Press statement from the PDP...
The National Working Committee (NWC) of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) at its meeting today thoroughly considered a number of very important issues pertaining to the state of affairs in our nation.
The NWC brings to the attention of President Muhammadu Buhari to some disturbing development in the polity which, if not nipped in the bud, might significantly affect our democracy and stability as a nation negatively, and that is the growing and unwarranted intrusion of some over-zealous security operatives on issues bordering purely on politics.
In particular, the NWC wishes to draw the attention of the President to the continued intimidation, harassment as well as the hounding, arrest and detention of Electoral Officers and members of election tribunals by operatives of the Department of State Services (DSS) in Rivers, Akwa-Ibom and other PDP states.
The NWC notes that this unfortunate development has been the case since the appointment of the new Director General of the DSS, Alhaji Lawal Musa Daura, whom we learnt was a critical intelligence stakeholder of the APC as a card-carrying member of that party during the campaigns. This is ungodly and unacceptable.
We do hope that in his new job, the Director General of DSS is not mixing issues on the APC presidential candidate and the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, hence the need for Mr. President to rein him in as the development is capable of eroding the cherished independence of the judiciary and the electoral commission, a sine qua non for a virile democracy, which guarantees our unity and stability as a nation.
Similarly, we urge Mr. President to take a critical look at the issue of the appointment of Mrs. Amina Zakari as Acting Chairman of INEC for which our party has severally raised some salient issues why she is not suitable for that position. It is incontrovertible that Mrs. Zakari by virtue of her blood relationship with Mr. President cannot preside over the affairs of an Independent National Electoral Commission.
Nigeria belongs to all of us irrespective of political, religious and ethnic affiliation and as a responsible political party we shall not fold our hands and watch while our nation drift along dangerous line.
Furthermore, the NWC commends and congratulates the PDP caucuses in the Senate and the House of Representatives on the smooth emergence of the Minority leadership in the National Assembly. We note that the process was without any interferences whatsoever from the leadership of our great party in keeping with the dictates of the independence of the legislature.
Finally, the NWC deliberated on the state of the party in Ekiti State and resolved that it only recognizes the state Exco led by Chief Idowu Faleye. The NWC however summons all critical stakeholders in the party administration in Ekiti State to a meeting with the national leadership on the issues in the state chapter.
Signed:
Prince Uche Secondus
Acting National Chairman
In a statement released by President Buhari and signed by his media aide,Shehu Garba,President Buhari today felicitated with Rev. Fr. Ejike Mbaka,the spiritual director of the Adoration Ministry Enugu as he celebrates his 20 years of priesthood.
"Mbaka is a great priest who is not afraid to speak truth, even at the cost of his own life or being hated by those in power. He rose to the occasion to add his voice in support of good governance and identify with ordinary Nigerians in the face of despair and uncertain future. Though honest opinions attract hostility from leaders detached from reality, history would be kind to Father Mbaka for courageously speaking truth to power, even at great risks."
Goodmorning fellow Nigerians, Nairalanders and Guests of this forum. Today (June 29) marks the second month of the life of Buhari's administration. I have therefore taken the step of matching some of his campaign promises with the reality on ground two months into his Presidency (Happy Reading).
1. Failure To End Boko-Haram As Promised:
During Buhari's Jan 22, 2015 campaign for the Presidency in Imo state, he made a pledge/promise to end Boko Haram insurgency within TWO months if elected. In his own words...
"If you elect me as the President of Nigeria on February 14 (March 28), I am assuring you that our government will chase Boko Haram out of Nigeria within two months because it is the responsibility of any reasonable government to secure the lives and property of its citizens."
www.thenationonlineng.net/polls-campaign-promises-great-expectations/
Unfortunately, contrary to his assurance the BH terrorists has neither been chased out nor is there any significant improvement in this fight.
2. Failure To BringBackChibokGirls:
On August 11, 2014, the Northern Elders Forum gave then President Jonathan a TWO month deadline to BringBackChibokGirls. According to them, failure to return the Chibok girls within the time frame automatically means forfeiture of Jonathan's right to seek re-election in the March 2015 poll. In their own words..
"In the event that President Jonathan fails to do this, Nigerians will be left with the only conclusion that he has forfeited his right to ask for our mandate beyond 2015."
www.leadership.ng/news/380738/northern-elders-give-jonathan-2-month-ultimatum-produce-chibok-girls-end-insurgency
Buhari promised to reunite the missing girls with their families..
"I will give all it takes to ensure that our girls that were kidnapped from Chibok are rescued and reunited with their families." (President Muhammadu Buhari, March 2015)
Though he never fixed a timeline, I believe it is fair that he inherits the 2months deadline given to Goodluck Jonathan by Northern Elders Forum. His failure to return the school girls after two months in power should therefore means a forfeiture of his right to extend his mandate beyond 2019 in line with the NEF scale.
3. The Failure of Him and His Appointees To Publicly Declare Their Assets:
"I pledge to publicly declare my assets and liabilities, encourage all my appointees to publicity declare their assets and liabilities as a pre-condition for appointment."
www.dailypost.ng/2015/02/20/buhari-pledges-publicly-declare-assets-voted-office/
Those were the words of Muhammadu Buhari in his February 25 pledge. Unfortunately, it's been TWO months since taken over and we are yet to see the Assets of the President and his Vice. More painful is the fact that NONE of the President's appointees (Shehu Garba, Femi Adesina, NSA Moguno, Accountant-General etc) has declared their assets PUBLICLY contrary to his pledge of "as a pre-condition for appointment.".
4. Failure To Commence/Implement Other Programs:
It is unfortunate that two months into this administration, no one is talking about other Buhari promises like the 12 months post service payments for Corp members and feeding of primary school pupils. There is no mechanism in place to ensure that monthly N5000 payment to the elderly, disabled and the unemployed.
It is worthy to note that Buhari is yet to achieve ANY of his campaign promises. Though I never voted President Buhari at the March 28 poll, I believe that it is the right of every citizen irrespective of party or religious affiliation to hold the government accountable. I also believe that we (critics) are doing the APC favor by our constant criticisms. In fact, the APC on April 30 through its Chairman, Chief John Oyegun admonished the opposition to constantly keep the APC/Buhari government on their toes. In his own word...
"We(APC) want the PDP to keep us on our toes so that we don't make the same mistake they made."
www.thenationonlineng.net/oyegun-to-pdp-keep-us-on-our-toes/
God sparing our lives, we shall continue to keep them on their toes.
May God Bless Us All
In an interview with The Nation, Nollywood actor Alex Usifo aired his views on Nollywood actors who are begging for money.
Read his message after the cut...
"A good businessman, even if he has N5, 000, will know what to do with it. Some of us are more excited about the show. We don't remember the business. They are inseparable. I'm trying to say that if I don't have enough money today, it is not the fault of the industry. It is not because I have not made money in the industry. I have made millions in the industry. That, I can also say concerning those who have such problems, because we have seen cases where somebody would tell you that he started small and then prospered. I think it actually depends on your vision and what you want to be".
Speaking further,he said it is not wrong for ailing individuals to ask for help from other people.
"If you want to judge people by their mistakes, you won't help anybody. When somebody is dying, it is not the time to blame the person. You heal the person first. Let him get well then you can begin to say whatever you want to say. But if you say because it is irresponsible, you won't help the person, then you are actually wicked. And since the person has also contributed his quota in terms of making people happy and in terms of the GDP of the country, I think his case should be looked into".
Apart from the Sambisa forest, the base of the Boko Haram insurgents, there is Kamuku, another stretch of vegetation covering four Northwest states and Niger, used by criminals. The good part is that the state governments have teamed up to rid the forest of hoodlums.
The horrors of Boko Haram inside Sambisa forest are well documented. Not so the evil perpetrated in and from the Kamuku forest, which stretches across four northwest states of Kaduna, Kebbi, Zamfara, Katsina, and the Northcentral Niger.
While Sambisa has served the insurgents as an operational base, den to keep hostages and routes through which to ferry arms and other supplies, the Kamuku vegetation has provided cow thieves places to keep stolen animals, as well as a base from which to strike such cities as Kaduna and rob and kill victims. Criminals using the forest as hideout are not members of the Boko Haram group, though, but they are no less dreaded.
The governments of the states, seing the present and future threat of the forest, came together with an action plan to smoke the criminals out of the forest. They want to tame the evil forest and contain other security challenges peculiar to their states. They fear that Kamuku could breed future insurgents.
The governors met in Kaduna to brainstorm ways of addressing the security threats posed by the forest. Even though, the resolution of the meeting held behind closed doors in the state Government House was not disclosed, the host Governor Nasir el-Rufai told reporters their discussion was mainly about security.
He said, "The forest which is in the centre of the Kaduna, Niger, Katsina, Kebbi and Zamfara, has been of serious security concern. So, we need to address it because that forest is capable of breeding future Boko Haram. So, we have just met to brainstorm with a view to fashioning out a coordinated approach in tackling the security challenges in our states. This has become necessary to avoid spillover.
"We met with security chiefs in charge of our respective states so that we can as quickly as possible bring an end to the loss of lives, cattle rustling and loss of property."
He disclosed that the five state governors have the support of the federal government in the plan. Even, the Federal Government has demonstrated commitment to collaborate with the state governments. But the most gratifying news is the arrest of nine accused cattle rustlers and recovery of over 2,000 cows in the Kaduna axis of the forest.
The breakthrough was achieved after the joint security operatives, including the military, police and others raided the bandits hideout in Birnin Gwari and Damari village. Three suspects were killed in the gun battle with the security operatives.
Governor el-Rufai, who visited the forest, commended the security personnel for their "swift intervention", pledging that the government would offer maximum support to ensure success of the operation.
He said that the operation was part of the new offensive in the Northwest against cattle rustling. "So far, so good. We are satisfied with the work done by the armed forces in trying to contain the problem of cattle rustling and general security threats that have lingered for too long.
"The joint operation is between six states that share the Birnin Gwari forest, that is Zamfara, Kebbi, Katsina, Sokoto and Niger. This operation is the Kaduna State end, but it is also happening in the other affected neighbouring states. We will recover stolen cattle and tackle the security challenges in the area,'' he said.
Over 700 cattle have been recovered.
The nine arrested suspects, under interrogation by el-Rufai and Kaduna State Police Commissioner, Umar Shehu, said they were innocent. One of them who was allegedly arrested with rustled cattle told the governor that he is a farmer.
But after touching his palms, el-Rufai said they were too soft to be a farmer's.
The security operatives also informed the governor that one of the accused identified as Iliya had local bulletproof, otherwise known as 'Odieshi' or anti-bullet charms.
With the recent arrest, residents of villages bordering the forest expressed the hope that crime in their area will be curtailed. Virtually each of the five states bordering Kamuku forest has had its share of attacks by the criminals in the last four years, with Kaduna and Zamfara the worst hit.
[Reported By ABDULGAFAR ALABELEWE, The Nation]
Nollywood actor,Mike Ezuruonye has got a beautiful sister.It seems that beauty runs in their family.Checkout photo of Mike Ezuruonye's younger sister, Chika.She is a Petroleum Engineer.
Many houses and cars were on Monday July 27,2015 swallowed by a flood which occurred in Benin metropolis after a heavy rainfall.
According to an eyewitness,the heavy rain lasted for many hours leading to many houses,cars and some other properties submerged/destroyed.The flood resulted to a heavy traffic gridlock on many major roads and also prevented many residents from stepping out.
Such a way of remembering his late mum.See what singer Seun Kuti drew on his body
Veteran Nollywood actress Hilda Dokubo still has her figure intact.
Check out the star as she stuns in new photos
