Cancel Planned Crusade In South-East, IPOB Tells Pastor Kumuyi

-

May 19, 2022

Don’t Use Us For Political Ambition, NBA Slams Gov. Wike

The Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) has ripped into Rivers Governor Nyesom Wike following his description of the group as a “paper tiger” that had failed to protect the Judiciary.

NBA President Olumide Akpata defended the association’s record and – connecting Wike’s comments to his presidential ambition – said the Governor “cannot and should not be allowed to use the NBA as fodder of any sort for his vaulting ambition.”

Akpata reeled out several instances where the body had risen in defence of the judiciary, including when it fought in the cause of recently retired Supreme Court Justice Mary Peter-Odili, the Chief Judge of Cross River State, Justice Akon Ikpeme and Justice Inyang Ekwo of the Federal High Court.

He said Wike’s forgetfulness of these and more, suggested “a dissonance that is most disconcerting and should give one serious cause for concern,” especially as the Rivers governor is a “senior member of the Bar.

Wike, who spoke on Tuesday during a book launch in honour of Justice Peter-Odili, said among others, that the NBA had become a “paper tiger” that had not only failed in its responsibility to protect the Judiciary in Nigeria, but had also been unable to rescue it from political intimidation.

The NBA reapondes to Wike in a statement by Akpata, seen by The Nation and titled: “NBA HAS FAILED TO PROTECT THE NIGERIAN JUDICIARY- MY RESPONSE TO GOVERNOR WIKE’S DIATRIBE”.

Akpata said: “As President of the NBA, it is not usual for me to respond to criticisms regarding the activities or performance of the NBA, and indeed our philosophy has been to welcome all such criticisms and take useful lessons therefrom. But I am unable to allow the Governor of Rivers State make such baseless allegations against the NBA particularly as he is a senior member of the legal profession who will be presumed by many to be speaking from a position of knowledge.

“It is indeed quite ironic that Governor Wike made these unfortunate statements at an event held in honour of the Honourable Justice Mary Peter-Odili in support of whom, the NBA stood firm in the face of that brazen attack on her home in Abuja by some persons who are now standing trial in our law courts. That Governor Wike has chosen so quickly, to either forget or ignore this and other actions of the NBA in support of the Judiciary is suggestive of a dissonance that is most disconcerting and should give one serious cause for concern.

“It is very convenient for Governor Wike to ask Nigerian lawyers (as he did at the Book Launch) to emulate their apparently more courageous Pakistani colleagues when the issues at stake do not concern him directly, but when in 2019 the very same Nigerian lawyers had the “temerity” to question his handling of the security situation in Rivers State and threatened to boycott the courts if there was no abatement of the rising insecurity in the State, he was only too quick to lambast the lawyers and to withdraw his “support” for the NBA in the State.

“While we understand that Governor Wike is currently on the political soapbox and, like a man with the proverbial new hammer, to whom any and everything is a nail, he will latch unto any chance to sell his candidacy, he cannot and should not be allowed to use the NBA as fodder of any sort for his vaulting ambition.”

He said the politico-legal history of Nigeria is replete with the commendable role that the NBA has played, and continues to play, as a primary defender of the rule of law and protector of the Judiciary in Nigeria.

Unknown Gunmen In South-East Are Terrorists, Says FG

By

-

May 19, 2022

Kidnappers Gun Down Six Kano Residents, Abduct Village Head

Federal Government on Thursday said that the unknown gunmen operating in the Southeast are terrorists and that they are being treated in the language they understand.

The Federal Government also said that though the newly promoted former Acting Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, Ibrahim Magu has been retired from the Police Force, he would be prosecuted if eventually indicted by the probe panel chaired by Justice Ayo Salami (retd).

The Minister of Police Affairs, Maigari Dingyadi disclosed this when he was featured at the ministerial briefing organized by the Presidential Communications Team at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.

Dingyadi at the briefing enumerated key achievements in his ministry including the introduction of community policing, resuscitation of the police public complaints committee, improved police welfare, and acquisition of a special force base at Zuba, Abuja among others.

Asked whether the intelligence community of the government have been able to identify the unknown gunmen causing havoc in the South-east since the members of the Indigenous Peoples of Biafra, IPOB, have disowned the killings in the region, Dingyadi said “Okay, the unknown gunmen, you want to know who they are? I want to tell you that they are unknown gunmen and they are also criminals. They’re terrorists and we are dealing with them in the language they understand.”

Fielding question on why the Police authorities have yet to act on the recommendations of the Justice Salami probe panel set up by the Attorney-General of the Federation, AGF, and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, on the orders of President Muhammadu Buhari in July 2020 to investigate the corruption allegations against Magu but went ahead to promote him to an Assistant Inspector-General of Police, AIG, Dingyadi said:

“This is an issue that should have been addressed by the Police Service Commission, which has the responsibility to conduct promotions of the police. They are not here. And I am aware that the Police Service Commission is directly under the presidency.

“So I cannot speak for them. But what I know is that Mr Magu has already retired and that is what I can tell you now. The fact that he was promoted is a matter for the Police Commission to maybe throw more light on. I’m not aware of the position of the government on the report you are talking about and I think it is still being under consideration. It doesn’t mean that when he retires, the laws will not catch up with him whenever he is found guilty. So, I think it’s not finished business.”

Recall that the Salami’s panel upon conclusion of its assignment turned in its report in November of the same year to the President.

The minister, refrained from updating the media on the corruption charges against Abba Kyari, the suspended Deputy Commissioner of Police now in custody facing prosecution, saying that the matter is in court and would amount to subjudice to comment on it.

He said the Police have begun to deploy technology in dealing with crimes and criminalities in the country, adding that the Police authorities were striving hard to be civil in their operations and would deploy firearms were necessary for the discharge of their responsibilities.

On the issue of community policing the Minister of Police Affairs said that 25,000 constabularies have been trained and deployed to various communities across the country and that the Ministry was considering the recruitment of additional 10,000 police constables in the next one month or two in line with the President’s directive to employ 40,000 men within his second tenure.

“On whether we have started the implementation of community policing programme and the role of communities in the community policing programme. It has commenced and we couldn’t have trained 25,000 constabularies if the programme has not started. So the programme is on the course and is in all the 36 states of the Federation, and these constabularies have been posted to their various communities.

“And the responsibility of the communities in which these constabularies are being posted is to cooperate with these constabularies to ensure that they assist them in sharing intelligence, in reporting cases that need to be reported. And to assist them in resolving issues that can be easily or locally resolved. So the community policing programme is there for the communities to ensure that they collaborate with these constabularies to provide peace in their communities.”

Responding to the request for psychiatric tests for policemen to ascertain their psychological stability, the minister said the men were being made to undergo rigorous and extensive screening, including medical tests on prospective recruits, assuring that the best available were those engaged in the system.

He however urged the community leaders to cooperate with the constabularies posted to them by gathering and sharing intelligence as well as reporting cases that needed to be reported.

2023: APC Names Only 3 Aspirants Who Refuse To Submit Presidential Forms

By

-

May 19, 2022

104 All-Male APC Aspirants Set To Contest For 30 Jigawa Assembly Seats

The All Progressives Congress, APC, has revealed those who did not submit their presidential nomination and expression of interest forms after the purchase.

The party also confirmed that about 25 forms were submitted.

Speaking on Channels Television on Wednesday, the party’s National Publicity Secretary, Barr. Felix Morka, said 25 forms were filled and submitted.

According to him, the Minister of Labour and Employment, Dr. Chris Ngige, Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, Godwin Emefiele and the Minister of Petroleum for State, Timipreye Sylva, did not submit their forms.

“For some of them, it’s a bit iffy. What I have this time, we’ve 28 who purchased form and at the last count, we have 25 who made submission.

“But three of them did not. They’re Senator Chris Ngige, Godwin Emefiele and then we have Timipre Sylva,” he said.

However, this could suggest that the presidential forms bought for the likes of former President Goodluck Jonathan and African Development Bank boss, Akinwumi Adesina, were actually submitted.

The AfDB President Adesina, had recently dismissed claims that he is running for the presidency.

This was after a coalition of 28 groups purchased and submitted the nomination and expression of interest forms of the APC on behalf of Adesina.

Though Adesina in a statement issued on Tuesday, maintained that he is not running for president, it is not clear if those who bought the forms have the capacity to fill them by themselves and also submit them.

There are speculations that the APC postponed the screening of its presidential aspirants to May 23 to allow Jonathan and others to submit their nomination forms, but the party’s mouthpiece could confirm that all forms, including that of Jonathan, have been submitted except three.

Former President of Nigeria, Jonathan had said he didn’t authorize the APC presidential nomination form purchased for him by the Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders’ Association.

The former President, through a statement issued in Abuja by his spokesman, Ikechukwu Eze, said he had no link to the northern coalition that purchased the form.

He admonished those behind the charade to desist from further defacing his name and urged Nigerians to disregard it.

But barely 48 hours after dissociating himself from moves by some groups to draft him into the 2023 presidential race, Jonathan reportedly joined the APC in Bayelsa and finally made up his mind to vie for the top post.

2023: Lawan, Orji Kalu Visit Katsina Ahead Of APC Presidential Primaries (Photos)

By

-

May 19, 2022

2023: Lawan, Orji Kalu Visit Katsina Ahead Of APC Presidential Primaries (Photos)

Senate President, Ahmed Lawan alongside the Chief Whip of the Senate, Senator Orji Uzor Kalu, today visited Katsina State as part of consultations ahead of the 2023 presidential election.

The visit is coming ahead of the APC National convention scheduled to hold on May 29, 2022.

Kalu in a chat with journalists said, “if there is any zone that understands the pains of South Eastern Nigeria for being shut out of the presidential seat, it is its counterpart, the North East.

“The two zones remain the only zones that are yet to produce a president despite having the most capable hands to govern the country,” Kalu argued

“I believe in regional zoning and I will continue to repeat it as long as the issue of ‘Equity, Fairness and Justice’ is concerned. My reason is not only because it worked in 1999 when all the parties zoned their presidential tickets to the South West, but because it is the only true definition of fairness and equity.

“My clamor for the South East to produce the president after President Muhammadu Buhari was borne out of the enormous clamour and desire for the development and strengthening of our dear nation.

“I have also maintained that anything less than South East must be North East, otherwise it is hypocrisy and wickedness. The South East has given its full support to the South West and the South-South and when it got to the turn of the South East, the language changed to ‘Power is not given but taken’.

“In the absence of this clear non-agreement of the southern brothers to support zoning of the tickets to the South East, I wielded my support to the North East with the hope that justice is closer to the South East,” the lawmaker explained.

Former German Chancellor Loses Office Over Russia Ties

By

-

May 19, 2022

gerhard-schroeder-ukraine — Gerhard Schröder

Former German Chancellor Gerhard Schröder, who has come under fire for not severing his Russian business ties following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, will have to give up his office at the German Parliament (Bundestag), a parliamentary budget committee ruled Thursday.

Germany’s governing coalition — led by the Social Democrat Party (SPD) of which Schröder is still a member of and the party he once led — decided to cut back Schröder’s special rights as a former chancellor, following his ongoing business ties to Russia, a statement posted on the website of the Bundestag said. The former chancellor will however still continue to receive a pension and personal protection, the statement added.

Schröder, 78, led Germany as chancellor from 1998 until 2005 and is known for his long time personal relationship with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Schröder also faced calls from the European Parliament on Thursday to be sanctioned due to his ongoing business and political links to Russia. A resolution by the EU Parliament said that EU sanctions following the invasion of Ukraine should be extended “to the European members of the boards of major Russian companies and to politicians who continue to receive Russian money.”

The resolution named former Austrian chancellor Wolfgang Schüssel and former French prime minister François Fillon as two examples who recently resigned from their positions in Russian companies — and ”strongly demands that others, such as Karin Kneissl (a former Austrian foreign minister) and Gerhard Schröder, do the same.”

Schröder currently holds leading positions with Russian energy companies Nord Stream 1 and 2 and the oil company Rosneft, where he is chairman of the supervisory board. Schröder is also slated to take on a supervisory board post for Kremlin-controlled Gazprom.

In March, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz asked Schröder to resign from his multiple positions at Russian state-owned companies, saying that Schröder’s Russia connections are in the public interest. Politicians across Germany rebuked the former chancellor for months for not cutting business ties with Russia. In early March, Schröder’s own team at the Bundestag resigned in protest having failed to persuade him to severe his business links to Russia.

Finnish President Vows To Be “Strong NATO Ally” And Condemns Terrorism After Turkey Outlines Concerns

By

-

May 19, 2022

US-FINLAND-SWEDEN-NATO — Finnish President Sauli Niinistö

In remarks at the White House, Finnish President Sauli Niinistö said that “Finland will become a strong NATO ally” after meeting with US President Joe Biden along with Swedish Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson.

He said he hoped there would be “swift ratification” of Finland’s NATO application.

Niinistö also addressed Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan saying he will refuse both Finland and Sweden’s entry into NATO.

“Finland has always had proud and good bilateral relations to Turkey. As NATO allies, we will commit to Turkey’s security, just as Turkey will commit to our security. We take terrorism seriously. We condemn terrorism in all its forms, and we are actively engaged in combating it. We are open to discussing all the concerns Turkey may have concerning our membership in an open and constructive manner. These discussions have already taken place, and they will continue in the next days,” he said.

Earlier this week, Erdogan accused both countries of housing Kurdish “terrorist organizations.” He was mainly referencing the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), which seeks an independent state in Turkey. The group has been in an armed struggle with Ankara for decades and has been designated a terrorist organization by Turkey, the United States and the European Union.

The legislatures of all 30 current NATO members must approve new applicants.

Niinistö also spoke about how Russia’s invasion of Ukraine prompted his country to seek NATO membership.

“[On] 24th February, I said that that the masks have fallen and we see only the cold faces of war. Russia’s war in Ukraine has changed Europe and our security environment. Finland takes the step of NATO membership in order to strengthen not only its own security, but also in order to strengthen wider transatlantic security. This is not away from anybody. Like you, Mr. President [Biden] said, NATO is protective, defensive, not a threat to anybody,” he said.

Finland shares an 800-mile-long border with Russia.

“Swedish People Will Be Best Protected Within The NATO Alliance,” Prime Minister Says

By

-

May 19, 2022

Joe Biden,Magdalena Andersson,Sauli Niinisto — Swedish Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson

Swedish Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson

Russia’s “full-scale aggression” against Ukraine led to the “watershed moment” for Sweden to decide to apply for a NATO membership, Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson said Thursday at the Rose Garden.

“My government has come to the conclusion that the security of the Swedish people will be best protected within the NATO alliance, and this is backed by very broad support in the Swedish parliament,” she said as she stood with US President Joe Biden and Finnish President Sauli Niinistö.

She emphasized that NATO will also be stronger with Sweden and Finland as members.

“We are security providers with sophisticated defense capabilities. العاب الروليت And we are champions of freedom, democracy, and human rights. الربح الحقيقي We have a long tradition of extensive military cooperation with NATO, including all missions. روليت للايفون And we are right now ramping up our defense spending and we will reach 2% of GDP as soon as practically possible,” she added.

Andersson called US support for Sweden’s NATO membership of “fundamental importance,” but said she’s looking forward to a dialogue with Turkey to address its concerns.

Sweden looks forward to “a swift ratification process,” she added, saying it is “prepared to shoulder its responsibility as an ally in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.”

After Buhari’s Tenure, I’ll Become A Farmer – Femi Adesina

By

-

May 19, 2022

The Special Assistant to President Muhammadu Buhari on Media and Publicity, Femi Adesina, has said he’ll return back to active media work and become a farmer once the current administration is over.

Adesina stated this in a post on his verified Facebook page when he received All Farmers Association of Nigeria (Edo State Chapter) at his office.

In the post titled: “They have seen tomorrow”, Adesina said: “When I finish in government, by the mercies of God, I intend to return to active media work and also be a farmer. May God make it happen. Amen.

“It was then big surprise to me when I got notification from the All Farmers Association of Nigeria (Edo State Chapter), saying they were coming to make me a Patron of the group. I asked myself: “how did they know I was planning to go into farming? They must have seen tomorrow.”

“And true to their words, the farmers came. Farmers of cassava, cucumber, pineapples, fish, cattle, and other crops and livestock. And they made me their Patron. Men, women, and a youth. They were led by their Chairman, His Royal Highness, Alhaji Bako E. Dogwo, Coordinator General, Bassa Traditional Rulers and Elites. Others were; Gladys Iyore Emuze, Secretary, Aisha Ugbaja, Justice Agbozuadun, Zinat Shaka, and Yusuf Mohammed.

“The Chairman said having followed my activities as Special Adviser to President Muhammadu Buhari on Media and Publicity, “we decided that you deserve not only commendation, but also to be honored as our Patron.”

“The farmers added: “We wish to congratulate you as you are being appointed Patron based on your antecedents. We say big congratulations, and look forward to see you rising higher.”

“This is a surprising honor. I could only promise the farmers that I would continue to serve the President, and my country to the best of my ability.”

Don’t Use Us For Political Ambition, NBA Slams Wike

By

-

May 19, 2022