Former Nigerian Vice President, Atiku Abubakar posted photos of his workout session. "Warming up for my medicals, so I can complete my transfer to Arsenal in January" the 69-year-old joked.
Thursday, October 6, 2016
I Can’t Be Removed On The PagesOf Newspapers – Oyegun …Says No Rift With Tinubu
John Oyegun, national chairman of the All progressives Congress (APC), has reiterated that he has no rift with Bola Tinubu, national leader of the party.
The first signs of cracks in the ruling party became public on September 25 when Tinubu — unhappy with the manner of emergence of Rotimi Akeredolu as candidate of the party for the November 2016 Ondo state governorship election — issued a public statement to demand Oyegun’s resignation.
Akeredolu had been declared winner of the primary on September 3, after he polled a total of 699 votes — ahead of Olusegun Abraham, preferred candidate of Tinubu, who polled 635 votes.
The victory appeared to have suffered a setback when the APC appeal committee recommended the annulment of the primary, citing controversies about the delegates’ list. But after the panel was overruled, Tinubu accused Oyegun of “safeguarding the fraud by perpetrating a greater fraud, arrogating to himself the right to submit the name of Rotimi Akeredolu to INEC as the candidate of the party”.
On Tuesday when he met with President Muhammadu Buhari at the villa, Oyegun was asked to comment on his rift with Tinubu and whether he would heed his demand to step down from office.
“There is no rift with Asiwaju; we [only] have difference of opinion, difference of perception, and I think that is normal,” Oyegun answered.“
Yes, I agree that the nature of the statement was a bit harsh. The method of getting rid of a national chairman, if that is what I will call it, are spelt out in the constitution; they don’t takeplace on the pages of newspapers.
”Asked why the national executive committee had not met to deliberate on the issues, he said: “It is proper for them to meet and they will all meet at the appropriate time.”
He denied that he was behind the youth protest at the APC headquarters against alleged highhandedness of Tinubu, saying: “God forbid. Anybody who knows me knows that this is not my style.
“I’m equally shocked and I’m going to look into it and find out why and who is behind it.”
Newspapers pictured the two leaders smiling at each other on Monday when they attended the launch of a book in honour of Buhari, and Oyegun expressed shock that state house correspondents were taken aback by the sight.
“Do they know how far back our association goes? Do they know that we were in the trenches together in the NADECO days?” he queried.“
Why can’t people who have mutual respect for each other have different opinions? All we had was difference of opinions. Yes it was expressed a bit harshly but that doesn’t remove the basic fact that we have worked together for a very long time.
”On the Edo state governorship election, which Godwin Obaseki, his party’s candidate, won, he said: “Well it was a hard-fought election; that was clear.
“Two things really. It was more of a referendum first on the performance of the governor, [and] second on the quality of our candidate and most importantly, given the economic situation it was an opportunity for us to measure the continued popularity and acceptability of our president.“
And what it indicated is that by and large the people of this country still have faith, confidence in the fact that if there is any one man that can fix their situation, it is President Muhammadu Buhari.
Ize-Iyamu Not Worth 50,000 Votes, Says Oshiomhole
Outgoing governor of Edo state, Adams Oshiomhole has said the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in last week’s governorship election, Osagie Ize-Iyamu, is not worth 50,000 votes.
Ize-Iyamu, who lost the election to Godwin Obaseki of the All Progressives Congress (APC), polled 253,173 votes, while Obaseki polled 319,483 votes.
Speaking while leading a counter-protest after PDP’s demonstration on Tuesday that the election was rigged, Oshiomhole dared the losers to go to court.
“We encourage our opponents to go to court. We will expose them where it matters in our court rooms,” he said.
“We will be able to use evidence to show how much they profited from electoral fraud. The Ize-Iyamu I know is not worth 50,000 votes.“
Their case is like an armed robber with bullet wounds rushing to the police station, claiming that he had been shot, whereas he was the onewho opened fire on very innocent people.
“I am happy that the political funeral of the godfathers is final. There is nothing they can do to turn the will of God. So, this is our finest hour and I can’t wait to meet them in court.”
The PDP rejected the result before it was officially declared.It accused the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) of conniving with the APC to rig the election.
Economic Recession: Senate Invites Buhari To Address Joint Session Of NASS
The senate on Thursday invited President Muhammadu Buhari to brief a joint session of the national assembly on his plans for getting the economy out of recession.
The invitation is in concurrence with that of theHouse of Representatives which passed similar resolution on September 22, inviting the president to explain to the legislature his plans to deal with the economic economy.
When the question of whether to invite the president was put by the President of the Senate, Bukola Saraki, the senators answered in the affirmative.
The Senate however did not specify a date on which the President Commander in Chief is to brief the joint session.
The Senate also recommended the need for true federalism and amendment of section 162of the constitution to review the sharing formula between the Federal Government and State governments.
Budget Padding: FG Disciplines 184 Civil Servants, 22 Top Officials Dismissed
A total of 184 civil servants were disciplined for their different roles in the padding of the 2016 budget.This was contained in Buhari’s authorised biography, ‘Muhammadu Buhari: The Challenges of Leadership in Nigeria’, written by Prof. John Paden and presented to the public on Monday
.Of the 184, Paden said 22 top officials were dismissed from service.
He said the President viewed the padding as an attempt to scuttle his administration’s innovations, hence his decision to wield the big stick against the culprits.
The author wrote, “Buhari himself was frustrated by earlier padding of the budget by bureaucrats in some of the ministries.“
This was interpreted by the Buhari team as an attempt to scuttle the innovations proposedby the President by inflating their costs.“
When Buhari found out, he was reported to beangry and ordered a purge of the ministries involved from the Director-General down.“Twenty-two top officials were dismissed, including the budget director. In all, 184 civil servants were disciplined.”
He added that even after the budget had been adjusted downward by the National Assembly,the country would still have to borrow $3.5bn, as a result of the drop in oil prices.
In February, Buhari had while addressing the Nigerian community in Saudi Arabia, vowed that all those involved in the padding of the 2016 national budget, which led to the discrepancies in the document, would face severe punishment.
He had said the alterations, which he described as embarrassing and disappointing, made the document, being debated in the National Assembly at that time, completely different from what was prepared by the Ministry of Budget and National Planning.
Describing those responsible for the distortion of the budget proposals as entrenched interests, the President had said since he had been holding public offices, he had never heard about budget padding before the incident.
Buhari had added, “The culprits will not go unpunished. I have been a military governor, petroleum minister, military Head of State and headed the Petroleum Trust Fund.
“Never had I heard the words budget padding. Our Minister of Budget and National Planning did a great job with his team.“
The minister became almost half his size during the time, working night and day to get the budget ready, only for some people to pad it.
“What he gave us was not what was finally being debated. It is very embarrassing and disappointing. We will not allow those who did it to go unpunished.”
Reaffirming his government’s zero tolerance for corruption, Buhari said the war against corruption was a monumental task that he was determined to tackle successfully.
Punch
Photos: Troops neutralize male suicide bomber in Borno
Today at about 6.30am, troops of Operation Lafiya Dole intercepted and neutralized a male suicide bomber at the outskirts of Maiduguri, Borno State. The terrorist who attempted to infiltrate through the troops forward defences at Jidari Polo general area, came in through Alidawari village about 4 kilometres ahead of Jidari strapped with heavy Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) vest.
The vigilant troops on sighting him laid in wait for theintruder when vehemently refused to stop despite several warnings and challenges. A marksman neutralized the suicide bomber. The combined team of Nigerian Army and Nigeria Police Explosive Ordinance Device (EOD) safely detonated the IED laden vest on the suicide bomber.
President Buhari receives Leadership 'Manof the Year 'Award
President Buhari received Leadership 2015 Man of the Year Award from former Head of State, Abdulsalam Abubakar. He's flanked by L-R: Governor of Akwa-Ibom State, Udom Emmanuel, Representative of Goodluck Ebele Jonathan Mr Tanimu Turaki, Chairman Leadership Group Sam Nda-Isaiah at Transcorp Hilton Hotel Abuja on 6th October, 2016.
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