I will not appear before ethics and privilege committee unless...-Abdulmumin Jibrin says

The house of Representatives Wednesday mandated it's committee on Ethics and privileges to hear the allegations of budget padding leveled against the Speaker of the House, Yakubu Dogara and 13 other lawmakers by sacked Chairman of the House committee on Appropriation, Abdulmumin Jibrin. Jibrin in this statement he released this evening, says he will ot appear before the house committee unless it's hearing is made public. His statement below:

I attended the sitting of the House today and carefully observed the proceedings concerning the allegations of budget fraud and corruption I leveled against Speaker Dogara and 3 other Principal Officers. But rather than open up the matter for discussion in view of the public interest it has generated and allow me to brief my colleagues, an opportunity I have been denied for several months, Mr Speaker deployed some legislative tricks and theatrics to save the day.

In a move that smacks of abuse of process, Speaker Dogara granted under point of order, an opportunity to the Chairman of Business and Rules Committee who started with a speech then suddenly transited to a motion under privilege - a clear case of manipulation and gross abuse of the House rule. This is the easiest resort since the attempts to secure a vote of confidence had woefully failed.

The motion was therefore passed and referred to the Committee on Ethics and Privilege with one week to submit its report.

The grand plan is to dilute the ongoing external investigation by the police and EFCC and use the Ethics Committee for a soft landing.

But what happened on the floor of the House today is just the end of another beginning. I have never lived with the illusion that this matter will be a sprint, knowing the deeply rooted corrupt interest of a few cabal in the House headed by Speaker Dogara. I have all the stamina and agility to go the marathon and ensure justice is served. I have said repeatedly I stand by my allegations and will continue this struggle to expose the 2016 budget fraud and corruption in the House even if I am alone.

Many members of the House, including myself, completely disagree with this approach because it will mean that the Speaker is superintending over his investigation and that clearly makes him a judge in his own case.

The allegations I raised are too grievous to be reduced to such process open to manipulation and teleguiding. I will therefore continue to cooperate with the anti-graft agencies who are already investigation the matter and will also proceed to build a massive coalition with Civil Society Organisations and other well-meaning Nigerians to ensure that this matter is not swept under the carpet of the Green Chamber. The House of Representatives belongs to Nigerians not only the 360 members.

Despite all these and since I can substantiate the allegations I raised with cogency, I will take up the opportunity provided by the Ethics committee to state my case under the condition that the hearing will be public and will allow the Press, CSOs, NGOs, NLC, ASUU, NANS, NBA and the general public to witness the entire proceedings.

This is the only way that I can have the comfort and confidence that the proceedings, the investigations and the outcome will not be manipulated or compromised. I am ready to appear before the committee even today if the proceedings will be public. Predictably, in his speech, Mr Speaker tried to drag the entire House into the matter to give the impression that the entire House is the accused.

I wish to state for the umpteenth times that the allegations I raised are against the quartet of Speaker Yakubu Dogara, Deputy Speaker Yusuf Lasun, House Whip Alhassan Doguwa, Minority Leader Leo Ogor and few other members NOT the Honourable House as an institution. You will recall that Mr Speaker had tried unsuccessfully in the past to drag other institutions and even individuals outside the House into this matter. It will be tragic if the House condones a situation where some few corrupt members will commit offense then use the institution of the House as a shield to evade justice. This is the script Speaker Dogara is trying to implement.

It is a known fact that the Speaker was able to rally support at the zonal caucus meetings he organized Monday night, applying heavy blackmail on members which involves issues of systemic corruption. I wish to call on members to live above such blackmail and deal urgently and decisively with these allegations of individual corruption by the Speaker and few others. Anything short of this, will drag the entire House into a scandal that it has never witnessed. This is what the Speaker and his few cabals want. Typical of a drowning person, he wants everybody to go down with him. We must not allow ourselves to fall into his trap.

The bad news for Nigerians is that in the face of such grievous allegations against the Speaker, which members are aware of, and his decision to sit tight, he has become a lame duck Speaker. But even more painfully is the fact that we will continue to call though in the short run such fraudulent and corrupt persons in Dogara, Lasun, Doguwa and Ogor number 4 citizen and principal officers of the House respectively.

Let me use this opportunity to reassure Nigerians that the struggle has just begun.

God bless.

Hon Abdulmumin Jibrin
APC-Kano
Kiru-Bebeji Federal Constituency
Kano‎

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Budget Padding Latest: Police To Summon Dogara, Others

The Special Investigation Panel probing the budget padding allegations is set for fresh invitations to the House of Reps Speaker, Yakubu Dogara and other principal officers named in the scandal.

It was said that the panel, headed by retired Assistant Inspector-General of Police, Ali Amodu would send the invitations as the National Assembly resume this week.

Police sources said that the SIP had covered a lot of ground in its quest to expose the culprits behind the alleged padding of N280bn in the 2016 budget.

The former Chairman, House Appropriation Committee, Abdulmumin Jibrin, had in a petition asked the police to investigate the alleged padding of the budget by Dogara and other principal officers.

Those indicted by Jibrin included Deputy Speaker, Mr. Lasun Yussuff; the Chief Whip, Mr. Alhassan Ado-Doguwa; and the Minority Leader, Mr. Leo Ogor.

Jibrin appeared before the panel investigating his petition with documents to back his allegations, but the speaker and others mentioned did not honour the police invitation.

The ex-appropriation committee boss had also submitted a petition against the accused to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission and the Independent Corrupt Practices and other related offences Commission, urging the agencies to probe the principal officers.

A source however told Punch that the police would issue fresh invitations to all the officers, stressing that the men must come and defend themselves.

He said, “The fact is that the house officers, including the speaker, have no immunity against investigation or prosecution; anybody could be investigated including governors and the President.

“The immunity of the governors and the President does not preclude investigation. It only protects them while in office, but once they are out of office, they could be prosecuted.

“The panel has covered a lot of ground with the documents at its disposal, and it will invite the men (lawmakers) when they are ready to interrogate them and anyone who fails to show up has tacitly admitted that he is guilty of the allegations against him.”

It was also disclosed that the panel would not let up on the National Assembly Clerk, Mohammed Sani-Omolori, till he submitted the draft and final copies of the 2016 budget to detectives.

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Lai Mohammed Tells PDP: Bury your head in shame as Buhari Packs Your Mess

Minister of information and culture, Lai Mohammed, has told the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, to “hide its head in shame”, saying the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari is determined to “pack the mess” it inherited from successive PDP administrations.

Reacting to PDP’s call on President Buhari to resign, the minister said instead of showing remorse and rebuilding itself into a strong opposition party, PDP had continued to blame the administration for their failures.

"We are on a rescue mission to resuscitate Nigeria after the PDP left it in a coma, and the noise from the same PDP seems designed to sabotage the rescue efforts. But we are not deterred.

"While the PDP was emasculating Nigeria on all fronts, including social, economic and political, the rapacious party was deceiving Nigerians by giving them the illusion of growth and prosperity.

"Instead of showing remorse and rebuilding itself to a strong opposition party, the PDP has continued to blame the Buhari administration, which is left to pack their mess.

"PDP undertakers have continued to engage in a blame game, when they should be hiding from the shame they brought upon themselves and the nation.

"They keep saying we should stop talking of the past, yet the past will not stop rearing its head. They keep saying we should no longer refer to the past, but how can we forget so soon that our foreign exchange reserves plummeted from $62bn in 2008 to $30bn by 2015, at a time when oil prices were at a historic high, reaching a level of $114 per barrel in 2014.

"By comparison, Indonesia, another oil producing economy with a high population, increased its reserves from $60 billion in 2008 to $120 billion in 2015.

"The candid truth is that we failed under the successive PDP administrations to save for the rainy day, and we need to constantly remind ourselves of that so that we won’t repeat the mistake. Take the excess crude account which fell from about $9bn in 2007 to about $2bn in 2015.

"The argument that it was the state governors that depleted the account does not hold water since there were governors in place when the account was being built up.

"Worse still is the fact that up to $14bn in revenues from Nigerian LNG remains unaccounted for and indeed until the Buhari administration came to office, state governments never got any allocations from this source of funds which properly belongs to the federation account.

"The Unclad fact on the revenue front is that there was just a failure of leadership. This was compounded by the non-transparent uses of funds. We are all witnesses to the sacking of a Central Bank Governor because he raised an alarm about $20 billion that had gone missing.

"We are indeed still trying to recover huge sums looted from the national treasury under the PDP’s watch, with $15 billion stolen from the defence sector alone. Perhaps most painful is that because of the way funds (about $322m) returned from Switzerland were mishandled, we now have to accept conditionalities before our stolen assets are even returned to us,”  Mohammed said in a statement.


He added, "Indeed, it was not so long ago that the fuel subsidy regime almost bankrupted the country. Through credibility and commitment to good governance, the current administration has managed to save up to N1.4 trillion that would have been spent on subsidies for PMS.

“Moreover, the daily demand for PMS has halved from 1600 trucks a day to 850 trucks a day. If we could achieve such savings, then clearly the petrol sector which was and remains a huge source of foreign exchange demand was not being well managed.

"It is also important to point out that the poor security situation in the north-east has had ripple effects on the economy. Apart from the dislocation of daily lives, there was extensive loss of agricultural production arising from the fact that our citizens in that zone could not go to their farms not to talk of planting and harvesting produce.

“Yet, in just a space of about 15 months, the Buhari administration has liberated this region from the clutches of Boko Haram, which is now left to release meaningless videos when it could no longer carry out spectacular attacks.”

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How PDP Yar'Adua Tackled The Recession, Terrorism and The Legacy He Left Nigeria

I seek indulgement to type this piece in defense of late President Umaru Yar'Adua who has been inadvertently included in a list of PDP Presidents who "left Nigeria no legacy," according to a public statement attributed to the current President Muhammadu Buhari.

While President Yar'Adua is obviously not here to defend himself, providence demands some of us stand in his stead.
I do not believe that President Muhammadu Buhari intended to include Yar'Adua in the list of PDP Presidents who failed Nigeria over the 16 years, however being that Yar'Adua's name was included in headlines across the dailies, it is important to attempt to properly present his legacy.

Yar'Adua ranks among Nigeria's top two Presidents of all time. By most metrics, two Presidents who had truncated terms were the best by far: late Yar'Adua and late Murtala Muhammad are these two. While President Muhammadu Buhari's first term also ranked high, perhaps the third best, his current term is filled with mixed results and cannot yet be judged to be in the top category according to my humble opinion. The bottom of the list is occupied by the likes of Obasanjo, Jonathan, Abacha and Babangida, noted for looting the nation's treasury silly and enjoying immunity and even being defended of "having never stolen" by eminent persons.

I will attempt to do summarily justice to this topic in several sections. I will utilize swaths from my February 2014 article on the great legacy of late President Umaru Musa Yar'Adua as I compare to what we have currently:

Yar'Adua: The Only President To Openly Fully Declare His Assets
Late Yar'Adua was the first democratic President to fully and publicly declare his assets and remains the only Nigerian President to do so till date. While President Muhammadu Buhari published a summary three sentence brief of his assets, a full public declaration of these is yet to be made. The effect of Yar'Adua's public asset declaration on trust, transparency and good governance to Nigeria is a legacy he left of untold value that is yet to be rivaled.

Late Yar'Adua's Legacy on Terror: Boko Haram And MEND
President Yar’Adua had been handed two catastrophic problems by the predecessor Obasanjo government. Movement for Emancipation of the Niger Delta, MEND was wrecking havoc in the Southern creeks and Boko Haram had similarly evolved in the north east. Under the Obasanjo regime, Nigeria’s national security boss, NSA Aliyu Gusau, a Babangida autocratic-regime henchman and the man behind most of Nigeria’s sad history of military coups and continuous insecurity as recurrent security chief, had failed to abate the problems in the north and south. According to reports, Gusau had actually told president Obasanjo when he asked about Boko Haram, then called, ‘Nigerian Taliban,’ that ‘no such group existed,’ despite attacks by the group.

-MEND
Faced with these unique, entrenched challenges, Yar’Adua selected a National Security Adviser, Major Gen. Sarki Mukhtar – remembered for opposing Abacha on coup plotter treatment in the 90s– who had the commitment and wherewithal to intelligently and appropriately combat the two terror problems.

The Yar’Adua administration with NSA Mukhtar immediately approached the MEND crises with an understanding of the pressing situation.

Through a combination of force and payoffs, President Yar'Adua persuaded all major militant leaders in October of 2010 to renounce violence and surrender their arms in exchange for amnesty, government subsidies, training opportunities, and promises of more money and development of the region. [Ref: Cables]

The Amnesty placated the agitating youth who had reduced Nigeria’s oil output by almost half, more than the current loses by the Niger Delta Avengers and related groups today, and Nigeria invested billions in training and rehabilitating these youth. Peace that eluded Obasanjo was fully restored to the creeks.

-Boko Haram
Faced with a different terror uprising in the north, Yar’Adua with his apt NSA Mukhtar swung into action, again properly considering the dynamics of the northern question. Poverty is predominant in Nigeria’s north, however poverty and/or misguided fanaticism is no excuse for terrorism and murder of innocent civilians and security officers. The nation’s security men were sent to sack the Boko Haram camps in a swift and efficient operation. In one of the few times in recent global history, the terror mastermind, Mohammed Yusuf himself was caught and killed as ‘he attempted to escape.’ Over 700 mostly Boko Haram terrorists were massacred in the operation of July 2009.

But Yar'Adua did not stop there. He drew-up a comprehensive deradicalization plan that promised to monitor and prevent radical groups from resurging across Nigeria's north and also to address the complex societal dynamics that breed terror.

Having established calm and restored security to Nigeria, late Yar’Adua continued with managing other pressing crises he had inherited from the previous administration.

What Obasanjo Left
Yar'Adua's predecessor, President Olusegun Obasanjo, OBJ rode the oil price waves. OBJ’s regime was not particularly economically unique. It more accurately put, was lucky to be in favorable times and the economic growth was concordant with catapulting global oil prices. Oil prices were $16 in 1999 at the start of his tenure and rose rapidly to double that, $35 in September 2000. By August 2005, oil sold at $65 and by October 2007, oil prices were $90/barrel. Obasanjo rode these prices in an 'oil cruise'.

Tackling the Recession
President Musa Yar’Adua had an uphill task. He was coming in when oil prices were dropping during the global recession and Nigeria’s economy faced testing. The Yar’Adua government had to stabilize the economy against dropping oil prices and decreased production as a result of Niger-Delta terror which had reduced oil exports by more than half. This was the heyday of MEND.

Oil prices dropped to a low value of $35 a barrel during his tenure. This was definitely a tough time as repeats today. But a steady hand and refusal to adopt wrong policies protected the economy.

Late Yar'Adua inherited an external reserve of $45 billion, which grew to $63 billion in September, 2008. Due to the twin blows of reduced income from MEND terror and tanked global oil costs, Yar"Adua left $47. 7 billion in the reserves as at Dec 31st 2009 when Jonathan took over. He left Nigeria's external debts relatively unchanged.

Faced with an impending recession rocking the world, the Yar'Adua government dug into the nation's Excess Crude Account to fund the National Integrated Power Project and distribute additional funds national, state, and local governments.

To tackle and prevent Nigeria joining the global recession and shore the economy, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) under President Yar'Adua and led by Sanusi lamido Sanusi (now Emir) ordered the immediate audit of all 24 of Nigeria's banks. The audits were followed by the replacement of eight troubled bank leaders and a $3.9 billion bailout of the banks which stabilized the economy.

The Yar'Adua government published a "name and shame" list of hundreds of bad debtors which included many closely tied to the PDP and Yar'Adua personally recovered billions in bad debts. In contrast today, the Buhari government refuses to publish the names of looters even after they have returned moneys.

Legacy On Corruption and How Late Yar'Adua Fought Obasanjo, Dangote and Other Cabal
Apart from the "name and shame list, in October of 2010, the former chairman of the Nigerian Port Authority and Vice-Chairman of President Yar'Adua's 2007 presidential campaign, Bode George of the PDP party was convicted on various corruption charges and sentenced to jail. This was a man who was first indicted in 2005 by the EFCC but was allegedly shielded by Obasanjo.

A major battle Yar’Adua had to face was the recovery of Nigeria from the cabal. Obasanjo had literally sold Nigeria to private friends of his and his party. Tycoon Dangote had been selected and favored by president Obasanjo not only during his second appearance in civilian regalia but from his first show as military dictator when he gave Dangote exclusive importation rights. With the sale of Nigeria’s refineries to Dangote and Otedola, Dangote owned as much as half of Nigeria’s assets, which included Nigeria’s cement plants, a telecoms licence and mining concessions. Bashani Aminu, a Yar'Adua confidant revealed as relayed in Wikileaks,“Disentangling Obasanjo” cables that Dangote once gave Obasanjo a 35 million dollar private jet as thanks for his fruitful partnership.

“Aminu expects more of the same soon — particularly an overturn of the Transcorp purchase of the Abuja Nicon Hilton. Aminu also noted Yar’adua’s commitment to fighting corruption and told Post he gave the greenlight to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to investigate anyone.

He predicted Yar’adua will overturn the Transcorp purchase of the Abuja Nicon Hilton soon. These deals will be aimed at removing the ill-earned gains of Obasanjo and his close allies such as Aliko Dangote. (NOTE: Dangote and Obasanjo’s Transcorp were both part of the consortium that purchased the Port Harcourt and Kaduna refineries.) Aminu claimed Dangote gave Obasanjo a 35 million USD jet plane as a recent “gift.””

In July of 2007, barely two months into office, Yar’Adua summoned the Bureau for Public Enterprises (BPE), to query the sale of Nigeria’s refineries to Dangote and co. And to the praise of Nigeria’s Labour Congress (NLC) Yar’Adua overturned these privatizations for being corrupt. Yar’Adua was next going after the Transcorp purchase of Abuja NICON Hilton. Though Obasanjo had put Yar’Adua into office against Yar’Adua’s wishes, he having objected to contesting on health grounds, Yar’Adua was determined to rescue Nigeria from the paws of the cabal, even his sponsors, Dangote, who financially sponsored his campaigns and Obasanjo who orchestrated his selection.

But this was not even the half of Yar’Adua’s war against corruption. There was the kerosene subsidy scam, through which the fourth republic stole and still steals 10 million dollars every day from the Nigerian masses. Yar’Adua who was battling with a chronic allergic disorder and had intermittent kidney failure, took this matter as no joke and not a matter to delay on. Within his short tenure, he went hard and firm against the subsidy fraud, sending four directive communications to immediately seize the fake subsidy that ‘was not reaching the beneficiaries – the Nigerian masses. Yar’Adua’s Principal Secretary, Mr. David Edevbie conveyed the directives.

The government spent/spends millions of dollars everyday subsidizing kerosene that was/is sold to the masses at unsubsidized prices in an elaborate, cheap scam. President Yar’Adua on June 15, 2009 gave a clear directive that NNPC should cease subsidy claims on kerosene. Kerosene fraudulent subsidy claims run up to the tune of N300 trillions per year. This was going to hurt Obsanjo and his cabal cronies.

Ambassador Maitama Sule revealed that Obasanjo was scared Yar’Adua would soon come after him and AC’s Garba Shehu said Atiku warned Yar’Adua that Obasanjo was plotting to remove him for his “treachery.”

Today the Buhari government is in bed with Obasanjo and Dangote who are dictating government policies and receiving billions in government subsidies and gifts. A recent Reuters report that covered just 3 months of released Central Bank Forex authorisations found that Dangote alone got $100 million in subsidized forex "gift" in that period [Reuters: Africa’s richest man got a fistful of dollars in Nigerian currency squeeze]. For a year of the dual CBN and blackmarket forex rates, Dangote is estimated to have benefitted a whopping half a billion dollars in forex gift from the Buhari administration. This free money from Nigeria's coffers strengthened the Dangote brand over Nigeria while small businesses were given no concessions and folded up leading to at least 4.6 million Nigerians losing their jobs according to numbers from the National Bureau of Statistics, NBS.

Further, unlike the Obasanjo policy to ban import of goods which Dangote and other cabal have monopolies in, to promote the stocks of these cabal party sponsors, Yar'Adua is applauded to have allowed free importation, limiting local costs and increasing foreign investments in Nigeria. The current regime policies pushed by Obasanjo and Dangote have led to increased hardship while patronizing ad promoting Dangote who is alleged to invest money of many of Nigeria's looters and other cabal.

According to US cables: "...elimination of import bans and lower tariffs on key products, bringing down the cost of doing business and reducing incentives for smuggling. The Mission has helped the Government of Nigeria solve regulatory and policy problems to allow increased electricity supplies, boost agricultural production, and assist in establishing reliable regional and international markets, including use of the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA)."

Weekly Trust in their one year tribute, remember Yar'Adua thus:
Yar’adua deconstructed power. He was not intoxicated by it, a fact that even his critics had attested to. He operated within the realm of the law. He didn’t pay lip service to the rule of law and due process he preached. The courts regained the freedom they lost during his predecessor’s tenure. They handed down verdicts that cancelled political victories even though his party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) was the victim.

Despite his ill-health, he pioneered laudable projects across the country. He initiated the dredging of River Niger, a project that was abandoned for decades. He started the reinvigoration of the abandoned rail system. He brought Sanusi Lamido Sanusi to head the Central Bank, thereby saving the country from a looming financial crisis.

He was bold enough to reverse President Olusegun Obasanjo’s decisions considered to be against the national interest. He saved the country’s three refineries from being auctioned to businessmen, who could not establish theirs. The nation’s comatose telecom giant, NITEL was not auctioned at least during his time.

He fought corruption in his own ways. He pioneered the policy of returning unspent funds to the national treasury at the end of the fiscal year even though the policy regrettably died with him. He prosecuted and jailed those believed to be above the law. His party chieftain, Chief Olabode George was convicted during Yar’adua’s adminitration. He did not create political enemies who he needed the anti-graft agencies, notably the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to humiliate as Obasanjo did.

After his assumption, he saved the jobs of over 160, 000 federal workers pencilled for sack under various pretences. Not only that, he released the N10 billion Lagos State local government councils’ funds which Obasanjo sat fat on despite court orders. Yar’adua went ahead and reversed the increment of Value Added Tax (VAT) from 10 percent to five as well as the hike in fuel price from N75 to N65. Read full

A very important aspect of the legacy of late Yar'Adua was his respect of the law. When he summoned then EFCC boss, Nuhu Ribadu to complete all cases against corrupt persons and spare no one, he is noted to have directed that Ribadu must respect and abide by the law in all cases and at all times. Compared to today, the current Buhari administration has disobeyed the courts in several cases and continues to do so, holding people in detention without charge and in denial of bail.

The Yar'Adua administration is noted to have strengthened the judicial system beyond compare, an essentiality for national growth and progress.

His Death And The Conclusion
There are many more instances of Yar’Adua’s stunning and committed actions towards strengthening the judiciary, developing the economy, securing the nation and total war against corruption. But Yar'Adua suddenly took seriously ill and suspected he had been poisoned. As relayed in Wikileaks cables, Professor Ukandi G. Damachi, an insider and confidant to Babangida and other Nigerian top elite, claimed that late Yar’Adua suspected he had been poisoned by his kitchen staff who he inherited from the former president, Obasanjo. This belief was grave enough according to Professor Ukandi G. Damachi, that Yar’Adua fired all the kitchen staff and replaced them.

Suspicion of poisoning has been rather common in Nigeria’s story, and Shehu Musa, Yar’Adua’s elder brother, was believed to have been killed by poisoning in jail as also it is believed late president elect MKO Abiola was.

Yar’Adua’s wife, Turai is also reported to have believed her husband was poisoned, and this was done to speed up his death. [Fresh Facts, May 2010: “They Killed Yar’Adua”].

When the Goodluck Jonathan administration took over, during a valedictory session in Yar’Adua’s honour, a motion to investigate the conditions of Yar’Adua’s death was raised by senators who alleged that the circumstances leading to the death of Yar’Adua were suspicious, but this motion to probe did not pass the floor and so this possibility was never investigated.

While the predecessor governments, especially the immediate past Jonathan government, certainly messed up Nigeria, we believe it is time the current administration gets over regurgitating the past to explain the predicament of these times. A several month delay in choosing his cabinet (which ended up consisting of nothing special and EFCC and ICPC implicated members with records of corruption in their states) and the delays in signing the budget cost Nigeria a year. This was essential time that should have been used to block and possibly prevent the recession currently bedeviling the nation. Ongoing gifts of billions of dollars in forex subsidies to the corrupt cabal are not helping either. Late Yar'Adua believed in the power of the people over the cabal. This is a legacy that needs to be emulated.

We wish the government success in its efforts to rescue Nigeria.

Dr. Peregrino Brimah
@EveryNigerian

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Saraki: Senate to seek sack of incompetent ministers, others

Senate President Bukola Saraki has said that the Senate will recommend the immediate removal from office ministers and other presidential aides who fail to measure up in the Federal Government’s efforts to exit the country from economic recession.

Saraki also said that the Senate would next week invite all those involved in the management of the economy to tell Nigerians what steps they were taking to rescue the economy from recession.

A statement by the Special Adviser, media and publicity, to the Senate President, Yusuph Olaniyonu said that Saraki spoke during an interactive Town Hall meeting on Sunday tagged ‘#AskSaraki’, which was organized for constituents of his Kwara Central Senatorial district, as part of the activities to mark the Eid-el-Kabir celebrations.

Saraki was quoted to have said, “Those of us that you have elected into office are aware of the difficult economic situation in our country. We know we have to find a solution as fast as possible. We have no option. Once the Senate resumes, we will invite all those involved in the management of the economy to explain to the people what they are doing to solve the problem. Whoever among them does not measure up to expectation in his or her explanation we will recommend that he should be removed. This is time for co-operation and exchange of ideas.

"As things stand, I understand your concerns and feel your pains about the economy. I assure you that we will work together to bring about legislative and policy solutions to address the lingering economic situation.”

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Ex-British Prime Minister David Cameron Decides To End Political Career

Former Prime Minister David Cameron, who has stayed out of the public eye since leaving Downing Street in July, has decided to step down from his position in Parliament and put an end to his political career.

Cameron’s surprise announcement Monday will trigger a by-election in the county of Witney in Oxfordshire, which has been a safe seat for his Conservative Party for several decades.

Cameron, 49, won a general election in 2015, but his political fortunes shifted overnight in June when British voters rejected his pleas and decided to leave the European Union.

He announced the next morning he would step down as prime minister but planned to stay on in Parliament. On Monday, he said he had concluded that it made more sense for him to leave public office altogether.

“In my view, the circumstances of my resignation as prime minister and the realities of modern politics make it very difficult to continue on the backbenches without the risk of becoming a diversion to the important decisions that lie ahead for my successor in Downing Street and the Government,” Cameron said.

The former prime minister said he fully supports successor Theresa May, now charged with carrying out the voters’ mandate to extricate Britain from the 28-nation EU bloc.

May said in a statement she had been proud to serve in Cameron’s government, where she held the important role of home secretary, and said the government had accomplished great things under his leadership.

Cameron did not announce his future plans. He became party leader in 2005 and prime minister in 2010, when he led a coalition government that included the Liberal Democrats.

His Conservatives won an outright majority in 2015, strengthening his hand considerably, but he was brought down by voters’ unhappiness with the EU, in part because of unchecked immigration from other EU countries into Britain.

The date for the by-election has not yet been set.

He promised to support the Conservative Party candidate chosen to replace him in the by-election that will be held in order to fill the Parliament vacancy.

ChicagoTribune

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Patience Jonathan Opens Up: "Frozen Account With $31.4m Belongs To Me"

Former First Lady, Dame Patience Jonathan, is claiming ownership of the $31.4 million involved in an alleged fraud case before a Federal High Court in Lagos.
Counsel to the first defendant in charge, with case number FHC/337C/16, Mr. Gboyega Oduwole, informed the court that Mrs. Jonathan filed a fundamental application against the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), claiming ownership of the Millions of Dollars.

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Recession: Presidency Moves Cuts Number Of Presidential Jets By Emmanuel Aziken

Apparently heeding the mood of the nation in recession, the presidency has commenced moves to offload a number of aircraft in the Presidential air fleet.

In that direction, Saturday Vanguard learnt yesterday that a technical committee constituted by the office of the National Security Adviser, ONSA had been constituted to make recommendations on a suitable number of aircraft to be retained in the PAF.

he technical committee is to come up with a recommendation of a suitable size for the fleet which in time past had drawn criticisms from Nigerians for being unwieldy compared to the Nigerian economy and state of development. Presently, the fleet is composed of nine fixed wing aircraft and a number of helicopters. N5,190,381,386.00 was appropriated for the fleet in the 2015 budget.

Presidential spokesman, Mallam Garba Shehu also revealed the plans to offload the presidential jets on twitter yesterday when he debunked criticism that President Muhammadu Buhari’s admonitions to Nigerians in his new ethics campaign was self serving. A Nigerian, J. J. Omojuwa responding to admonitions from Mr. Femi Adeshina, Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity to heed Buhari’s message to propel change from the inside had tweeted back thus: Change begins with selling the presidential jets. ONLY a genuinely rich country should think of having up to 3.

We have about 10 jets. Mallam Shehu, the Senior Special Assistant, SSA to the President on Media and Publicity immediately engaged him, saying that: There is a govt committee already in place, working to reduce the number of aircraft in the presidential fleet.

Shehu also followed the tweet within minutes with another tweet: Some aircraft will be boarded, some others returned to the Air Force for operations.

The Change is here. The move to streamline the Presidential Air Fleet would undoubtedly lessen criticisms against the All Progressives Congress, APC administration which had been recently flayed for seemingly backtracking on some of the promises of cutting waste in the affairs of governmenta.

A source told Saturday Vanguard that once the report of the technical committee is ready it would be submitted to the president for appropriate action. One of the expected recommendations is that the range of aircraft type in the fleet be narrowed down to cut down the cost of maintaining different brands of aircraft often in different parts of the world.

The fleet presently consists of a Boeing Business Jet, Gulfstream aircraft, Falcon, Hawker Series and Augusta brands of aircraft.

Vanguard

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We Must Be the Change We Want to See In Our Country, By Muhammadu Buhari

I am therefore appealing to all Nigerians to be part of this campaign. Our citizens must realise that the change they want to see begins with them, and that personal and social reforms are not theoretic exercises. If you have not seen the change in you, you cannot see it in others or even the larger society.

Nigeria today is passing through a challenging moment where hardly anything works in a normal manner. Many have attributed this phenomenon to the total breakdown of our core values over the years.

It is safe to say today that honesty, hard work, Godliness have given way to all kinds of manifestations of lawlessness and degeneration in our national life. This is why we have among our cardinal objectives ‘change’, which implies the need for a change of attitude and mindset in our everyday life.

I need not mention the serious effort we have engaged in since the inception of this administration on the fight against corruption in our public life. With the progress we have so far made in that regard, we feel the need to ensure that we put in place the necessary sustainable framework for action and measures that will help to entrench and consolidate the progress achieved so far.

This we believe can best be maintained through attitudinal change, and the change of our mindset in private and public life. The campaign we are about to launch today is all about the need for us to see change not merely in terms of our economic, social progress but in terms of our personal behaviour on how we conduct ourselves, engage our neigbhours, friends and generally how we relate with the larger society in a positive and definitive way and manner that promotes our common good and common destiny, change at home, change in the work place, change at traffic junctions, change at traffic lights etc.

This campaign is part of the determination of our party to seek to carry all Nigerians along on the journey to a better and greater society that we all can be proud of.

There is no doubt that our value system has been badly eroded over the years. The long-cherished and time honoured, time-tested virtues of honesty, integrity, hard work, punctuality, good neighbourliness, abhorrence of corruption and patriotism, have given way in the main to dishonesty, indolence, unbridled corruption and widespread impunity.

The resultant effect of this derailment in our value system is being felt in the social, political and economic spheres. It is the reason that some youths will take to cultism and brigandage instead of studying hard or engaging in decent living; it is the reason that some elements will break pipelines and other oil facilities, thus robbing the nation of much-needed resources; it is the reason that money belonging to our commonwealth will be brazenly stolen by the same public officials to whom they were entrusted; it is the reason why motorist drive through red traffic lights, it is the reason that many will engage in thuggery and vote-stealing during elections; it is part of what has driven our economy into deep problem out of which we are now working hard to extricate ourselves. Every one of us must make a change from our old ways of doing things, we cannot fold our arms and allow things to continue the old way.

I charge all to pursue the campaign with vigour and ensure its sustenance by taking it to all the nook and crannies of this country, with the aim of getting the buy in of the old, the young, the rich, and the poor, irrespective of gender or other social positions.

We must resist the temptation to fall back on the same partisanism, pettiness and immaturity that have poisoned our country for so long. Let us summon a new spirit of responsibility, of service, of patriotism and sacrifice. Let us all resolve to pitch in and work hard and look after, not only ourselves, but one another. What the current problem has taught us is that we cannot have a thriving army of rent seekers and vested interests, while the majority suffers.

Rather than sit back and complain endlessly, we have decided to act pragmatically, with the launch of this National Re-orientation campaign. The campaign will not be a sprint but a marathon that will run the course of our tenure. We are under no illusion that the changes we seek will happen overnight, but we have no doubt that the campaign will help restore our value system and rekindle our nationalistic fervour.

I am therefore appealing to all Nigerians to be part of this campaign. Our citizens must realise that the change they want to see begins with them, and that personal and social reforms are not theoretic exercises. If you have not seen the change in you, you cannot see it in others or even the larger society. In other words, before you ask ‘where is the change they promised us’, you must first ask how far have I changed my ways; ‘what have I done to be part of the change for the greater good of society’?

While the government will drive the “Change Begins With Me” campaign, it must be strongly supported by all concerned individually. In this regard, the private sector is a major stakeholder. Indeed when the campaign succeeds, it will impact heavily on the private sector. A punctual, diligent and hardworking staff can only be of benefit not just to himself or herself or the organisation he or she works for but to various governments whether at local, state or federal level.

While congratulating the stakeholders, especially the Ministry of Information and Culture and the National Orientation Agency for conceiving this campaign, I charge all to pursue the campaign with vigour and ensure its sustenance by taking it to all the nook and crannies of this country, with the aim of getting the buy in of the old, the young, the rich, and the poor, irrespective of gender or other social positions.

Your Excellencies, Honourable Ministers, Members of the National Assembly, Ladies and Gentlemen, it is now my pleasure to formally launch and handover the instrument of the Change Campaign tagged “Change Begins With Me” to the Honourable Minister for Information and Culture, for transmission to all Nigerians and friends of Nigeria. Indeed I say to the glory of Mighty Allah, “Change Begins With Me”.

Thank you all for your kind attention

Muhammadu Buhari (GCFR) is president of Nigeria.

This is the text of the speech of President Muhammadu Buhari at the launch of the National Re-orientation Campaign, Change Begins With Me, at the Banquet Hall of the State House, Abuja, on Thursday, September 8, 2016.

premiumTimes

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UPDATE | INEC Postpones Edo Election

Following "security report", the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), has postpone the Edo State governorship election by two weeks.

The election had earlier been scheduled for Saturday September 10, 2016. Inside sources confirmed that the election may now hold in two weeks.

It was earlier gathered that the election will now hold on Wednesday 28th September, 2016. But why the choice of Wednesday (working day) and not a Saturday as usual?

According to Leadership investigations, the police pulled out it’s personnel while the National Youth Service Corp (NYSC) refused to deployed Corps members for the Saturday exercise.

The source said that it appears impossible for INEC to deploy staff and material.

He said, “There is no security to escort them simply because they are unavailable. The security agencies are going to formally communicate their security advise to us in a short while. 

“We shall meet to take a decision. At the moment it is no longer feasible to deploy and conduct the elections. NYSC has advised us that many parents have called to withdraw their children from election duty. Since they form the bulk of election duty personnel, their withdrawal is a major challenge.”

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INEC Says Edo Gguber Election Must GO ON

The Independence National Electoral Commission (INEC) will not cancel the Edo state governorship election scheduled to hold on September 10, 2016. The Nigeria Civil Society Situation Room has condemned the call for the postponement of the election by the Nigeria Police Force and the Department of State Security.   The group, including over 70 civil society organisations, ‎while briefing journalists in Benin on Thursday, described the advice as a “gratuitous” and unconstitutional interference in the independence of INEC as contained in Section 160(2) 160(2) the 1999 Constitution (as amended). Read below the statement from the Nigeria Civil Society Situation Room: “The Nigeria Civil Society Situation Room (Situation Room) comprising more than seventy Civil Society Organisations, is in Benin-City to observe the Edo Governorship Election. “Situation Room expresses disappointment at reports that the Nigeria Police and Directorate of State Security (DSS) have advised INEC to postpone the Edo Governorship election scheduled for Saturday, 10th September 2016. “Situation Room considers this advice as a gratuitous and unconstitutional interference in the independence of INEC. The advice is in clear violation of S.160 (2) of the 1999 Constitution (as amended), which forbids any person or authority from giving directives or seeking to control INEC – it being an independent body. “It is surprising that the police and DSS who are part of the Inter Agency Consultative Committee on Elections Security (ICCES) together with INEC, did not formally brief INEC before issuing this contentious statement, to enable all key stakeholders review whatever security challenges the security services may claim to have arisen. “The “advice” by these security agencies has undermined public confidence in the conduct of the Edo state governorship poll. INEC now faces a more challenging task of assuring all parties that a revised poll can be properly organized within a constitutionally stipulated time frame. “We call on the police, DSS, and all security agencies to take note of their role and limitations within elections and the inter-agency co-ordination arrangements that have been developed over several years. “All elections must demonstrate the highest possible commitment from security services to support INEC in completing its constitutional role of organising credible elections that can inspire continued public confidence. Situation Room expresses its disappointment at the inability of security agencies to take charge and provide security to citizens and to INEC to enable it conduct free and fair elections. Share on Facebook Share on Twitter “The present situation appears contrived and threatens to truncate the democratic process in Nigeria. “Additionally, the huge material resources committed to the preparations for the elections by INEC, CSOS and other stakeholders, appears to have been flushed down the drain by the action of the Police and the DSS. “Situation Room believes that INEC has the constitutional powers to proceed with its plans to conduct the Edo State Governorship elections as scheduled and calls on President Muhammadu BUHARI to call the Police and security services to order, as well as to give their support to INEC to deliver on its mandate of conducting free and fair Governorship elections in Edo State as scheduled. “Situation room implores INEC to be guided by the provisions of the Electoral Act in relation to postponement, which states that all reasons must be cogent and verifiable. Finally, Situation Room calls on the people of Edo State to remain calm and vigilant and be ready to protect their constitutional rights to vote! “The Situation Room is made up of Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) working in support of credible and transparent elections in Nigeria and includes such groups as Policy and Legal Advocacy Centre (PLAC), CLEEN Foundation, Action Aid Nigeria, Centre for Democracy and Development (CDD), Enough is Enough Nigeria, WANGONET, Partners for Electoral Reform, JDPC and Youth Initiative for Advocacy, Growth & Advancement (YIAGA). Others are Development Dynamics, Human Rights Monitor, Election Monitor, Reclaim Naija, Institute for Human Rights and Humanitarian Law, CITAD, CISLAC and several other CSOs numbering more than seventy.” Earlier the source in the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has told Sahara Reporters that the governorship election scheduled for September 10 in Edo state would be postponed. According to the source, the main reason for postponement is the security advice that was given by the Nigerian Police and the Department of State Security. Four national INEC commissioners and the Chairman, Prof Mahmood Yakubu have not been able to get further information from the Inspector General of the Police and the Director General of the DSS as they have denied to give further information on the security threats that led to their advice. READ ALSO: President Buhari arrives in Edo for APC mega rally (Photo) The main electoral body is seriously considering demobilizing its staff and resources deployed for the poll. Nigerian police have stopped providing police personnel to assist INEC officials in distributing sensitive election materials since the security advice was given yesterday, the source said. The Department of State Services and Nigeria Police Force have on September 7, Wednesday, advised the INEC to shift the governorship election, quoiting security concerns as the reason for the request. The Peoples Democratic Party reacting to the calls for postponement of the electoral exercise has accused the APC of plotting to move the election due to fear of losing the poll.

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I Didn’t Hand Over a Collapsed Nation To Buhari – Dr. Goodluck Jonathan

Former President, Goodluck Jonathan has replied his critics who accused him of handing over a nation at the verge of collapse to his successor, President Muhammadu Buhari.

Jonathan recounted the achievements of his government to include, handing over a country that produced the richest man in Africa.

Jonathan said, “I took over a Nigeria that was the second largest economy in Africa with a GDP of $270.5 billion in 2009, I handed over a Nigeria that had grown to become the largest economy in Africa and the 24th largest economy in the World with a GDP of $574 billion.

“I inherited a Nigeria in which the trains were not working, and handed over a Nigeria in which citizens can safely travel by trains again. I also inherited a country where illiteracy rate particularly in the Northern part was alarming. I handed over a country where every state in the North and indeed all the states had a Federal University. I inherited a country where there was total infrastructural decay in all the unity schools and colleges of education. But I handed over a country with massive infrastructural improvement in almost higher institutions. I inherited a country where agricultural inputs and production were almost zero. But I handed over a country where a bag of rice was sold for N6,500 to N7000. My regime since the establishment of ecological fund office did more irrigation dams in the North and other parts of the country than other subsequent administrations put together. I inherited epileptic fuel supplies resulting to endless queues at the filling stations. I maintained despite enormous challenges of fuel subsidies and handed over a relatively stable fuel regime.

I inherited a Nigeria that was a net importer of cement, and handed over a Nigeria that is a net exporter of cement.

In 2009 the richest Nigerian was the 5th richest man in Africa, but I handed over a Nigeria that produced the richest man in Africa.

The former President further stated ” I inherited a country where people were almost losing hope on the credibility of its electoral process but I noticed that democracy will continue to grow in the African continent if leaders value the process of elections more than the product of the process. I handed over electoral process that engendered fairness in its conduct and conclusiveness “.

He said, “Even in the 2015 general elections in my country, Nigeria, there was potential for major crisis if I was not a President duly elected by the will of the people.

“The campaigns leading to the elections almost polarized the country into Christian vs Muslims and North vs South divide.

Most World leaders were worried that our elections will result into major crisis.
Some pundits even from here in the United States said that those elections would spell the end of Nigeria and that we would cease to exist as a nation because of the polls.

That is where the leadership question comes into play.

As a leader that was duly elected by the people, I considered the people’s interest first.

How do I manage my people to avoid killings and destruction of properties?

With the interest of the people propelling all the decisions I took, we were able to sail through.

Indeed, we sailed through because I refused to interfere with the independence of the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, having appointed a man I had never met in my life to run it. We sailed through because I maintained and still believe that my personal ambition, interest is not worth the blood of any single Nigerian.

My philosophy was simple. For elections to be credible, I as a leader, must value the process more than the product of the process. And the citizens must have confidence in the electoral body.

Pls circulate it for them to know. The deceit is getting too much

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Nigeria Has Been Badly Governed, But Now There is Hope — VP Osinbajo

*Says economy already producing good results in agric & solid minerals
*Pipelines vandalism responsible for loss of 1m bpd in oil production for 6 months
There is no country in the world that can face the kind of stealing that has taken place in Nigeria without having to deal with the consequences, including the current state of the economy.

Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, SAN, made this assertion on Tuesday while receiving a delegation of the Northern States Pentecostal Bishops Forum in his office at the Presidential Villa, assuring however that even though times are hard today, “there is great hope that this country will prosper.”

According to him, "this country has been badly governed. We are dealing for instance with the embezzlement of funds to the tune of $15B in one sector alone."

Continuing, Prof. Osinbajo observed that there are those who are asking ‘why talking about the past’ and he posed a response: “We have to, that is why we are here.”

“We have not turned attention to the oil and gas sector, where the former CBN Governor alleged that $20B was stolen. We must condemn and stand up against this level of corruption. It is the single most important reason of the current state of the country. We can’t ignore it.”

The Vice President then called on Christian and religious leaders generally in the country to condemn corruption "openly". He added that “we can’t say because they are Christians or Muslims we wont condemn those involved in corruption.”

Responding to the views of the leader of the delegation, Archbishop John Praise Daniel that members of the forum have been actively involved in the fight against corruption in Nigeria, the VP said indeed the “country has been systematically destroyed.”

He explained: “Our currency depreciated because we don't have the reserves to back it. At the height of the oil boom, there were no savings.”

In addition to the massive fall in oil prices, the VP stated that the vandalization of pipelines has led to a worsening of the situation with the country loosing about 1m barrels of oil per day for up to 6 months now. The vandalism has equally cut power supply short since gas pipelines were also destroyed.

“That is the background for the sort of situation we find ourselves,” Prof Osinbajo asserted while expressing renewed hope that “God surely has a plan for this country. We (as a government) are open, honest, transparent and we shall use the resources of this country very well.”

He pointed out that the recent GDP figures released last week indicated clearly there is growth in agric and solid minerals. According to him "agric and solid minerals have witnessed improvements."

The social investment programmes according to the Vice President are on course, reassuring the nation “that very soon the 500,000 jobs scheme will take off,” alongside other schemes.

Earlier Archbishop Daniel expressed the support of the forum for the diversification of the Nigerian economy by the Buhari presidency, while calling for access to lower interest rates. The forum also asked the federal government to checkmate the violent herdsmen, create ranches in the states and promote religious harmony.

Responding the Vice President noted that President Buhari has given clear instructions to the security agencies to deal with anyone regardless of status who carries arms and also deal with anyone that causes and perpetrates violence of any kind.

“The President has said twice in the past fortnight that anyone who commits atrocities must be arrested and tried and he has demonstrated that resolve,” Prof Osinbajo said.

He however added that generally the country’s criminal justice system is rather slow in delivering justice, adding that there is need for justice sector reforms.

His words: “The justice system is very slow, not just in some cases, but generally extremely slow. For example it takes for ever before a murder trial gets to court.”

Laolu Akande
Senior Special Assistant-Media & Publicity
In the Office of the Vice President

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