ANTI-SARAKI SENATORS DEMAND EKWEREMADU’S RESIGNATION

The crisis set off by the recent election of the principal officers of the National Assembly may be far from over despite the All Progressives Congress’ recent assurance that it has put its house in order.
Aggrieved APC senators, on Saturday, demanded for the immediate resignation of the Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu.
The senators, who are loyal to Senator Ahmad Lawan, the party’s candidate for the Senate presidency, insisted that Ekweremadu’s resignation was one of the conditions that would make the faction to recognise Senator Bukola Saraki as President of the Senate.
The aggrieved lawmakers, under the auspices of the Senate Unity Forum, however, stated that they had nothing personal against Saraki and Ekweremadu.
APC senators had been divided over the leadership of the National Assembly since the controversial elections. The ruling party had chosen Lawan for the Senate presidency and Femi Gbajabiamila as its candidate for the House of Representatives’ speakership in the aftermath of a mock intra-party election conducted on June 6.

AGF, NSA, EFCC TRADE ACCUSATION OVER CUSTODY OF RECOVERED ABACHA LOOT

Offices of the Attorney-General of the Federation (AGF), the National Security Adviser (NSA) and the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) are trading blames in court over which one of them is in custody of what was recovered from the money looted from the nation’s treasury by the late Head of State, Gen. Sani Abacha.
While the EFCC said the recovered funds could be accounted for by the offices of the AGF and the NSA, they have both denied knowledge of what has been recovered and where it is being kept.
The claim among the three Federal Government’s offices is captured in the court processes they filed in reaction to a suit filed by a group, the Legal Defence and Assistance Project (LEDAP), seeking information about the state of the recovered loot.
LEDAP, in 2011, instituted the suit under the Freedom of Information Act after the EFCC (earlier named as the sole defendant) refused its request for the information.
It later joined the AGF and the NSA when the EFCC, in a counter-affidavit, said it was only offices of the AGF and NSA that could account for the recovered looted funds.
An EFCC official, Austin Emmumejakpor, said in the counter-affidavit of March 5, 2012, that he was “informed that remittances relating to the estate of the late Gen. Abacha were coordinated by the offices of the National Security Adviser and the Attorney-General of the Federation and not the respondent (EFCC) as erroneously thought by the applicant.”

BE PATIENT WITH BUHARI, NORTHERN ELDERS FORUM TELLS NIGERIANS

The Northern Elders’ Forum has urged Nigerians to be patient with President Muhammadu Buhari in fulfilling his campaign promises. The forum said the President met a damaged economy that would take time to heal.
Buhari, who succeeded Dr. Goodluck Jonathan, was sworn in on May 29.
In an interview with SUNDAY PUNCH, the Secretary of the NEF, Professor Ango Abdullahi, said while there were high expectations from the electorate, they should also note that Buhari came into power at a time the economy was bad.
He said, “There are so many challenges. Sometimes, I am sympathetic to how this country had been so run down almost to ground zero and Buhari is expected within the shortest time possible to lift it from its knees. It is not going to be easy at all.
“We understand that the coffers are empty and now he has so many things that are outstanding that require funds. These funds cannot be found in our treasury and they are not in our foreign reserve.
“It is a huge job, and to that extent President Buhari will need the understanding of Nigerians. Perhaps, those who understand the enormity of the problems should be able to give him a little more room to come to grips with the gigantic tasks ahead of him.”
The former Vice Chancellor of the Ahmadu Bello University noted that while the potential was there, the actual means were not immediately available for Buhari to execute some of his programmes that required immediate actions.

SGF: APC LEADERS ROOT FOR ONU

Top leaders of the All Progressives Congress (APC) are reportedly appealing to President Muhammadu Buhari to appoint the first elected governor of Abia State, Dr. Ogbonnaya Onu as Secretary to Government of the Federation (SGF).
THISDAY gathered that the clamour for Onu’s appointment began after the presidential and National Assembly elections when the South-east failed to produce any senator on the APC platform for possible election as the Senate President.
It has also emerged that Buhari may appoint a former governor of Anambra State, Dr. Chris Ngige as Minister of Health.
Onu, who was one of the few Nigerians to bag a doctorate degree in chemical engineering without a Masters degree, was in 1991 elected governor of Abia State on the platform of the National Republican Convention (NRC).
He also served as the first chairman of the conference of elected governors, and among other reforms, appointed non-Abians into the state civil service as a way of uniting Nigeria.
THISDAY gathered that the APC leaders believe that Onu towers above several other politicians from the South-east in terms of experience, exposure and integrity.

MILITARY ALONE CAN’T END INSURGENCY – OBASANJO

Former President Olusegun Obasanjo has said the use of only military operations to tackle Boko Haram activities in Nigeria and other violent groups across the world cannot end insurgency.
A statement on Friday by the African Export-Import Bank, indicated that the former president said this during the bank’s 22nd Annual General Meeting held in Lusaka, Zambia.
Obasanjo, speaking about conflicts in Africa, also said the crises werecaused by failure to address certain social problems in the society such as educational disparity.
Afrixembank’s spokesman, Obi Emekekwue quoted Obasanjo in the statement thus, “He proposed a carrot and stick solution to the conflicts on the continent through an approach involving military solutions and social development since a purely military approach would not work.
“According to Obasanjo, a situation, such as in Nigeria, where one section had an educational attainment level of 79 per cent while another had only 19 per cent, created room for conflict.”
The former president also called on Nigeria and other African countries to pursue economic integration on the basis of regional economic communities rather than doing so with the over 54 countries on the continent.

BUHARI CONSIDERS BALANCE IN SGF CHOICE

Three All Progressives Congress (APC) chiefs and a seasoned bureaucrat are in the race for Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF).
President Muhammadu Buhari is yet to make up his mind on who gets the job. Besides, he is battling to stave off pressure.
Those either interested or being strongly recommended for the SGF are ex-Governor Rotimi Amaechi (South-South), ex-Governor Ogbonnaya Onu (South-East), APC National Chairman John Odigie-Oyegun (Edo) and a former occupant of the office, Amb. Babagana Kingibe.
There is a bureaucrat from the North-East whose name was not immediately known yesterday.
There are three issues Buhari is trying to resolve:
•should the SGF go to the Northeast or the Southeouth/Southeast?
•should he be a cosmopolitan young element or an experienced bureaucrat? and
•how to avoid the “way and manner in which a former SGF turned the office into an ethnic enclave and destroyed the ethos of the civil service”.
The former SGF reportedly politicised appointments, resulting in a situation whereby two people were given letters for an office.
The President is said to be concerned about geopolitical balance in appointments.
The power sharing in the Executive and the Legislature so far has shown that only the South-South is yet to be accommodated.

Don’t take bribe, Aisha Buhari tells President’s men

The wife of President Muhammadu Buhari, Aisha has warned those around the President not to use their position to curry favours, but to key into his agenda of fighting corruption and insecurity.
Speaking while she hosted women and youths to a ‘thank you’ dinner, Mrs. Buhari said the success of the administration would depend on how the people around the President conduct themselves.
According to her, there should be a better representation of women in all arms of government in order to ensure that their concerns are better articulated.
She said: “There was nothing that people did not say about the past administration. It is not Jonathan that is not good, but the people around him.
“So, the people that are going to be around General Buhari have to be very careful because this election ended peacefully.
“We are praying and hoping that people around him should know that it took him 12 years to get to that position and they must know that they are coming to serve the masses, not General Buhari in person.  It is the people that are around him that will determine the political health of our state.
“There was nothing that people did not say about the past administration. It is not Jonathan that is not good, but the people around him.

Why states can’t pay workers’ salaries

Huge expenditures on capital projects and sundry overhead have been identified as part of the reasons many state governments in Nigeria are unable to pay their workers’ salaries for many months now, Vanguard investigations have revealed.
About 18 state governments in the country currently owe their workers salaries for periods ranging from two to 11 months as at the end of May, 2015.
States and indebtedness
Some of the effected states include Abia, Akwa Ibom, Bauchi, Benue, Cross River, Ekiti, Imo, Katsina, Kogi, Ogun, Ondo, Osun, Oyo, Plateau, Rivers and Zamfara.
Vanguard also gathered that the states have mortgaged their federation account allocations to contractors executing various capital projects by signing irrevocable payment orders with various banks. As a result, payments to contractors and other debt instruments are deducted at source and have become first line charge on their lean resources.

WHY AREGBESOLA CAN’T PAY WORKERS’ SALARIES – BABATOPE

Osun state governor, Rauf Aregbesola, cannot pay the salary of workers in the state due to the huge amount of money he spent to prosecute his re-election, former Minister of Transport, Chief Ebenezer Babatope, has said.
Babatope, a member of the Board of Trustees (BoT) of the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), who disclosed this in a chat with Daily Independent on Sunday, said Aregbesola borrowed a lot of money to fund his re-election and he is now trying to pay back the loan, hence his inability to pay salaries of workers.
He added that he had predicted in an interview he granted shortly after the Osun governorship election that Aregbesola overspent money during the election and that this will have terrible effect on the economy of Osun state.
Go and check the newspapers precisely Daily Independent and New Telegraph and see the interviews I granted shortly after the Osun governosrship election in 2014.
Babatope said: “Then I said Aregbesola spent so much in the election that we believe that in the next nine months, it will be extremely difficult for the APC government in Osun state, led by Aregbesola to pay salaries of staff. If he does so I will give him kudos”.

BUHARI PLANS MILITARY SHAKE-UP, ANGRY WITH DSS

There are indications that President Muhammadu Buhari may carry out a major shake-up in the top echelons of the military.
It was learnt that service chiefs and other senior officers across the various arms of the military might be relieved of their posts to pave way for new hands.
Findings showed that Buhari would replace the service chiefs with equally experienced officers.
It was gathered that all but one of the military chiefs would be disengaged by the President, while appointing new officers who would be expected to implement the new phase of the war against the Boko Haram sect in the North-East.
Sources said that there was anxiety in the military over the looming change of guard which is expected to affect all the services, including the Army, Navy, and the Air Force.
It was gathered that the military chiefs were acutely aware of the fate that might befall them, having reached the pinnacle of their career.
A source said that the President may be considering one of the security chiefs to ensure smooth transition between the present military chiefs and their successors.
But another source said this was not likely, noting that the only security chief that might be retained is the Inspector-General of Police, Mr. Solomon Arase, who was appointed a few months ago by the administration of former President Goodluck Jonathan.
One of our correspondents gathered that Buhari would likely appoint his “loyalists” and those he had worked with into top positions.