Hakeem Baba-Ahmed, the spokesman of the Northern Elders Forum (NEF) has asked the National Assembly to impeach President Muhammadu Buhari if he is unable to secure Nigerians.
The president has come under intense pressure as a result of the rising insecurity in the country.
Speaking on Kakaaki, an AIT programme, on Monday, Baba-Ahmed charged those who have constitutional responsibility to realise that the country is in a dire state, and do something other than just talking and making promises.
According to him; “One option we have is that the legislators will look at the record of the administration, understand the areas where the president has failed, understand areas where there is clearly no evidence that they’re going to do anything about it and refer to the constitution that says the whole purpose of government is to secure citizens and pursue their welfare.”
“If Buhari fails to do that, for me, those are impeachable offences. In the last six months, two years, what has the president done to secure the country? Absolutely nothing has been done and yet you see increasing failure of the state to protect citizens,” he said.
“Or, as our democratic system provides, those with the responsibility to get them off, should impeach those who are failing. If the president can’t deliver, he should be impeached.
“We don’t have a national assembly that appears to have the levels of patriotism and concern beyond partisan politics to realise that when this roof falls, it also falls on their heads.
“Partisanship is so pronounced that the people we elected and sent to Abuja think they serve the president rather than the Nigerian people.”
According to Baba-Ahmed, the second option is for citizens to get together and decide to do something.
He said the third option is: “Those leaders who are failing will recognize the fact that they are the problem, and they will resign because they clearly have nothing to offer in terms of leadership.
Baba-Ahmed spoke few days after the presidency said some leaders were pushing for regime change.
Former Head of State, Gen. Abdulsalami Abubakar (rtd), has said that he has no link with any terrorist or bandit group within or outside the country.
He made this “clarification in a statement made available to newsmen in Minna on Monday which was signed on his behalf by his Media Aide, Dr Yakubu Sulaiman.
The former Head of State described the claim of him having such link as “false unfounded and fake news”.
Apparently reacting to the arrest of a helicopter for supplying food and weapons to terrorists and bandits in parts of the country, which was said to belong to him in publications by some social media platforms, Abubakar said he did not own such a helicopter.
He disassociated himself from such “a heinous crime that is unbecoming of any patriotic citizen”, saying that he would have ignored such “spurious reports but had to set the record straight”.
“This kind of fake news has the potential of aggravating the already tensed security situation in the country and should not be condoned,” he said.
He, however, regretted that individuals could be so callous to peddle such news and smear the image and character of people, pointing out that: “I urge Nigerians to ignore such treacherous acts and be careful with the kind of information being dished out and shared on the social media.”
He further urged Nigerians to continue to work and pray for enduring peace in the country, because no nation can attain greatness without peace and security of lives and property of it’s citizenry
Rivers State Governor , Nyesom Wike, has extended the night curfew across the 23 local government areas of the state from 7 p.m. to 6 a.m., with effect from Tuesday, in order to stem dastardly attacks on security formations in the State.
The governor said the decision was taken in the wake of multiple armed ambushes on police checkpoints along the East-West road which resulted in the cold-blooded murder of seven police officers over the weekend.
Wike, in a state broadcast on Monday, said the State security council have reviewed the way and manner the recent attacks were executed and discovered that the perpetrators, who disguised themselves as security officers, moved in unhindered from Oyigbo to launch the attack.
The governor’s broadcast was relayed to newsmen in Port Harcourt by his Special Assistant on Media, Kelvin Ebiri, on Monday.
The statement reads in bits , “However, as a further step towards enhancing our collective safety, we have reviewed the existing nighttime curfew across the 23 Local Government Areas, which will now start from 7 p.m. and end at 6 a.m. until further notice from tomorrow 11th May 2021.
“The security agencies are hereby directed to note the new curfew time, ensure strict compliance and effectively deal with any person or group that violates or attempts to violate it.
“We have reviewed, and for the moment, declined the pressure on the State Government to activate our youth to defend the State from these terrorists because we don’t want to complicate our very delicate security situation by creating opportunities for some other monsters to emerge.”
Governor Wike, who consoled the families of the dead officers and the State’s Police Command for the irreparable loss, declared that the government and security agencies are determined to deploy everything at their disposal to advance the safety and security of lives and property in the State.
“We wish to assure every resident that we are not intimidated by the sporadic and cowardly attacks on predetermined security targets by faceless criminals on our soil; neither will we be cowed into succumbing to a baseless and doomed secessionists agenda,” the governor added.
The Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi has inaugurated a seven-man panel to probe the suspended Managing Director of the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), Hadiza Bala-Usman
Speaking in Abuja at the inauguration ceremony, the Minister said that the panel is to examine and investigate the administrative policies and strategies adopted by the suspended Managing Director and to confirm her level of compliance with extant laws and rules from 2016 till date.
Amaechi, however, noted that the terms of reference of the panel include examining and investigating issues leading to the termination of pilotage and other contracts of NPA and confirm compliance with the terms of the respective contracts, court rulings and presidential directives.
“To also examine and investigate compliance with the communication channel as obtained in the Public Service, examine and investigate the procurement of contracts from 2016 to date,” he said.
The Minister asked the panel to come up with suggestions and advice that would strengthen the operations of NPA and forestall such occurrences in future, and any other matter that may be necessary in the course of the assignment.
The panel is chaired by the Director, Maritime Services Suleiman Auwalu with the following members;
Ben Omogo, Director, Organisation Design and Development, Co-Chairman.
Hussani Adamu, Director, Procurement
Blessing Azorbo, Director, Legal Services
Mercy Ilori, Director, Transport Planning Coordination
Muhly-deen Awwal, Director, Human Resources Management and
Gabriel Fan, Deputy Director, Legal Services, who serves as the secretary of the committee.
The panel also has three employees of Human Resources Management with the responsibility of serving as secretariat staff of the committee.
Bandits in the early hours of Monday abducted over 40 worshippers observing midnight prayer (Tahajjud) at a mosque in Jibia Local Government Area of State.
The incident took place at Abattoir area of Jibia.
One of the officials of committee on IDPs in Jibia, who confirmed the unfortunate incident to our correspondent said the number of those abducted could be higher than 40.
He said around 7:30pm on Sunday, they had intelligence that the bandits were mobilising to attack Jibia, and they notified the security agents and local vigilante as well.
According to him; “Our focus was on Izala mosque at Tashar Huraira area, so we deployed our resources there, but unfortunately, they went to the mosque which is not that popular.
“One of the worshippers who escaped told us that they surrounded the mosque while prayers were in progress, went in, switched off the microphone with which the Imam was reciting Qur’an, and asked the worshippers to move out”.
He said Jibia had been targeted by the bandits as some captives once overheard them discussing about their plan of attacking the town.
When contacted the Police spokesman in Katsina, SP Gambo, confirmed the incident, saying the bandits who came in their numbers, surrounded the worshippers at a newly constructed mosque at the outskirt of Jibia.
“It is around Abattoir quarters, which is their notorious route into Jibia. They surrounded the worshippers and fired a shot into the air to scare them after which they abducted about 40 of them.”
“But a combined effort of the police, military, local vigilante and members of the community went after them and succeeded in rescuing about 30 of the victims.
“When we conducted a headcount this morning, about 10 are still missing, but we are not sure if they are actually with the bandits or they have ran to other places for their safety. But investigation is ongoing,” he said.
In order to resolve the raging dispute over the full implementation of financial autonomy for state judiciaries and legislatures, the Federal Government and Governors of the 36 States of the Federation have agreed on a revenue-sharing formula.
If the agreement is accepted by judicial and parliamentary workers, who have been on a strike for over one month to press home their demands for financial autonomy for the two arms of government in the 36 states of the federation, funds from the Federation Account due to each state are to be jointly shared among the executive, legislature and judiciary in each state.
The new proposal, which was given to the leadership of both the Judiciary Staff Union of Nigeria (JUSUN) and Parliamentary Staff Association of Nigeria (PASAN) at a conciliatory meeting last Thursday in Abuja, seeks to replicate the federal revenue-sharing structure in the states.
Newsfocusng gathered that under the new template, the governors will establish, within 45 days of the agreement, States Accounts Allocation Committee (SAAC) to share revenues among the executive, the judiciary and the legislature, the same way the Federal Accounts Allocation Committee (FAAC) shares revenue between the federal, states and local government councils.
The proposal also stipulates that the Accountant General of the Federation (AGF) will invoke Executive Order 10 against any state that fails to abide by the terms of the agreement.
A presidency source revealed at the weekend that among the new offers made to the judiciary and legislative workers by the federal and state governments was a reassurance that state governors are committed to implementing full financial autonomy for the two arms of government.
“They also agreed that they will set up all the structures necessary for the implementation of the financial autonomy, including the budget committee where the judiciaries and state legislatures will forward their expenditure estimates. That will be based on the budget envelope of the projected annual revenue earning for the arms of government as is being done at the federal level,” he said.
The source, when the executive, judiciary and legislature prepare their annual budget estimates, they will forward them to the state House of Assembly for consideration and approvals. “So when the revenue comes from the federal and the Internally Generated Revenue (IGR), the State Fund Allocation Committee will now convene the State Accounts Allocations Committee (SAAC), which will now oversee the disbursement of money to different arms of government,” he stated.
He added that each state will ensure that it establishes Fund Allocation Committee for its legislature and judiciary to be headed by the head of the courts and the legislature. “The two arms of government will also be expected to set up a tenders’ board to be headed by the court registrar and clerk of the state Houses Assembly,” he said.
He added that the same structure at the federal level would be transposed down to the states. He said the same template used by the National Judicial Council (NJC) at the federal level would be adopted in disbursing funds to the judiciary in the states.
He said under the new arrangement, state Fund Allocation Committee would be headed by the state Commissioner for Finance. Also, state Houses of Assembly will be allocated funds in the same manner that the National Assembly receives its allocation after the budget approval.
“So, if there is a breach on the part of the state government that will trigger off Executive Order 10, which empowers the Accountant-General of the Federation to remit funds directly to the state judicial and legislative arms of government. But if you are doing all that is provided in the proposed template, there will be no need to invoke the Executive Order,” he said.
The striking judicial and legislative workers had earlier vowed not to compromise on their demands for the implementation of 1999 Constitution as altered.
The workers said last week at a meeting with a federal government team, led by Minister of Labour and Employment, Dr. Chris Ngige, that the issue of financial autonomy for state legislatures and judiciaries was a constitutional provision that did not warrant any negotiation with governors. JUSUN and PASAN had also insisted that the governors must fully implement financial autonomy for the two arms of government in the 36 states of the federation as guaranteed by the constitution before the strike would be called off.
The federal government had also pleaded with the unions to consider the efforts being made to resolve the dispute and suspend their strike to enable the court and legislatures to reopen.
Ngige had said last week that progress had been made in about 90 per cent of the issues in dispute. However, the meeting between the federal government team and the leadership of the unions had ended with an agreement that the unions should go and study the government’s proposal before the next meeting, billed for tomorrow.
The leadership of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has claimed on Sunday that some varsity Lecturers are being owed between 15 and 16 months’ salaries.
The union said those mostly affected are lecturers who went on sabbatical. However, the claim could not be verified last night.
The varsity lecturers accused Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation (OAGF) of deliberately frustrating the lecturers to a point of desperation in order to capture them on the controversial Integrated Personnel and Payroll Information System (IPPIS) of the government.
ASUU’s continued rejection of the payroll system, led to the introduction of the University Transparency and Accountability Solution (UTAS). It was developed by the university lecturers.
ASUU President Prof. Biodun Ogunyemi revealed in a chat that the OAGF refusal to pay his colleagues amounted to a violation of the Memorandum of Action (MoA) ASUU signed with the government last December before it called of its nine month strike.
According to him; “On the government side they will say they have paid all the arrears but you can’t say you have paid all the arrears when some of our members are still being owed. Where that is happening, we cannot agree that government has paid all the arrears.
“Our members are still being owed. We are still tracking the payment; the have been done in bits but as at today we still have some of our members, pockets of our members on our campuses that are not yet paid.
“In fact some of our members have not been paid their salaries for 15 – 16 months. We have members who have not been paid for fifteen to sixteen months. Some of them who went on sabbatical they don’t pay them and they are pushing them to the point of desperation, as a way of capturing them on IPPIS.
“We see that as a violation of our Memorandum of Action which was signed in December, 2020: that our members will be paid their salaries through hybrid platform until we finalise the integrity test on UTAS.
“What the consultant to IPPIS has been doing is to instigate the Accountant-General’s office to threaten our members that they will not be paid if they don’t register on IPPIS. Those of our members who made inquiries and went as far as Office of the Accountant- General of the Federation they told them point blank that they will not be paid unless they register on IPPIS.
“We are collating information on that and we are prepared to take it to the highest level in the land before we consider what is to be done about what the AGF and the consultant on IPPIS are doing to our members.
He continued; “Denying workers their salaries is a punishment and it violates all known trade union laws that we know. If people can be denied their salaries for fifteen to sixteen months because they don’t want to succumb to the pressure (of registering on IPPIS), our union will consider the best way to handle them after taking everything to all the appropriate levels.
“The same thing with the check off deductions. We have seen that the AGF office is withholding the check of deductions of our members. Although we have been advised to compile all of those and send to the appropriate government quarters which we have done the first time but because many were left out we are doing it again.
“We are engaging government agents on all of these and we hope that a stop will be put to this hide and seek game being played by both the Accountant General as well as the consultant to IPPIS.”
Ogunyemi also lamented the slow pace of progress on UTAS by the National Information Technology Development Agency, (NITDA).
The ASUU leader said: “We are also complaining to government on the slow pace of NITDA in finalising the integrity test on UTAS.
“If we had an understanding that the process will be completed as fastly as possible, we suspect that the IPPIS consultants are putting pressure or they are discouraging the finalisation of UTAS so that they can continue to put our members for the platform that we have rejected.”
In an effort to ensure the nation’s economy is revamped through the Mineral and Metals Sector, the Federal Government has approved the supply of power to ALSCON to facilitate its return to full production capacity.
The Minister of State Mines and Steel Development, Dr Uchechukwu Sampson Ogah made this known during his extensive tour of the ALSCON facility in Ikot-Abasi, Akwa Ibom State on Friday, 7th May, 2021.
In a statement made available to newsmen in Abuja by the Head Press & Public Relations Unit, Mrs Etore Thomas, the Minister stated that the Federal Exceutive Council approval to connect the Company to the National Grid is a sign of the President Muhammadu Buhari’s Administration’s committenent to ensuring that ALSCON is functional, adding that the plant has great economic potential that would benefit not just Nigeria, but Africa.
He noted that the Company could employ about two thousand Nigerins when it began full operations. He therefore stated that the Federal Government will ensure it provide all necessary support to see the plant is up and running.
Also , the Managing Director of the Plant, Zavalov Dmitry, revealed that the plant was forced to shut down in 2014 due to gas supply cut. He however disclosed that the Company has began plans to restart the Plant.
While applauding the Federal Government for approving the supply of power to the Plant, he appealed for the provision of alternative source of gas supply as according to him, “globally, industries that produce metal always have two sources of supply of gas.”.
Similarly , the Akwa Ibom State Commissioner for Environment and Solid Minerals, Charles Udoh stated the Akwa Ibom State Government support for Federal Government’s decision to resuscitate the ALSCON Plant. He disclosed that the State is committed to partner with the Federal Government to ensure that the Plant begin operations.
In a related development, the Minister of State, Mines and Steel Development Dr Uchechukwu Sampson Ogah during a meeting with Stakeholders enjoined operators to ensure they always obtain the relevant liences and pay due royalties to the Federation Account to enable Government meet its obligations to the citizens.
Dr Ogah noted that with the above 8 mineral resources in the State, it could create wealth for the people of Akwa Ibom if the operators are willing to work together and synergize, adding that they should bridge the gap between the Federal and State Governments for the smooth running of the Sector in the State.
He tasked the Commissioner for Environment and Solid Minerals, Charles Udoh to follow up and resolve the issue of the Akwa-Ibom State Mineral Resources and Environmental Management Committee (MIREMCO).
Earlier, the Commissioner for Environment and Solid Minerals, Charles Udoh disclosed that with the approval of the Akwa Ibom Deep Sea Port, dredging business is going to increase in the State. He therefore tasked the miners to ensure they register and regularise their operations so they can grow their business and benefit from the huge mining opportunities in the State. He supported Federal Government’s strategy to have synergy so as to harness the benefit in the sector.
The miners appealed to the Ministry to help resolve the challenge of double and multiple taxation they are facing. They also enjoined the Ministry to assist them access loans to enable them buy equipment to grow their business.
President Muhammadu Buhari on Sunday described the wave of destruction of Police formations, particularly in the South East as “madness”.
Buhari who spoke through his Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu wondered who would protect the same people destroying the stations and killing security personnel.
He, however, condoled those who lost family members due to the attacks.
His reactions was contained in a statement detailing how the President intends to celebrate the El Al-Fitr.
He said , the President, in addition, takes this opportunity to condole with all who lost family members due to what he described as the ‘madness’ going on in parts of the country.
The President called on all local leaders to talk to their youths and warn them against being used to incite and foment violence.
“If we attack institutions guarding us,” the President wonders, “who will protect us in future emergencies?”
Meanwhile, the President has directed that all celebrations in connection to the El Al Fitr be limited due to the global Coronavirus crisis.
The statement further stated that “as Muslims in Nigeria join others globally in preparations towards Eid Al-Fitr, a day that is celebrated to mark the end of Ramadan, the month of fasting, President Buhari directs that all celebrations be limited due to the global Coronavirus crisis.
“To this effect, the President, First Family, his personal aides, members of cabinet and Service Chiefs who choose to remain in Abuja will congregate in full compliance with COVID-19 protocols at the forecourt of the Presidential Villa to observe the Eid prayers. Time fixed for the prayer is 9:00am.
“Thereafter, there will be no traditional Sallah homage to the President by religious, community and political leaders. As was the case last year, the President encourages such leaders to be content with modest celebrations at home in view of the pandemic.
“President Buhari specially thanks the Ulama (Islamic Clerics) and all other religious (Muslim, Christian) leaders who continue to pray for the wellbeing of the nation and its people”.
The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), has berated the All Progressives Congress (APC) for instigating the move to slash workers’ salaries in the country.
Condemning the move, the PDP alerted that intelligence at its disposal indicated that leaders of the APC recommended the move to slash workers’ meagre salaries despite the current excruciating economic hardship which the Buhari-led administration had plunged the nation in the last six years.
The PDP, in a statement by its spokesman Kola Ologbondiyan which a copy was made available to newsmen in Abuja described as wicked and completely unacceptable that APC leaders could go after workers’ salaries even after their party, the APC, had endorsed the increase in the cost of fuel, electricity and other tariffs, leading to the steeply rise in the cost of food and other essential commodities beyond the reach of millions of Nigerians.
The statement reads in parts; “Our party rejects the baseless argument that the move to cut salaries is necessitated by dwindling revenue to finance the national budget.
“Rather than impose more hardship on our workers, the APC and its administration should realign the budget by removing their padded figures as well as end the exposed looting in the integrated payment system, where trillion of naira are being siphoned through non-existent workers and overheads.
“It is distasteful that the APC and the Buhari administration are contemplating a salary cut in a country with a paltry N30,000 monthly minimum wage, an amount that can barely run a small family for less than a week in the face of escalated cost of staple food and essential commodities.
“The PDP also finds it appalling that at a time leaders of other countries are seeking ways to provide economic stimulus and incentives for their citizens, the APC and the Buhari Presidency are rather seeking to cut salaries in a country with frightening 33.3 percent unemployment rate; where over 60 million citizens have lost their jobs with over 40 million businesses closed within six years of the APC administration.
“Our party cautions that APC and its administration against the proposed salary cut as it will trigger an immediate negative spiral effect, particularly with the escalated cases of terrorism and other social vices, confronting our nation,” the PDP said.
The party added that it is distressing that in the last six years and particularly in the face of the global COVID-19 pandemic, the APC and Buhari Presidency have failed to take any decisive steps to stimulate to economy and promote production.
“Instead, the APC and its administration had engaged in mindless external borrowings, bulk of which had also been looted by APC leader and their cronies in government. Now that they have borrowed from every corner of the world, the APC and its administration are now turning to salaries of our workers,” the party said.
The PDP advised the Buhari administration to leave workers salary alone and seek help by getting more capable hands to manage the economy and create wealth instead of plunging Nigerians into more hardship.
