Tuesday, 30 June 2020
JAMALIFE CAR AWARD COMING SOON
Sunday, 28 June 2020
PANDEF To Buhari: We’ll Embarrass You Before International Community
P/HARCOURT – Pan Niger Delta Elders Forum (PANDEF), has vowed not to engage the government of President Mohammadu Buhari in any negotiation concerning development of the oil-bearing region of the Niger Delta, but to channel its energy into embarrassing his government.
The forum maintained that it would no longer “waste” its time begging for the development of the region again but rather expose the wrongs done by the Buhari government, which according to it, has worsened the already bad situation of the entire southern Nigeria in the five years of his governance.
Accordingly, PANDEF clarified that the institution of the N50billion law suit before Justice Okon Abang of the Federal High Court in Abuja, has nothing to do with the grievous devastation of the Niger Delta environment due to oil exploration and exploitation spanning over 50 years, but “the deliberate lopsided appointments in key institutions and the Buhari government.
Speaking in an exclusive telephone interview on Saturday, the national publicity secretary of PANDEF, Hon. Ken Robinson said having presented a 16-point agenda to President Buhari since 2016 and his attendant refusal to act on the demands, “we are compelled not to bother to beg his government to pay attention to our developmental challenges again. We have resolved to embarrass his government before the international community.
“We want the world to see how ethnocentric this government is. The resources deployed for the development of Abuja is from the Niger Delta. Everyday, you go to Abuja, you either see new projects springing up or the expansion of old ones. Why can’t the government replicate that same gesture in the Niger Delta region that produces all the money!
“PANDEF can never ask the federal government for monetary compensation for the environmental degradation of Niger Delta. We want to see Niger Delta indigenes appointed into top managerial Position.
Source: independent news
COVID-19: We’re 90% ready to fly – FG
Juliana Taiwo-Obalonye, Abuja
The Federal Government yesterday said that the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) is 90 per cent ready to open up the airways for domestic flights to resume in the country.
It said even though it is not 100 per cent satisfied with what is on ground, it is 90 per cent satisfied with what has been done to get the sector ready for business.
The Minister of Aviation, Hadi Sirika, made this known at a Presidential Task Force on COVID-19 briefing in Lagos after the Aero Contractors plane on dry test run flight from the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport in Abuja to the Murtala Muhammed Airport, Lagos, landed.
The test run of the facilities in the two airports is to determine their readiness for the resumption of domestic flight operations across the country.
According to the minister, passengers for domestic and international flights would arrive three and five hours respectively before boarding due to the present reality of the COVID-19 pandemic.
He reiterated that all protocol guidelines would be observed, stressing that the measures are for safety.
He said that to ensure persons not permitted to be at the airport would not gain access to the airport, the physical distancing would begin right from the drop off points.
The aviation minister said that passengers would aside from presenting their mode of identification also remove their masks for five seconds for the security operatives to confirm that they are truly the person to fly before they would be allowed into the airport.
“Nobody not permitted to travel will access the airport, adding that the new airport security operatives have been trained to handle and ensure compliance with the help of K9,” he said.
Sirika said that President Muhammadu Buhari has approved the directives for such, adding that it would be implemented to the letter.
The minister explained that there would be zero contact with the person screening passengers, adding that the number of seats in the departure hall has been reduced from 500 or 700 to 200 or 250.
Sirika said that part of the readiness of the airports is the automated dispensing of soap, as well as water at the toilets and limitation to maximum of five persons in the restroom in line with physical distancing protocol.
He, however, assured that efforts would be made to stagger the flights to accommodate everyone without creating additional burdens for passengers.
The minister also explained that the airlines have been given permission to carry out dry run of flights across the country to ensure the airworthiness of their planes.
Speaking, the Minister of State for Health, Olorunnibe Mamora, said that no matter what is out in place by the aviation authority, individual responsibility is the most important form of protection, adding that compliance is very critical.
Also, the coordinator of the PTF, Dr Sani Aliyu, said that the aviation sector has done tremendously well and is ready to begin business.
He, however, restated the call for every Nigerian to take responsibility for his/her own safety, saying that henceforth the government would enforce compliance with the protocols.
He said: “What will protect you is yourself, you have to challenge those putting you at risk who are wearing a face mask and maintaining physical distancing.”
The Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja also witnessed strict compliance to other safety measures, aimed at curtailing the spread of the virus.
Provisions were made for hand wash and alcohol-based sanitisers, temperature checks, as well as strict compliance to social distancing of about one metre apart.
Journalists covering the Presidential Taskforce on COVID-19, were led on dry run test from Lagos to Abuja, to witness firsthand, reopening of the aviation sector.
Checks for COVID-19 safety protocols and screening, were carried out on passengers at the departure lounge.
The seats, which were usually crowded, have been rearranged in compliance with the social distancing rule.
Inscriptions to further guide passengers, such as “do not use this seat”, “keep your distance”, were placed on the seats.
Also, two newly acquired machines, for the purpose of identifying passengers, had been stationed at the airport.
Source: Sun News
Oshiomhole: I’m proud we recovered Kwara
From Jide Orintunsin, Abuja
- Accepts APC NWC dissolution in good faith
- Withdraws case over suspension from Supreme Court
The immediate past National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Comrade Adams Oshiomhole, on Saturday identified toppling the Saraki political dynasty in Kwara State as one of his greatest achievements.
In his first official reaction to the dissolution of the National Working Committee (NWC) of the All Progressives Congress (APC) by President Muhammadu Buhari on Thursday, Oshiomhole said he was proud that the party under his chairmanship was able to take over the governance of Kwara State from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP)
“I remain proud that we were able to recover Kwara State. That was extremely important to us for reasons I need not to enumerate,” he told reporters in Abuja.
“I am happy we were able to recover Gombe State. These are strategic states. There are a couple of other things I cannot speak about,” he added.
Oshiomhole also said he had “accepted in good faith” Thursday’s dissolution of the party’s National Working Committee (NWC) by President Muhammadu Buhari, adding that he had no regrets for the actions he took while in office.
He said he had also directed his lawyers to withdraw the appeal he filed at the Supreme Court over his suspension from the party by his ward in Edo State.
This is in deference to one of the resolutions at the Thursday meeting that all legal actions against the party by members be withdrawn.
He said he had directed his lawyers to withdraw the case in the Supreme Court as a mark of respect for President Buhari for his support during his tenure as APC Chairman.
He recalled how Buhari “graciously invited me to run for the office of chairmanship of the party in 2018, precisely about two years ago,” and told him that “if we do not reform the APC, we can as well forget about the party.”
He said the reforms were challenging and entailed “difficult decisions.”
He said he put in his best serving the party.
Oshiomhole said: “Mine has been a life of struggle and I accepted this and I believe I did my best.”
Reeling out his achievements, he said: “I am happy that at the end of the day, 2019 elections have come and gone. Thanks to the Nigerian people, our President had more votes in 2019 than we had in 2015. We have more members in the Senate and House of Representatives.
“Unlike 2015, we were not able to manage our victory in the two chambers such that we had an APC President in the Senate and PDP deputy Senate President.
“This time, working hard with my colleagues in the NWC and in consultation with leaders of our party across board, we had the kind of unity expected in the governing party in the two chambers of the National Assembly.
“I am happy that the leadership of the National Assembly is working harmoniously with Mr. President today.
“The APC under my chairmanship has done its best and the results are there. Of course we have now been dissolved and I have accepted that dissolution in good faith.
“I am not going into the question of legality or illegality. The bottom line is that the President who invited me to lead the party and who mobilised all the support for my emergence as chairman also presided over the meeting where the NWC has now been dissolved.
“As a demonstration of my loyalty to Mr. President, loyalty to our party and loyalty to the Nigerian nation, I have decided to accept the decision in good faith and to maintain my loyalty, my respect and admiration for President Muhammadu Buhari.”
The former Edo State governor was confident that the APC would emerge from its crisis stronger.
He said: “I want to assure everybody that APC will have peace, and by the special grace of God, President Buhari will achieve his three key principal promises he made to Nigerians, and I will give him all the support that I can give as a Nigerian and as a member of APC and, number three, as a loyalist of President Muhammadu Buhari.
In keeping with the admonition of the President during the Thursday meeting that all suits against the party by members be withdrawn, Oshiomole said he had instructed his lawyers to discontinue the appeal he filed at the Supreme Court over his suspension by his ward in Edo State.
He said: “I have instructed my lawyers to withdraw my case that is currently pending at the Supreme Court, which has to do with the issue of my suspension.
“Sustaining the legal action would be tantamount to disobeying one of the decisions that the President has made, namely, all cases should be withdrawn from court.
“I believe as a member of APC, I have a duty to live by example. I have taken a bow and accepted the decision of the NEC (National Executive Committee) in good faith, and I want to reassure Mr. President that my confidence in his leadership remains unshaken. My commitment to our party as a member remains unshaken.”
Responding to a question on his suspension, he said the dissolved NWC had ratified the lifting of the suspension, adding: “I am at peace with my people at home.”
Asked if he had regrets, Oshiomole was vehement. “I have no regrets. You cannot lead a party as large as APC in a country as diverse as Nigeria and expect that everybody would be happy with you. I have no regrets.
“At the end of the day, how do you judge the performance of a party? You judge it by its electoral outcome.
“I believe it is convenient for people to point at a few areas where we had challenges, few states that we lost. But also, there were states that we won.
“For example, it does not matter what anybody wants to say, I remain proud that we were able to recover Kwara State. That was extremely important to us for reasons I need not enumerate.
“In life, for every one thing that some people are clapping, there must be those who are not happy.
“Just look at a football match: when you score a goal, you will see some players almost crying and yet you see some other people jubilant as if that is the end of the world.
“That is the way life is. You cannot have it both ways. I assure you I do not regret anything.”
Source: The Nation
Saturday, 27 June 2020
Tinubu's public disgrace.
I accept NWC dissolution in good fate – Oshiomhole
Oshiomhole made the declaration at a news conference in Abuja on Saturday.
He said that he would not question either the legality or otherwise of the NEC’s decision because the President was behind his emergence as the party’s National Chairman.
The News Agency of Nigeria, (NAN) recalls that President Buhari and the NEC had on Thursday dissolved the NWC and constituted caretaker/extra-ordinary convention planning committee headed by Gov. Mai Mala Buni of Yobe, to reset the party.
Oshiomhole said: “I thought that it is important that I formally react to the recent events as it affects our party.
“We are all aware that on Thursday, a special NEC meeting was called and was attended by Mr President, governors, APC leadership of the two chambers of the National Assembly and some other leaders of our party.
“At the end of the meeting, the National Working Committee was dissolved and accordingly, I cease to be the chairman of the All Progressives Congress’’.
According to him, the APC under his chairmanship has done its best and the results are there.
“Of course, we have now been dissolved and I have accepted that dissolution in good fate.
“I’m not going into the question of legality or illegality.
“The bottom line is that the President, who invited me to lead the party and who mobilised all the support for my emergence as chairman, also presided over the meeting where the NWC has now been dissolved.’’
Oshiomhole recalled that the President graciously invited him to run for the office of chairmanship of the party in 2018.
He added that the President had directed him to reform the party.
“You know that reforms are challenging and it will entail taking difficult decisions.
“Mine has been a life of trouble and I accepted this,’’ he said.
The former chairman listed his achievements as overwhelming victory achieved in 2019 general elections as the party recorded better results in Presidential election in 2019 than 2015 poll.
He said that the party won governorship elections in the two opposition states; Kwara and Gombe.
“I believe I did my best because 2019 elections have come and gone.
“Thanks to Nigerian people, our president had more votes in 2019 than we had in 2015.
“We have more members in the Senate and House of Representatives.
“Unlike in 2015, we were not able to manage our victory in the two chambers such that we had an APC President in the Senate and PDP Deputy Senate President.
“This time we were working hard with my colleagues in the NWC and in consultation with leaders of our party across board, we have the kind of unity expected in the governing party in the two chambers of the National Assembly.
“I’m happy that the leadership of the National Assembly is working harmoniously with Mt President,’’ Oshiomhole said.
Source: Vanguard.ng