Category: Featured

…..says: I, Late Gen.Yar’Adua wrote WASCE in 1961

Meanwhile President Muhammadu Buhari has reacted for the first time since the controversy over his WASCE result broke out,saying that himself , the late Gen. Shehu Musa Yar’Adua were classmates at both the primary and secondary schools and they both joined the Army after the completion of their West African School Certificate Examination.

Buhari said that he and the late Gen. Yar’Adua wrote the WASCE in 1961.

The President said this as he defended the presentation of his WAEC certificate to him by the West African Examinations Council yesterday.

WAEC Registrar, Dr. Iyi Uwadiae, made the presentation at the President’s mini conference hall at the Presidential Villa, Abuja yesterday.

Uwadiae, who was accompanied by senior staff of the council, performed the ceremony during a courtesy visit to the State House.

Taking to his verified Twitter handle @MBuhari after the presentation, Buhari tweeted:

“Today I received the attestation and confirmation of my 1961 West African School Certificate (WASC) Examination result from the Registrar of the West African Examinations Council.

“It was also an opportunity for me to thank WAEC for upholding its integrity over the years.

“As a Nigerian military officer, it would have been impossible for me to have attended the Defence Services Staff College in India in 1973, and, after that — in 1979 — the United States Army War College, had I not sat for the WASC examinations, which I did in 1961.

“The late Gen. Shehu Musa Yar’Adua was my classmate. We spent close to nine years in boarding school, at primary and secondary levels.

“And from there, after our WASC, we moved to join the Army, where we had to take a military examination as one of the requirements.”

The President, however, referred to the West African School Certificate Examination (WASCE) as ‘WASC’ throughout his post.

Indications emerged yesterday that following the Supreme Court ruling on the governorship primaries of the All Progressive Congress, APC, the opposition party in the state may not field a governorship candidate in the election.

And barring any unforeseen circumstances the lot falls on the incumbent and PDP candidate, Nyesome Wike.

A highly placed source at the Headquarters of the independent National Electoral commission, INEC, in legal department said that the Chairman has already assembled a team of Senior Advocate Nigeria, SANs, and some legal minds to furnish him with the appropriate legal advice and judicial interpretation of the Supreme Court ruling on the APC Guber primaries.

According to the source, from all indications APC may not field any Governorship candidate in the 2019 polls excerpt they are able to convince and persuade Senator Magnus Abe and some party chieftains who went to Court to challenge the outcome of the primaries to withdraw the suit from the Court.

He said that as soon as the INEC boss is briefed properly on the issue involved in the Supreme Court ruling he will make the position of the commission clear on the matter which will not be palatable for the APC in Rivers State.

Another source at the the Headquarters of the APC in the office of the National legal adviser also said that the party is working towards a truce between the minister of Transport Rotimi Ameachi and Senator Magnus Abe to reach a compromise on the issue if not governor Nyesom Wike will have a free day.

But the party yesterday to meet up with the deadline for submission of Forms CF001 and CF002 of the list of the governorship and state assemblies candidates by political parties to the Independent National Electoral Commission, (INEC) said Tonye Cole remains its governorship candidate in Rivers State for next year election.

A statement issued by the party and signed by its national publicity secretary, Mallam Lanre Issa-Onilu, claimed the recent judgement of the apex court on the crisis in its Rivers state chapter has no bearing on the primary where Tonye Cole emerged as governorship candidate and the process that produced its candidates for the state assembly.

Daybreak gathered that the Supreme Court last Monday set aside the ruling of the Court of Appeal, Port Harcourt Division, which vacated a stay order made by a Rivers High Court against the conduct of All Progressives Congress congresses in the state.

Delivering the ruling on the interlocutory appeal, Justice Centus Nweze held that the decision of the Court of Appeal was in error. Nweze said the lower court was compelled to be guided by the judgments of the apex court, adding that the panel had to follow the law before arriving on its decision.

Daybreak recalled that Justice Chinwendu Nworgu of the State High Court, on October 11 delivering judgment on a substantive suit, instituted by Ibrahim Umar and 12 other members of the Rivers State APC, challenging their exclusion from the party Congresses, the court voided the list of candidates and sacked the state APC executive.

But the APC last night claimed the judgment of the apex court would not restrain it from submitting Tonye Cole along with his running mate, Hon. Victor Giadom as its candidates in Rivers.

The statement read in part: ” In view of conflicting interpretations that have greeted the recent verdict of the Supreme Court on the contentions among our members in Rivers State chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC), it has become necessary to clarify that the Supreme Court’s verdict has nothing to do with the primaries conducted for the governorship and legislative positions in the state.

“Therefore, the candidature of Arch. Tonye Cole along with his running mate, Hon. Victor Giadom remains inviolate. The list of our candidates for the governorship, National Assembly, and House of Assembly have been processed by the National Working Committee (NWC) according to the INEC guidelines.

“Our party appreciates the support of the good people of Rivers State and their commitment towards the victory of our governorship candidate, Arch. Tonye Cole and other APC candidates at all levels in the 2019 elections. A progressive leadership under the APC beckons and the people of Rivers State are poised to effect a change to move the beleaguered state to a path of progress and development”.

The INEC, however, maintained that it was not aware of the judgment of the apex court on its Rivers State chapter.

Rotimi Oyekanmi, media aide to INEC Chairman, Professor Mahmoud Yakubu told journalists that the Commission was ignorant of the court judgment.

He said: “We haven’t been served. It is when we have a copy of the judgment that we can take a position.”

Attempts by President Muhammadu to broker peace between the National Chairman of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) Comrade Adams Oshiomohle, and some aggrieved governors hit a brick wall as Oshiomhole described Governor Rochas Okorocha and Ibikunle Amosun as power drunk “emperors.”

Oshiomhole has been having running battle with the governors over the outcome of APC primaries in their states.

Addressing a press conference in Abuja on Friday, Oshiomhole described governor Okorocha “an embarrassment” to the APC as a party.

He alleged that Okorocha is plotting to privatize APC and vowed that he won’t help the Imo state governor to build a political dynasty in the South-east region.

Oshiomohle declared that “NWC has met and we have upheld the result of the Gulak committee and we have prepared the name of Sen. Hope to be submitted to the INEC.

“If governor Rochas chose to relocate to tne Villa and use the ground of Villa to try to intimidate me to create a dynasty I will even on one leg but power by the truth uphold the best interest of APC members and indeed of APC people in Imo state.”

While explaining how Governor Amosun went against the primary process, Oshiomohle revealed that the governor had called him to say that he was going to adopt consensus option but he rejected it, insisting on direct primary.

“Governor Amosun decided that him and his preffer aspirant will not participate in the primaries organised by the Working Committee and even tried to withdraw the security that was necessary for the primary panel.

At a stakeholders’ meeting, governor Amosun decided to introduce the third element which didn’t feature in the resolution of the NEC, announced that Ogun state was going to adopt consensus and he proceded to define what in his view constitute consensus.

“He announced somebody as the consensus governor, he proceeded to announce another man as as the deputy governor, he went on to proclaim as the next Senator and he said the current serving senator, Tejuoso should step aside.

“He also went on to announce that the second senator also from Ogun state will step aside while another man will come in. Governor Amosun went on to announce another man who will be the next speaker, and another one as the next deputy speaker. He also singlehandedly pronounced that of the eight House of Representatives members, seven will not return according to him, only one will return. All these he claimed is a consensus.

“However, Ogun state governor decided in his wisdom to conduct its own self help, I mean resulting to what you can call self help by conducting what he called his own primary. The Secretary to Ogun state government became the Chief Returning Officer and I and other NWC members were watching the Channels Television and we saw the Secretary to Ogun state government proclaiming himself as tbe returning officer, and purported to have conducted primary.”

… As El-Rufai drops Bala Bante, for Hajiya Hadiza Balarabe as running mate
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Governor Nasir El-Rufai of Kaduna State has announced the Hajiya Dr Hadiza Balarabe as his running mate for the 2019 general election.

This was contained in a statement issued to the press in Kaduna on Friday and signed by the governor’s spokesman man, Samuel Aruwan.

The statement averred that the choice of Dr Hadiza Balarabe as running mate continues Malam Nasir El-Rufai’s deliberate policy of promoting women

The statement posited that there are five female commissioners in his 14-person cabinet, a feat not attained even by governors that had much larger cabinets. This is the first time in the history of Kaduna State that a major political party will select a woman as a running mate.

“The incumbent Deputy Governor, Arc. Barnabas Yusuf Bala has opted to go to the National Assembly and has since emerged as the APC’s candidate for the southern Kaduna senatorial district.

“Dr. Hadiza Balarabe is the current Executive Secretary of the Kaduna State Primary Health Care Development Agency, a position she has held since February 2016.

“In that role, she has overseen the Kaduna State Government’s programme to revitalise and strengthen primary health care as the core of health service delivery in the state.

“Under her watch, the state is renovating and equipping 255 primary health centres with tools to assist better antenatal services and safer delivery. The agency has also helped expand vaccine coverage to protect children across the state.

“Prior to joining the Kaduna State Government, Dr Hadiza Balarabe was Director of Public Health in the FCT. She studied Medicine at the University of Maiduguri and graduated in 1988. She was a Senior Registrar at the Ahmadu Bello University Teaching Hospital before joining the services of the FCT in 2004.”

Dr Hadiza Balarabe, who was born in 1966, is from Sanga local government which is located in the southern Kaduna senatorial district.

The National Emergency Management Agency, NEMA, and the Nigeria Geological Survey Agency, NGSA, have both confirmed the occurrence of another earth tremor which happened at the Maitama district of the Federal Capital Territory, FCT.

This was contained in a statement signed by Mr Vincent Owan, Director, Planning, Research and Forecasting NEMA and Mr Abdulrazak Garba of the NGSA and made available to news men in Abuja, today.

It would be recalled that the recent incidence of earth tremor was reoccurring just a few months after an earth tremor shook the Mpape axis and environs in the FCT in September.

According to the statement, the NGSA said that it received a call at about 12.45 p.m from a location in Maitama reporting the incident after which a technical team was immediately dispatched to the location to confirm.

It stated that a team was sent to the location of the call for an on spot assessment and an internal response protocol was immediately activated, informing relevant government agencies and stakeholders.

“Our preliminary findings indicated that the tremor occurred at about 12.26 hrs around the vicinity of Panama Street in Maitama district, Abuja.

“After the field evaluation, the NGSA determined that the intensity was about 3.0 on the Mercalli Intensity Scale.“That means it was just felt indoors and lasted less than one minute.

“Further inspection revealed that there was no structural damage due to the vibrations and hence, NEMA was adequately briefed by the NGSA.

“The residents were consequently assured that there was no cause for alarm,’’ it stated.

According to Owan, the NGSA technical teams are conducting further assessments and will continue to update the public on further development.

Visiting the scene of the incidence, residents expressed worry over the reoccurrence of the earth tremor in the FCT, saying that they no longer feel safe.

A resident on Panama street, Hajiya, Lami Abubakar, said that it was important for adequate assessment to be done around the axis that have been experiencing the earth tremor, adding that this would help identify the causes, to know if it was natural or due to manmade activities for possible solutions or safe practices that should be adhered to by residents.

She said that the reoccurrence was too soon and she was yet to recover from the shock which has also affected her three-year-old baby and called on relevant agencies to prioritise the incident.

A renowned analyst and Lead Director Centre for Social Justice (CSJ), Mr Ezekiel Onyekpere has called for inclusive budgeting, saying that it provides the opportunity for society to utilize its full capacity, expertise and potentials.

With this approach, he argued that it will work for improvements in living standards,economic growth and social development.

Onyekpere made the call today while speaking on “State Level Budgeting for Development” at a one-day Budget Summit on Inclusiveness and Participation in Budgetary Process at State Level which was organised by Centre for Human Rights and Conflict Resolution (CHRCR) in Lokoja.

Explaining, he said that through inclusive budgetary, economic policies and the budget would be essentially directed at maintaining the necessary conditions for investors to create value.

He added that inclusive budgeting will create opportunities for the poor to get out of poverty against the backdrop of all segments of society, given the opportunity to contribute to “cake baking” and as equal participants in the sharing.

Speaking on the ever simmering issue of restructuring of the country, Onyekpere stated that any form of restructuring that cedes more powers to state governors would only spell doom or disaster for the nation as they already weird too much power.

Onyekpere said that the governors in their present position were like “Unmovable movers”, saying that they had hijacked Local Government administration in the country and were already forcing the Federal Government to dance to their tune.

“If you restructure Nigeria and allocate more money and power to the state governors, they will create monsters that no one can imagine. In two years, you will be crying to go back to where we were”, he said.

Earlier in his opening remarks, Mr Miliki Abdul, Executive Director, CHRCR described budget as the second most important document in the life of the country, noting, only the constitution of the country took precedence over it.

Miliki decried the annual ritual of budgeting without commensurate impact on the lives of the people, arguing that accusations of selective implementation of budgets, late release of capital votes and disregard for the Appropriation Act had been the norm.

He said that the goal of the centre was to institutionalize Anti-corruption, Transparency and Accountability in Nigeria by ensuring necessary political commitment to deepen and spread of the crusade particularly in an elections year.

The Executive Director also urged government at all levels to strive towards ensuring the full implementation of the annual budget as it would go a long in facilitating the needed development in the society.

Miliki stressed that effective budget should be “capable of accelerating growth in the real and proactive sectors as well as redistribution of wealth within the society and generally to promote national development”

In his contribution at the Summit, the Chairman House Committee on Budget and member representing Idah Local Government Area at the Kogi state House of Assembly, Hon Haruna Idoko Musa appreciated the organiser of the programme describing it as very laudable.

However, Hon. Idoko assured the organiser of the summit that he will impressed upon his colleagues to involve members of the public and CSOs in the next year budget hearing to make good the philosophy of inclusive budget a reality.

Governor Abdulaziz Yari of Zamfara state has announced a prize of one million #1m naira to any person who lead to, of facilitate the arrest of a bandit in possession of dangerous weapon such as AK47.

He said this measure is adopted to motivate and encourage the participation of indigenous members of various communities as partners in the bit to rid the state of the scourge of banditry.

The governor also announced that his government has instructed all the seventeen emirates in the state to employ 500 members of volunteer groups who he said, will each be place on #15,000 naira monthly allowance.

He said the groups will operate as joint taskforce with other security organs like the military and the police.

“they will also be paid other relevant allowances covering hazards and similar related challenges” he said.