PARALLEL GOVT ALLEGATION: AREWA CHAIR COOMASSIE, ANGO ABDULLAHI TACKLE JONATHAN

Prominent northerners yesterday lashed out at President Goodluck Jonathan for accusing President-elect Muhammadu Buhari of running a parallel government following the outcome of the March 28 election.
The Federal Executive Council,rising from its meeting on Wednesday, had said the Jonathan Administration was not comfortable with some terms of reference of the incoming government’s transition committee which tend to create a parallel government.
National Planning Minister Suleiman Abubakar said government took exception to “some utterances, to some of the terms of reference that look as if the current government is being stampeded or intimidated.”
But reacting to the government’s position yesterday, the Chairman of the apex northern socio-cultural organisation, Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF), Alhaji Ibrahim Coomassie, said there was nothing wrong in Buhari’s approach and that the government itself had been making some questionable appointments at the twilight of its tenure.
He said: “They are sacking incumbents and making new appointments at this period of transition.That is very wrong too.”

2015: HOW IMAMS, NORTHERN INTELLECTUALS, INCITED THE NORTH AGAINST JONATHAN – TANKO YAKASSAI

Frontline nationalist, Alhaji Tanko Yakassai is not exactly comfortable with the dynamics of the just con¬cluded general elections. The elder statesman, in his characteristic bluntness, laments on the role of religion and ethnicity in the defeat of President Goodluck Jona¬than. He is deeply worried that the fallout of the 2015 presidential election might result in negative consequences for the unity of Nige¬ria. In this interview with DESMOND MG¬BOH in Kano, he also spoke on the expecta¬tions of Nigerians from the in-coming administration of General Muhammadu Buhari and the place of President Jonathan in the nation’s history books. Excerpts:
In less than a month from now, Nigerians will usher in a new government. As an elder states¬man, what is your advice to the incoming admin¬istration?
As everybody knows, the main agenda of the new admin¬istration is to fight corruption, to deal with the security sit-uation, particularly the Boko Haram insurgency, rescue the Chibok girls and deal with unemployment. These are the priority areas in terms of their policy objectives. It is, there¬fore, the expectation of every Nigerian that these three issues would be the main areas of their attention. I think that after taking over power, these areas would be the yardstick by which the people would pass judgment on them. I think that after the first six months or thereabouts, Nigerians would be in a position to judge whether the new administration would be in a position to fulfill the promises they made to the public or not.

I’M NOT INTERESTED IN SENATE PRESIDENCY, SAYS AKUME

George Akume, Senate Minority Leader has stated that he is not interested in succeeding David Mark as Senate President of the 8th Assembly.
Akume has also denied having a meeting with a national leader of the All Progressives Congress, Bola Tinubu, over his purported ambition.
He stated that he never had is eyes on the senate presidency or any position at the moment, as he was busy attending to pressing national issues.
In a statement by his media aide, Beckie Orpin, the former governor of Benue state said there was no meeting between himself and Tinubu on Tuesday, rather he attended the 8th National Assembly retreat and later held meetings with his colleagues in Abuja.
“For the avoidance of doubt, Senator Akume along with other senators-elect received the president-elect, Muhammadu Buhari, at the ongoing 8th National Assembly retreat at the International Conference Centre, Abuja in the morning of April 29.

WHY IGBO LEADERS VISITED BUHARI – IKEDIFE

Some Igbo leaders including retired Army Generals and the former President General of Ohane¬ze Ndigbo, Dr Dozie Ikedife have paid a private visit to the President-elect, Gen¬eral Muhammadu Buhari to make a case for the Igbo in the incoming APC-led feder¬al government so that the re¬gion will not be abandoned for not giving massive sup¬port to the victorious party like the South West during the just concluded presiden¬tial election.
Dr Ikedife who disclosed this at his Nnewi residence, yesterday, said the purpose of the visit was to appeal to General Buhari not to leave the Igbo in the cold in his ap¬pointments and infrastructural development because of the low support he received from the South East geo-political zone during the presidential election.
“You know people of the South East voted heavily for the PDP and not very much for the APC. And I had always warned during the campaigns that the Igbo should not put all their eggs in one basket. And the impression will be that the President-elect was not sup¬ported by the people of the South East. Our visit is to let the President-elect know that he is the President for all and that he has to accommodate people from the South East in his administration.

Enugu : APC Guber Candidate Slapped by Party Chieftain

A major crisis has hit the All Progressives Congress in Enugu State after report emerged on Friday that the APC National Vice-Chairman, South-East, Mr. Emma Eneukwu, allegedly slapped the party’s governorship candidate, Mr. Okey Ezea, following an argument over ministerial slot in the forthcoming Muhammadu Buhari-led administration.The alleged incident happened on Thursday during a meeting of South-East APC leaders at the Imo State Governor’s Lodge in Abuja.
It was gathered that the closed-door meeting was chaired by Imo State Governor, Rochas Okorocha, and had Senator Chris Ngige, Senator Osita Izunaso, Gen. J. O. J. Okoloagu (retd.), and others in attendance.
Ezea disclosed the development in a text message that was forwarded to journalists in Enugu on Friday.

USE AND DUMP MUST END IN PDP – MUA’ZU

Embattled National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party, Alhaji Adamu Mu’azu, has said the culture of use and dump must stop in the party.
He said rather than trade blame among party members over the result of the 2015 presidential election, the party should see the outcome as an opportunity to reinvent itself and retake power in 2019.
Mu’azu stated this in a statement in Abuja on Saturday.
The PDP chairman has come under intense pressure to resign following the disastrous outing of the party in the last general elections.
Governors of the party at their meeting, which was also attended by Mu’azu and two other members of the National Working Committee in Abuja on Wednesday, demanded the resignation of the NWC members.
The governors were said to have argued that it was better for the NWC members to leave and allow fresh hands run the affairs of the party.
Mu’azu, however, said instead of wasting time, energy and resort to blame game over the party’s failed bid to win the presidential election, the party must move ahead.
He said, “The result of the 2015 presidential election is the elixir the PDP needs to reinvent itself and retake power in 2019 instead of wasting time, energy and resorting to mudslinging and blame game over the party’s failed bid to win a fourth consecutive presidential election victory.
“Stories spreading like wild fire in the social media about schisms in our party can only energise the incoming administration of the All Progressives Congress and their wish list that include the burial of the PDP.

South East APC begs Buhari for SGF position

Leaders of the South East delegations of the All Progressives Congress ( APC) have made a special appeal to the President-elect, Muhammadu Buhari to consider the region for the position of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation while choosing members of his cabinet.Speaking on behalf of the delegation, Imo State governor, Rochas Okorocha said although the region could not be delivered to Buhari in the presidential election, they were able to cutdown the damages over 7.2million votes the PDP had projected to get from the region.
“We (South East APC) are more victorious than you are on your victory at the presidential election, many of us would have gone on exile if you had lost. Although we could not deliver the south east to you, what we were able to do however was to cutdown the damages 7.2million votes the PDP had projected to get from the southeast. Okorocha said.While expressing hope that Buhari’s government will be successful and as well support the cause of the Southeast, Okorocha appealed that the region should be considered for the position of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation.

AFDB: BUHARI SENDS ATIKU TO PRESIDENT ZUMA TO LOBBY FOR MINISTER ADESINA

Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar over the weekend commenced lobby for the candidacy of Nigeria’s Minister of Agriculture, Akinwumi Adesina as President of the African Development Bank (AfDB).

A statement issued by the Atiku Media Office in Abuja said that Atiku Abubakar’s shuttle diplomacy to shore up the much-needed support for the Nigerian candidate follows a mandate from President-elect MuhammaduBuhari to the former Vice President to leverage on his contacts to lobby for the emergence of Mr. Adesina.

President-elect Buhari, who backs the candidacy of Mr. Adesina, had last month conveyed his support to the President of Ghana, John Mahama, when the two leaders met in Abuja.

According to the statement, Atiku travelled with Mr. Adesina to South Africa over the weekend where the two met with President Zuma at the Presidential Residence in Durban.

WE’LL PROSECUTE SECURITY PERSONNEL FOR ELECTORAL OFFENCES

Barely four days after he vowed to probe the Nigerian National Petroleum Corperation, NNPC, over the missing $20bn, the president-elect, Mohammadu Buhari has said that his government would not spare any security personnel found guilty of electoral offences in the last general elections.
He said that the crimes of ballot snatching and the prevention of the use of card readers by soldiers must not go unpunished
Making particular reference to Edo, Imo and Rivers States, Buhari said that he had already instructed the affected governors to document all offences alleged to have been perpetrated by the personnel.
According to him, those to be prosecuted cuts across the Nigerian Army, Police, Department of State Security Service, DSS and other paramilitary organisations.
Buhari disclosed this when he received in audience members of the South East Caucus of the All Progressives Congress, APC who were at the Defence House in Abuja to congratulate him on his electoral victory.

FALLING OIL PRICES THREATEN MY AGENDA — BUHARI

 THE President- elect, General Muhammadu Buhari yesterday painted a gloomy picture in the economic development of his administration as he said that the decline in the revenues due to fall in oil prices poses a great threat to his administration’s development agenda.
Gen. Buhari who visited the newly elected Senators and House of Representatives members who are undergoing induction course in preparation for the 8th National Assembly in Abuja also said that the decline in revenue would affect the reconstruction of devastated areas in the country as a result of insurgency.
He reminded the elected members of the 8th assembly of the challenges the nation had been facing which he also said would continue in the near future.
The challenges according to him include general insecurity and insurgency that has caused extreme human hardship and destruction of lives, livelihoods that would take over a decade to rebuild across most of North Eastern Nigeria and some parts of North western Nigeria.
Another threat to his administration according to him was the devastation and environmental degradation in the Niger Delta area which he said must be attended to.