said it was not surprising that states which placed too much emphasis on religion over development lagged behind in socio-economic milestones. According to him, “The most backward and underdeveloped states in Nigeria today are also the same states that claimed to be run based on Sharia. The people seemed satisfied with slogans and pilgrimages that have become jamborees.”
Due to the hype, people in the region stopped demanding the education of their children and healthcare from their leaders, he noted.
Sanusi spoke in Katsina State yesterday while delivering a speech marking International Youth Day and a graduation ceremony at Katsina Vocational Training Centre.
The centre, founded by the late M.D. Yusuf, a former Inspector General of Police, empowers youths, particularly the physically challenged.
The emir called on government to engage youths through increased investment in agriculture. He also urged politicians to sign peace pacts before next year’s general election and discourage youths from violence.
On its part, the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) warned the presidency and the Nigeria Police against acts capable of threatening democracy. It also urged the legislative and executive arms of government to collaborate in the interest of smooth governance.
“We express grave concerns over the poor handling of the police invitation to the Senate President Bukola Saraki, over the infamous Offa robbery saga that led to the death of about 30 people, and the alleged plan by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission to arrest the Deputy Senate President Ike Ekweremadu, over alleged money laundering,” CAN said in a statement by its president, Samson Ayokunle, in Abuja yesterday.
“The Christian umbrella body condemns in strong terms the way the police were deployed in subjecting the leadership of the National Assembly to needless embarrassment and harassment. The ongoing action of the police is a siege against democracy,” the association noted.
“We are shocked, disappointed and alarmed at the aborted moves by the police to stop both the senate president and his deputy from attending Tuesday’s proceedings for whatever reasons. We call on both the leadership of the National Assembly and the presidency to stop acting in a manner that constitutes international disgrace and embarrassment.
“We appeal to all security agencies to stop being involved in partisan politics. Nigerians must realise that leadership goes around and comes around, but our country will continue to remain. CAN calls on all service chiefs, including the Inspector General of Police, Ibrahim Idris, not to destroy our democratic institutions through needless partisanship.”
CAN further called on civil society organisations and professional bodies like the Nigeria Bar Association, Nigerian Labour Congress, Nigerian Medical Association and Nigeria Union of Journalists to resist anti-democratic forces.
In a related development, the Supreme Knight of the Order of the Knights of St. Mulumba Nigeria, Chief Diamond Ovueraye, expressed fear that the nation was hurtling towards the precipice.
“There is too much self-aggrandisement on the part of the leaders. But as knights, our duty is to speak when things are going wrong and pray for the country and for solutions to problems. The leadership must bring us back from the drift by doing the right thing,” he said at the investiture of 150 ladies and brothers into the apex Fourth Degree of the Order at the Catholic Church of Ascension, Ikeja, Lagos.
A former national chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Senator Ahmed Makarfi, meanwhile, reiterated calls yesterday for restructuring of the nation.
He told delegates and members of the party in Owerri, Imo State that the move would satisfy the yearnings of the geo-political zones. He promised to toe this line if he was given a chance to rule the country next year.
Gov. Okorocha
While speaking during a breakfast meeting with journalists at the Government House Owerri, the Imo State Governor, Rochas Okorocha, on Thursday, said that he is more favoured to become the next President of Igbo extraction.
According to The Nation, Okorocha noted that he commands massive followership beyond the Southeast much more than any other Igbo politician.
The governor however lamented what he called the pull-him-down attitude among Igbo political elites, stressing that, “it is unfortunate that we the Igbo don’t celebrate our own, we are only interested how to destroy our own”.
Speaking further, he said that he will not be relying on the support of the Igbo to pursue and actualize his Presidential ambition.
According to him, “I stand a better chance of making the Presidency in 2023 but my greatest challenge will come from the Igbo. It is our character. It will be a foolish thing to imagine that the Igbo will support me”.
On President Muhammadu Buhari’s re-election, the Imo governor, disclosed that the Igbo are mobilizing to give him landslide victory.
Babatope, a former Minister of Transportation, made the appeal in an interview with newsmen in Lagos.He urged party members to see Wednesday ‘s ruling of an Osogbo High Court which failed to stop Adeleke’s candidacy as a victory, not for Adeleke alone, but for the party.
The plaintiffs, Rasheed Olabayo and Idowu Oluwaseun, had sought the order of the court to disqualify Adeleke based on his educational qualification.
Recall that disagreements had trailed the July 21 PDP governorship primary, with seven aspirants, including Mr Akin Ogunbiyi, faulting the process that produced Adeleke and vowing to challenge his emergence in court.
Babatope, who is from Osun, appealed particularly to aspirants who contested along with Adeleke to put loyalty to the party above any grievances they might have and support Adeleke to win the election.
“This is not the time to fan the embers of discord or disunity in Osun PDP.
“This is the time to see ourselves as brothers and unite to support our candidate to win the Sept. 22 poll.
“We should put loyalty to the party first above everything. Though differences are normal in politics, we should learn how to rise above our disagreements.
“We should put the grievances of the primary behind us and speak in one voice with the common objective of winning the election,” he said.
Babatope said the South West PDP, led by Dr. Eddy Olafeso, and elders like Chief Olabode George and himself would continue to reach out to members in the state on the need to unite to defeat the All Progressives Congress (APC).
He expressed the optimism that the PDP would win the Sept. 22 election.
NAN
The Minister, who made the call at a stakeholders’ meeting organized by the Congress of Kwara Progressives in Ilorin on Thursday, said the time is ripe for the people of Kwara to take back their state from plunderers.
Lai Mohammed
”What an auspicious time for all of us! Never before have we had a great opportunity like we have now to take our state back from the rapacious few, who have held the state by the jugular and prevented it from meeting the hopes and aspirations of its people.
”From my consultations with key stakeholders so far, I can say, categorically, that Kwarans have all resolved to take their destiny into their own hands and take back what rightly belongs to them. This is unprecedented in the history of our state, and we must not waste this opportunity,” he charged
Alhaji Mohammed stressed the need for unity on the part of the people, saying ”if we all remain united, we can’t and we won’t lose the looming battle for the survival of our dear state. All that is required is for us all to subordinate our individual ambitions to the collective efforts to wrest our state from the hegemony of one man and his cohorts”.
He said that, on his part, he won’t be running for any office during the forthcoming elections, adding: ”For me, it is not about any clamour for office. It is about working with all like minds for the greater benefit of our people.”
The Minister warned that the battle ahead would not be easy, and that those who are opposed to change in the state will deploy all strategies, including blackmail, to retain their stranglehold on power
”Make no mistake about it, the battle ahead will be tough. No one with power will ever give it up easily. But the power of the people supersedes all powers. That’s why I am delighted, and indeed encouraged, that the good people of our state, whether from the North, South or Central, are all united in their singular determination to rescue their state from the grinding poverty, monumental misgovernance and the general state of funk that has enveloped it,” he said.
Alhaji Mohammed said it is a mere blackmail to say he does not like the people of Ilorin, and went ahead to enumerate his antecedents, which include actively supporting an Ilorin indigene for governor in 2011.
He assured that under the new dispensation in the state, every Kwaran counts and will have a voice, saying: ”The resources of Kwara will be used for the development of the state and its people. Never again will our people be turned to panhandlers, never again will our people be made to eat crumbs from the master’s table. We must become the masters of our own destiny.”
NAN
