Saturday, January 31, 2015
Feb polls: We have pre-planned to present you Buhari- Tinubu
As the February 14th Presidential election draws near, National leader of the All Progressives Congress, APC, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, yesterday, said the party leadership begged the Presidential Candidate of the party, General Muhammadu Buhari to contest the 2015 election inoder to rescue the country from the present challenges.
According to Tinubu while addressing the mammoth party supporters at the Mega presidential rally held at the Teslim Balogun Stadium, Surulere, Tinubu, “the choice was meant to rescue the country from the crisis that has bedevilled its development.” He noted that the prayer of everyone before was that the country will get better and “We will not need a man like him to rule the nation. But today, we are in a great crisis. We are facing a lot of challenges.”
Tinubu, explaining the strategies adopted by those great nations in the past, said “When South Africa was facing a serious challenge, they called on late Nelson Mandella, and he was 74 years old then. And he used his wisdom to save that country.
“When America was in economic depression, they called on 73-year-old Ronald Reegan, to save their economy because he was prudent.
“Also, when Britain had problem, they called on 73-years-old Winston Churchill to rescue them and he did.
“We are calling on Buhari at this moment to rescue the nation from the crisis that has bedeviled its development.” Speaking on the merger of the three political parties that formed APC, the APC National leader stated that when “We started about three years ago, they taught that the merger of ACN, CPC and ANPP is impossible. I told them that there is a positive storm coming to change the nation.” See more
Friday, January 30, 2015
Buhari boys kills 47 in Taraba, Benue fresh attack.
No fewer than 47 people have been killed in fresh violence in Taraba and Benue states.
Many other people were also injured in the attack.
In Taraba State, 27 were killed a fresh violence at Nwonko village in Wukari Local Government Area of the state, while 20 were killed in Benue State.
Our correspondent gathered the attack began at the early hours of the day leading to destruction of farmlands and other property worth several millions of naira.
The member representing Wukari Constituency in the state House of Assembly, Daniel Gani, said most of the victims were women and children.
He said “At the beginning, we thought the attackers were Boko Haram insurgents from Maiduguri because of their large numbers. But we discovered later that they were Fulani herdsmen.”
The police spokesperson, Mr. Joseph Kwaji, confirmed the incident, but said nine people were killed.
Also, gunmen suspected to be Fulani herdsmen invaded Anyiin in Logo Local Government Area of Benue State and killed 20 persons.
A resident, who identified himself as Kume, said 20 bodies were counted after the attack.
But the local government chairman, Mr. Kester Kyenge, said that 15 bodies were seen of the time of the last count.
The Police Public Relations Officer in the state, Mr. John Bako, confirmed the attack, but said five bodies had been discovered so far while a search is ongoing for the others.
A lawyer and activist, Sonia Ajoko, condemned the attack and urged the state government to assist the injured victims.
B-R-E-A-K-I-N-G News!!! "Igbos Hate Me Because of Biafra War" - Buhari In BBC Hausa.
Maj Gen Muhammadu Buhari has dropped the bombshell, on the reason he has been losing election in Igboland and parts of Nigeria where Igbos are residing, stating that it is because he was involved in the Nigerian civil war.
The former dictator speaking today on BBC Hausa services monitored in kaduna, said with regrets that, "the igbos hate him for what happened during the Biafran war". "I don't have any regret, and at such do not owe any apology to them, infact if there is a repeat of the civil war again, I will kill more Igbos to save the country".
The APC presidential candidate, added that this was the reason they never bothered to vote for him anywhere in Nigeria.
It is shame, that a man that is aspiring to rule the whole country, not part of it, will talk in this manner.
BEWARE, THIS MAN HAS NEVER TALKED ABOUT PEACE, BUT BLOODBATH AND PAIN.
A vote for Buhari will be a vote for autocracy – Igbo Leaders of Thought.
The Igbo Leaders of Thought, on Friday in Enugu urged the people of the South-East to cast their votes for President Goodluck Jonathan.
The group warned against giving any support to Buhari, who they said would be an autocratic leader.
This is also as the Professor Ben Nwabueze led group warned that any shift in the date of the forthcoming elections would be tragic and catastrophic.
In a communiqué read by the Secretary Prof. Elo Amucheazi, the Igbo leaders declared that the best interest of Ndigbo would be better served by Igbo’s supporting the re-election of President Goodluck Jonathan in the February 14th election.
They pointed out that in choosing between the two foremost presidential candidates, the Igbo’s recognized that the choice was between “the supremacy of Sharia Law and supremacy of the Nigerian Constitution.
“Between constitution dictatorship and constitutional democracy; between rule of the oligarchy of retired Generals and constitutional government.”
The group claimed that the APC candidate Gen. Muhamadu Buhari had clearly and unequivocally stated in public that he was committed to implementing Sharia law all over the country.
“His background as a former member of the military, reared in the regimented tradition of giving of orders and unquestioning obedience of such orders as well as his antecedent as former Head of the federal military government inclines and acclimatizes him to absolutism and autocracy with the danger it poses, to the emergence of a constitutional dictatorship if elected.
“We are fully aware that Jonathan’s Administration has not seriously addressed the core promises and commitments made to Ndigbo during the 2011 election campaign. Inspite of this, it is in the best interest of our people that he be re-elected”, they stated.
Earlier while addressing journalists at the end of the meeting, chairman of the body Prof. Nwabueze said “electon must not be postponed; anybody postponing the election at this time will be making a terrible mistake.
“Our position here is that it will be tragedy, catastrophe to postpone the elections. So whatever the odds the elections must take place and the only body competent to postpone or not is INEC and Jega has said made it very clear that there is no question of postponement. And we stand by that. We will not support any shift at all”.
S’Court frees jailed Lebanese over illegal Kano arms.
The Supreme Court on Friday set free a Lebanese, Talal Roda, who was sentenced to life imprisonment by a Federal High Court, Abuja for conspiracy and illegal storage of firearms.
Roda was the only one convicted among the three Lebanese accused of being members of Hezbollah terrorist group and of illegal storage of firearms in Kano and Abuja in 2013.
The others were owner of the popular Amigo Supermarket and Wonderland Amusement Park in Abuja, Mustapha Fawaz, and his in-law, Abdallah Thahini.
The Supreme Court, in a unanimous decision on Friday set aside the judgments of the Federal High Court and the Court of Appeal in Abuja which affirmed the conviction passed on Roda by the trial court.
In its decision, the apex court held that the trial court wrongly assumed jurisdiction over the case as he ought to have been tried before a Federal High Court in Kano, where he was said to have been arrested with the cache of weapon.
Justice Musa Dattijo Mohammed, who read the lead judgment, also quashed the sentence on the grounds that he was convicted on charges that were non-existent in law.
The apex court ruled, “I entirely agree with the appellant’s counsel that, although the Federal High Court’s jurisdiction covers the whole federation, its criminal jurisdiction, by virtue of Section 45(A) of the Federal High Court Act remains ordinarily exerciseable by the court in the division within which the offence was committed.”
He held that as provided under Section 22 of the FHC Act, a court outside where the offence was committed could only assume jurisdiction where the case was transferred from a court in the division where the offence was committed.
Justice Mohammed held, “In the case at hand, all available materials – the charge and the evidence preferred – all of which the trial court rightly considered in determining the objection against its competence situate by the appellant and his co-accused at Number 3 Gaiya Road, Kano, where the firearms unlawfully stored were recovered.
“There is nothing in evidence beyond what the charge asserts of any understanding between the appellant and the others to store the firearms at the premises.
“Aside from the appellant’s physical presence at the premises, there is not the slightest piece of evidence, not even in exhibit three (appellant’s extra-judicial statement) to show that he agreed with the co-accused to store the firearms or that he is further linked with the storage of the firearms in Abuja.
“In my considered view, the decision of the Abuja division of the trial court to try an offence which took place in Kano and bears no relationship whatsoever with the offence in Abuja, having not stem from any provision of its enabling statute, is manifestly perverse.
“By virtue of Section 45(A) of the FHC Act and a similar provision contained in Section 64 of the CPA, the appellant could only be tried by the Kano division of the trial court, within which territorial expanse, the offence was committed.”
In holding that the appellant’s argument that he was convicted on charges not provided for in law, the court held, “The offence of conspiracy in the 9th count of the amended charge is not recognisable under Section 1(14)(A)(1) of the Miscellaneous Offences Act. And appellant’s conviction thereunder, should have been quashed.
“It is trite that where the prosecution fails to charge an accused person for an offence known to law, an appeal against conviction under the incompetent charge will succeed.
“For all the foregoing reasons, the proceedings of the lower court and that of the trial court it purports to affirm are hereby set aside. The conviction and sentencing of the appellant are consequently set aside.”
The Federal Government had on July 29, 2013 arraigned the three men and Fawaz’s companies on 16 counts of terrorism before Justice Adeniyi Ademola of the Federal High Court, Abuja.
While Roda was convicted on counts 8 and 9 relating to conspiracy, Fawaz, his companies and Thahini were acquitted on all the counts.
Justice Ademola held that the prosecution failed to prove beyond reasonable doubts that those freed are terrorists.
The judge further held that the prosecution failed by the evidence brought before the court to establish a case of terrorism against the accused persons.
Dissatisfied with his conviction, Roda went before the Court of Appeal in Abuja. The court upheld the trial court’s jurisdiction to conduct the trial, prompting the appellant to approach the Supreme Court in an appeal filed last year.Read more
Roda was the only one convicted among the three Lebanese accused of being members of Hezbollah terrorist group and of illegal storage of firearms in Kano and Abuja in 2013.
The others were owner of the popular Amigo Supermarket and Wonderland Amusement Park in Abuja, Mustapha Fawaz, and his in-law, Abdallah Thahini.
The Supreme Court, in a unanimous decision on Friday set aside the judgments of the Federal High Court and the Court of Appeal in Abuja which affirmed the conviction passed on Roda by the trial court.
In its decision, the apex court held that the trial court wrongly assumed jurisdiction over the case as he ought to have been tried before a Federal High Court in Kano, where he was said to have been arrested with the cache of weapon.
Justice Musa Dattijo Mohammed, who read the lead judgment, also quashed the sentence on the grounds that he was convicted on charges that were non-existent in law.
The apex court ruled, “I entirely agree with the appellant’s counsel that, although the Federal High Court’s jurisdiction covers the whole federation, its criminal jurisdiction, by virtue of Section 45(A) of the Federal High Court Act remains ordinarily exerciseable by the court in the division within which the offence was committed.”
He held that as provided under Section 22 of the FHC Act, a court outside where the offence was committed could only assume jurisdiction where the case was transferred from a court in the division where the offence was committed.
Justice Mohammed held, “In the case at hand, all available materials – the charge and the evidence preferred – all of which the trial court rightly considered in determining the objection against its competence situate by the appellant and his co-accused at Number 3 Gaiya Road, Kano, where the firearms unlawfully stored were recovered.
“There is nothing in evidence beyond what the charge asserts of any understanding between the appellant and the others to store the firearms at the premises.
“Aside from the appellant’s physical presence at the premises, there is not the slightest piece of evidence, not even in exhibit three (appellant’s extra-judicial statement) to show that he agreed with the co-accused to store the firearms or that he is further linked with the storage of the firearms in Abuja.
“In my considered view, the decision of the Abuja division of the trial court to try an offence which took place in Kano and bears no relationship whatsoever with the offence in Abuja, having not stem from any provision of its enabling statute, is manifestly perverse.
“By virtue of Section 45(A) of the FHC Act and a similar provision contained in Section 64 of the CPA, the appellant could only be tried by the Kano division of the trial court, within which territorial expanse, the offence was committed.”
In holding that the appellant’s argument that he was convicted on charges not provided for in law, the court held, “The offence of conspiracy in the 9th count of the amended charge is not recognisable under Section 1(14)(A)(1) of the Miscellaneous Offences Act. And appellant’s conviction thereunder, should have been quashed.
“It is trite that where the prosecution fails to charge an accused person for an offence known to law, an appeal against conviction under the incompetent charge will succeed.
“For all the foregoing reasons, the proceedings of the lower court and that of the trial court it purports to affirm are hereby set aside. The conviction and sentencing of the appellant are consequently set aside.”
The Federal Government had on July 29, 2013 arraigned the three men and Fawaz’s companies on 16 counts of terrorism before Justice Adeniyi Ademola of the Federal High Court, Abuja.
While Roda was convicted on counts 8 and 9 relating to conspiracy, Fawaz, his companies and Thahini were acquitted on all the counts.
Justice Ademola held that the prosecution failed to prove beyond reasonable doubts that those freed are terrorists.
The judge further held that the prosecution failed by the evidence brought before the court to establish a case of terrorism against the accused persons.
Dissatisfied with his conviction, Roda went before the Court of Appeal in Abuja. The court upheld the trial court’s jurisdiction to conduct the trial, prompting the appellant to approach the Supreme Court in an appeal filed last year.Read more
Tompolo: I insist Nigeria will break Jonathan loses.
Among those who condemned the former militants’ stand is one time Defence Minister Lt.-Gen. Theophilus Danjuma, who said war mongers should be arrested.
But yesterday, former Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) leader Government Ekpemupolo (aka Tompolo) restated the threat he issued along with other ex-militant leaders in Yenagoa, Bayelsa State.
The threat, said to have been issued in the presence of Bayelsa State Governor Seriake Dickson and the Special Adviser to President Jonathan on Niger Delta, Mr Kingsley Kuku, has been widely condemned.
Tompolo attacked Gen. Danjuma, former President Olusegun Obasanjo, leader of the All Progressives Congress, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, and all perceived enemies of President Jonathan, who he insisted must win to avert a crisis.
He said: “Gen. Danjuma and his cohorts should know that I remain resolute on my position in Yenagoa, Bayelsa State, that President Goodluck Jonathan must win this election for Nigeria to continue to stay together.”
Besides, Tompolo, in the statement signed by his Media Adviser, Mr Paul Bebenimibo, in Warri yesterday, accused the former Army chief of being behind the stoning of President Goodluck Jonathan in Katsina and Bauchi states.
Bauchi State Governor Isa Yuguda said Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) members were behind the stoning of the President’s convoy in Bauchi.
Tompolo warned that Nigeria was already on the brink of disintegration in the wake of the expiration of the 1914 amalgamation treaty, hinting that the defeat of President Jonathan could be the final nail on the coffin.
Said he: “Gen. Danjuma should be reminded that the devilish treaty that brought the Southern and Northern Protectorates together in 1914 expired last year. Danjuma and his likes, such as Gen. Buhari, Gen. Obasanjo and Mr. Bola Tinubu, should be grateful to President Jonathan who has been keeping this country together.
”If not for President Jonathan, Nigeria would not have been any more. Danjuma and his cohorts should be reminded of the saying that ‘those who live in glass house should not throw stones’.
”The call by Gen. T.Y Danjuma (rtd) to arrest me and other agitators for a better living for the people of the Niger Delta region is an indication that he is behind terrorism in the North eastern part of the country as well as the stoning of President Jonathan’s convoy in Kastina and Bauchi states, because he has never condemned those acts, even though Boko Haram attacked churches and mosques in his home town.
”Is Gen. Danjuma not aware of the peaceful atmosphere when Gen. Buhari visited Delta, Rivers and Bayelsa (home state of the President) states for campaign? Why is it that President Jonathan’s convoy was attacked in Kastina and Bauchi states without any provocation?
“Who is Gen. Danjuma if not for the oil wealth he is enjoying from the Niger Delta? He should be rather arrested for being behind terrorism in the North.
“Where was Danjuma when Mallam Ciroma Adamu threatened to make Nigeria ungovernable, if President Jonathan defeated the All Progressive Congress Presidential candidate, Gen. Muhammedu Buhari? Where was this so called statesman when the APC campaign Director General (DG), Mr. Rotimi Ameachi threatened to form a parallel government if President Jonathan wins the 2015 elections? Where was this hypocrite when Dr. Junaid Muhammed, Muhammedu Buhari and Atiku Abubakar all said in separate interviews that the nation will boil if Jonathan won the election in 2011?
“Is it the interest of Nigeria Gen. Danjuma is protecting or his oil bloc in the Niger Delta? Is it the interest of Nigeria Danjuma is protecting or his 50 million dollars donation to Gen. Buhari for his campaign?
”Let Gen. Danjuma and his cohorts know that they will not see any Ijaw man, the Igbos and others to fight on their side if the war that they are planning broke up,” he added.
The Ijaw Youths Council (IYC), in a statement circulated by its spokesman, Eric Omare, said the former defense chief’s call fell short of such expected from a statesman, expedition viewed against the background of the fact that he failed to comment while President Jonathan’s campaign train was consistently attacked in some northern states.
The IYC, which claimed to be in the meeting in the Bayelsa state’s Government House where the threats were allegedly issued, also described the reports of threat as misleading as such was never part of the meeting’s resolutions.
The group however called on security agencies in the country to ignore the calls from General Danjuma and the opposition All Progressives’ Congress (APC) for the arrest of the former militant leaders as they were borne out of misleading reports.
“We are surprised that General Danjuma swiftly called for the arrest of Tompolo, Asari and other Niger-Deltans, whereas he has neither condemned nor called for the arrest of those who have been consistently attacking the convoy of President Jonathan in the northern part of the country. General Danjuma’s call is not deserving of an elder statesman who is supposed to be unbiased rather than his obvious bias against the Niger-Delta people. Only yesterday, in Gombe State a supporter of President Jonathan who was pasting his posters was attacked and seriously brutalised. Why has General Danjuma not condemned this dastardly act if he is really an elder statement?
“There was no time at the meeting the Governor of Bayelsa State, Hon. Seriake Dickson, with youth leaders and ex-Niger Delta freedom fighters where it was resolved that Niger Delta people would destabilise Nigeria, if President Jonathan fails the February 14, 2015 presidential election. This did not form part of the resolutions of the meeting, which were read out by Hon. Kingsley Kuku for Governor Dickson to transmit to Mr. President.
“The meeting was called by the Governor of Bayelsa State, to solicit support for President Jonathan from Niger-Delta youths and ex-freedom fighters. However, the meeting frowned at and its dissatisfaction with the persistent attack on the campaign convoy of President Jonathan in some northern states when General Buhari, his main opponent, was protected and campaigned freely in the south during his campaign tour. Hence, the meeting condemned in the strongest terms the attack on President Jonathan and resolved that nobody can intimidate President Jonathan out of the presidential race. At the meeting, all the youth leaders and ex-Niger Delta freedom fighters resolved to put their grievances aside and agree to work for the re-election of President Jonathan. Read more
Buhari Is NOT Good For Modern Day Nigeria.
Let Us Discuss Issues!!!
PDP: Buhari is too old and weak to rule Nigeria.
APC: let's discuss issues
PDP: Buhari doesn't know his own phone number
APC: let's discuss issues
PDP: buhari wants to fight corruption while his campaign is bankrolled by the most corrupt politicians
APC: let's discuss issues
Citizens: what other issues na?
APC: let's discuss issues
PDP: buhari perjured in his affidavit to INEC
APC: let's discuss issues
Citizens: Abi this one no be issue kwa?
APC: let's discuss issues
PDP: Buhari's certificate is forged
APC: let's discuss issues and quit character assassination.
Citizens:but we all saw the forged paper naaa. Can't he just bring the certificate? And wetin be dis people problem sef? Issues, issues, issues... Abi na pikin una wan discuss?
PDP: you want to discuss issues? Let's have a presidential debate
APC: Ummmmh, now let's discuss character:
The debate organising body is corrupt!
Citizen: Ha. No be quiz oh, na debate. Each person answer same question. Nobody gives grades.
APC: Like National conference We are boycotting!
Citizens: you no wan discuss issues again? Na wa o! Oya make una APC discuss TISSUE since una dey run from every discussion, yet go shout ISSUE.
Nigeria oil rebels warn of unrest unless Jonathan re-elected.
Yenagoa (Nigeria) (AFP) - Kennedy Tonjo-West is unhappy at the way Nigeria's main opposition party and northern politicians have been criticising President Goodluck Jonathan's record in the run-up to next month's election.
"We are not happy with the constant attacks on the person of Jonathan in the north and if they don't stop such molestation we will be forced to retaliate," he told AFP.
"We will fight back. If and when we do, Boko Haram will be child's play. We shall prove to them that no-one has a monopoly of violence.
Such threats are not to be taken lightly, with Boko Haram having killed more than 13,000 people since 2009 and the rebels' territorial gains in the north posing an increasing threat to Nigerian sovereignty.
But Tonjo-West is a former Niger Delta militant who commanded some 300 men when lawless gangs wreaked havoc on the maze of creeks, swamps and rivers of the southern oil-producing region in the 2000s.
He is not a lone voice: other former oil rebels, including leaders of the shadowy Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND), have also threatened violence if Jonathan doesn't win.Read more
China vows no 'Western values' in universities.
China's education minister has vowed to ban university textbooks which promote "Western values", state media said, in the latest sign of ideological tightening under President Xi Jinping.
"Never let textbooks promoting Western values appear in our classes," minister Yuan Guiren said, according to a report late Thursday by China's official Xinhua news agency.
"Remarks that slander the leadership of the Communist Party of China" and "smear socialism" must never appear in college classrooms, he added according to Xinhua.
China's universities are run by the ruling Communist party, which tightly controls discussions of history and other topics it construes as a potential threat to its grip on power.
The party often brands concepts such as multiparty elections and the separation of powers as "Western", despite their global appeal and application.
China has tightened controls on academics since Xi assumed the party leadership in 2012, with several outspoken professors sacked or jailed.
Xia Yeliang, an economics professor at the prestigious Peking University, was fired from his post in 2013 after a 13-year tenure in a decision he attributed to persistent calls for political change in China.Read more
Thursday, January 29, 2015
Angry youths stone Jonathan’s convoy; police fire gas .
JALINGO — Youths angry at the Nigerian government’s failure to fight Islamic extremists threw stones Thursday at President Goodluck Jonathan’s electioneering convoy in the eastern town of Jalingo, Taraba State, breaking windshields and windows on several vehicles. An Associated Press reporter was unable to see if anyone was hurt.
Police used tear gas and whips to disperse the mob.
In another incident, angry youths also stormed the state secretariat of the President’s party, the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP and vandalised the building and parked vehicles.
The attack on the secretariat was said to have done by over 300 youths who come in vehicles with arms.
A security man at the gate of the secretariat, who spoke to Vanguard said he ran for his life when he saw the youths of more than a 100 and armed approach the secretariat.
Not fewer than ten vehicles were damaged while the building was damaged in several places.
From Jalingo, Jonathan flew to Yola, capital of Adamawa State, where officials had declared the route of his motorcade a no-go area.
The presidential cavalcade already had been stoned in northern Katsina city and northeast Bauchi last week. Youths in Bauchi flung shoes and plastic bottles at Jonathan’s podium at a rally.
In Jalingo, soldiers guarded billboards and posters of Jonathan, who is running for re-election on Feb. 14.
Protesters shouted that the troops should instead be fighting the Boko Haram insurgents blamed for the deaths of some 10,000 people in the past year.See more
Asari replies General Danjuma telling him to return Ijaw oil for demanding his arrest .
FORMER Niger Delta militant leader Alhaji Asari Dokubo has hit back at ex-defence minister General Theophilus Danjuma who called for his arrest for threatening mayhem if President Goodluck Jonathan loses the election asking the general to return his oil wells.
Yesterday, General Danjuma, who had also served as Nigeria's chief of army staff, called for the arrest of Alhaji Dokubo and other Niger Delta militant leaders like Victor Ebikabowei alias Boyloaf, Government Ekpudomenowei, alias Tompolo and Ijaw Youth Council president Udengs Eradiri for threatening to declare war if President Jonathan loses the February 14 election.
At a recent meeting in Yenagoa, the Bayelsa State capital, the militants threatened to stop the flow of oil if their kinsman President Jonathan, is not re-elected. General Danjuma, who described the threat as unguarded and reckless, warned that miscreants must not be allowed to hold the country by the jugular. Arguing that Nigeria and its resources belonged to everyone, the former defence minister, urged the necessary government agencies to immediately arrest the ex-militants.
“You should arrest Asari Dokubo, Tompolo, Boyloaf and other Niger Delta militants for making reckless statements, which in any way does not mean keeping Nigeria as one entity. They create a war situation and those were reckless statements coming from irresponsible individuals, who should be condemned and arrested immediately,” General Danjuma said.
However, in a swift response, Alhaji Dokubo said: "Theophilus Danjuma should return Ijaw oil before calling for my arrest. He’s a Gambari slave.” General Danjuma is a major player in the Nigerian oil industry, as in 2006 he divested his investment in the Akpo oil field to the China National Offshore Oil Corporation for $1bn.
In February 1988, former head of state General Sani Abacha, awarded an oil prospecting license for the sprawling oil filed covering 590 square kilometres to General Danjuma's company Sapetro.
Referring to the general as a northerner, who had benefitted from Nigeria Delta oil in a manner in which local Ijaw people had not, Alhaji Dokubo said he has no moral right to talk.
At the Yenagoa meeting, Alhaji Dokubo called for an end to what he termed, the intimidation of the Ijaw by other Nigerians.
However, General Danjuma disagreed with them, adding that they are just heating up the polity unnecessarily, adding that the Niger Delta militants are just miscreants trying to hold the nation to ransom.
He also called on politicians to guard their utterances during their campaigns and desist from making inflammatory remarks. See more
E-X-P-O-S-E-D!!! Prof Jega And His Election Fraud Uncovered.
It is shocking to note that Prof Attahiru Jega, the INEC chairman is telling the world that he could only share 53% of the Permanent voters Card (PVC) throughout the 2 years he supposed to do this job.
Regrettably Jega is assuring us that he will share the over 34Million PVC in less than 2 weeks, while he could not share a similar number in 2years. As you can see that Northern states have received about 73% of their PVC, while the South is about 46%.
North West
Registered: 18,616,499
Distributed: 14,003,964 [75.2%]
Potentially Disenfranchised: 2,612,535
North East
Registered 10,447,410
PVCs Distributed: 7,456,848 [71.4%]
Potentially Disenfranchised: 2,990,562
North Central
Registered: 10,592,958. [52.3%]
PVCs Distributed: 5,539,982
Potentially Disenfranchised 5,052,976;
South West
Registered: 13,188,854;
PVCs Distributed: 6,419,003 [48.7%]
Potentially Disenfranchised: 6,769,851
South-South
Registered: 8,937,057
PVCs Distributed: 3,944,142 [44.1%]
Potentially Disenfranchised: 4,992,915. 4992815
South East
Registered: 7,178,185
PVCs Distributed: 3,144,242 [43.8%]
Potentially Disenfranchised: 4,133,943
INEC RECRUITMENT OF ADHOC STAFF: There is an ongoing recruitment INEC adhoc staff for the elections and locals in the North/East and North/West revealed that INEC staff being hired are core APC loyalists and little consideration for NYSC members.
The opposition party and Prof Jega are working together to ensure that the election is rigged in a justifiable way, without traces.
In APC States the adhoc staff are supposed to rig. In PDP States, they will serve as alarmists to ensure that elections held in some areas are disqualified. - Hope For Nigeria.
Wednesday, January 28, 2015
40 killed as Boko Haram invades Adamawa villages
YOLA — Boko Haram terrorists are rampaging through seven villages in Adamawa State, killing, burning and looting with no troops protecting civilians, fleeing villagers said yesterday.
More than 40 people have been killed this week, according to a resident, Emmanuel Kwache.
Kwache said:“They slaughtered people like rams and they burned down our houses after looting food. There’s no presence of troops, some residents are hiding on top of hills, while those that could not run were abducted, particularly youths and women.”
State legislator Adamu Kamale said he has appealed in vain for troops since the attacks began on Friday. On Monday the militants moved into Michika town, he said.
In Maiduguri, capital of Borno State and some 200 kilometres north of Michika, people fleeing other Boko Haram attacks say the militants warned they are preparing to massacre them in Maiduguri and that “there will be no mercy.”
Maiduguri is the biggest city in the northeast where troops repelled a daring offensive by hundreds of militants, Sunday. Boko Haram attacked Maiduguri at three entry points and at least 200 combatants were killed in prolonged gun battles, according to residents and security forces.
“They kept saying … we can all run into the big grave they are preparing for us in Maiduguri,” said Aishatu Ba’malum, who fled from Monguno, a northeast town taken Sunday by militants.
Maiduguri’s population of two million has been swollen by about 200,000 refugees who have fled Boko Haram in the surrounding countryside.
Four roads lead to Maiduguri and Boko Haram already controls access to three. The militants are believed to be attacking the fourth road leading to the northern city of Kano, according to residents too scared to leave though they fear an imminent attack.
Cars and truckloads of refugees continue to arrive. One station wagon was crammed full of passengers, with men’s feet sticking out the trunk, a prayer mat poking out of one window and a dozen live chickens tied to the roof. See more
More than 40 people have been killed this week, according to a resident, Emmanuel Kwache.
Kwache said:“They slaughtered people like rams and they burned down our houses after looting food. There’s no presence of troops, some residents are hiding on top of hills, while those that could not run were abducted, particularly youths and women.”
State legislator Adamu Kamale said he has appealed in vain for troops since the attacks began on Friday. On Monday the militants moved into Michika town, he said.
In Maiduguri, capital of Borno State and some 200 kilometres north of Michika, people fleeing other Boko Haram attacks say the militants warned they are preparing to massacre them in Maiduguri and that “there will be no mercy.”
Maiduguri is the biggest city in the northeast where troops repelled a daring offensive by hundreds of militants, Sunday. Boko Haram attacked Maiduguri at three entry points and at least 200 combatants were killed in prolonged gun battles, according to residents and security forces.
“They kept saying … we can all run into the big grave they are preparing for us in Maiduguri,” said Aishatu Ba’malum, who fled from Monguno, a northeast town taken Sunday by militants.
Maiduguri’s population of two million has been swollen by about 200,000 refugees who have fled Boko Haram in the surrounding countryside.
Four roads lead to Maiduguri and Boko Haram already controls access to three. The militants are believed to be attacking the fourth road leading to the northern city of Kano, according to residents too scared to leave though they fear an imminent attack.
Cars and truckloads of refugees continue to arrive. One station wagon was crammed full of passengers, with men’s feet sticking out the trunk, a prayer mat poking out of one window and a dozen live chickens tied to the roof. See more
Boko Haram release images of their child soldiers being trained in Nigeria.
Nigerian terror group Boko Haram is training child soldiers how to use semi-automatic weapons.
The group has released pictures showing more than a dozen children posing with, and learning how to aim, AK-47's.
The images appear to have been taken in northern Nigeria where Boko Haram has committed most of its attacks.
They were published online by Al Urwa al Wuthaqa, a media group that has been associated with the insurgents, and come months after Human Rights Watch warned that boys and girls kidnapped by the terrorist group were being used during their attacks.
Just days ago Boko Haram were suspected of kidnapping at least 30 children, including girls as young as 11, in a village north of the country. A week earlier the terrorists snatched around 40 women in Adamawa State.Read more
T.Y. Danjuma wants Dokubo-Asari, Tompolo, others arrested.
A former Minister of Defence, Theophilus Danjuma, has demanded the immediate arrest of some former Niger Delta militants for threatening to plunge the country into war if President Goodluck Jonathan is not re-elected in the February 14 election.
He stated this on Wednesday in Kano during the commissioning of the multibillion naira Kwakwasiya city, one of the three mega cities built by the administration of Governor Rabi’u Kwankwaso.
The leader of the Niger Delta Peoples Volunteer Force, NDPVF, Mujahid Dokubo-Asari; Victor Ben Ebikabowei, aka, Boy Loaf; Government Ekpudomenowei, aka, Tompolo; and other militants had last Saturday vowed to ensure that President Goodluck Jonathan, wins the February presidential election.
The former militant leaders and their followers, who spoke at a meeting in Government House, Yenagoa, Bayelsa State, threatened to unleash violence on the country and take back Niger Delta oil should the president lose the election.
They also said any attempt to dethrone Mr. Jonathan would be seen as a direct attack on the Ijaw nation.
Neither the Federal Government nor the president, who is also Ijaw as the militant leaders, has so far reacted to the threat.
Describing the statements as “reckless,” Mr. Danjuma, a retired army general and former Chief of Army Staff, who fought in the Nigerian civil war, said the threats by the militants were not only against national unity but also capable of plunging the country into war.
He asked the security agencies and the government to immediately arrest them.
“You should arrest Asari Dokubo, Tompolo, Boylop and other Niger Delta militants for making reckless statements, which in any way does not mean keeping Nigeria as one entity and creating war situation,” he said.
The Nigeria Police Force and the State Security Service had recently threatened that they would move against anyone who makes inciting statements in the run up to the February elections.
But since the militants’ comments were reported on January 24, both security agencies are not known to have taken action.
Addressing the Yenagoa meeting, Mr. Dokubo-Asari deplored the alleged intimidation being meted to the people of Ijaw stock in Nigeria, saying the people cannot take it any longer.
He told his colleagues, “For every Goliath, God created a David. For every Pharoah, there is a Moses. “We are going to war. Everyone of you should go and fortify yourself.”
Mr. Dokubo-Asari, who condemned the attack on Jonathan in the north in the ongoing presidential campaigns, maintained that the survival of the Ijaw nation rests in the hands of the militants gathered at the meeting.
On his part, Boyloaf condemned the attack on President Jonathan in the north, saying nobody has the monopoly of violence.Read more
Certificate Saga: My documents with INEC – Buhari.
ABUJA—Presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress, APC, General Muhammadu Buhari (Ret), yesterday, insisted that his academic certificates were submitted to the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, which were duly acknowledged by the Legal Department of the commission, wondering why people were still making issues of it.
Speaking in Abuja, when the Peoples Democratic Movement, PDM, formally adopted him as its presidential candidate for the February poll, Buhari said: “Well I am not surprised. This is Nigeria. If people are serious about this issue, they ought to have listened to the Legal Adviser of INEC.
“This is the first time, INEC by law has got those documents and they said they have got them. So, anybody who has any different view should go to court. I think they have gone to court. So, let them remain there.”
An Abuja lawyer, Mr. Chike Okafor, had on Monday, in a suit before a Federal High Court sitting in Abuja, sought to disqualify Buhari from contesting the February 14 presidential election on account of false information given by the candidate in the affidavit he submitted to INEC, in support of his nomination form.
Meanwhile, an Abuja Chief Magistrate’s Court, yesterday, was asked to okay the prosecution of General Buhari over allegations that he gave false evidence to a public officer.
The plaintiffs in the case are four activists- Shield Jones Ufot, Jimmy David, Ogueri Enwerem and Tochukwu Okorie. In the suit brought pursuant to sections 143 (d) and 152 of the Criminal Procedure Code, they alleged that Buhari relied on a bogus certificate to depose to an affidavit before a competent court, contrary to Section 158 of the Penal Code Law.See more
Tuesday, January 27, 2015
Campaigners in Syria release footage of latest man beheaded for disobeying their Islamist rules.
Pinned face down in the middle of the street by four rag-tag militants, the condemned man struggles for his life, screaming for help that bystanders dare not give.
As an executioner looks on, his helpers finally manage to immobilise the victim - who has not even the scant comfort of a blindfold - with three on the man's body and a fourth pulling his head to expose his neck.
In an instant the executioner swings a cruel, curved blade. The struggling abruptly ends and the sandy street beneath the condemned man is stained with a burst of crimson blood.Read more
Police arrest 2 Fulani with Ak-47.
A police patrol team at Aboh Division in Delta State has nabbed two Fulani herdsmen, Usman and Idih with two AK 47 rifle magazines containing 30 rounds of live ammunition each.
The Delta State Police Public Relation Officer, Deputy Superintendent of Police , DSP Celestina Kalu, who disclosed the report today, said the suspects were on a motorcycle with registration number, NSK 136 QB, when theywere arrested at Setraco Junction, Ashaka/Aboh road.
She further explained that suspects are being interogating were undergoing investigation.
…recover pistol, daggers from cultists
Similarly, Kalu also stated that another police patrol team attached to the “A” Division, Warr, along Okpe Street, Off Iyara road, ran into a group of suspected cultists, who fled on sighting the police, abandoning a black bag.
She said the police recovered the bag and on searching it, found one locally made pistol , two daggers, mask –cap and one torchlight.
“Investigation is in progress while efforts are on to apprehending the fleeing suspects.” Kalu ended.See more
Kidnappers Place N19million Ransom On Nigerian Girl .
A kidnapping syndicate based in the Niger Republic has demanded a payment of $100, 000, more than N19million, before they release a 15-year-old Nigerian schoolgirl, Precious Okoro, who they abducted last year.
According to the victim’s father, Nwaigwe, Precious was kidnapped in Sangotedo, in the Ajah area of Lagos State, on her way to her boarding school in Ikenne, Ogun State.
The father claimed that he was only informed about the abduction of his daughter two weeks afterwards, when the school management contacted him to say Precious had not arrived at the school.Read More
Muhammadu Buhari lied under oath
Non-existent certificates
Buhari has run for the presidency on three earlier occasions. On those occasions, he did not contravene any law with regard to his non-existent certificates because there were no provisions for them. However, with the new Electoral Act, there is now a requirement for proof of credentials. But instead of providing his certificates to INEC, as now required by law, Buhari deposed in an affidavit at a High Court in Abuja that: “All my academic qualifications documents as filled in my presidential form, President APC/001/2015, are currently with the Secretary, Military Board as of the time of presenting this affidavit.”
This affidavit has turned out to be false. The military board says it does not have Buhari’s academic qualification credentials. That means Buhari committed perjury when he swore on oath that the military has them. As a matter of fact, the military board does not even have the photocopies of Buhari’s credentials because he did not submit them when he enrolled into the Nigerian Army.
Maybe Buhari expected the military to let sleeping dogs lie about this. However, the Nigerian Army released the following statement which quickly gave the lie to Buhari’s affidavit: “It is a practice in the Nigerian Army that before candidates are shortlisted for commissioning into the officers’ cadre of the Service; the Selection Board verifies the original copies of credentials that are presented. However, there is no available record to show that this process was followed in the 1960s. Neither the original copy, Certified True Copy (CTC); nor statement of result of Major General M Buhari’s WASC result, is in his personal file.”
Guilty of perjury: This denial by the army that it has Buhari’s certificates has put the APC presidential candidate on the horns of a dilemma. As I said, it shows Buhari committed perjury. In the bid to repair this damage, Buhari cobbled together a press conference during which he said the following: “I had assumed all along that all my records were in the custody of the Military Secretary of the Nigerian Army. Much to my surprise, we are now told that although a record of the result is available, there are no copies of the certificates in my personal file.”
This excuse is hogwash. An experienced politician like Buhari who is running for president surely has a panoply of aides, assistants and advisers. He should know that it is not acceptable for a man to swear an oath in court based on assumptions “all along.” Oaths are sworn as certification that what is said is true. Truth is not amenable to assumptions. Section 118 of the Nigerian criminal code reads: “Any person who commits perjury is liable to imprisonment for fourteen years.” This is the fate that must now befall Muhammadu Buhari who must not be allowed to be above the law.
Buhari stated in his affidavit that his academic qualification documents: “are currently with the Secretary, Military Board as of the time of presenting this affidavit.” However, the evidence indicates that Buhari must have known that this was not true at the time he swore on oath to this. This is because Buhari was the Military Secretary, Army Headquarters, from 1978-1979.
That means Buhari should not be believed when he says: “I had assumed all along that all my records were in the custody of the Military Secretary of the Nigerian Army.” On the contrary, Buhari knows from his experience as Military Secretary that certified true copies of the credentials of military men are not kept with the military board. Nobody keeps the originals of their credentials with the organizations where they worked: only photocopies are kept there. Therefore, Buhari was just being disingenuous when he claimed his certificates were with the military.
New gambit
Having been thrown under the bus by the military brass, Buhari came up with another gambit. He now declared that Provincial Secondary School, Katsina (now known as Government College, Katsina), which he attended over 50 years ago, would make available to the public the school’s copy of his Cambridge/WASC certificate. In doing this, Buhari blundered yet again. He shows that, in spite of his highfalutin campaign on the platform of integrity, he does not believe in transparency.
Buhari failed to explain the contradiction in the letter of recommendation from his school principal to the military which suggests he had not graduated from school before he opted out to join the military. The principal said: “I recommend him fit for military commissioning. I consider that he will pass the WASC examination in English, Math and three other subjects.”
If you want to confirm your exam credentials, you don’t write to your school asking for a copy of your result; you ask the relevant examinations council to provide you with a copy of your result. Instead of Buhari to ask for his result from Cambridge/WASC, he asks for his primary school in Katsina to tell us his result. The primary school then presents a result that is inadmissible as evidence of Buhari’s result. It presents a result headlined “Katsina State Government,” when Katsina State did not even exist in 1961 when the result is alleged to have been given.
Inadmissible credentials
A statement of result by Katsina Provincial Primary School is inadmissible, according to Buhari’s INEC affidavit. To repeat: Buhari said in an oath to INEC that “all” his academic qualification documents are with the military. When that did not work, he turned to his primary school. But what his primary school provided is not his academic qualification document. It provided what is ostensibly a photocopy. However, in law, you cannot authenticate a document by providing the photocopy. You must provide the original.
The credentials Buhari needs to rest his case are with Cambridge/WASC; and only Buhari can apply to get them. Therefore, if he is really interested in putting this matter to rest, he should stop wasting time. The military board cannot apply for his credentials on his behalf; neither can Government College, Katsina.
The University of Cambridge Local Examinations Syndicate (UCLES), now known as Cambridge Assessment, affirms this position on its website. It says: “We can only confirm or verify results at the direct request of or with the permission of a candidate. This is in accordance with the provisions of the Data Protection Act 1998 and section 40 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000.”
In short, Buhari should apply for and get his certificate by himself. That way, he would not have to go through the dubious circuitous routes he has been following to his detriment. If Buhari truly wants all the brouhaha over his certificate to die down, he needs to request for his certificate from Cambridge/WASC with the utmost urgency and quickly present this to INEC as proof of his compliance with electoral regulations. Otherwise, APC has a big problem in its hands.
Suspect documents: The document Government College, Katsina has presented is suspect. It contains an obvious alteration on the Mathematics column which effectively renders it invalid. Indeed, the document itself states that: “any alteration or erasure renders this Statement of Results invalid.” Other anomalies evident in the statement include a recent photograph on an old document; a wrong name (Mohamed instead of Muhammadu); and the absence of the principal’s name.
There are other nagging questions pertaining to the validity of the results published by the Katsina State government. How come the expectations of Buhari’s grades as expressed by his principal turn out to be virtually the mirror-image of his alleged results? This suggests the likelihood Katsina State might have fabricated the Statement of Results to fit in with the grades predicted by the principal. In effect, the evidence suggests that what Buhari has asked Government College, Katsina to present to INEC as evidence of his credentials is a forged certificate. According to Section 137 (10) of the 1999 Nigerian Constitution: “A person shall not be qualified for election to the office of President if he has presented a forged certificate to the Independent National Electoral Commission.”
Anti-corruption stance
Forgery is implied in this case because the Katsina Ministry of Education issues the transcripts of an examination it did not conduct. The Ministry of Education, Katsina, did not conduct WASC exam in 1961. Therefore the ministry could not have issued Buhari a WASC certificate in 1961.
INEC cannot address this matter because in the precedence established in the case of Atiku Abubakar in 2007, only the judiciary has the power to ban a candidate. However, the courts are on strike at the moment. Nevertheless, Buhari needs to save himself and his party future embarrassment by coming clean now.
Many of us, knowing Buhari’s antecedents, have always insisted his anti-corruption stance is a ruse. Buhari “talks water but drinks wine.” He preaches anti-corruption but is surrounded and sponsored by the corrupt. This scandal of his non-existent certificate has again confirmed our fears. Buhari is not fit to be president of Nigeria. As soon as the judiciary strike is over, Buhari must be prosecuted for perjury to the full extent of the law. See more
Saturday, January 24, 2015
419: The world of the Nigerian fraudster.
Their modus operandi is unique. It could be that man in your neighbourhood who doesn’t seem to have any visible means of livelihood but lives big and drives the best cars. He might even have a business front but lives larger than the business that you begin to wonder if his lifestyle is strictly derived from that business you know.
Or, it could be that man you see around everyday when workers and businessmen are leaving their homes in the early morning who does not go anywhere but lives like a prince in your neighbourhood.
They also come in other forms. Suddenly, you realise that somebody is using your email account to solicit funds from your facebook friends, your colleagues or other contacts in your email.
Or maybe, you are worshipping in a church but you are not sure if the man on the pulpit is called by God or whether the church is just another business enterprise where people are milked dry and dumped. It happens.
Perhaps, you have been receiving text messages from unknown sources informing you of an inheritance you don’t know about being paid into your bank account and leaving a number for you to contact for details that could lead to maximizing the benefits of that inheritance and before you know it, you are duped!
It could also be a text message informing you about winning a lottery you never entered into or using things they think you are familiar with to hoodwink you!
Sometimes too, it could be a rich married woman being lured into a love web with the motive to dupe her of her resources or that of her husband via blackmail whether the love scene is real or make-believe.
The stories and the experiences are endless. All over the world, Nigerians are dreaded due to a few bad eggs that have mastered the scam game. Read more
Thursday, January 22, 2015
Youth attack Jonathan in Bauchi
President Goodluck Jonathan’s re-election campaign in Bauchi on Thursday turned violent when some thugs who converged at the Ibrahim Babangida Square, venue of the event, hurled shoes, plastic water bottles and other objects at the canopy where the president and members of his campaign team were delivering their speeches.
Although security operatives intervened to stop the thugs from disrupting the event, several vehicles coming out of the venue, belonging to the PDP presidential campaign team, were stoned while tyres were burnt.
The violent youth also clashed with security personnel deployed around Ran road and the Bauchi central market where a police patrol van was set ablaze by irate youths.
The Police Public Relations Officers [PPRO], Bauchi State, Haruna Muhammed, confirmed the violence but promised to provide journalists with details later on.
Earlier in his address at the rally, Mr. Jonathan lambasted the opposition All Progressives Congress, APC, accusing the party of instigating Nigerians against the ruling Peoples Democratic Party [PDP]-led government.
Mr. Jonathan challenged the APC to enumerate its achievements, and not seek cheap popularity.
He said that PDP stands for peace and that no retrogressive force can put the party behind.
Mr. Jonathan said his government has reduced the prevalence of polio virus in Bauchi state, and assured that before the end of the year, the virus will be completely eradicated in the whole nation.
He cautioned the youth against acts of violence during and after the election, saying if re-elected, he will invest in youth empowerment through micro small scale enterprise, agriculture and education.
According to Mr. Jonathan, “since oil is dwindling, we would embark on the excavation of the abundant solid minerals in Bauchi, so that indigenes of the state will be employable”.
“If re-elected, I will ensure that I work with the governorship candidate to bring the dividend of democracy to Bauchi State,” he said.Read more
North under siege because of Buhari —Gov Lamido
Dutse — Governor Sule Lamido of Jigawa State has expressed disgust over what he described as the level of threat some northerners were facing for not supporting the presidential ambition of the former Head of State, General Muhammadu Buhari, warning that the type of siege mentality being inflicted on the people was the beginning of the failure of the opposition All Progressives Congress, APC, at the polls.
“The fear of Buhari is the beginning of leadership failure; therefore Nigerians and the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, government must stand up to its mandate,” he said.
Lamido, who spoke during the party’s presidential campaign in the state, however, warned that the siege mentality under which the people were currently experiencing in the north because of Buhari would backfire.
According to Lamido, any northerner who is not supporting Buhari was being threatened an seen as an infidel.
Apart from northerners, Vanguard investigations also revealed that most residents, who wear caps depicting them as natives of some southern parts of the country were being molested by street urchins as “infidels.”
Lamido said he would not be perturbed by any intimidation or name callings because of his support for PDP because he was a democrat and would continue to promote the truth.
Describing Buhari as the only individual decorating the APC as a party, Lamido said the greatest mistake Nigerians would make “is to give their mandate to an individual who does not believe in democracy.” See more
Nigeria election tensions raise spectre of break-up
LAGOS (Reuters) - As Nigeria approaches its most divisive and closely fought election since the end of military rule in 1999, its leaders are having to reassure voters that Africa's most populous nation will remain in one piece.
The Feb. 14 vote pitting President Goodluck Jonathan, a Christian popular in his southern oil-producing Niger Delta region and in the east, against former military ruler Muhammadu Buhari, a Muslim favoured in the north and religiously mixed southwest, is already proving violent, with the electorate in Africa's biggest economy more polarised than for decades.
"Despite the much-vaunted fear that our nation may not survive the elections ... I remain optimistic that we have ... the maturity to rise above the challenges," Senate President David Mark told parliament last week.
"Our nation will not disintegrate after the elections."
Ever since 1914, when Britain carved Nigeria out of a swathe of West Africa that was home to diverse peoples speaking more than 500 languages, it has been dogged by the question of how viable it is as a unified nation state.
However, most analysts say that even if serious bloodshed follows the election, as many expect, the worst-case scenario of a break-up of a country of 180 million people remains unlikely.Read more
Wednesday, January 21, 2015
Certificate saga: Only Buhari can request for result verification – WAEC
BREAKING NEWS: WAEC DISSOCIATES ITSELF FROM BUHARI'S RESULT AS RELEASED BY GOVERNMENT COLLEGE KATSINA
Certificate saga: Only Buhari can request for result verification – WAEC
The West African Examinations Council, WAEC, has said that General Muhammadu Buhari can apply to the examination body for the verification of his results. It said such verification can only be forwarded to the institution specified by the candidate.
WAEC Deputy Director, Public Affairs, Lagos, Mr. Yusuf Ari in a telephone conversation with Vanguard Wednesday said, “No individual has the legal right to approach WAEC for the verification of another person’s result except the owner of the result.”
He explained that the constitutional right vested on the Freedom of Information law does not include invasion of privacy adding, “The certificate in question belongs to Muhammadu Buhari and he alone has the right to apply for verification.
“Be that as it may, WAEC cannot take any action except, the owner of the certificate asked us to do so. We are an independent body, therefore, we cannot be partisan on this issue,” he said.
According to Ari, all the former Head of State needs to do is to apply by given WAEC the name of his school, Examination number and year of the examination and the result will be verified.
However, after verification of the results, it will be forwarded to the institution and not the owner of the results. Read more
APC planning to rig election in North – Obanikoro
Former Minister of State for Defence, Musiliu Obanikoro, has raised the alarm that the All Progressives Congress (APC) has perfected plans to rig the presidential election in the northern part of the country.
Obanikoro, who stated this in an interview with journalists in Lagos, said it is inexplicable how the North Eastern states which are battling with insurgency, are able to record 80 per cent collection of Permanent Voters Cards (PVCs) while other regions that are peaceful are still struggling to collect the cards.
While saying the contest between the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) President Goodluck Jonathan and his challenger, Muhammadu Buhari, of the APC will be close.
He added that he is optimistic that the president will emerge triumphant because he enjoys wide acceptability from Nigerians.
“I have no doubt in my mind that the President will win. It is going to be a close election, but I have no doubt in my mind that at the end, the President will carry the day.
“However, from the distribution and collection of PVCs, it is clear that the APC wants to rig in the North. How do you explain states like Borno and Yobe with the dislocation of insurgency recording 80 per cent collection?
“APC is setting the stage to write election results. I am more convinced about this because their candidate is not a known democrat, so he doesn’t mind doing or condoning whatever it takes to win. He has no history of promoting the rule of law.”
Boko Haram leader, Shekau, brands Nigerian soldiers cowards; says Baga weapons enough to win war.
The controversial leader of the Boko Haram terror group Abubakar Shekau on Tuesday declared the duo of President Goodluck Jonathan and his 2015 arch-rival, Muhammadu Buhari as infidels who cannot rule Nigeria.
He declared that the war he is waging would soon bring democracy to an end.
Mr. Shekau who spoke in a 36 minutes video released via youtube also warned that more killings and attacks would be recorded in the days to come as he boasted that the quantum of ammunition his group has so far seized from the Nigerian army especially in Baga would be enough to prosecute a war against Nigeria.
The man whom Nigeria military authority had declared dead on three occasions in the last two years said his group would soon bring Nigeria to its knees and warned the governments of the neighbouring countries, comprising of Chad, Cameroon and Niger of similar attacks.
Mr. Shekau who appeared in the video standing in front of three patrol jeeps mounted with anti-air assault guns was dressed in his usual military khaki with an AK47 hanging from his shoulder across his chest. He delivered his long speech, first in Arabic which lasted for 17 minutes and then in Hausa for about seven minutes.
He ended his speech by burning a Nigerian flag, and replacing it with his group’s flag that had a black background and white inscription.
The full translation of his speech reads: “We thank God for making us enter Baga and Doro-Baga in victory. We have today declared Baga as part of our territory and one of our operational base”.
“Jonathan you are in trouble. All governors of Nigeria are in trouble. All these war equipment that you see being displayed in the screen are gotten from Baga and Doro. Your army kept deceiving the world that you can’t fight us because you have no arms. Liars! You have all that it takes; you are just coward soldiers. You forgot that it is God that arms. Is it not amazing that we, who started with sticks and machetes, are today the biggest headache to the almighty Nigerian soldiers? What a shame!!
“Jonathan is it not shameful that now even your supporters are insulting and causing you? This should be a sermon to the world that you should not trust in humans. Any one that trusts a man will end up regretting. This is just the beginning of the killings; what you’ve just witnessed is a tip of the iceberg; more deaths are coming. This will mark the end of politics and democracy in Nigeria. This is to confirm to you that we carried out the Baga massacre, and we are going to do more.
“Nigerians are busy with politics, hailing Buhari! Buhari, Jonathan! Jonathan! Do you think the two of them are spared? Do you think even Buhari is a good Muslim? Buhari is not a Muslim as far as we are concerned – He is nothing but an infidel and our enemy.
“Muhammed Yusuf, the president of Niger, so you too have the temerity of coming out to pay sympathy visit to the Francois Holland the President of France. Is this your true character? Muhammed Yusuf, you have amazed us. You shall soon see our wrath,very soon.Read more
Buhari requests school to make certificate available, says this is his exam No 8280002..
Below is Buhari statement on his certificate scandal culled from his twitter page
Good Morning, Gentlemen of the Press
I only consented to address you this morning because of the genuine concern expressed by many supporters and other well-meaning…
…Nigerians that that the issue be addressed. Otherwise, I would have dismissed it for what it is – sheer mischief and would not have……considered it an issue worth the Nation’s while.
I had assumed all along that all my records were in the custody of the Military Secretary of the Nigerian Army. Much to my surprise,…
…we are now told that although a record of the result is available, there are no copies of the certificates in my personal file.
This is why I formally requested my old school, the Provincial Secondary School, Katsina [Which is now known as Government College,
Katsina] to make available the school’s copy of the result of the Cambridge/West African School Certificate. This will be made…
…available to the Press the moment this is available.
However, before we obtain that, let me say for the record that I attended Provincial Secondary School, Katsina. I graduated in 1961…
…with many prominent Nigerians, including General Shehu Yar’Adua, former chief of staff at the Supreme Headquarters, and Justice…
…Umaru Abdullahi, a former President of the Court of Appeal. We sat for the University of Cambridge/WASC Examination together in…
…1961, the year we graduated.
My examination number was 8280002, and I passed the examination in the Second Division.
And although the ruling party may want to wish this away, the issue in this campaign cannot be my certificate which I obtained 53…
…years ago. The issues are the scandalous level of unemployment of millions of our young people, the state of insecurity, the…
…pervasive official corruption which has impoverished our people and the lack of concern of the government of anything other than…
…the retention of power at all costs.Thank you very much - See more
Nigeria Joins OIC Parliaments’ Union
Nigeria's parliament has been officially admitted as a member of the Parliamentary Union of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) Member States (PUIC).
This approval which was given after it was recommended by the PUIC Executive Committee, was given Tuesday at the 17th session of the PUIC General Committee which held in Istanbul, Turkey.
Meanwhile, Al-Shaya said UAE and Cameroon were elected unrivalled as two deputies of the head of the General Committee, representing the Arab and African groups respectively.
Iran was chosen as head of the committee tasked with formulating the final statement of the 10th session of the Parliamentary Union of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) Member States (PUIC).See more
APC Supporters Stone Jonathan’s Convoy In Katsina
APC political thugs on Tuesday attacked the convoy of President Goodluck Jonathan in Katsina State during the continuation of his re-election campaign.
The presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress, Maj. Gen. Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), is from the state.
Trouble started when Jonathan, accompanied by Vice President Namadi Sambo; National Chairman of the PDP, Alhaji Adamu Muazu; and Governor Ibrahim Shema of Katsina State among others, decided to pay a courtesy visit to the late President Umoru Yar’Adua’s mother, Hajiya Dada.
As the President and members of his entourage made their way into the Yar’Adua Quarters, the brooms-wielding youths, who were suspected to be members of the APC, chanting “Sai Buhari,” surged forward.
Security agents had a hectic time dispersing the crowd.
The youths regrouped and again moved to attack the President’s convoy as he was ready to leave the residence after the visit.
Security agents fired tear gas canisters to disperse the youths to allow vehicles in the convoy speed off.
As the presidential delegation made their way towards the Katsina Airport, the youths hurled stones at the convoy.
No case of injury was however reported.
While addressing a rally earlier at the National Youth Service Corps Orientation Camp in the state capital, Jonathan had attributed his Presidency to the late President, who, he said, chose him as the Vice President in 2007.
For this reason, the President promised to always meet the needs of the people of the state before they ask.
“But for you, I would not have been here today. It was your own son that brought me as his deputy. Anything that you want from me, we will do it without you asking for it.” he said.
He listed some of the achievements of his administration to include the establishment of a federal university and establishment of Almajiri schools among others.
On security situation in parts of the country, Jonathan said, “We have challenges like many other countries in the world but we are still managing because of our focus. We will get through our challenges because we are working hard and you know it.”
Jonathan asked them to vote for him and Sambo to enable them to continue to work for the peace and progress of the state.
Earlier, while on a courtesy call on the Emir of Katsina, Alhaji Abdulmumuni Usman, Jonathan recalled that his political odyssey at the centre started in Katsina when he became vice president to the late Yar’Adua.
Tuesday, January 20, 2015
We don’t have original copy of Buhari’s result – Army
ABUJA – Following the unending controversy over the possession of a secondary school certificate by the All Progressives Congress (APC) Presidential Candidate, Major General Mohammadu Buhari, the Army Tuesday clear the air saying, “The Nigerian Army does not have the original copy of his West African Examination Council result or a Certified True Copy”.
Aside not having these documents in their possession, the Army said General Buhari has not yet applied for the release of any of his documents from the Military Secretary’s office.
Making the disclosures at a briefing in Abuja, outgoing Director of Army Public Relations, Brigadier-General Olajide Laleye noted that what the army has, which he displayed are Form 199A, that was filled at the point of entry and some letters of recommendation by Principal of Provincial Secondary School, Katsina.See more
‘Saudi human rights record worst in region: 1 beheading every 4 days’
As long as Saudi oil is seen as a valuable resource for US oil corporations, the US will maintain relations with the feudal regime regardless of what that means for the rights of Saudi people, Sara Flounders, of the International Action Center, told RT.
RT: Time to time we hear about executions and human rights violations in Saudi Arabia. How do you see the situation the country at the moment?
Sara Flounders: Saudi Arabia from the very beginning has had a very special relationship with the US based on oil, based on huge military support for a completely corrupt feudal regime. The punishment, the absence of any rights for the people go hand and hand. It is not covered here and it should be known because there is one beheading on average every four days in Saudi Arabia, it is so common. Along with other horrendous forms of punishment, of course the beheadings are absolutely outrageous, offensive around the world, [there’s] great outrage when it is carried out by ISIS, but when it’s done in Saudi Arabia it’s not even publicized. And other punishments, to sentence someone to 1000 lashes, that is almost a death sentence. It is so horrendously torturous. And these are common punishments in Saudi Arabia.Read more
Wickedness and poverty:
Also arrested by the soldiers were six young men, who claimed to be staff of the home, and two girls, aged 16 and 25.
However, the proprietress of the home, Mrs. Nma Charity, is still at large.
It was gathered that Mrs. Charity claimed to be running a government-approved home, but engages in child trafficking and hiring of men who impregnates the teenage girls.
Sources told Vanguard that on delivery, each girl got N20,000, while their babies were sold for between N80,000 and N150,000 for females and males, respectively.
One of the suspects, who was caught at Eke-Akpara in Osisioma Ngwa Local Government Area, while trying to steal a baby, confessed that he had been in the business with Mrs. Charity for a long period, stating that his role was to steal a child and deliver it to the her, who in turn sold it to her customers.See more
Does it mean that Buhari will show his invitation letter but failed to show his certificate ?: EXCLUSIVE: Real reason Buhari is travelling to U.S.
Contrary to claims that the presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress [APC], is travelling to the United States for medical reasons, PREMIUM TIMES has obtained a correspondence indicating Mr. Buhari is only honouring an invitation by the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies [CSIS].
Media reports had suggested some days ago that the APC candidate had become so sick that he was planning a medical trip abroad. Mr. Buhari responded by saying he was not sick but only had cold.
But PREMIUM TIMES has now obtained a letter signed by the Director, African Programme of CSIS, Jennifer Cooke, inviting Mr. Buhari to the organisation’s headquarters in Washington DC “to give a major public address on Nigeria’s future as it stands on the edge of a pivotal national elections.”
Ms. Cooke gave Mr. Buhari the liberty to choose a convenient date for the proposed lecture.
“We propose to hold this event on a day of your choosing on either the week of January 5th or the week of January 26th, 2015 but will of course do our best to accommodate your schedule should you have other preferences.”
Buhari CSIS letter of invitation
Travelling at this time would mean Mr. Buhari opted for the week of January 26th.
Ms. Cooke who said the event is expected to attract a large number of United State policymakers, academics, business leaders and members of the diaspora, also told Mr. Buhari that he would be expected to take part in a private off-the-record briefing with a small group of senior US government officials and U.S Congress.Read more
Boko Haram is made up of Hausas, Kanuris and Fulanis – Gumi.
Controversial Islamic scholar, Sheik Ahmad Gumi, has revealed those behind the Boko Haram sect.Gumi told Sahara Reporters that the ongoing activities of terrorists in the country was a problem of the northern region and more specifically the Muslim population.
He said: “Kanuris, Fulanis and Hausas are the Boko Haram,” Gumi told SaharaTV.
The government initially thought it was a northern problem, leave them let them kill themselves
The muslim cleric advised that Islamic faithful in the north should tackle the issue with the backing of the government and the international community.“Coordination between these three will lead to an end to Boko Haram,” he stated
Gumi said that the Quran does not support violence, adding that “leniency beautifies everything and violence tarnishes everything”.Read more
Sarcasm: Yes, this President is a failure
What has President Goodluck Jonathan achieved in the four years and 11 months of his administration since February 9, 2010 when he became the Acting President? Let him show us one thing he has achieved.
For example, I just came back from the South-East through the Sagamu-Benin Expressway. This was a road that was as smooth and beautiful as the German autobahn all through the eight years of President Olusegun Obasanjo and the two and half years of President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua. The Ore portion of this road was such a delight then that people spent just two minutes there instead of two days. When Yar’Adua became president in 2007, that portion of the expressway was so beautiful that his Minister of Transport, Mrs Diezani Alison-Madueke, visited it but did not weep. Rather, she sang the Halleluya Chorus in ecstasy because of the beauty of the road. But Jonathan came in and destroyed that road and all other roads.
When I passed through Ore this Christmas/New Year season, I was surprised at the havoc Jonathan had done to that road through the SURE-P programme. It took me six days to travel from Lagos to Onitsha and five and half days on my return trip! Last year, Jonathan inaugurated the destruction of the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway, with Julius Berger handling the Lagos to Sagamu part and RCC handling the Sagamu to Ibadan part. When I visited Ibadan/Osogbo two months ago, I noticed that some portions of the road had already been destroyed. If the companies keep to the four-year destruction plan, by 2017, that road would have been fully destroyed. The Apapa-Oshodi Expressway that used to be loved by drivers of heavy-duty trucks because of its smoothness has now been destroyed by Jonathan. He has done the same thing to other wonderful roads in other parts of the country. What a man!
Before 2010, farmers were being begged to collect as many bags of fertiliser as they liked. There was no iota of bribery and racketeering in fertiliser distribution. If you were passing by a bus stop, you would be begged to collect as many bags as you wanted. Consequently, Nigerian farmers produced so much food that Nigeria was able to feed itself and the entire Africa. But since Jonathan took over, fertiliser has become as scarce as elephant tusk. Bribery has taken over the distribution. We have not produced even a bag of rice since he came in.
Who says that Jonathan is not a failure? When he came in, our aviation industry was the best in the world. Aeroplanes were not dropping from the Nigerian skies: EAS Airlines (May 4, 2002); Bellview Airlines (October 22, 2005), Sosoliso Airlines (December 10, 2005), ADC Airlines (October 29, 2006). Our airports were world class. In fact, the air conditioning system worked so well that the airport lounges were freezing to the point that snow formed inside them! Under Jonathan’s tenure, contracts were awarded to simultaneously destroy all the airports. In addition, Nigeria did not attain the prestigious Category 1 Certification in aviation.
What about health? In 2014, the World Health Organsiation did not certify Nigeria free of the guinea worm disease. In 2014, it did not declare us Ebola-free. Bill Gates did not tweet in December 2014 – “One of my favourite stories of 2014: In just one year, Nigeria went from 50 polio cases to six”. Maternal mortality did not drop from 545/100,000 to 350/100,000 in four years under Jonathan.
The one that pained me most about this Jonathan was the automotive policy. Before him, Nigeria was the number one exporter of cars. Cars were even being produced in the backyard of every Nigerian house. But since he came up with the new auto policy, auto companies have been running away from our country.
What about electoral reforms? This President has destroyed our exceptional electoral system that was planted by former president Olusegun Obasanjo in 1999. In 2003, Obasanjo gave us one of the best elections. Peter Obi was not rigged out in Anambra. In 2007, while we were still jubilating about the magic of 2003, Obasanjo blessed us with the 2007 electoral miracle. All local and international observers endorsed the elections as the best in world history. Candidates did not protest. Chibuike Amaechi’s candidacy in Rivers State did not have any “K-leg”. Olusegun Mimiko was not rigged out in Ondo. In Edo, Osun and Ekiti governorship candidates of the opposition party were not rigged out.
The 2007 presidential election was so good that Yar’Adua, who benefitted from the electoral artistry, praised the election to high heavens. Even the United States and the European countries flew in to beg Obasanjo and Prof Maurice Iwu of INEC to teach them how to organise exceptional elections. Nigerians felt tall.
But when Jonathan supervised the 2011 elections, he gave us the worst ever. The Peoples Democratic Party bigwigs like Governor Adebayo Alao-Akala, Speaker Dimeji Bankole, Obasanjo’s daughter, Senator Iyabo Obasanjo, won by a landslide. The PDP won all the 36 states.
Just last month, some ministers appointed by Jonathan resigned to contest governorship primaries in their states. This same Jonathan influenced the primaries and made them governorship candidates of the PDP in all the states for the February 2015 elections: Mr Musuliu Obanikoro (Lagos), Mr Labaran Maku (Nasarawa); Prof. Onyebuchi Chukwu (Ebonyi), Mr Emeka Worgu (Abia), Dr Samuel Ortom (Benue), and Elder Godsday Orubebe (Delta). If it was Obasanjo, Senator Bola Tinubu, Maj. Gen Muhammadu Buhari or Amaechi – who hate interfering in states – they would not influence the primaries for their associates to win. But this Jonathan is just too overbearing! Haba!
Before now, other past presidents supported local production which resulted in Nigeria producing every single product it needed. Then, we were even exporting cement to the US and Europe. All the cement used for construction was bought from Nigeria. Immediately he came in, for the first time in history, we began to import cement. From 30 years ago to five years ago, we were exporting rice to Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia and the rest of the world. Our cocoa production was the highest in the world. Palm oil flowed like River Niger everywhere in the nation. Cotton was like saw dust. Groundnut pyramids filled every part of the North and even the South. Agriculture boomed. Other presidents supported agriculture massively. But today Jonathan has completely destroyed agriculture! This President needs to be whipped.
What about the railway system? Before Jonathan came in, other presidents had so much supported the railway system that we had the best rail system in the world. Rail lines and modern trains traversed every state and local government area. But since he came in, he had given instructions that the rail tracks across the nation be excavated and that the rail system be killed forthwith. What a leader!
This is a man who hates equity. He noticed that all states had federal institutions of higher learning. He went to nine states and closed down their federal universities: six in the North and three in the South. These states are Nasarawa, Taraba, Katsina, Jigawa, Gombe, Kogi, Bayelsa, Ekiti and Ebonyi. How can these states ever forgive this unjust man?
Which one should I talk about and which one should I leave? This Jonathan has not done anything. He met a land flowing with milk and honey, a land where the infrastructure was the envy of even the US, a land that had the best economy in the world, a land with the best democratic ideals, a land of justice and fairness, but what did he do? He just destroyed everything and added no value.
Let’s shave his head with a bottle shard, tie him to a pole at the Eagle Square and put an inscription over his head which reads: “Behold the father of failure!” After that, we then grab the guys at Oxford Dictionaries by the neck and force them to change the meaning of the word “failure.”Read more
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