2019: Amaechi calls Wike ‘cry cry governor’ reveals what APC will do if they win or lose election

Former governor of Rivers state now Minister of Transport, Rotimi Amaechi, has described Governor of the State, Nyesom Wike as “cry cry governor.” Amaechi said during his administration as Governor, the then President molested and harassed him with soldiers and police, yet he did not complain. Amaechi insisted that the All Progressives Congress, APC is not ready to rig elections in the state, adding that President Buhari will never allow such. The Minister said the coming governorship and other elections in the state will be fair and free while accusing Wike of masterminding election mal-practices during the last government of Goodluck Jonathan. He said this when he met members of the All Progressives Congress, APC in Eleme kingdom, Rivers State. “Fight for your right. I fought for my right (during the Jonathan’s administration) when the President was molesting and harassing me, I got up, mobilized Rivers People and we fought for our right. “We would not have won Rivers governorship because they rigged everywhere, wrote results and brought army and police to chase us away. “Now there will be voting. They shouting and crying ‘police o, army o; INEC o just because they are scared of what they did to us (APC). “President Buhari will not allow that happen. He will not allow any police man to stop anyone from voting. “That person is there shouting ‘INEC, police’ while he was inside INEC building the day of election and they were writing results and we didn’t complain. Now he is shouting ‘INEC o, police o’ because he is afraid. “But we’ll follow the law; we shall vote on that day and get our people to vote for us. If we win, we thank God. “If he wins, we thank God. It will be free and fair. Let him stop crying because its too early. When a man starts crying, it means he is afraid. “Did I cry about President Goodluck Jonathan? I didn’t cry, I came out to fight for my right. But this man is crying because of ordinary one police CSP every day. “What do you call him, ‘cry cry governor.’ He is a governor with one agenda, namely ‘Amaechi.’ He sleeps and wakes he dreams of Amaechi. He has no adviser. He sees me in his dreams. You know I’m a Catholic, there are powers they gave to us to fly at night to go and meet them.”

How Facebook shut out users on Wednesday

Facebook suffered a setback on Wednesday as users around the world experienced an outage of the social network. Some users complained of being unable to access the site, while others reported unusual behavior such as elements including the “post” box not appearing. A Facebook Spokesperson, while confirming the issue on CNET said a networking issue caused breakdown of social network for about an hour on Wednesday. He revealed that Instagram which is owned and operated by Facebook was also affected by the outage of network which is being investigated. “Earlier today, a networking issue caused some people to have trouble accessing Facebook services. “We quickly investigated and started restoring access within about an hour, and we have nearly fixed the issue for everyone. ” Most problems had been resolved at 2:35 p.m. ET “We’re sorry for the inconvenience.” representative said. However, the outage of the network is being tracked by independent site, Down Detector, where users all around the world report issues.

Biafra: FG writes US, UK, others, insists Nnamdi Kanu’s IPOB a terrorist organisation

Nigerian Governnent has formally informed the governments of the United States, US, United Kingdom, UK, and other foreign countries of its decision to declare the Nnamdi Kanu-led Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB, as a terrorist organisation. An Abuja Federal High Court in Abuja had, on August 20, proscribed IPOB, following a motion filed by the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Mr. Abubakar Malami (SAN). The court had also ordered that the proscription be published in the Federal Government’s gazette which was done. Against this backdrop, both the US and UK had faulted the declaration, insisting that the group was not a terrorist organisation. Speaking with Punch, on Wednesday, Malami said some foreign countries have been duly notified. Malami disclosed that the Federal Government would be seeking a Mutual Legal Assistance from the foreign governments to stop those funding the group and deal with IPOB members as terrorists. The report said Federal Ministry of Justice, through its Central Authority Unit, had sent separate letters to all the foreign missions operating in Nigeria. According to Malami, “Just think of any embassy you know is operating in Nigeria, they have all been served. “All we did was to send copies of the gazettes attached to the cover letters to notify them of the status of IPOB as far as Nigeria is concerned. “Although the proscription widely reported in newspapers, has been published in the Federal Government’s gazette and advertised in newspapers as ordered by the court, we had to formalise it by notifying our foreign friends, I mean the foreign governments, which have embassies in Nigeria; and that was exactly what we did by sending copies of the gazette to them.”

Dasuki: Ex-NSA returns to prison, to know fate in 2018

​ The Supreme Court, on Thursday adjourned the hearing of an appeal by former National Security Adviser, NSA, Col. Sambo Dasuki(rtd) to January 25, 2018. Dasuki, who was the NSA during the immediate past government of President Goodluck Jonathan, had filed an appeal before the apex court praying that it compels the Federal Government to release him from custody. The former NSA, in the appeal also prayed the Supreme Court to order the Federal Government to obey the bail orders granted him by the Federal High Court Abuja and the ECOWAS Court. Details later…

Why we’ll not listen to Prof. Sagay – APC

​ The All Progressives Congress, APC, has said it will not use the criteria set by the Chairman of the Presidential Advisory Committee Against Corruption, PACAC, Itse Sagay in dealing with its members. Sagay had alleged that the party leadership is associating with and condoning corrupt members. However, the party’s National Publicity Secretary, Mallam Bolaji Abdullahi, said it will not deal with its members based on the recommendations of the senior lawyer, while describing Sagay’s criticism as unfair. Abdullahi said since the PACAC boss had already stated in his interview that he is neither a politician nor a member of the APC, he will not be able to appreciate how the party deals with issues that have to do with politicians. He told Independent, “The statement credited to Prof. Sagay accusing the party leadership of being weak and conniving with corrupt politicians to a relatively large extent is unfair. Prof. Sagay by his own admission said he is not a politician. “If he is not a politician, that means he will not be able to appreciate happenings within the political dynamics. He has a different consideration from the considerations that we have as managers of the party. The responsibility that he has as an adviser to the president on anti-corruption is different from the responsibility we have to build our party and hold it together. “He, on his part, wants us to exclude the people he has labeled as corrupt from the party, but the responsibility we have is to hold the party together. Until a law court has pronounced someone guilty of a crime, we don’t have the duty to label anyone as corrupt. “I will be surprised if what Prof. Sagay is suggesting that the moment he, as chairman of PACAC, labels someone as corrupt, then the party should accept that pronouncement as a universal definition of that individual and severe relationship with that person. “I don’t think that will be appropriate and that does not fall in line with our responsibility as a political party.”

BREAKING: Kachikwu VS Baru: VP Osinbajo admits he approved contracts

​ The Vice President, Yemi Osinbajo, has admitted to approving contracts for the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), a situation that has been generating all forms of controversies between the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Ibe Kachikwu and the NNPC Group Managing Director (GMD), Maikanti Baru. The Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Laolu Akande, in a series of tweets on his twitter handle @akandeoj, on Thursday, confirmed that the contracts were approved after due diligence by the Vice President when he acted as President, recently. Akande said Osinbajo approved the recommendations for the contracts as part of necessary actions to deal with backlog of unpaid cash calls and incentivise investments. He also said Osinbajo made the clarification in view of media enquiries that followed NNPC’s claim that the contracts were indeed approved by Osinbajo. The tweets stated, “In response to media inquiries on NNPC joint venture financing, VP Osinbajo, as Ag President approved recommendations after due diligence & adherence to established procedure. Action necessary to deal with huge backlog of unpaid cash calls which Buhari adm. inherited and also to incentivise much needed fresh investments in the oil & gas sector.” Kachikwu’s letter to the President in which he alleged gross insubordination by the Group Managing Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation(NNPC) Maikanti Baru, was leaked to the media last week. He had alleged that Baru awarded $25 billion contracts without following due process. He had also alleged that the $25 billion contracts were struck without consulting the office of the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources or the board of the corporation.

10 things you need to know this Thursday morning

Good morning! Here is today’s summary from Nigerian Newspapers 1. The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission has traced N2.114bn to the bank account of Magel Resort Limited, which was allegedly owned by Mrs. Patience Jonathan and her late mother, Mama Charity Oba. According to the EFCC, the total amount of money traced to Mrs. Jonathan is now N17bn. 2. The Nigerian Governors’ Forum (NGF) held emergency meeting on Wednesday night, inside the Aso Rock Presidential Villa in Abuja. The meeting was presided over by the chairman of the forum, Governor Abdulaziz Yari of Zamfara State, at the old Banquet Hall of the Presidential Villa. 3. Eight persons have been declared wanted by the Rivers state Police Command in connection with the massacre at Mgboshimini community in Obio-Akpor Local government area of the State. The eight wanted persons are also alleged to have participated in the killing of a Chief in Mgboshimini, Chief Minikwu. 4. The Federal Government has issued an order banning medical doctors working in public hospitals from engaging on private practices. The Federal Government also said henceforth the doctrine of no work no pay which was contained in the nation’s law would be invoked for workers embarking on strike. 5. A Lagos Federal High Court, has ordered the permanent forfeiture of 56 houses linked to a former Minister of Petroleum Resources, Mrs. Diezani Alison-Madueke. The Justice Anbdulaziz Anka-led court gave the forfeiture order while ruling on the matter, on Wednesday. 6. Former Vice Chancellor of the Ahmadu Bello University and Secretary of the Northern Elders Forum (NEF), Professor Ango Abdullahi has asserted that the North is not afraid of breaking up. According to him, the region is prepared to go back to the pre-1914 arrangement. 7. The Lagos Police Command, has revealed the autopsy of Tagbo Umeike, an acquaintance of Nigerian music star, Davido. Acting Police Commissioner, Imohimi Edgal, said Tagbo died of suffocation. 8. The two Chinese construction workers kidnapped on October 5 while on an inspection of a road project in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), have been released. Hu Kai, and Pan Xiang, staff of China Geo Engineering Construction Company (CGECC), Abuja, were said to have regained their freedom, last Monday. 9. The Federal Government has concluded plan to enforce ‘no work, no pay’ rule said to be captured in the Trade Disputes of the Federation. Once the law become active, any worker who embarks on industrial action will lose his or her pay for that period, while the period of the strike will not be pensionable. 10. The deputy editor of DAILY POST, Mr. Wale Odunsi Wednesday escaped death by the whiskers as a mobile police personnel attached to the Government House in Kogi threatened to shoot him. Odunsi had traveled to the state to honour an invitation to the rescheduled Kogi State Social Media Summit when he encountered the armed men who vowed to take his life.

North prepared for Nigeria’s breakup – Ango Abdullahi

Former Vice Chancellor of the Ahmadu Bello University and Secretary of the Northern Elders’ Forum (NEF), Professor Ango Abdullahi has asserted that the North is not afraid of breaking up. According to him, the region was prepared to go back to the pre-1914 arrangement. The elder statesman bared his mind at a two-day conference organised by the Arewa Research and Development Project (ARDP). Speaking on the theme of the conference, “The North and the future of the Nigerian Federation”, Abdulahi was of the view that “If we can’t go back to1914, we should go back to 1960, regional governance. North is not afraid of getting its North back, just like those that want East and West. I see this as a political manoeuvre and the North will not take it,” he said. “Restructuring means so many things to many people, but to me, I am not speaking for Unongo or NEF, when I was confronted about this, by people from the South, we sat with Prof Nwabueze and he said Nigeria is unbalanced and Lugard made mistake by amalgamation and North has always dominated that’s why they asked for national conference in 2014. “We reminded him that the North has always sacrificed for the unity of Nigeria. I was a student when we got independence and we saw that each time there was need to unite, Nigeria, the North made the largest sacrifice,” he stressed. He explained that the north has always wanted a peaceful country. “Now we have 36 states from three regions which existed in 1960. No country has had constitutional conference like Nigeria, yet it has not created basis for a united country. “We ought to have realized from that, that the failure of operators of the country is needed, if we want to restructure Nigeria, we have to start from the beginning, 1914, North and South, let’s go our separate ways,” he emphasized. He said that such clamouring are not new, because it has always been an antecedent of the South whenever a Northerner was in charge of leadership. “Things happening since 1999 to 2006 tazarce, and 2015 when a party agreed that Presidency should rotate, and that was the beginning of what we saw. “Some of our various formations were unhappy with what was happening to the North, we decided that we must confront it and thanks to our efforts we succeeded in changing leadership.” “Since assumption of Northern leadership, we have witnessed demands like they always occur whenever a northerner takes over leadership,” he pointed out.

Most Nigerian youths rely on hard drugs for joy – Murray-Bruce

The Senator representing Bayelsa East in the National Assembly, Ben Murray-Bruce, has decried the alarming state of drug abuse among Nigerian youths.

We shall return remaining Chibok girls back home – Osinbajo

Nigeria’s Vice-President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo has reiterated the commitment of the Federal Government to securing the release of the remaining abducted Chibok girls. Osinbajo stated this in Abuja while playing host to a delegation of girl child rights advocates from various schools in Abuja, who were led by officials from the Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC), Save the Children International and the UNFPA on Wednesday, as part of the activities to mark the International Day of the Girl Child. This is contained in a press statement signed by the Senior Special Assistant to the vice-president on media and publicity, on Wednesday. “We are sending a clear message to the rest of the world that such criminal acts of abduction would not be condoned in the country. “We want to be able to challenge men and women all over the world about this sort of behaviour, and this is one of the reasons why we are advocating that this kind of conduct must be met with the greatest possible objection and force. “It is very important for us that those girls are returned; anyone who has a friend or child or anyone among the girls recognises that girls are more vulnerable than men, especially when they have been abducted by men stronger and older than themselves, and held in captivity for so long. “We shouldn’t accept it. We should condemn it for the cowardly and wrongful act that it is, and do our best to give succour to the ladies who have suffered this particular injustice. “We’ve had the unfortunate experience of having over 200 Chibok girls that were abducted. Again, as you know, some of them have been rescued; they have returned and are back home. But there are still some who are still out there, who we are still hoping and working every day to bring back home.” The Vice President further said the released Chibok girls were currently studying in the university. “We are happy to report that they are all doing very well, they are very excited about the new opportunities that they have and they are starting their lives afresh with a great deal of enthusiasm,” he said. Osinbajo congratulated the Girl Champion, Akam Ayo Blessing, who emerged as the Best Female Basic Education Certificate Examination Candidate, with 17As and one C. He said, “Her success demonstrates that there is absolutely no difference in terms of capacity and resourcefulness between a boy child and a girl child. Girls are not less intelligent or resourceful than boys. Only those who, for some reason or the other, want to deceive themselves would argue at all that there is a difference of any kind, especially in intelligence or capacity, between men and women.”

Billionaire kidnapper: Judge ‘washes’ hands off Evans’ case

​ Justice Abdulazeez Anka of the Federal High Court, Lagos has hands-off a fundamental rights case filed by suspected kidnapper, Chukwudumeme Onwuamadike, also known as Evans. According to Justice Anka, the case file would be returned to the Administrative Judge for further directive. The judge had earlier heard the case during the court’s long vacation and had adjourned until Aug. 29 for judgment after parties argued it and adopted their addresses on Aug.16. But the police through its counsel David Igbodo said another lawyer, Henry Obiazi, who represented the Inspector-General of Police (IGP) and the Nigeria Police when the case was heard did so without authorisation. The police prayed the court to set aside all the purported arguments made by Obiazi and to set aside the ruling it delivered on Aug. 16 in which he adjourned for judgment. When the case came up before another judge, Justice Chuka Obiozor during the long vacation, he held that the case was no longer urgent. Obiozor then returned the file to the Chief Judge, Justice Adamu Kafarati for re-assignment to another judge. The case was subsequently re-assigned to Justice Babs Kuewemi. However, Evans’ lawyer, Olukoya Ogungbeje wrote the Chief Judge informing him that Anka had already adjourned the case for judgment. Based on the letter, the case was again returned to Anka. When the case came up before Anka on Wednesday, he expressed displeasure that the case was returned to him when the issue of judgment had been overtaken by events. The judge said that since the police had filed other applications, the earlier adjournment for judgment had become void. Anka added that even if he had written the judgment earlier, it meant that a new one would be written. In his fundamental rights suit, Evans is claiming N300 million against the police as damages for alleged illegal detention and rights violation.