Anambra State government has banned various ministries, departments and agencies in the state from any form of revenue collection.

The State’s Commissioner for Information, Mr Paul Nwosu made this known to newsmen at the end of Anambra State Executive Council (ANSEC) meeting.

Mr Nwosu regretted what transpired during previous years revenue collection.

In his words ‘This decision was reached during ANSEC meeting where the need to centralize the data of all the MDAs with the State’s Information Communication Technology Agency (ICTA) was discussed.

“The is to avoid the situation where ICT vendors who in the past had worked for different MDAs and at the expiration of their contract still hold on to valuable data thereby holding government to ransom.

“In the light of this, Anambra State ICTA has now been charged with the responsibility to holistically consolidate and manage the data of all the MDAs in Anambra.’’

He said that it was the sole responsibility of Anambra State Internal Revenue Service to collect revenues as the revenue collection process had been digitized to reduce leakages.

“To achieve this, each ministry should own and be able to provide baseline data on itself and MDAs under it, as government decisions will be evidence-based and data driven henceforth.’’

The commissioner also said that at the ANSEC meeting, an elaborate presentation was made by the Commissioner for Commerce and Industry, Dr Obinna Ngonadi on enhancing the Igbo Apprenticeship Scheme called “Igba Boi’’ in Igbo parlance.

“Dr Ngonadi said that it was a scheme peculiar to Ndi Igbo and has over the years been a unique venture and capital raising model studied in business schools around the world, which he said is unfortunately under threat.

“He pointed out that government is critically looking at all manner of variables that will sustain and reinvigorate the unique business model.

“Consequently, an ANSEC Committee was set to come up with ways to enhance the apprenticeship scheme so that an enduring policy can be formulated on it.’’

Commissioner Nwosu also said that ANSEC received a report on the case of a woman of 75 years who was viciously raped to the point of coma in Awkuzu.

He noted that the man who committed the crime revealed that his native doctor told him that raping such an old woman would make him rich.

According to him, the young man had since been arrested and the police was on the trail of the native doctor whose shrine would eventually be destroyed.

A former Governor Ekiti State, Ayodele Fayose, on Wednesday said considering the fact that the incumbent Nigerian president, Muhammadu Buhari, is “a two-term northern presidency”, power must shift to the South in 2023.

During the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) presidential primary election in May, Fayose did not record any vote. He was unable to secure the mandate of 16 Ekiti delegates in the exercise and was believed to have done a deal with Nyesom Wike, Governor of Rivers State, who was a co-aspirant, as he did not campaign at all.

Fayose in series of posts via his official Twitter account said that he will not be supporting Atiku Abubakar, the presidential flag bearer of the PDP. Atiku is a northerner, from Adamawa State.

He said that the constitution of their party’s constitution recognises zoning and in 2023, Southern Nigeria is next.

“The current President of Nigeria is a 2-term Northern Presidency, thus implying that it MUST be a Southern Presidency in 2023 or NOTHING. Awa ‘South’ lo kan’ (we are next). Nigerians should await details soon.

“The PDP Constitution provides for a rotational Presidency. Section 3(c) provides that the Party shall pursue its aims & objectives by “adhering to the policy of the rotation & zoning of Party & Public elective offices in pursuance of the principle of equity,justice and fairness.

“To this end, if Ikimi is seeking relevance with Atiku, he should do same more decently. He should allow the sleeping dog to lie and save the PDP from unnecessary shootouts and fireworks at this time as we approach the general elections,” Fayose wrote.

Honor is the norm society expects you to abide by and integrity is, to quote British writer C. S. Lewis, “doing the right thing, even when no one is watching.” Justice Ibrahim Muhammad Tanko lacks both.

He shouldn’t have been the Chief Justice of Nigeria in the first place. He was suddenly promoted to the position only as a strategy to give legal imprimatur to Buhari’s electoral fraud in 2019.

Walter Onnoghen was illegally removed as CJN because he was suspected by influence peddlers in Buhari’s Aso Rock to be sympathetic to PDP.

And Tanko knew this. That shows lack of honor.

After perfecting their rigging plot, Buhari and his cabal reasoned that their action would invite a robust judicial challenge and that a Supreme Court headed by someone whose loyalty they couldn’t count on, might undo it.

So, they exploited Onnoghen’s asset declaration infraction, which most government officials, including Buhari, are guilty of to illegally remove him and replace him with a pliant, ignorant, and acquiescent Tanko.

Anyone who watched Ibrahim Tanko’s senate confirmation hearing in July 2019 where he betrayed embarrassing ignorance of the meaning of “technicality” and his dizzyingly incoherent verbal blizzard in response to a question about the intimidation of the judiciary by the Buhari regime in December 2019 would know that he’s a know-nothing bumpkin who has no business being a lawyer let alone the Chief Justice of Nigeria.

It turns out that apart from being a know-nothing, he is also a fraud. He has the dubious honor of being the only Chief Justice of Nigeria in Nigeria’s history who was openly accused of financial impropriety by fellow Supreme Court justices.

“Your Lordship with all due respect, this is the peak of the degeneration of the court; it is the height of decadence, and clear evidence of the absence of probity and moral rectitude,” his colleagues wrote against him in a widely circulated letter.

Nothing can be more damning than that. So, it shows he also lacks integrity. He does the wrong things when no one is looking.

But I was going to give him credit for having the decency to resign until I read a Daily Trust report today that said he was actually “forced” to resign by fixers in the Presidential Villa.

The paper said Tanko “was directed to appear in the Villa where he was handed a letter to sign for his resignation.”

Talk of using and dumping a man who has neither honor nor integrity!

A rights group, the International Society for Civil Liberties and Rule of Law (Intersociety), has accused the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, of failure to register over thirty million eligible citizens in the ongoing continuous voter card registration in the country.

The group made the claim in a statement signed by its principal officers: Emeka Umeagbalasi, Chinwe Umeche Esq and Chidimma Udegbunam Esq and made available to newsmen on Monday.

The statement noted that “no fewer than 30 million citizens of Nigeria involving the 18 years and above have been denied registration as ‘registered voters’ in Nigeria by INEC ahead of the all-important 2023 presidential election.

“Intersociety hereby makes bold to say that non-capturing of these 30 million Nigerian citizens or more, is ill-conceived and politically motivated.

“The Commission has inexplicably and suspiciously shut down its online fresh voters’ registration portal, thereby shutting out millions of computer literate prospective registrants and forcing millions of others into frustration and registration centers

“It must therefore be clearly stated that denying eligible citizens, irrespective of their tribe, religion, gender and class, their rights to vote is a serious violation of their fundamental human rights. Such chaotic denial also constitutes a serious threat to local, national, regional and international peace and security.”

The statement also noted that about 20 million registered voters have been denied their Permanent Voters Cards by the Commission, while an estimated total of 10 million others presently contained in Nigeria’s National Register of Voters are strongly suspected to still bear the identities of minors and illegal aliens.

“From our recent field checks, estimated 20 million unregistered voters are found in the South, out of which 10 million eligible voters in the South-East are yet to be captured by INEC. Estimated 4.5 million others are yet to be captured in the South-South while 5.5 million remained unregistered in the South-West.

“Many, if not most of those affected in the South-West are non natives especially members of Igbo Ethnic Nationality residing in Lagos and Ogun States. Out of the 10 million unregistered voters in the North, at least 40%-50% are non Northerners especially members of Igbo Ethnic nationality; 35%-40% are non Muslim Northerners while remaining 10% belong to Muslim citizens.

“Apart from threats of violence from radical natives especially the Muslims, being responsible for widespread disenfranchisement of the named segment of the population, they are further disenfranchised through deliberately created bureaucratic hitches including shrinking number of registration centers/polling booths in their held areas, inadequate number of INEC’s manpower and registration machines and malfunctioning of such machines.”

Justice Olukayode Ariwoola has taken oath of office as Acting Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN).

President Muhammadu Buhari administered the oath of office on him at the Council Chamber of the Presidential Villa in Abuja.

Ariwoola took over from Justice Tanko Muhammad who resigned on health grounds.

However, while taking the judicial oath, he swore to be faithful and bear true allegiance to the Federal Government of Nigeria, as well as defend the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

He will act as CJN pending the time his name will be forwarded to the Senate by the President for confirmation as substantive Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN).

Born on 22 August 1958, Justice Ariwoola from Oyo state was formerly a Justice of the Court of Appeal before being elevated to the Supreme Court bench in 2011.