Yes,just by merely spending few minutes to pen down your ugly experience might cause positive change around us.As I write this,I am still in first Bank trying to make cheque lodgement into a corporate account. The cheque was collected from a client who owe the company for many months.
On entering the Bank hall ,I noticed a crowd of about 40 customers with just 3 staffers in attendance.Since mine was just to lodge in Cheque, I was thinking that I should be separated from those depositing and withdrawing cash but I was disappointed.
The Head Teller bluntly told me to join the queue.I wanted to know why I should join those who were standing for cash transaction but he could not offer any form of courtesy .As a former Banking Staff who knew the rules,I went to my Account Officer for intervention but he merely said that he would assist which never came.I was forced to queue with cash customers for a transaction that should have taken less than few minutes.I have waited for 45 minutes.At the end of the waiting,the cheque was returned ,alas, that the cheque was not properly drawn! After an hour of waiting !!
My conclusion is that First Bank Plc is no longer interested in customer service delivery nor customers’ satisfaction.The ordinary man on the street will work so hard to make money under harsh economic condition and would be expected to spend the whole day in the bank .Yet ,central bank will expect people to increase their banking habit.
The big question remains : why is Banks using contract staffers and playing down on permanent and experienced workforce? An answer to this question will begin to unravel why Bank Staffers are not enjoying their work.
Banks hold people lives as they warehouse money that determines the flow of human blood.
Bayelsa State Governor, Seriake Dickson, has said restructuring is a call for constitutional reforms, to guarantee a more stable country and not secession as being speculated in some quarters.
Dickson insisted restructuring is a return to true federalism.
He made the declaration at a retreat organised by Southern Senators Forum in Calabar, capital of Cross River State, at the weekend.
Dickson, who advocated protection of ethnic minorities to make Nigeria sustainable as a country in a paper, “Protecting ethnic minorities in project Nigeria,” argued that constitutional provisions or military force cannot ensured the continued unity of Nigeria.
Re-echoing his views that Nigeria’s unity is negotiable, the governor advised proponents of restructuring to rally round among themselves to advocate an equitable Nigeria rather than focus on constitutional provisions which cannot guarantee a country anchored on fairness and justice.
Dickson, who likened the situation in Nigeria to that of Soviet Union which eventually disintegrated, in spite of its military strength, noted that critics of restructuring should not interchange the word with disintegration.
“Restructuring does not mean secession. It is not co-terminous with a Nigeria that is divided. Restructuring simply means a call for constitutional reforms, to guarantee a more stable country.
“In other words, it is a return to true federalism.
“We should not shy away from the issue of restructuring, the more the opinions the better.
“That is the reason we need this debate. Nobody should tell Nigerians that our unity is not negotiable.
A lot of people talking about restructuring do not even know the issues,” he said.
Three soldiers were killed and six others injured in a raid by Boko Haram, on Magumeri, in Borno State, last Saturday.
Boko Haram attacked Magumeri, about 35 kilometres north of Maiduguri, the state capital, at about 6:00pm, last Saturday.
The Nigerian Army said the insurgents had earlier launched a daring attack on the 5 Brigade Garrison, a military base in the town, as a prelude to the attack on the serene town.
Deputy Director of Army/Public Relations, 8 Task Force Division, Colonel Timothy Antigha, confirmed the deaths and the injured.
He said the remains of the dead soldiers and the wounded were evacuated and taken to a military facility, and also, assured “the military is doing everything possible to ensure the safety of Magumeri town and the neighbourhood.”
Sources, however, said more than three soldiers and some civilians may have died in the attack described as “bloody.”
Boko Haram had, in the past, attempted to seize the town but the attacks were repelled by the military troops.
In August, Boko Haram abducted some oil workers and University of Maiduguri staff around Magumeri during an oil prospecting trip. Dozens of people, including soldiers, civilian Joint Task Force members, oil workers and five UNIMAID staff have killed by the insurgents.
Meanwhile, the state government has said it will convert the house of Boko Haram founder, Mohammed Yusuf, to a museum.
Commissioner for Home Affairs, Information and Culture, Mohammed Bulama, disclosed this on the sidelines of the ninth National Council for Culture, Tourism and National Orientation held in Dutse, Jigawa.
The News Agency of Nigeria reported that the council, with the theme “Tourism and culture as panacea for Nigeria’s economic recovery’’ was organised by the federal Ministry of Information and Culture.
Bulama said the museum would help archive all things related to Boko Haram insurgency, attract tourists for the benefits of future generation.
“The place is called Maarcas; we want to build a museum there, where all the things that had happened relating to the insurgency will be archived. We want to document and archive all that had happened so that our future generation will be able to have first-hand information,” he said.
Yusuf, sect leader and founder of Boko Haram, was killed in 2009 and his group has continued to constitute serious security threat to Borno and other states in the North East.
The commissioner said the state is also planning to turn Sambisa, which used to be the insurgents’ haven, to a tourist centre by reviving already existing games reserve in the forest.
Also, the Nigerian army has prevented Boko Haram from taking over Magumeri town.
Kaka Audu, a member of the civilian joint task force (CJTF) in the area, said the insurgents attacked the town from the military checkpoint and Bengel area of the town.
Audu disclosed that some of the insurgents wjp attacked from the Bengel axis managed to enter the town and torched some buildings before they were finallypushed back. He noted that echoes of gunshots and explosive devices prompted residents to flee to nearby forest. The local militia added that most of the residents who had earlier run to the bush returned to their homes later.
The military authorities are yet to comment on the incident.
Meanwhile, Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Nigeria, (CBCN) has praised the relative peace emerging in Borno State and the infrastructural development recorded in the state despite six years of Boko Haram insurgency.
President of the conference, Archbishop Ignatius Kaigama, who led other catholic bishops on a courtesy visit to Governor Kashim Shettima, in Maiduguri, at the weekend, said they were overwhelmed by the development they saw especially in the state capital, contrary to stories of woes, blood and death since 2009 when Boko Haram struck.
The bishops were in Borno to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Maiduguri Catholic Diocese (1966 to 2016) and to dedicate a new cathedral built by the diocese.
Just check the minimum wages of 13 countries and compare the figure with that of Nigeria.Note that in Nigeria,there is no electricity,no public water supply,no health insurance cover for the ordinary citizens,no housing loan at single digit ,no car loan for the poor workers, no free education,yet workers in Nigeria are expected to manage N18,000 per Month.This is mere wickedness!!
1. Nigeria – $38 (N18,000).
2. Algeria – $175 (N83,000).
3. Belgium – $1,738 (N810,000).
4. Cameroun – 36, 270CFA ($75) N38,000.
5. Chad – $120 (N60,000).
6. Denmark – $1,820 (N900,000).
7. Libya – $430 (N190,000).
8. Japan – $1000 (N450,000).
9. Cote D’ivoire -36,607CFA $72.
10. New Zealand -$3,187 (N1.4m).
11. Luxemburg – $2,500 (N1.1m).
12. Spain – $760. (N300,000).
13. Switzerland – $5,620 – N2.5m.
14. USA – $11 per hour.
Ironically, Nigeria politicians earn the highest salaries the whole world. In Luxemburg where minimum wage is $2,500, their lawmakers are paid $7,400. In Libya where minimum wage is $430, law-makers earn $3000. In Nigeria where minimum wage is $38 (N18,000), law-makers earn $65,000 (N29m).
The Anambra 2017 election has come and gone. I tried my best,but at some point it became obvious to me that i would not realise my ambition, so i advised & encouraged myself to act my true self. I took a dignified bow.
My only political ambition was to create a new wealth base for Anambra. I know what to do & how best to do it. I wanted to give something of great value to my society. I wanted to create jobs on a massive scale for our suffering youths and to put valuable bread on the tables of many families. I lost the opportunity,but my head didn’t touch the sand. I saw so much,knew so much,learnt so much & of course,lost so much. But to the disappointment of many ,i did not kiss the dust.
I have since congratulated my brother Obiano. I congratulated him, not only for winning the election but additionally,for successfully deploying the most massive & intimidating election campaign propaganda, unseen elsewhere, not even in presidential elections. The style is quite novel but highly efficient & effective. The propaganda team easily turned all black into white. They aggressively rattled our brain out of reason, and easily manipulated & took complete control our gullible & feeble minds. Nobody bothered again to see how the election was electronically manipulated. And of course nobody bothered with the fact that our common treasury was completely emptied only to make Obiano retain his seat.
Those who were behind the propaganda machinery were good & indeed very merciless in their onslaught. I am convinced that Victor Ume,Obiano’s campaign manager was not part of the team. It was beyond him. He is not endowed with such massive brain power. He is merely a man of muscle & physical presence. I know also that ten Ifeatu Obi- Okoyes and even ten thousand Chiedu Nkwontas, and all the misled youth writers put together still lacked the capacity to put up such deafening & so intimidating propaganda. I wont even advance my brother, the governor near there for obvious reasons. Their effort was good indeed super, but then,lies told over & again becomes truth,especially when they go unchallenged,unopposed & unexposed.
As a starter,Anambra state, under Obiano has received Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) of about $8bn. This amount is over N3tr,an amount Anambra state has never had on her budget paper since creation. The two parties that had the opportunity to debunk those faulty claims were more concerned chasing fighter jet with antiquated dane guns. Peter Obi,who ran the campaign for Obaze of PDP was busy marketing himself for his third term project and even beyond. What he lost in the swing through Obiano,he wanted to gain through Obaze. God does not operate that way. Our dear Peter Obi erroneously believed that he has become so popular that even if he throws up dung Ndi Anambra will gladly inhale it and thereafter hail him. ‘Saint’ Peter’s usual self delusion,with his lone ranging behaviour & Solomonic wisdom, have combined to make Peter the great ‘oracle’ indeed.
Those assumed qualities will never allow Peter to make proper assessment of any situation. Not any more. I am sure my friend Obaze, stood a better chance of winning that election without Peter’s meddling with his gum laden palm. Peter’s life experience with the traders at Ngbuka Obosi will be a dirty experience he is bound to live to remember, no matter his usual pretentiousness. Peter was blinded by his avowed vendetta on Obiano that he left so many stones unturned. And the consequence is that Obiano got away with several make believe stories.
On the part of APC,the leader Dr Chris Ngige, his title name is Onwa, meaning the MOON. There had never been two moons on the firmament. And our own Onwa ll ensure that it never happens, at least not in his time. If its not coming to me, let it rotten. Several internal wrangling,politicking, bitterness, apathy, nonchalant attitude of both principal characters,coupled with extremely selfish,wicked and heavily brainwashed party officials contributed in no small measure to the downfall of the Party’s candidate, Tony Nwoye. The young man fought a good fight. I give it to him. But stubbornness with lack of experience connived to rob him of victory. I will still find time to discuss other parties and their contestants, especially my friend Ezeemo,Chidoka,and my son Yul.
After all said & done there is urgent need for every Onye Anambra to start taking deeper interest in politics most especially my Anglican brethren and other non Catholic adherents. The Roman catholics have understood the game and they are still taking advantage of every political situation. To me there is nothing wrong with that. They worked for it over several years,deploying every manner of effective strategies. Other Denominations will emulate them. It is our common heritage. We should work for it and share in the proceeds.
Finally,it is time that our youths must shun extreme selfishness and try to understand that it is their collective future that is being tossed about & messed up. They must learn to come together, work together, to take charge of their collective future. It is obvious,to those of us with sound knowledge & training that our economy has been running on the reverse gear. It will only take serious commitment & sound knowledge of the working of an economy,especially of a rural & virgin nature to bring it back on course for speedy recovery & growth. Such knowledge cannot reside within operators with service-industry background, especially banks of all kinds,not even the central bank. Banks do not create wealth. They are mere custodians of wealth. So our youths over to you.
Indigenous People of Biafra have existed for thousands of years but their name was not brought into national consciousness.Barr Emeka Emekesri defined Indigenous People of Biafra in court as the remnants that were not consumed in the war between Nigeria and Biafra, and quoted the scriptures that the remnants that escaped shall yet take root downward and bear fruits upward, Isaiah 37:31. He advocated for the use of Customary Law to organize and govern the Indigenous People of Biafra based on the provisions of
the Nigerian Constitution so that we would not commit the offence of treason or
treasonable felony.
In the Phase 2 of the Biafran Project,The Team Leader emphasizes discipline, orderliness, decorum and accountability. The Indigenous People of Biafra do not permit any person to insult and abuse their Elders. We are restoring our traditional values. It is an abomination under our Customary Law for a child to abuse and insult his elders.
Why the case was commenced in the Federal High Court Owerri
Many Biafrans have questioned why the case was instituted in Nigeria instead of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague as they do not believe that we shall receive justice in the Nigerian Courts. It is necessary for us to explain the rule of law for human rights litigation for the independence of a people since most of the Biafrans asking these questions have no knowledge of the law. In human rights litigation for the independence of a people, the law requires the people to confront the government face to face in the same jurisdiction from where they seek to be free. If they do not obtain justice, then they have the right to appeal to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) known as the World Court. In our situation, it means that the Biafrans must confront Nigerian Government face to face within the Nigerian jurisdiction. The principle was established in the Bible where Moses and the Elders of Israel confronted Pharaoh the Government of Egypt face to face in Egypt. When Pharaoh hardened his heart, they appealed to the Higher Power. There are three ways to confront the Government face to face within Nigeria, namely:
(a) Military Method: By taking up arms and ammunition against Nigeria in battle;
(b) Legislative Method: By presenting a Bill in the National Assembly for
Independence of the Biafrans and passing the Bill into law granting
Independence to Biafra; or by presenting a Bill in the National Assembly for
a Referendum and passing the Bill into law granting the people the right to
vote whether to remain in Nigeria or not.
(c) Judicial & Diplomatic Method: By taking Nigeria to Court at both national
and international levels and using the Judicial Power to declare and enforce
the right of self-determination as guaranteed by the Nigerian law and
International laws to which Nigeria is a signatory.
We examined the three options thoroughly before embarking on this
Independence Struggle. The first option is the use of military power. Military
Method involves violence and destruction of lives and properties. The
International Community does not support war and violence anymore. It was
used in 1967 – 1970 when Biafra declared its independence and Nigeria
declared war against Biafra. It is necessary to emphasise that the Biafrans did
not declare war in 1967 but only declared their independence. It was Nigeria
that declared war against the Biafrans to force them back into Nigeria against
their will. The effect of that war has crippled both Nigeria and Biafra up to this
day. War is an ill-wind that blows no good to anyone. The Biafrans have
therefore rejected the option of war in the present dispensation.
The second option is the use of Legislative Power. This would have been very
easy if the Biafrans had enough representatives and enough seats in the
National Assembly. Oddly enough, when we prepared the Bill for
Independence or Referendum to be passed in the National Assembly, there was
no Biafran activist in the National Assembly to present the Bill and move the
Motion. I was informed that the people who started the Biafran Independence
Struggle about 17 years ago said that the Biafrans were not Nigerians and
therefore should not be involved in the Nigerian politics and census. They did
not know the difference between the Indigenous Identity of a people and their
Citizenship or Nationality. Worse still, the people of the South East have only 5
States with 15 senatorial seats while the other geopolitical zones have 6 and 7
States with 18 and 21 senatorial seats respectively. The votes of 15 senators
from the South East will not be enough to push through the Biafra Bill of
Independence or Bill of Referendum in the National Assembly assuming that
the Senators decided to become pro-Biafra activists. We have heard about some
Biafrans calling for a Referendum. It is a very good method of achieving
Independence but how shall we get the Bill of Referendum passed in the
National Assembly?
It appears that many people have not yet understood the extent of political
enslavement into which the Nigerian Government has put the Biafrans and their
neighbours. Let me explain it in simple terms: The National Assembly is made
up of the two Houses- The House of Representatives and the House of Senate.
There are six geopolitical zones in Nigeria- three zones in the North and three
zones in the South. Two zones in the South have 6 States each and one has 5
States being 17 States in the South. Two zones in the North have 6 States each
and one has 7 States being 19 States in the North. Every State has three
senatorial seats. Therefore the South will produce 51 senatorial seats while the
North will produce 57. Of all the members of the House of Representatives, 192
are from the North while 168 are from the entire South (South East, South-
South and South West combined). This means that in the National Assembly,
the North has 249 members while the whole South has 219 members.
Therefore, there is no way the South can push through any contentious Bill in
the National Assembly unless they can succeed in lobbying some members
from the North. How possible can the Bill of Referendum sail through? The
Scottish people had enough MPs in the House of Commons in England and
succeeded in passing the Bill of Referendum for Independence of Scotland,
even though they lost. Therefore we considered that the second option, though
very good, was not possible in the Biafran case even if all the senators and
lawmakers of the South East and South-South combined their votes in the
National Assembly. We do not discourage the group of Biafrans advocating for
a Referendum. It is possible that they have a secret to pass the Bill of
Referendum in the National Assembly. I must however advise that for a
Referendum to be binding on the Nigerian Government, it must satisfy the rule
of law that creates a social contract.
The third option is the use of Judicial Power and Diplomacy. It involves human
rights litigation and diplomatic negotiations both at national and international
levels. The Nigerian Law, Cap 10 Laws of the Federation of Nigeria 1990,
provides for the right of self-determination. The Nigerian Judiciary has the
power to enforce the law because it is Nigerian law. At the international level, it
was by judicial power that Nigeria was compelled by the International Court of
Justice (ICJ) to give up their claim over Bakassi. Today, the Bakassi Peninsula
is no longer a Nigerian territory but Cameroonian. Recently, when President
Mohammadu Buhari visited Cameroon and had a meeting with the Nigerians
living in Cameroon, the question was thrown to him as to the status of Bakassi.
He emphasised that Nigeria would abide by the ruling of the International Court
of Justice. In his own words, he said as follows: “Since Nigeria allowed the
case to go to Court (ICJ), and we lost, we have to abide by it”. The truth is that
nobody and no government is above the law.
AS the All Progressives Congress, (APC) governors call on President Muhammadu Buhari to run for the 2019 presidential election, the Arewa Youths Consultative Forum, (AYCF) says any arrangement for Buhari to run in the next poll would be resisted. They, therefore, urged the president to abandon his right to contest the 2019 presidential election. “Honestly, the situation is nothing to write home about and we cannot continue hoping that anything will happen from now till the next one year. We cannot continue to imagine that. That would assume we are living in imagination and the truth of the matter is that from now until January what the government has been able to do is what they can do for this tenure and I do not think that Nigerians are prepared to be fooled for the second time,” Yerima Shettima, president of the Arewa Youth Consultative Forum, AYCF said.
The last time we had an interview in late July, you declared that politicians above 60 years would not be allowed to partake in the governance of Nigeria. Do you still maintain that stand or you believe time and circumstances have changed all that?
We cannot continue over and over. We have come of age. We cannot continue to fold our hands and be complaining. We must be in the mainstream. Most of them had the opportunity but they could not do it well and I do not see them doing it better now at their age.
Are you then by implication saying that President Muhammadu Buhari has not done well?
The truth is that our expectations of this government have not been met.
What are the expectations?
Everything they promised during the campaign and in their manifesto. The reason why everybody sought for change was that we thought this government will fight corruption tooth and nail without considering whosoever is involved.But we have now realized that the fight against corruption has become selective. Then two, the issue of insurgency, leave it or take it, to us, as laymen this battle is not over. We cannot or the government cannot justify the fact that we told Nigerians that the fight against insurgency is over.
Almost every day we have had casualties. These are the two core issues. The third one on the campaign was the issue of power.This is nothing to write home about even though the Minister of Power told us that a responsible government should be able to fix power within six months. That has not been achieved more than two and a half years after.Now it is nothing to write home about; the same thing with roads. Even the issue of petrol pump price is another one. We were told during the campaign that immediately they resume office, fuel price would go down to N40 per liter from N97 per litre. Now, a government that promised this rather than keep to their promise raised the price astronomically. Now, it is between 70 and 80 percent increase.That is giving us a lot of concern. Certainly, whether you like it or not the government must take responsibility and I have no doubt in my mind that between them and God who created them they know they have failed Nigerians. And when people take responsibility, then we will begin to forgive ourselves. If they beg for forgiveness we can decide to overlook it and also forge ahead. But certainly, never again will anybody make this mistake. Never.
From what you have said, would you agree this government will leave Nigerians worse than it met them?
Honestly, the situation is nothing to write home about and we cannot continue hoping that anything will happen from now till the next one year. We cannot continue to imagine that. That would assume we are living in imagination and the truth of the matter is that from now until January what the government has been able to do is what they can do for this tenure and I do not think that Nigerians are prepared to be fooled for the second time. We will insist that those above 60 do not come on board again and that our generation should stand firm to take our destiny in our hands. We will jettison the issue of the difference in ethnicity, religion and other mundane, divisive sentiments to insist on good governance. We are enlightened and we know exactly what we want. We constitute about 70 to 80 percent of the population and if democracy is about numbers, we will achieve our aim.
You are aware that all the parties have zoned the presidency in 2019 to the North. Now, if you do not want people above 60 years and that includes the incumbent and those who have signified their interests directly or indirectly, who do you have in mind because some people are saying other than Buhari, the North has no other candidate that can perform better than him?
That is not true. Even before Buhari, the North has other people who we can vouch for their integrity who are not up to 60 years. I have no doubt in my mind there are. In fact, I am one.
Are you also going to contest?
I may, I may not. But I am saying we have a lot of them. We have a lot of people of my generation who can do better and who also have integrity. Nobody can question the integrity of Muhammadu Buhari, but I am also saying that governance cannot be single-handedly run in a country like Nigeria. We cannot also assume that he alone can do the job. He does not have a team to go with, simply because they took advantage of his ill-health or his age.
The president has now come out to say he would expand the cabinet and bring in more people into governance. Would that not assuage your fears of a one-man government?
It would not because we have waited before now to see him take a firm decision and begin to bring in a lot of people before now, but what he brought are people who have been failing and will continue to fail. We have also discovered that probably those close to him are not telling him the truth or they have blindfolded him so that he is not aware of what is going on within the government. A lot of things are not right. Almost 10 percent of his ministers…we can only vouch for two percent; the remaining eight percent are e neither here nor there. They are just pulling the hook, lying and lying.
What is the strategy that you have put in place to achieve your aim of getting the right person who is less than 60 years to become Nigeria’s president?
Mr. Kenny, it is very clear. One, there is a lot of consciousness. Two, a lot of work is being done on social media. The youths have realized that business cannot continue as usual. We are at the receiving end of all this mess. We can no longer put our destinies in their hands. It would come to an end in 2019.
Would I then be right to say that you are also sounding a note of caution to the APC not to allow President Muhammadu Buhari to fly their flag in 2019?
Well, I am not a card carrying member of APC. Two, it is left for the APC to decide that. If the time comes…it is not him alone; there are other aspirants who are above 60 years of age. Any party that makes the mistake by bringing a candidate above 60 years of age would be doing so at its own risk. We will insist, advocate, conscientise, educate Nigerians and the youths on the consequences of the suicide they will commit in their generation because it is a suicide.
In conclusion, should APC field the incumbent president, you believe they will fail.
They will fail. Any party that fields anybody above 60 years of age will fail. My opinion is that he should not allow people to drag his integrity into the mud because the system we have in place does not consider people like him with integrity and that is why he has a team of people who are only working to sabotage him and those are things that most Nigerians would not understand are not his responsibility for as long as the government fails everybody will assume that he is the one that fails. So my advice to him is that let him step up and be at the background to give support to a prominent, trusted youth to come up in 2019. That’s my advice to him.
Buhari should bring up a successor, a young man, somebody who can be trusted and can do better. Let him be a father, a role model to all of us. We will look up to him. If not, this political party system can never allow him to thrive. Look at the best brains he said he hunted for six months; look at the embarrassment they are causing the country. For six months Buhari searched for the best brains, look at the brains he brought on board. Buhari should surrender his ambition and allow a younger person to take his place. That is my candid advice to him.
Buhari’s aide slams Atiku for dumping APC
‘He’s better as a movie director than politician’
Personal Assistant to President Buhari on Social Media, Lauretta Onochie, has said that former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, who dumped the All Progressives Congress (APC) only acted in consonance with his established practice of walking away from situations where he is unable to control and pull the strings.
Writing on her Facebook wall, in reaction to Atiku’s decision to leave the APC, Onochie dismissed the reasons given by the former VP for leaving the party, noting that he gave the same reasons when he left the PDP in the run-up to the 2015 election to join the APC.
Her words: “Atiku Abubakar has a peculiar history. He’s a control-freak! He has a history of always being pushed to the background. This same reason for leaving home, PDP, to his temporary home, APC, is the same reason he is now giving for returning home.
This history has its background in wanting to control everything. This shows he’s not a team player. Wherever he’s playing, home (PDP) or away (ACN, APC), he wants to control everything. He cannot stand the idea of attention shifting for a second to other people. He should consider being a director in the movies, not politics and definitely not the Nigerian political space, fully occupied by testosterone-pumping, ego-flaunting people.
“It’s his way or the highway! How can such self-absorbing man be of any support for the Nigerian youths? You listen to him and all you hear is ‘me, mine and I.’ Let him step back and project a Nigerian youth and he will be taken seriously by the Nigerian youth. No matter where we go, our hearts are always at home. It’s not different for Atiku Abubakar. Home for him is PDP. Wherever he goes, just like footballers on loan, who can decide to stay or return home, Atiku always returns home. Just as with the past, this time also he has returned to his vomit.
I just hope he goes with all the confusions and divisions he orchestrated within the APC in a bid to take control of the party. Thankfully, he failed. Woefully!”
Recall that in announcing his decision to withdraw from membership of the APC, Atiku accused the party of manifesting the same kind of “arbitrariness and unconstitutionality” that led to fractionalization of the PDP, adding, “the All Progressives Congress has adopted those same practices and even gone beyond them to institute a regime of a draconian clampdown on all forms of democracy within the party and the government it produced.”
He further said: “But more importantly, the party we put in place has failed and continues to fail our people, especially our young people. How can we have a federal cabinet without even one single youth? A party that does not take the youth into account is a dying party. The future belongs to young people.”
He said that he, like some other people, joined the APC on the strength of a promise that has proven to be false.
“I admit that I and others who accepted the invitation to join the APC were eager to make positive changes for our country that we fell for a mirage. Can you blame us for wanting to put a speedy end to the sufferings of the masses of our people?”
Senatorsof southern extraction have added their voices to the call for the restructuring of Nigeria.
The call was contained in a communiqué released at the end of a three- day retreat organized by Southern Senators Forum in Calabar, capital of Cross Rivers State.
The lawmakers also called on President Muhammed Buahri to convey a conference of stakeholders in the country with a view to consider the report of the 2014 National Conference.
The communiqué, which was read by the chairman of the forum, senator Hope Uzodinma, also charged lawmakers in the National Assembly to initiate a full scale debate on the 2014 National Conference report.
The forum noted that the stakeholders meeting would help to look at the recommendations of the committee and offer direction to the federal government on the way forward for the country.
Senate President, Bukola Saraki had during his remark atthe opening of the retreat said that if Nigeria must allow peace and unity thrives, she must achieve the expected development, stability and greatness.
According to him, “we must always put Nigeria first” in the ongoing debate about restructuring of the country and other similar agitations.
“As a nation, unity is a prerequisite for development, stability and greatness. Unity is the first focus. Without unity, we can achieve nothing. And yet we know that, since the end of the Nigerian Civil War, our unity has never been more challenged than at the present time.
“There are agitations across the length and breadth of this country that threaten our unity. And this time around, the threats are multi-faceted, and the vegaries of modern times have made the issues even more challenging than in the early post-independence era.”
“In seeking to carry out any reform or restructuring, it is worth bearing in mind that the founders of our country, in their wisdom, had laid down some guidelines, making clear that it cannot be done by a simple majority, but rather by a two-thirds majority.
“To this end, we must all be on the same page. We cannot bully or browbeat others into accepting our point of view or positioning. Whatever we do must be by consensus, with the buy-in of all critical stakeholders in the debate.”
In a keynote address, Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu said that there was an urgent need for restructuring, stressing that if the call for restructuring of Nigeria must be achieved in all its ramifications, there must be patience, more enlightenment and dialogue, just as he blamed misconception and ethno-sectional suspicions for the opposition to the idea.
Ekweremadu called on proponents of restructuring to leverage on the influence of prominent northerners, such as former military President, General Ibrahim Babangida (rtd); former Vice President, Alhaji Atiku Abubabar; and President of the Senate, Senator Bukola Saraki, who believe in restructuring, to win more converts in the north.
The Deputy Senate President who suggested a piecemeal approach to restructuring, said that people would gradually drop their fear and crave for more restructuring as they begin to reap the gains of each successful restructuring effort.
Other speakers at the retreat including the Bishop of Sokoto, Mathew Hassan Kukah, a former Minister of Foreign Affairs, Senator Ike Nwachukwu, and the Publicity Secretary of Afenifere, Yoruba apex socio cultural body, Yinka Odumakin said that those opposed to such change are the real enemies of the country.
While the Bishop of Sokoto insisted that efforts must be made to restore our value system, make every Nigerian subordinate to the constitution, Senator Nwachukwu said that “ events have shown that those things that hitherto keep us together can no longer work based on the present realities .
According to him “military did what they did to keep Nigeria together , but that has taken a long time now . The 2014 National conference produced a fantastic report and government for whatever reasons refused to implement it and it will be unjust if the report is jettisoned”
Both speakers also asked the president to consider a review of the report of the 2014 National conference which according to them attempted to answer most of the National questions today.
On his part, Bishop Kukah said it was wrong for any body or group of persons to see the call for restructuring as an attempt to dismember Nigeria, just as he stressed that there must be openness and fairness in such debate to dispel such fears in some regions. In his contribution, the Publicity Secretary of Afenifere insisted on a radical shift to productive economy , where revenue sharing formula will be based on unit contributions to the National economy.
Celebrity Couple, Bankole Wellington a.k.a Banky W and Adesuwa Etomi have taken the final leg of their wedding to Cape Town, South Africa after they shut down Lagos last weekend with the festivities of their traditional marriage.
The couple jetted out with their close friends and family earlier in the week and have kept fans seriously anticipating the final event with their posts on social media.
They got legally married on Monday, a day after the traditional wedding at an undisclosed location in Lagos.
Tagged #BAAD2017, the wedding has created much buzz on social media and has been labeled ‘wedding of the year’.
It had in attendance friends and colleagues including Tunde Demuren, Toolz, Linda Ejiofor, Ebuka, among others.
While many have continued to beam with excitement for the couple, some have also taken time to advise them to keep their affairs more private, after their big day today.
