Salami Panel Recommends Ouster Of Police From EFCC [LEADERSHIP]
The Judicial Commission of Inquiry investigating the suspended acting chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Ibrahim Magu, has asked President Muhammadu Buhari to disengage the Nigeria Police Force (NPF) from the anti-graft agency.
According to the panel headed by former president of the Court of Appeal, Justice Isa Ayo Salami, an exit plan for the ouster of the police and other personnel within two years from now should be considered.
The panel, while submitting its report to President Muhammadu Buhari at the presidential villa yesterday, noted that this will address the issue of non-promotion of core staff of the EFCC for over nine years.
The panel also asked President Buhari to sack Magu, a commissioner of police, as the acting chairman of the EFCC.
Accordingly, the panel asked the president to appoint a new EFCC chairman in an interim position for two years
It recommended that the president should also look outside the police force in appointing the next chairman, especially a core-operative within the commission.
While presenting the panel’s final report, chairman of the panel, Justice Salami said, “Your Excellency, permit me to say that four successive chairmen of the EFCC from inception have been drawn from the police. Therefore, in appointing a new chairman of EFCC, consideration should be given to candidates from other law enforcement or security agencies and qualified core staff of EFCC as provided in the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (Establishment Act 2004).
“It is also important to point out that at the moment, 970 policemen (114 drivers, 641 mobile policemen and 215 operations), are on secondment in the EFCC. Therefore, an exit plan for the disengagement of the police and other personnel within two years from now should be considered. This will address the issue of no promotion of core staff for over nine years.
“Your Excellency, our thinking here is that whoever you are appointing other than a core EFCC staff, should be in transitional capacity of two years, during which period an arrangement would be made for appointment of any of the core staff who has been recommended by National Crime Agency, UK and other international law enforcement for their professionalism.”
Justice Salami further said that Magu, and 113 witnesses appeared and testified before the commission of inquiry, adding that 46 petitions and memoranda were presented by individuals and organisations with complaints against the suspended Acting Chairman, EFCC or both.
Justice Salami disclosed that the commission also embarked on a nationwide physical verification of recovered forfeited assets, comprising real estates, automobiles, vessels and non-cash assets.
He commended the president for the initiative to dispose of all forfeited assets “because of the poor condition of the assets we saw during our physical verification nationwide.”
PIB, New Electoral Law For Passage In 2021 – Lawan [LEADERSHIP]
The Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB), the Electoral Act 2010 (Amendment) Bill and the ongoing review of the 1999 Constitution will be ready for passage in 2021.
Senate president, Senator Ahmed Lawan, who disclosed this yesterday, also revealed that the National Assembly was working hard to ensure the passage of the 2021 Appropriation Bill in the next three weeks.
Lawan made the disclosures at a retreat for top management staff of the National Assembly and National Assembly Service Commission (NASC) at the Transcorp Hilton in Abuja.
He said, “We are working to pass the 2021 budget by the second week of December by the Grace of God.
“We are working very assiduously; we will ensure that there is every possible scrutiny of the budget estimates presented to us by the Executive arm of government.
“So far, we achieved that in the 2020 budget. We believe we did the right thing. We promised Nigerians that we will do that and it is going to be part of our legacy in the Ninth National Assembly”.
“The PIB which is one of the most essential legislations that we have to have in this country, we intend to pass it by the Grace of God before the end of the second quarter of next year.
“We will take our time because this is a very delicate and sensitive piece of legislation. We will take our time to ensure that what comes out of the National Assembly in the PIB is a product of legislation that will ensure that Nigeria earns it’s revenues from this industry as it should and of course also support our business people, the oil companies that are investing and in fact retain and encourage new ones to come to Nigeria to invest.
“So it has to be a win-win for all of us. We will not be selfish as a country, trying to take everything. No! Oil is like water now. Almost every country now has oil. So if you don’t provide a competitive environment in Nigeria, oil companies will have no difficulty relocating to other countries. So we will ensure that we have a competitive environment for business and for investment”.
Lawan however acknowledged that the constitution amendment was not very warm at the moment because of the activities of members of the National Assembly on the 2021 budget.
He assured that the two committees in the Senate and the House were already working behind the scene to ensure that as soon as the budget is passed, activities on the constitution amendment will commence immediately.
“We believe that we should pass our amendments within 2021. Similarly the amendment to the Electoral Act is going to be within that year 2021 to ensure that we don’t encounter unnecessary distractions,” Lawan added
Strike: FG Shifts Ground, Raises ASUU’s Fund To N65bn [LEADERSHIP]
Prospects of university undergraduates returning to campus became more feasible yesterday as the federal government shifted ground on some of the demands made by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU).
After several hours of deliberation, the federal government made some adjustments, offering additional sum of N15billion to ASUU, making it a cumulative sum of N65billion for settlement of revitalisation funds for Universities and Earned Academic Allowances.
Although the strike still persists, the meeting which held at the Federal Ministry of Labour and Employment was however adjourned to Friday next week when stakeholders would further concretise the resolutions.
On the contentious Integrated Personnel Payroll and Information System (IPPIS), ASUU informed the meeting that it had carried out a demonstration of the University Transparency and Accountability Solution UTAS, to all of stakeholders and end users on Thursday 5th November at the National Universities Commission NUC, where some stakeholders raised questions that had been addressed.
The meeting agreed that going forward all stakeholders must be carried along in this process to ensure transparency.
On withheld salaries and non-remittance of check off dues, they agreed that the Federal Ministry of Education and Federal Ministry of Labour and Employment should reconsider the “No Work, No Pay” policy with a view to getting approval for the withheld salaries to be paid.
A brief communiqué issued at the end of the meeting noted: “It was also agreed that the mode of payment applied for the payment of those that had not been captured in the IPPIS platform between the months of February and June 2020 be adopted for the purpose of payment during this transition period.
“On the demand by ASUU for the payment of check off dues, the Accountant General of the Federation requested that ASUU and other unions should provide his office with the necessary information and dedicated account details in writing to facilitate the deductions and remittance of the check off dues”.
When ASUU and the federal government disagreed on these contentious issues, the Minister of Labour and Employment, Chris Ngige, had offered the striking academics N50billion as Earned Academic Allowances and Revitalisation Fund respectively, but insisted that IPPIS would be the platform for payment, a term that ASUU has remained opposed to.
Lekki shootings: Sanwo-Olu must appear before panel, #EndSARS lawyer insists [PUNCH]
Counsel for some #EndSARS protesters in Lagos State, Mr Adesina Ogunlana, has said Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu will have to appear before the Judicial Panel of Inquiry probing the alleged killing of #EndSARS protesters by soldiers at the Lekki tollgate on the night of October 20.
Ogunlana said since the military claimed before the panel that their operation on that day was on the invitation of the governor, it would be important for the governor to appear before the panel, particularly to demonstrate his professed belief in the rule of law.
The Commander of 81 Military Intelligence Brigade, Victoria Island, Lagos, Brigadier General Ahmed Taiwo, had during his cross-examination on Saturday said the Chief of Army Staff, Lt.-Gen. Tukur Buratai, ordered the deployment of soldiers to the tollgate and other parts of the state that day following a request by the governor.
“He (the governor) called the Chief of Army Staff, following which 81 Division, Nigerian Army was ordered into phase four of internal security operation; the call was in the afternoon, before 4pm,” Taiwo told the panel.
Meanwhile, in an interview with one of our correspondents on Friday, the lawyer was asked if the appearance of the governor was important to the case of his clients and whether he would be pushing for the governor’s appearance before the panel.
Ogunlana said, “Of course, that is taken (sic). That person (Sanwo-Olu) will have to come; he’s a factor and he will come. He says he believes in the rule of law, his Attorney General, Mr Moyosore Onigbanjo (SAN), has come to appear before that panel to just make a short speech and to affirm that the Lagos State Government is indeed committed to unraveling the truth about what happened at Lekki on that day; and the military has mentioned him, so, he is a factor.”
While the Nigerian Army has consistently maintained that it did not kill any of the #EndSARS protesters, Ogunlana, on the other hand, insisted that “people died on my side.”
His clients, Kamsiyochukwu Perpetual, Dabira Ayuku and Samuel Isah, had in their individual affidavits on oath submitted to the retired Justice Doris Okuwobi-led panel, stressed that soldiers and policemen shot and killed protesters.
Perpetual, in her petition, stated that she saw many dead bodies, including one with a bullet-torn head at Reddington Hospital, Lekki the morning after the shootings.
“The doctors refused us access to see the dead bodies. The media man waded in again and we could only see one of the dead bodies whose head was torn by (a) bullet fired to his head. He laid at the emergency unit. The doctor called the corpse ‘John Doe’ (sic).”
Ayuku, in her statement on oath, said, “The soldiers were asking people to run whilst they shot at them. I remember a particular soldier that kept dancing whilst he shot.”
Also, Isah said he witnessed how policemen allegedly gunned down a Nigerian flag-bearing youth.
He said, “That young man was hit by bullet in his head and died immediately, falling to the road with the Nigerian flag in his hand (sic).”
14-month unpaid salaries: We’re indebted, beg to eat, can’t buy pads – Pelican Stars [PUNCH]
“I owe people about N50,000 to buy boots, jerseys, foodstuff, and pads. But we were paid just two months salaries out of the 16 months we are owed, I don’t know how to explain that, but I must confess that things are so tough,” Pelican Stars captain Hodo Williams told Saturday PUNCH on Friday.
Williams’ revelation literarily summed up the frustrations of the players and officials of Nigeria Women’s Football League side Pelican Stars, who are still being owed 14 months salaries, after the Cross River State Government recently paid their two months’ wages.
“The suffering is much because we used the money we were paid recently to clear some of our debts,” Williams added.
In April, players of the Calabar-based club staged a protest at the U.J Esuene Stadium against the non-payment of their salary arrears, which was then 10 months.
Again in August, the female footballers blocked the entrance to the office of Governor Ben Ayade in protest over 14 months unpaid salaries by the Cross River State Government.
Some players of the club, who expressed their displeasure at the treatment of the players, pleaded with Ayade, to pay their outstanding 14-month salaries.
“We were told they wanted to pay us four months’ salaries, but we heard they paid the other two months into a wrong account,” a player of the team, Ogechi Onyinanya, said.
“They should help us and get it done fast because I still have to eat and it means I have to start begging again if we are not paid on time.”
The poor living conditions of the players has forced assistant captain of the team Chinenye Okafor to resort to learn a new trade –hairdressing –in a bid to seek survival elsewhere.
Her parents are against her playing football again following the traumatising times she’s passed through in Calabar.
“I am now in Lagos learning hairdressing. I have tried to convince my parents to allow me to go back to Calabar but they are against me playing football again,” Okafor said.
She added, “Things have been so tough; that is why I left Calabar for Lagos in June to stay with my parents, and they are the ones now taking care of me.
“The players have embarked on several protests after I left Calabar, but I don’t want to bother myself about it again. I just want to move on with my life.
“I now learn hairdressing at Ojodu-Berger in Lagos to keep myself busy.”
Williams said Governor Ayade refused to address the issue with the players during their last protest in August.
Amended constitution, Electoral Act, PIB ready 2021–Lawan [PUNCH]
President of the Senate, Ahmad Lawan, said on Friday that the National Assembly was working hard to ensure the passage of the 2021 Appropriation Bill by the second week of December, 2020.
He also said that the amended constitution and the Petroleum Industry Bill would be passed in 2021
Lawan stated these at a retreat for top management staff of the National Assembly and National Assembly Service Commission.
He said, “We are working to pass the 2021 budget by the second week of December by the grace of God. We are working very assiduously; we will ensure that there is every possible scrutiny of the budget estimates presented to us by the executive arm of government.
“So far, we achieved that in the 2020 budget. We believe we did the right thing. We promised Nigerians that we will do that and it is going to be part of our legacy in the ninth National Assembly.”
The Senate President also hinted that the Assembly would ensure the passage of the Petroleum Industry Bill by the second quarter of 2021.
He explained, “The PIB is one of the most essential legislations that we have to have in this country. We intend to pass it by the grace of God before the end of the second quarter of next year.
“We will take our time because this is a very delicate and sensitive piece of legislation. We will take our time to ensure that what comes out of the National Assembly in the PIB is a product of legislation that will ensure that Nigeria earns its revenues from this industry as it should.
“The bill will also support our business people, the oil companies that are investing and in fact retain and encourage new ones to come to Nigeria to invest.”
He added, “So it has to be a win-win for all of us. We will not be selfish as a country, trying to take everything. No. Oil is like water now. Almost every country now has oil. So if you don’t provide a competitive environment in Nigeria, oil companies will have no difficulty relocating to other countries.
“We will ensure that we have a competitive environment for business and for investment.”
Controversy as two schoolchildren die amid Ogun deworming exercise [PUNCH]
Attempts by the Ogun State Government to prevent cholera from killing schoolchildren in the state have boomeranged after it went awry.
An exercise initiated to deworm no fewer than 700,000 schoolchildren in 14 local government areas of the state this year has allegedly taken the lives of two pupils who were given deworming tablets. Omolaso Keyede, eight and Eniola Oyeyemi, nine, who were primary four pupils of St James African Church Nursery and Primary School, Idi-Ape, Abeokuta, died on Wednesday morning after vomiting and passing watery stools for hours.
The exercise commenced on Tuesday, November 17, 2020 in affected primary and secondary schools in the state and was scheduled to last for one week but it has already sent pain and sorrow to the families of Keyede and Oyeyemi, and who knows what tragedy lurks in the 14 local governments for other parents by the time the exercise would be over.
The death of the children has shattered their parents and left them distraught. Tears flowed freely from their eyes as our correspondent attempted to talk to them. It seemed that as relations and other sympathisers tried to console them, they sobbed heart-rending tears to a greater degree.
It was gathered that the deceased girls were mandated to take the deworming tablets in school on Tuesday and then fell ill in the evening. One of them was taken to a private hospital in Odo-Oyo, Abeokuta, that evening but she died around 3am on Wednesday – the following day.
The second pupil was also taken to the same hospital later but was declared dead on arrival. The development angered some parents who besieged the residences of the bereaved parents to sympathise with them.
Both families accused the government of killing their children prematurely.
The mother of nine-year-old Eniola, Kehinde Oyeyemi, said, “On Tuesday, she was told to come to the school with Eba because they wanted to deworm them. She ate Eba at home and went to the school with another plate of Eba. When she got back home, she was vomiting. She said she started vomiting in school after she was given deworming tablets.
“She said she vomited the drugs and the teacher gave her another (dose) to take. She complained that she had a stomach ache. She died early Wednesday morning and was foaming in the mouth.”
Like the Oyeyemis, the Keyedes are still making futile efforts to come to terms with the fact that they have lost nine-year-old Omolaso forever, even though she was reportedly hale and hearty when she left for school that tragic morning.
An aunt of the late eight-year-old Omolaso, Mrs Oluwatosin Nasiru, said the school management had been warned not to give the medication to the little girl, yet they went ahead. With sad eyes and in a quavering voice, Nasiru told the chilling story of how Omolaso was forced by an unnamed teacher to take the deworming drug despite putting up a strong resistance.
According to her, it didn’t take long after school hours for Omolaso to start reacting badly to the drug before she eventually died. She was taken to the hospital that evening but she died the following morning.
FG exempts ASUU from IPPIS, raises allowances, revitalization fund to N65bn [THE NATION]
The Federal Government and the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) appeared on Friday to be moving closer to an agreement after government decided to exempt the union from the controversial Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System (IPPIS).
The university lecturers are expected to develop their own payment platform, the University Transparency and Accountability Solution (UTAS), which will replace IPPIS.
Government also agreed to ASUU’s demand to pay their members’ salary arrears from February to June through the old salary payment platform – the Government Integrated Financial and Management Information System.
After weeks of negotiations and foot-dragging, government offered to raise the Earned Academic Allowances to university staff from N30bn to N35bn and the revitalisation fund from N20bn to N25bn.
Cumulatively, the government, through the Accountant -General of the Federation, offered the lectures N65 billion to call off their eight-month old strike.
The government also shifted grounds on a number of issues, including the insistence that all the academic staff of the federal universities must be paid through the IPPIS platform.
Labour and Employment Minister Chris Ngige, who read out the communique at the end of a seven-hour negotiation with ASUU members in Abuja, said the funds would be shared by all the registered trade unions in the universities after providing necessary evidence of having earned the allowance.
He said “Responding to the demand for immediate payment of 50% of the initial amount allotted for the purpose (revitalisation) which translates to N110 billion, the FG stated that this is not possible because of paucity of funds.
“The government, however, offered to pay N25 billion based on the Memorandum of Action (MoA) of 7th February, 2019 signed with ASUU or in the alternative, urged ASUU to accept N30 billion with the reduction in the earlier Earned Allowances.
Between the revitalisation and earned allowances, the FG has offered a cumulative sum of N65 billion.
“The Accountant-General of the Federation offered to immediately release N40 billion or in the alternative N35 billion to be shared by all the registered Trade Unions in the universities after providing the necessary evidence of having earned the allowance.
“The FG reiterated that her offer of N40 billion or 35 billion whichever is accepted by ASUU was for all the universities unions: ASUU had proposed that N40 billion be paid immediately for all unions,” the communique said.
The breakthrough in negotiations is expected to end the eight-month strike embarked on by the university lecturers.
Charly Boy, daughter in social media war [THE NATION]
Charly Boy Oputa and his lesbian daughter, Dewy, were locked in a war of words on the social media on Friday after the entertainer said he was in total support of the LGBTQ community and he had Dewy Oputa to thank for the experience of being a father to one.
“As a matter of fact, I now look back and find that I am grateful for the experience of having a gay or lesbian child,” the 69-year-old activist said on his Instagram handle.
Expressing love to Dewy, who lives in Atlanta, United States of America, Charly Boy said: “All I want is my Princess’ love, happiness, and success in her life. Anything else is secondary. I told myself that I will get through this, and many months later I did.”
When Dewy came out to him, Charly Boy recalls having mixed feelings before accepting her decision.
He said: “Nothing can come between me and any of my beautiful children.
“It is stupid to even think that having a gay child means that parents have failed. That’s some pedestrian thinking. Me, I love my gay daughter o, I love you Dewy,” he stressed four years after receiving the news of his daughter’s sexuality.
Recounting the experience from the day he received the news, Charly Boy, who is famous for being a cross-dresser and non-conformist, said it was tough because he had so many thoughts running through his mind but decided to go with the happiness of his daughter.
He said: “About 4yrs ago, my last Princess of the house called me from America. From her tone, I was bracing up for whatever she was about to tell me, especially when she kept saying to me, “Daddy, promise me you won’t get mad at me or give up on me,” he began.
“I am close with my children and I love them to bits. They are my friends. But I wasn’t really ready for the “breaking news” my Princess Dewy had for me.
When my child told me she is gay, a lesbian, I experienced a range of emotions, during that phone conversation.
“So many things went through my mind, one of them included self-blame (“Did I do something wrong?”) (“The child I thought I knew and loved no longer exists.”), worry (“Will my child be discriminated against?) religious confusion (“Is my child damned to spend eternity in hell?”), and stigma (“What will people think of my child? Of me?”),” he expressed.
EFCC: Magu out as Salami panel okays interim chair for two years [THE NATION]
THE suspended acting chairman of the Economic and Finance Crimes Commission (EFCC), Ibrahim Magu, is unlikely to return to the post, following a recommendation by the Judicial Commission of Inquiry into the activities of the commission.
The panel has told government to appoint a transitional chairman for the agency for two years.
The commission, headed by a former President of the Court of Appeal, Justice Isa Ayo Salami, also wants the next EFCC chairman to be appointed from other law enforcement agencies outside the Nigeria Police Force.
Besides, it is of the view that the Federal Government should disengage all the 970 policemen from the EFCC within two years.
The recommendations are some of the highlights of the panel’s report which was submitted to President Muhammadu Buhari at the Presidential Villa in Abuja yesterday.
Justice Salami said during the submission of the report that four consecutive chairmen of the EFCC from inception have been drawn from the police.
“Therefore in appointing a new chairman of EFCC, consideration should be given to candidates from other law enforcement or security agencies and qualified core staff of the EFCC as provided in the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (Establishment) Act 2004,” he said.
Continuing, he said: “It is also important to point out that at the moment, 970 policemen (114 drivers, 641 Mobile Policemen and 215 operations) are on secondnent in the EFCC.
“Therefore, an exit plan for the disengagement of police and other personnel within two years from now should be considered. This will address the issue of no promotion of core staff for over nine years.
“Your Excellency, our thinking here is that whoever you are appointing other than a core staff should be in transitional capacity of two years, during which period arrangement could be made for appointment of any of the core EFCC staff who has been commended by National Crime Agency UK and other international law enforcement for their professionalism.”
Lagos panel gets picture of SARS man who ‘threw trader off two-storey building’ [THE NATION]
THE Lagos State Judicial Panel of Enquiry and Restitution for Victims of SARS related abuses yesterday received, in evidence, a picture said to be that of one of the policemen who allegedly threw a trader off a two-storey building in 2018.
The picture was that of a bearded, fair-complexioned man.
It was tendered along with his phone number by phone accessories dealer, Ndukwe Ekekwe.
Ekekwe, 34, identified the face as “Hamzah”, adding that he was on the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) team which in February 2018, arrested, brutalized and threw him off the shopping complex at Alaba with his hands cuffed behind his back.
The petitioner said Hamza was the Investigating Police Officer (IPO) that took him to the hospital after his teeth was broken and his spine severed.
Ekekwe made his allegations while being cross-examined by the police, before the retired Justice Doris Okuwobi-led panel.
He began his testimony on October 27, after submitting his petition to the panel.
At the resumption of proceedings yesterday, Ekekwe fielded questions from police counsel, Emmanuel Eze.
On how he identified the men that arrested him, Ekekwe, who spoke in pidgin English, said they wore “SARS” bibs.
When asked whether he could identify any of the SARS officials, Ndukwe said yes – he got a photo from a WhatsApp status.
He said: “When they came to my shop at the Alaba International Market, they wore T-shirt with FSARS, written at the back.
“Among them, I know and identify the IPO. His name is Hamzah and I have his phone contact. I was able to get his picture through the number he gave to my mother when I was at LUTH (Lagos University Teaching Hospital). His number is 07060712007. He is one of the officers. He was the person that arrested me and took me to the Ikeja Police Command for torturing. Eze: “Does this picture suggest the person is a SARS officer?”
Ebonyi PDP boils over Umahi’s defection to APC [THE NATION]
THE crisis in the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) sparked by the defection of Governor David Umahi of Ebonyi State to the All Progressives Congress (APC) deepened yesterday after one of the factions in the state suspended all the National Assembly members from the state elected on the platform of the PDP.
The Onyekachi Nwebonyi-led state Working Committee, which was sacked by the PDP NWC, rejected the dissolution and pronounced all NASS members from the state suspended.
Top of the list of the suspended federal legislators is ex-governor Sam Egwu who currently represents Ebonyi North in the Senate.
The National Assembly members had, on Wednesday, disowned the governor and vowed to remain in the PDP.
Umahi’s colleagues in his new party, the Progressive Governors’ Forum (PGF), yesterday described his switch to the ruling party as a testament to the party’s capacity to mobilise and unite all Nigerians.
The Ebonyi governor also yesterday received the support of Ohanaeze Ndigbo Youth Council Worldwide which said PDP’s outcry over Umahi’s defection “shows that milking of Igbo votes has ended.”
Nwebonyi, in a statement, said the dissolution of the Ebonyi State Working Committee of the PDP by the party’s National Working Committee was illegal and unconstitutional.
He said he remained in charge as PDP chairman.
2023: Attempt to dump power rotation, threat to Nigeria’s unity –Adebanjo, Amaechi, Ikanga [SUN]
As the issue of where the presidency berths in 2023 takes the centre stage, Southern leaders have warned of the dire consequences of power remaining in the North, calling on both the ruling party, the All Progressives Congress (APC) and the opposition, Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) not to toe the path that will endanger peace in the country.
Leader of Afenifere, Chief Ayo Adebanjo, said the core North wants to keep power forever. He said: “It is you people who refuse to see the truth. Have I not been telling you that all these games about amending the constitution are just to keep you talking; they want to keep power forever. The Fulani will not yield power easily and that’s why I say if you don’t restructure, forget Nigeria, but you people are still deceiving yourselves.
“And I often ask you, all these times we are saying if we don’t restructure, Nigeria will break, what has been Buhari’s reactions of assuring the people that the situation is not as bad as that, giving persuasive words?
“Have you heard of any leader from the North trying to persuade us to come and not to go away, other than telling us that we can’t browbeat them, we can’t stampede them to do restructuring as if they have the right to tell us what to do in Nigeria. We’re telling you what we should do in order to stay together and you’re telling us we shouldn’t stampede you. In other words, you do things with impunity.
“All these things you people are still talking about, they don’t believe they need you, they believe they have the authority to govern you. That is their attitude. I have not hidden it all along. I have never believed they want to yield power.
“This question of where the party will go is diversionary. What they should do now is to restructure the country first. It is just to keep you talking until 2023, they know the moment they restructure the country, the question of where power goes will solve itself.
“That is the crux of the matter and people should not pretend not to know. Since they have started deliberating on where the presidency will go now, the question of restructuring has been put back. It is no longer in the front burner . It is either it goes to the North or the South, that’s what people are talking about now. No one is taking about restructuring. Restructure the country back to true federalism.
“That is the core of the matter, any other thing is a diversion and that is my stand. I am not in doubt that they don’t want to leave power and I’ve even accused Buhari directly that he’s the first enemy of Nigeria’s unity, if not, do this, but he has not done it. I have confronted him. He’s the most powerful president in the whole world under this constitution.
“I have said this times without number. I don’t hate Buhari, I supported him in 2011 when he said he was going to do restructuring. He had interviews; Bakare was his running mate. He promised restructuring but he did nothing. Restructuring is in the manifesto of the APC, is that not enough to show that there is no seriousness? You can see the handwriting on the wall.
“Remember that when Bakare appeared on Sunrise and they asked him about it, he said if the government is sincere. He didn’t want to say he doesn’t believe the government will do it. They are not sincere about it.
“Don’t allow these Fulani people to be deceiving you because you can see the handwriting on the wall. I’ve been saying it and I thought Lai Mohammed would come and arrest me for hate speech when I said Buhari is the number one enemy of Nigeria. When they know election is coming, they say they’re doing restructuring; they make restructuring their manifesto but don’t do anything.
“ Some of you believe in their duplicity. I have asked them, go back to the constitution agreed to by Zik, Awolowo and Sardauna, but you insisted on the constitution that was foisted on us by the military, which is creating trouble.”
Kalu condoles with Ndoma-Egba, Ukachukwu over death of wives [SUN]
Former Abia State governor, and Chief Whip of the Senate, Dr. Orji Uzor Kalu, has commiserated with former Senate Leader, Victor Ndoma-Egba over the passing of his wife, Amaka, who died in a ghastly motor accident on Thursday.
While expressing sadness over the demise of Mrs. Ndoma-Egba, Kalu noted that the deceased was a supportive wife and pillar of support to her husband, adding that the deceased was easy-going, kind-hearted and accommodating. The former governor stressed that the late Mrs. Ndoma-Egba was woman of virtue and devout Christian, who was passionate about touching lives positively.
Kalu prayed to God to rest her soul, while urging her widower to take solace in the fact that his late wife lived a purposeful and fulfilling life. He equally prayed for strength and peace for the former Senate Leader and his family members during sorrowful time.
Speaking in the same vein, Kalu conveyed his heartfelt condolences to eminent businessman, Chief Nicholas Ukachukwu over the passing of his wife, Nnenna. The Senate Chief Whip stressed that the deceased will be greatly missed by family, friends and associates of her husband, adding that the late Mrs. Ukachukwu was known for her selflessness and good heart. He said: “I extend my sincere condolences to Chief Nicholas Ukachukwu, over the demise of his wife, Nnenna. It is a huge loss not only to the Ukachukwu family, but friends and associates of Chief Ukachukwu. Our thoughts and prayers are with the entire Ukachukwu family during this period of grief. It is my prayer that God will grant the deceased eternal rest and give her family the fortitude to bear the irreplaceable loss.”