Buhari Assures EU Of End To Northeast Security Challenges [SUN]
President Muhammadu Buhari has assured the European Union (EU) that though it might take a bit longer, the nation will surely put the issues associated with the troubles in the Northeast in order to move ahead.
He gave the assurance Friday in Abuja while receiving the European Union (EU) Commissioner for Crisis Management, Janez Lenarcic, at the State House.
Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Femi Adesina, in a statement quoted Buhari as saying, “If we were capable to fight a 30-month civil war and reorganised our country, I wonder why people are thinking that Nigeria cannot do it.
“I assure you of Nigeria’s commitment to enhance and deepen cooperation with the EU in all areas. Our priorities in the next level is to ensure that Internally Displaced Persons, IDPs, are rehabilitated so that livelihood should be established and the children should not lose the opportunity to go back to school, which is very important for the future of that area and Nigeria generally.
Plateau Records 5 Cases Of Lassa Fever [SUN]
The Plateau Commissioner of Health, Dr. Nimkong Ndam, yesterday confirmed five cases of Lassa fever in the state.
Ndam told newsmen in Jos that the patients suffering from the ailment had been admitted in two hospitals in the state, adding that three of them were undergoing treatment; one just completed treatment, while the fifth one had been discharged.
He said Lassa fever was not new in the state because the area had experienced the disease before. “However, the health personnel are on the ground to handle the situation and they have the required protective kits to wear while treating such cases.
“We are in contact with the hospitals in the state to address such cases promptly and to curtail the spread of the disease. We also have the protective kits required of health workers to wear when treating such cases,” he said.
Biafra: Ojukwu’s Excuse, Absolute Nonsense –Gowon [SUN]
Nigeria’s wartime Head of State, Gen. Yakubu Gowon has given further insights into happenings that led to the Biafra war, which ended 50 years ago. According to excerpts from an exclusive interview with the former military leader and published as part of Mike Awoyinfa’s Press Clips column in this edition of Saturday Sun, Gowon said Ikemba Odumegwu Ojukwu’s excuse for avoiding initial peace meetings before the war eventually broke out was absolute nonsense.
His words, “For absenting himself from the meetings, Ojukwu tried to use insecurity as excuse. But to me, that was absolute nonsense. Even in Accra, in Aburi, there could be the question of insecurity there. Anything could have happened. If we wanted, could we have not have arranged for some deranged persons in Ghana to deal with that particular problem? That was really the question that he tried to raise. That it is insecurity. We promised him security. That all of us were there and none of us would have had any desire to hurt or harm him, or to hurt the Ibos. Because if you do anything, you are hurting the Ibos. And if you do that, then they would have had all the rights to say that if you have done this to our leader, we are not accepting anyone else, unless you produce him. At least, we are honest and honorable enough to ensure the security of everyone there, for the sake of the country.”
While dismissing insinuations of existing rivalry between him and Ojukwu, he said “I don’t know why people keep referring to the so-called rivalry between me and Ojukwu. There was no question of rivalry between us at all. As young officers in the army, our relationship was exceptionally good. We were very friendly. The only time that anything happened was in 1964 after the election, when Zik sacked Balewa and Balewa sacked Zik. That was the time that probably you can say certain developments led me to give a warning, because there was this question of some of the senior military officers between Banjo and Ojukwu, urging the military to intervene on behalf of Zik.
Coronavirus: Fear Grips Immigration, Port Health Officials Over China Killer Disease [PUNCH]
The Nigeria Immigration Service and Port Health Services have expressed fears over the outbreak of Coronavirus in China.
The deadly disease, which broke out in the Asian nation sometime last month, has spread to eight countries including United States and Singapore, with over 800 people infected and 30 killed in the past few weeks.
Immigration and Port Health Services officials, said hundreds of the Chinese who left Nigeria for China to celebrate their annual festival – Lunar New Year – would start returning to Lagos, Abuja and other parts of the country from next week.
As such, they expressed fears of the possibility the Asians contracting the disease and bringing it into the country.
We Are Set To Kick Off Operation Amotekun — South-West Governors [PUNCH]
The Chairman of the South-West Governors’ Forum, Rotimi Akeredolu, has said the region’s security outfit, Operation Amotekun, will kick off any moment from now.
The Ondo State Governor, who spoke through his Special Adviser on Security Matters, Alhaji Jimoh Dojumo, said this after the meeting between South-West governors and Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo in Abuja on Thursday.
He said, “As it is now, we are good to go; any moment from now the operation will kick off. We are commencing our recruitment any moment from now in line with government position.
He also said they would send a bill to the House of Assembly to begin legislative work on the outfit.
Lasser Fever: Panic As Edo, Bauchi Record 179 Fresh Cases [NATION]
- One dies, 50 placed under watch in Rivers •States firm up emergency responses
MORE states embarked on drastic measures on Friday to check the Lassa fever outbreak in some parts of the country from spreading.
Edo State said 76 residents tested positive to the virus out of 175 suspected cases while Bauchi confirmed three new cases with 15 people under observation.
Nigeria ‘ll end North-East Insurgency, Just Like Civil War — Buhari [NATION]
PRESIDENT Muhammadu Buhari declared on Friday that Nigeria would soon see the end of the Boko Haram insurgency in the North-East.
Buhari told the European Union (EU) Commissioner for Crisis Management, Janez Lenarcic, who visited him in Abuja that Nigeria had faced challenges in the past and managed to overcome and forged on.
”If we were capable to fight a 30-month civil war and reorganized our country, I wonder why people are thinking that Nigeria cannot do it,” his Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Mr.Femi Adesina, quoted him as saying.
He said much of the terrorism in West Africa, particularly Mali, Mauritania, Niger and Burkina Faso was caused by the crisis in Libya.
He said that the newly created Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development would effectively manage all attendant crises from the insurgency.
Oko Oloyun: Police Link Killing To Alleged Fraud In His Office [NATION]
- Grill workers, two police escorts •Vow to fish out killers
COULD the trado-medical practitioner, Alhaji Fatai Yusuff a.k.a.Oko Oloyun have been killed on the strength of his discovery of alleged fraud in his business?
This is one of the knots the police are trying to untie after their preliminary investigation into the murder of the Lagos based popular herbalist suggested that he recently found out that the finances of his company had been tampered with by some of his staff.
Not long after the discovery, the office where the alleged fraud was committed was set on fire, the Oyo State Police Command said on Friday.
Yusuff was shot dead in an ambush on Thursday by gunmen along the Igboora – Eruwa road in Oyo State.
The police said they were already questioning some of the staff, and the two police escorts who were travelling with him when he was shot.
Governors Are United On Community Policing, Says Lalong [NATION]
- States intensify efforts to check insecurity
ALL the 36 state governors are for community policing, Governor Simon Lalong of Plateau State said on Friday as the controversy over the establishment of the Western Nigeria Security Network codenamed Operation Amotekun continued.
But Lalong said desirable as such policy is in view of the security challenges across the country,local security arrangements must operate within the ambit of the law.
Several states governments are already intensifying efforts to check brigandage in their territories.
“We discovered that all of us appeared to be talking about community policing. We have all agreed on that,” the Plateau State governor told reporters yesterday in Abuja.
But he added: “We don’t want a situation where you start doing something and the federal government says you are doing it outside the law just like we say about Amotekun.”
APC Govs Back Community Policing, Differ On Amotekun [LEADERSHIP]
Governors elected on the platform of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) have accepted the federal government’s community policing arrangement but differed on “Operation Amotekun” adopted by six of their members from the South West zone.
The governors, who operate under the umbrella of the Progressive Governors Forum (PGF), said that they were confident that the community policing planned by the federal government would curb the security challenges facing the country.
Although they expressed opposing views on the creation and deployment of regional security operatives within the country, the governors unanimously condemned the recent killing of a pastor and a student by Boko Haram insurgents in Adamawa and Plateau states respectively.
They said that the terrorists resorted to the callous acts to cause religious disharmony in the country.
Security Beef-up In 11 States As INEC Holds Rerun Polls [LEADERSHIP]
Rerun elections in 28 constituencies will be conducted by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in 11 states of the federation today.
INEC national chairman, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, said that most of the elections were ordered by the courts.
Yakubu made the disclosure during the swearing-in of two resident electoral commissioners (RECs) in Abuja. The RECs are Dr Alalibo Sinikiem Johnson from Bayelsa State and Umar Mukhtar Gajiram from Borno State, who have been posted to Cross Rivers and Taraba States respectively,
Yakubu immediately gave then marching orders preside over today’s elections in their states.
LEADERSHIP Weekend discovered that all the polls holding today were for legislative seats such as the Senate, House of Representatives and states’ Houses of Assembly.
CBN Cautions FG On Rising Debt Stock [LEADERSHIP]
The Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has expressed misgivings over the country’s rising debt stock and therefore admonished the federal government to exercise restraints on the matter because it was getting above the nation’s domestic and external revenue.
It specifically urged the fiscal authorities not to be carried away by the fact that Nigeria’s debt-to-Gross Domestic Product (GDP) ratio was still within the 25 per cent debt limit set by the government.
Before the apex bank’s warning yesterday, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) had in April 2019 said Nigeria’s debt-to-GDP ratio was good but risky and cannot be guaranteed going forward.
After its meeting in Abuja, the MPC said that since public debt was rising faster than both domestic and external revenue, there was need for the government to tread consciously in interpreting the debt-to- GDP ratio.
CBN governor, Mr Godwin Emefiele, who briefed journalists on the outcome of the MPC meeting in Abuja, yesterday, said that “the committee also noted the rising burden of debt services and urged the fiscal authorities to strongly consider building buffers by not sharing all proceeds from the Federation Account at the monthly FAAC meetings to avert the macroeconomic downturn in the event of an oil price shock,”