Renowned Muslim cleric, Sheikh Ahmad Gumi has criticised political leadership in Nigeria, saying the nation has a weak justice system.
Gumi made the remark while speaking at a peace building symposium organised in Maiduguri as part of initiatives to reintegrate former Boko Haram insurgents into society.
“Whoever has any interest in our country, we have made available for him soldiers he can conscript,” the cleric said.
“So why do we leave our children uneducated? Why is education not for everybody? Why do we leave our population poor?
“Some Nigerians are riding private jets while some Nigerians don’t know where to put their children in school. There is social injustice. If you go to the court system, justice is not there. The fabric of power is broken down. So, the children are there to be used by anybody.”
Muslim-Muslim ticket
Chairman of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) in Borno, Bishop Mohammed Naga also attended the forum.
He faulted those railing against the Muslim-Muslim presidential ticket of the All Progressives Congress for the 2023 elections.
Bishop Naga said Nigerian Christians do not benefit from a Christian President.
“And Muslims now ruling, what are we benefitting? We are looking for a saviour, a man who will take us out of our troubles in this country,” he said.
Former presidential aide, Chief Okoi Obono-Obla has canvassed the re-christening of roads, streets and boulevards in State capitals and the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, after Nigerians and Africans who have been outstanding.
He said that no street should be named after colonialists who came to balkanise and dehumanise Africans.
He made the call in Calabar in a statement where he frowned at the dislike shown by many when moves were made to name a Highway in Abuja after the Nigerien President by President Muhammadu Buhari.
Obono-Obla said, “All the streets, roads, public buildings and monuments in Nigeria named after European administrators must be changed and named after illustrious Africans”.
He said that in Abuja, many highways, roads, streets and boulevards were named after European, North American, South American and Asian leaders, and wondered what was wrong to bestow such honour on an African leader such as the Nigerien President.
“I shudder ceaselessly when I read people reacting negatively and reading meanings into the naming of streets after Africans.
“I asked what is wrong for goodness sake in naming a road or highway after a sister African president or an African? In the spirit of Pan-Africanism and good neighbourliness, this is an excellent, noble and laudable gesture.
“Don’t we have public buildings or streets in Lagos, Port Harcourt, Calabar etc named after colonialists who came to dehumanise, exploit and debase Africans and our values? Must we read meanings to everything I shudder,” he said.
Obono-Obla, a social activist and lawyer, went into history lane, recalling that the 1884 Conference of European Powers was convened by German Chancellor, Otto Von Bismarck in collaboration with other European leaders to decide how to share Africa amongst themselves.
He said until then, Africans did not have boundaries, maintaining that Africans are peaceful people, good-natured and had lived together harmoniously.
“Ethnicity didn’t mean much to Africans till the Europeans came with their divide and rule policy to put Africans down permanently.
“During the balkanization of Africa in 1884, because the Europeans knew next to nothing about African Philosophy, History, Culture, Anthropology, Ethnography and Geography, they made many blunders.
“The balkanization was arbitrary and capricious without taking into account how Africa had been for several millennia.
“For example, the Yoruba people were divided. Some were included in Togo, Benin and then Nigeria. The Hausa people were put in Cameroon, Niger, Ghana etc.
“We the Ejagham-Ekoi people were put in Nigeria, Cameroon, DR Congo, Gabon and Equatorial Guinea.
“If you go to Ghana, you will find Akan people. The Europeans divided the Akan people and put them in Togo, Ghana, and Ivory Coast.”
Obono-Obla insisted that the process of decolonization of Africa must start now
Governor of Abia state, Okezie Ikpeazu has said the delay in the release of the N450m intervention fund for the part payment of salaries of staff of the state-owned Polytechnic located in Aba is caused by the bursar, ABN TV learnt.
Recall that the NBTC had last week withdrawn the license of the tertiary institution over 30 months of unpaid salaries of staff of the institution.
The governor had after the embarrassing scenario with NBTC ordered the release of the fund as the government seeks to regain the accreditation of the Polytechnic back.
In a release on Tuesday, Barr Eze Chikamnayo, the state Commissioner for Information and Strategy blamed the bursar for failure to open a single treasury account where all the income for the Polytechnic will be remitted.
The government, therefore, issued a 24-hour ultimatum to the bursar to open a TSA account or be suspended from office.
He said, “Government has observed with dismay the refusal and or negligence on the part of the Bursar of Abia State Polytechnic, Aba to open a Treasury Single Account for all inflow of financial payments into the Coffers of the Institution as directed by Government.
“It will be recalled that the opening of a TSA inflow account with a reputable Bank is a precondition for the release of the 450 million Naira which the Government has approved to kick-start the process of offsetting all salary arrears owed to it’s staff.
“The benefit of a Treasury Single Account is to ensure transparency and accountability in expenditure and help to minimize revenue leakages that have been a major challenge to the growth and development of the Abia State Polytechnic, Aba.
“Government, therefore, hereby directs the Bursar of the Abia State Polytechnic Aba to open that account within 24 Hours or risk immediate Suspension from Office as his refusal and or negligence is delaying the remittance of the 450 million and other funds meant for the Polytechnic.”
Rising debt has pushed Nigeria up the World Bank’s top 10 International Development Association borrowers’ list.
The World Bank Fiscal Year 2021 audited financial statements, known as the IDA financial statement, showed that Nigeria was rated fifth on the list with $11.7bn IDA debt stock as of June 30, 2021.
However, the newly released World Bank Fiscal Year 2022 audited financial statements for IDA showed that Nigeria has moved to the fourth position on the list, with $13bn IDA debt stock as of June 30, 2022.
This shows that Nigeria accumulated about $1.3bn IDA debt within a fiscal year, with the country taking over the fourth top debtor position from Vietnam.
This debt is different from the outstanding loan of $486m from World Bank’s International Bank for Reconstruction and Development.
The top five countries on the list slightly reduced their IDA debt stock except Nigeria.
India, which is still the first on the list reduced its IDA debt stock from $22bn in the previous fiscal year to $19.7bn, followed by Bangladesh from $18.1bn to $18bn.
It is followed by Pakistan which cut its debt from $16.4bn to $15.8bn, and lastly, Vietnam, which went down the list to fifth position, from $14.1bn to $12.9bn.
Nigeria has the highest IDA debt in Africa, as the top three IDA borrowers (India, Bangladesh and Pakistan) are from Asia. The World Bank disclosed recently that Nigeria’s debt, which may be considered sustainable for now, is vulnerable and costly.
The bank said, “Nigeria’s debt remains sustainable, albeit vulnerable and costly, especially due to large and growing financing from the Central Bank of Nigeria.”
However, the Washington-based global financial institution added that the country’s debt was also at risk of becoming unsustainable in the event of macro-fiscal shocks.
The bank further expressed concerns over the nation’s cost of debt servicing, which according to it, disrupted public investments and critical service delivery spending.
Economists have also raised concerns over the rising debt profile of the Federal Government.
The Fiscal Policy Partner and Africa Tax Leader of PwC, Mr Taiwo Oyedele, expressed his agreement with the World Bank on the high cost of debt servicing.
He said, “I agree with the World Bank. Although the debt to GDP ratio is not too high, if you think about the debt service cost to revenue ratio, it is already over 70 per cent. That’s when you know it’s costly.
“Nigeria borrows at double-digit, and even when we borrow in dollars, the rates are very high and then you devalue the naira and the cost of servicing the debt in naira goes up because it is dollar-dominated debt.
“Put all of that together, and you can easily say to yourself that even though our debt to GDP ratio is very low, our cost of borrowing is unsustainable because it is very high, and therefore, make it very costly.”
A former Deputy Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria and former presidential candidate, Kingsley Moghalu, also criticised the increasing borrowing tendency of the government, urging the officials to re-consider other ways of generating revenue for the country.
According to Moghalu, it was also not reasonable to borrow for infrastructural development as the government could expand the public-private partnership options for such development.
In a document by the Director General of the Debt Management Office, Patience Oniha, recently obtained by our correspondent, the DMO stated that high debt levels would often lead to high debt services and affect investments in infrastructure.
According to the DMO DG, “High debt levels lead to heavy debt service which reduces resources available for investment in infrastructure and key sectors of the economy.”
A team of policemen from Elemoro Division of the Lagos State Police Command, weekend, stormed the Peculiar Generation Assembly at Eputu London in Awoyaya, Ibeju-Lekki area of Lagos, arresting the General Overseer, Bishop Chris Omosekpa.
His arrest was sequel to a bench warrant issued against him by Justice R. A. Oshodi of the Lagos State Sexual and Domestic Special Offences Court, GRA Ikeja.
It was learned that Omosekpa allegedly molested some of his church members, among whom were minors. سباق احصنة He was alleged to have manipulated them through false prophecy and intimidation.
Omosekpa was initially arrested by policemen at Makinde Police Station, Mafoluku, Oshodi and charged to the Ogba Magistrate’s Court where he was granted bail under special circumstances after his lawyer claimed he had COVID-19 and tuberculosis.
Immediately after his bail, Omosekpa was said to have embarked on a public campaign misinforming members of the public that he had been discharged and acquitted.
Chief Operating Officer and Advocate of Children and Vulnerable Persons, ACVPN, Ebenezer Omejalile, told Vanguard that the latest arrest became almost impossible, as the suspect ran to Zone 2, with the intention to get special protection, but he was directed to go back to Makinde Police Station, Mafoluku, Oshodi.
Confirming the arrest, Lagos State Police Public Relations Officer, SP Benjamin Hundeyin, said: “The arrest was sequel to a bench warrant issued against him by Justice R. مال مجاني A. Oshodi of the Lagos State of Sexual and Domestic Special Offences Court, GRA Ikeja.”
Nobel Laureate, Prof. Wole Soyinka has dissociated himself from a video showing some members of the National Association of Seadogs, popularly known as the Pyrates Confraternity, mocking the presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) for the 2023 election, Bola Tinubu.
In the video, members of the Confraternity during a procession gyrated to an anti-Tinubu song and poked fun at the former Lagos State governor for a speech he made in June in Abeokuta, Ogun State, where he asked that power should be handed over to him.
The members of the Pyrates Confraternity sang, “Hand dey shake, leg dey shake, Baba wey no well, e de shout emi lo kan (Hands are shaking, legs are shaking. A sick old man is shouting ‘it’s my turn’).
“Emi lo kan (2ce), Baba wey no well, him dey shout emi lokan (It’s my turn (2ce), a sick old man is shouting ‘it’s my turn’”.
Tinubu, who seemed desperate during the speech, said, ‘Emi lo kan’, meaning ‘It’s my turn’.
Tinubu narrated how he consoled President Muhammadu Buhari after he had failed three times to become Nigeria’s President. Eventually, a political alliance spearheaded by Tinubu ensured Buhari won the presidential election in 2015.
However, Soyinka who founded Pyrates Confraternity as a university student in Ibadan, Nigeria, described making a mockery of Tinubu due to his ill-health as distasteful.
He said, “My attention has been drawn to a video clip making internet rounds, of a dancing and chanting group, in red and white costume, purportedly members of the Pyrates Confraternity.
“The display acidly targets a presidential candidate in the awaited 2023 elections. Since the whole world knows of my connection with that fraternity, it is essential that I state in clear, unambiguous terms, that I am not involved in that public performance, nor in any way associated with the sentiments expressed in the songs. Like any other civic group, the Pyrates Confraternity is entitled to its freedom of expression, individually or collectively.
“So also is Wole Soyinka in his own person. I do not interfere in, nor do I attempt to dictate the partisan political choices of the Confraternity. I remain unaware that the association ever engages in a collective statement of sponsorship or repudiation of any candidate. This is clearly a new and bizarre development, fraught with unpredictable consequences.
“In addition, let me make the following cultural affirmation. I have listened to the lyrics of the chant intently and I am frankly appalled. I find it distasteful. I belong to a culture where we do not mock physical afflictions or disabilities. Very much the contrary. The Yoruba religion indeed designate a deity, Obatala, as the divine protector of the afflicted, no matter the nature of such affliction. This sensibility is engrained in us from childhood and remains with us all our lives. It operates on the principle of mortal frailty to which all humanity remains vulnerable.
“One of my favorite authors, about whom, by a coincidence, I had cause to write quite recently, was CLR James, author of The Black Jacobins, Beyond A Boundary etc. etc. I called him my ideological uncle. He suffered from Parkinson’s Disease, but remained alert, lucid and combative for decades after the onset of the disease. We interacted politically at the Tanzanian pan-African Congress, the Dakar Festival of Negro Arts and a number of other cultural and political fora. We met frequently in his lifetime, dined together in restaurants, despite his challenge. it would be unthinkable, and a desecration of his memory to be part of any activity that mocked his affliction.
“A further statement will be issued when I have made further enquiries into this strange, uncharacteristic outing of the association.”
The Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), has denied reports making the rounds that a special auction of over 7000 cars would soon be held by the Service.
The Public Relations Officer of Customs, Deputy Comptroller Timi Bomodi, in a statement signed on behalf of the Comptroller-General of Customs, urged Nigerians to go online to the electronic auction platform for authentic information on auctioning.
He stated that e-auction remained the only authentic means of auctioning goods by the Service to members of the public.
“Since its implementation, the e-auction has lived up to expectations by guaranteeing transparency and integrity in the auctioning process,” Bomodi said.
The spokesperson disclosed that members of the public who wish to partake in the e-auction bidding must process valid Tax Identification Number (TIN), issued by Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), with an active e-mail account.
Bomodi added that those conditions must be met by applicants before acceptance.
Also, an interested party must have an authentic and nationally accepted means of identification.
He explained that those means of identification include an international passport, driver’s license, national identity card or voter card.
Bomodi also beckoned on owners of uncleared vehicles at the various ports to avail themselves of the VIN-Valuation protocols to clear them.
He stated that the clearance procedure had been simplified, automated, and made more user-friendly for them.
The Nigeria Prays, Abia State chapter has commiserated with former Head of State and the chairman of the inter-denominational body, His Excellency Gen Dr. Yakubu Gowon on the demise of his immediate elder sister, Mrs Mary Dimka who passed on 3rd August, 2022.
The Abia state coordinator of Nigeria Prays, Apostle Chuks Alozie in a condolence message described late Mrs Mary Dimka as mother figure to the Gowon’s dynasty, saying she played strong role in supporting the Gowon Family, adding that she was a pillar of encouragement to Gen Dr Yakubu Gowon GCFR during his reign as the Head of State Federal Republic of Nigeria.
Apostle Chuks Alozie who is also the Project Coordinator Abia Apostolic Intercessory team urged Gen. بلاك جاك اون لاين Gowon to take solace in the fact that Late Mrs Mary DIMKA lived a fullfilled life by all standards, with Sterling and examplary Christian Life that characterized her as a role model to the younger generation. العاب تكسب المال
He said that Late Mrs Mary DIMKA’S death is a great loss to the Nigeria nation. Apostle Chuks Alozie further stated that her immense contributions and advise to building a better and virile society will be greatly missed.
He condoled the entire Gowon’s family, the DIMKA family and all friends and Associates of the deceased to accept this great momemental loss as an act and will of God. العاب استراتيجية اون لاين
He prayed God to grant late Mrs Mary DIMKA’S soul eternal rest.
A Director with the Federal Inland Revenue Service, FIRS, Alhaji Mohammadu Kudu Lawal, has been killed by gunmen who attacked the vehicle in which he was traveling in the Saminaka village of Lapai local government area of Niger state on Sunday night.Another staff of the FIRS whose name was not known was injured in the attack by the gunmen.
It was learnt that the Director who hailed from Lafiagi in Kwara state was traveling to Abuja when the ran into the bandits who sprayed the Hillux van in which they were traveling with bullets.
It was gathered that a food vendour and four others were abducted by the gunmen during a raid on her restaurant.
During the sporadic shooting, bullets were said to have hit two petrol laden tankers which burst into flames causing destruction in the area.
The Director General of the Niger State Emergency Management Agency NSEMA Alhaji Ahmed Ibrahim Inga confirmed the incident which he described as sad and pathetic.
The West African Examinations Council, WAEC has released the results of the 2022 West African Senior School Certificate Examination for school candidates.
Speaking on Monday at WAEC office, Yaba, the Head of Nigeria Office, WAEC, Mr Patrick Areghan, said, “The results are being uploaded on the results website. Candidates who sat the examination and who have fulfilled their financial obligations to the Council can access their results on the Council’s results website within the next twelve hours.
“Copies of the Result Listing will be sent to schools shortly. I need not restate the fact that the results of candidates who are sponsored by states indebted to the Council will not be released now until they pay up. We appeal to them to do so to enable the affected schools/candidates access their results.”
He added that some schools failed to upload their students’ Continuous Assessment Scores Capturing System at the stipulated time and many failed to meet registration deadlines, to the extent that some schools ended up not presenting their students for the examination.
“Yet, some who registered their students off-line failed to upload their entries! This showed unacceptable level of nonchalance. Again, others failed to meet deadlines due to criminal ‘shopping’ for candidates. By the time they realised it, the window had closed,” he said.
Abia State governorship aspirant on the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Chief Mascot Uzor Kalu, has expressed concern over what he described...
