Score card of non- performing Govs

•Their failings •Their antics

Mid-way through their mandatory four-year term in office,Nigerian Pilot’s survey reveals that some state governors are yet to deliver on their electoral promises to the people thereby increasing their hopelessness. Second term governors are not left out in this national embarrassment staring the electorate in the face.

Cross River

Six years into his tenure, Governor Liyel Imoke’s administration is seen by many as only marking time.

On assumption of office in 2007, Imoke said rural development would be the focus of his administration. The administration embarked on rural transformation programmes, constructing roads in rural communities across the state. The government also embarked on massive renovation of schools and health facilities in the state.

Governor Imoke had then disclosed that the state embarked on development of the hitherto neglected rural communities in the state as the policies and programmes of his administration were “tailored to suit the needs of communities across the state.”

Most of the projects are now stalled for what officials claim is due to lack of funds.

But only handful of residents of the state buys into the excuse.

They claim that “inadequate prioritisation and politics” bedevilled the developmental plans of the governor for the state.

For instance, Nigeria’s foremost tourist destination, Obudu Resort standing at more than 6000 feet above sea level is now a sorry site with dwindling clientele.

The erstwhile windy road that leads up the mountain is now non-motorable while the electric cable car used by tourists to access the mountain top from the base is hardly available for reason of administrative bottlenecks.

The same applies to roads the administration claimed it had reconstructed with many of them collapsing soon after completion.

Reacting to complaints that the roads were substandard, the Commissioner for Works, Legor Idagbor said the roads were not designed for heavy traffic, adding that some categories of vehicles were banned from plying the roads.

A major reason why many people disbelieve whatever  excuse Cross River government officials give for non-performance is the five-star hotel project being built by the same government, even when it has not found it important to inject needed support to a similar one built by his predecessor, Donald Duke.

At press time at the weekend, Tinapa with all its multi-purpose facilities struggles to remain afloat while Imoke’s project designed to accommodate 200 bedrooms, an international conference centre among others, is being built just across the artificial lake beside Tinapa.

Despite the challenges, Imoke assures the people of Cross River that “there this still light at the end of the tunnel. In line with our vision to make Cross River a model of service delivery in Nigeria, we are geared towards creating a progressive business and economic climate which will habour investment opportunities for wealth creation and the eventual prosperity that our state deserves.”

Nasarawa

If there is one state governor who is yet to deliver on his electoral promises to his people two years after, it is the Nasarawa State governor, Tanko Al-Makura.

On assumption of office May 29, 2011, he made a lot of promises to the people of the state. But two years after, the governor is yet to work his talk on the following fronts:

-Youth empowerment, no school for the physically challenged as promised; no access roads from rural areas to link communities and provision of other social amenities.

His attempt to create chiefdoms in line with his electoral promises has since been spiked by the state’s lawmakers who see no reason for that.

Also, the provision of soft loans for farmers to boost food production and the extension of railway operations from Abuja to Karu to enhance economic activities remain a pipe dream; same with his promise to construct a cargo airport in Lafia, the state capital.

Niger

Governor Muazu Babangida Aliyu’s Niger State may have been effecting the life and development of the state, but his politics and antics are beginning to take the state back to unbelievable standstill in terms of grassroots development.

The governor, who is into his second term, is yet to make any appreciable impact since May 29, 2011.

The novel Ward Development Programme designed to positively impact on the grassroots in many ramifications was lauded right from its conceptualisation.

However lately, the project aimed at bringing governance to the grassroots, had been dogged by series of lampooning ranging from neglect to inadequate funding, and above all, a drain pipe through which politicians siphon the meagre resources of the state.

“May be it is his role as chairman of Northern Governors’ Forum or some other politicking that has slowed him down here on the home front. But trust me, since 2011 nothing has happened to the life of the people here compared to his first term in office,” said Musa Maikayam in Bida at the weekend.

Adamawa

Governor Murtala Nyako of Adamawa State has made the once positively vibrant state dull and largely underdeveloped. Residents in Yola hold the governor’s peculiar style of politics responsible for not being able to deliver even on his second inauguration promises.

The many battles of supremacy against former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, and chairman of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Bamanga Tukur and the resultant apathy in the state have combined to stall development there.

The state of insecurity in Adamawa too has not helped matters. Some residents of Yola add that had Nyako administered the state well, the insecurity there that led to the imposition of state of emergency in the first instance would not have arisen

The recent talk about the governor’s move to decamp to opposition ANPP may well spoil for underdevelopment for the state.

Enugu

Enugu State governor, Barrister Sullivan Chime will be completing his service as governor of Enugu State in 2015. By then, he would have occupied the seat of government for eight uninterrupted years.

Political analysts hold the view that eight years of an uninterrupted service for an elected civilian administration is enough time for such an executive government to impact positively on the socio economic and infrastructural development of a state hinged on the policy thrust and ideals of that government.

But the present administration in Enugu State under governor Chime in the past six years is yet to find a practical and viable solution to the problem of revitalising state owned industries that would have helped to create viable employment for thousands of unemployed youths, especially the graduates that have continued to roam the streets endlessly in search of white collar jobs that hardly exist.

The Sun Rise Flour Mills located at Emene; the vegetable oil company, AVOP located at Nachi, in Udi Local Government Area; the Ohebedim Aluminum Company along Enugu to Nsukka Road, etc. are most of the state owned industries that have remained comatose against expectations that the civilian administration of Governor Chime would have found a solution to bring them back into production in view of their potentials of employment generation, adding  to source of internal revenue generation of the state government and other economic scales.

Indigenes of the state consider it also very painful that the famous government-owned Presidential Hotel in the state capital of Enugu located at the heart of the metropolis has long been abandoned.

The workers were finally sacked in 2010 and the Chime administration enrolled it as one of the parastatals of the state government billed for privatisation. But action has been taken yet on it.

Oyo

Oyo state governor, Senator Abiola Ajimobi belongs to the opposition Action Congress of Nigeria, ACN.  But despite his populist stance, the governor is said not to have delivered in the following areas:

Education: The governor is said not to have done much.. In most cases, more than 50 students are housed in classes meant for 30 students.

Health: Majority of government hospitals face the problem of shortage of medical staff, including doctors. Citizens still prefer patronising private hospitals due to poor medical services in government-owned hospitals.

Employment: Apart from the youth empowerment scheme designed by government to provide jobs for 20,000 youths in the state, there has never been concrete arrangement to assist thousands of jobless employable youths in the state.

Economy: Oyo State government is yet to resettle many displaced traders affected by the government’s urban renewal project.

Kebbi

Governor Saidu Dakingari of Kebbi State is on the same page with his Niger State counterpart. Not many believe that the state will see development till he quits office in 2015.

Posted by By Hammed Salawu, Minna; Maurice Okafor, Enugu; Increase Abasi-Ubong, Calabar; Peter Ahemba, Lafia and Sunny Adeloye, Ibadan on July 22, 2013. 

NigerianPilot

Do Successful Black Men marry Black Women?

Yes they do, overwhelmingly according to the statistics below. #fact

Married black men with a personal income of more than $100,000:
83 percent have a black wife
12 percent have a white wife
5 percent have a wife who is neither black nor white.

Married black men with college degrees:
85 percent have black wives
10 percent have a white wife
5 percent have a wife who is neither black nor white.

Married black men who are high school dropouts:
92 percent have black wives
6 percent of them have a white wife
2 percent have a wife who is neither black nor white.

Married black men who are professional athletes:
72.8% are married to black women
22.2% are married to white women
5% are married to women who are neither black nor white

This study claims black men overwhelmingly marry black women.
* Statistics were compiled by professors at Howard, Morehouse, and the University of Michigan.

via: Mudiame Giwa-Osagie fb

Nigeria’s debt rises to N7.93tn

 BY EVEREST AMAEFULE 

Nigeria's Finance Minister, Okonjo Iweala

The nation’s appetite for borrowing to finance critical development projects has been growing in recent times with both the domestic and foreign indebtedness rising by $13.91bn in the last two years, EVEREST AMAEFULE writes

The country currently owes local and international creditors a total of $50.91bn (about N7.93tn), the Debt Management Office has said.

Statistics obtained from the DMO website showed that as of June 30, 2013, the nation’s external debt stood at $6.92bn (about N1.08tn), while the domestic debt component stood at N6.85tn ($43.99bn).

The external debt component comprises debts owed by both the Federal Government and the 36 states of the federation and the Federal Capital Territory.

However, the domestic debt of $43.99bn is owed by the Federal Government alone. The domestic debt of the states could not be obtained as at press time.

By June 2011, the total debt of the country stood at $37bn. This means that in the last two years, the debt stock had risen by $13.91bn. This shows a growth rate of 37.59 per cent.

In terms of instruments, FGN Bonds accounted for N4.03tn or 58.87 per cent of the Federal Government’s domestic debt stock as of June.

Nigerian Treasury Bills accounted for N2.48tn or 36.25 per cent of the domestic debt component of the Federal Government.

On the other hand, Treasury Bills accounted for N334.56bn or 4.88 per cent of the total domestic debt owed by the Federal Government.

Multilateral sources such as the World Bank and African Development Bank accounted for $5.54bn or 80 per cent of the external debt.

Bilateral debts made up of money borrowed from China and France accounted for $845.4m or 12.22 per cent of the nation’s external debt profile.

Commercial debts, including Eurobond and debts owed to Chinese firms, accounted for $536m or 7.75 per cent of the external debt stock.

The Director-General, DMO, Dr. Abraham Nwankwo, had recently said that compared to the level of foreign debt, the Federal Government had over-borrowed from domestic sources.

While unfolding the details of the nation’s Middle Term Debt Management Strategy, which was approved by the Federal Executive Council, Nwankwo said there was an urgent need to rebalance the structure of the nation’s debt because the interest rate payable on domestic debt was too high.

He said the ratio of the Federal Government’s domestic debt stood at 88, while the ratio of the foreign debt stood at 12.

Nwankwo said the appropriate ratio should be 60 for domestic debt and 40 for foreign debt, adding that the newly approved Medium Term Debt Management Strategy would seek to achieve this ratio.

One of the ways of doing this is through the establishment of a sinking fund for retiring matured local debts. The second is by borrowing more from foreign sources.

Our correspondent had reported that with the assumption of office of former Managing Director of the World Bank, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala as Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, the nation would see a reduction in local debts and an increase in foreign debts.

As managing director of the World Bank, Okonjo-Iweala had criticised Nigeria’s debt structure on the grounds that the Federal Government was crowding out private sector borrowers from the debt market.

Although she had championed the exit of the country from the Paris Club of Creditors during her first tenure as Minister of Finance, she is now insisting that the nation’s ballooning domestic debt is not healthy for the economy.

Okonjo-Iweala had reasoned that the Federal Government could do with more foreign sources than borrowing from the domestic market.

It is this scenario that is now playing out under the new Medium Term Debt Management Strategy.

Nwankwo had said, “The main objective of the medium term debts is to develop a strategy that will meet the financing needs of the government at minimum cost, maintain risk at a prudent level and support the development of the market.

“The exercise reflects and addresses, among other realities, the disproportionate reliance on the domestic bond market to fund government deficits – the ratio of domestic and external debt stock as of the end of 2011 was 88:12, whereas the appropriate ratio will be 60:40.”

Other issues addressed by the strategy, he said, included high rate of domestic debt accumulation; and rising debt service payments occasioned by growing debt stock coupled with upward pressure on the average cost of funds and the risk of crowding out the private sector.

The DMO boss said the time of high borrowing from the domestic had served its purpose, which included developing a market structure and culture for long term savings and investment.

He said the new strategy had the capacity to reduce the rate of public debt in general and domestic debt particular to ensure debt sustainability and make budgetary provisions for the repayment of part of maturing FGN Bond obligations instead of refinancing them by creating a sinking fund.

It will also reduce the amount spent on debt service by achieving an optimal mix between the relatively more expensive domestic debt and less expensive foreign debt.

At present, Nwankwo said the difference between the domestic and external average cost of borrowing was about eight per cent per annum.

Punch

Nyako, Deputy in ‘Cold War’ over 2015 Polls

Adamawa State Governor, Murtala Nyako

By Daji Sani 

Fresh facts emerged  Sunday, that a ‘cold war’ appears to be brewing between the Adamawa State Governor, Murtala Nyako, and his deputy, Mr. Bala James Ngillari, over allegations that Nyako was planning to dump the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), while Ngillari was been positioned to take over the leadership of the party in the state.

Following the lingering political crisis between the Chief Joel Madaki-led faction of PDP backed by the PDP National Chairman, Alhaji Bamanga Tukur, and Alhaji Mijinyawa Kugama-led faction supported by Nyako, Ngillari was accused of betrayal to his boss, following an allegation that he was caught attending a secret meeting with the Madaki faction in the state.

Ngillari was alleged to have been convening secret meetings with the Tukur’s camp, aligning with them in a bid to overthrow his boss and remove the party structures from him.

However, a source told THISDAY that when the governor heard about the allegation, he was said to have confronted Ngillari on the issue, which, according to the source, the deputy governor denied as a mere rumour.

The deputy governor was said to have told the governor to discard the rumour, while also promising that his loyalty still remains unfettered with the governor.

Ngillari, who spoke through his Press Director, Maxwell Jukur, told journalists in Yola, that there was no cold war between his boss and his principal, stressing that his principal did not have any secret meetings with the Nyako loyalists.

THISDAY checks revealed that the reason for the double standards game allegedly played by Ngillari was because of the promise made to him by the Madaki faction that he (Ngillari) may be the one anointed to be Nyako’s successor and the leader of the party in the state in the forthcoming 2015 general election.

However, observers in the state claimed that the reasons for the political intrigues is as result of Nyako’s unbending principles and his refusal to compromise to the Tukur’s camp, which has the support of President Goodluck Jonathan and some highly-placed political stakeholders in the state.

The bone of contention between the two factions was the struggle for the soul of the party and a governorship candidate, who will be Nyako’s successor in the election.

Political analysts have opined that the current variation in the state’s politics may put  former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar, at a politically disadvantage position, given the fact that some of his loyalists had joined forces with  Tukur’s camp, whose son, Mr. Awwal Tukur, is also believed to be eyeing the governorship seat of the state.

Recently, Tukur, in his bid to reconcile, reform, and rebuild the party in the state, was seen recruiting some of Atiku’s die-heart loyalists, as his foot soldiers, in preparation of the political battle drawn ahead of 215 to oust Nyako, as state leader of the party.

While speaking to journalists in Yola, Tukur justified confidence in his ongoing programmes across the country, saying it had being yielding dividends to the party. He said it was this sanity that attracted the leader of ACN and former governor of the state, Boni Haruna, to defect to PDP.

He argued that Haruna, who was the leader of ACN in the state, had decided to retrace his step.

“I believed if not for our programme of reconciliation, reformation, rebuilding that has imposed sanity and discipline in the party in the state. Haruna wouldn’t have returned to the party and because of the significance of our programmes, many aggrieved party members have stage a comeback into the party in many states. See what happened in Nasarawa State, the people that left us have returned back to the fold,” he said.

Haruna, while declaring his intention to return to the PDP, at his residence in Yola, told journalists that he rejoined the PDP, through the Madaki faction backed by Tukur, so that he could mediate between the two factions, as well as put the political wranglings to rest.

The former governor further stated that his return to the PDP had dislodged and weakened the power of the opposition in state politics, claiming that he had returned alongside key players in the opposition party hence it would put an end to serious opposition in the state.

However, the state Publicity Secretary of ACN, Chief Yohana Mathias, had debunked claims that Haruna had defected with key players in ACN to PDP, challenging him to list the names of the key players that followed him to the PDP.

According to him, the governorship candidate of ACN in last governorship polls held in the state Mr. Markus Gundiri, and his running mate, Alhaji Abdulrazak Namdas, the state chairman and some top stakeholders of party were still in the party.

He alleged that Haruna was a confused person, stating that he had taken a decision that he would regret in the future.

“Iam one of Haruna’s loyalists. The last time we spoke, he complained to me that there were certain people who I will not mention their names, who wanted him to join the party but who he said he wouldn’t because they were still in the PDP and have not left the party” he said.

Yohana said Haruna as a person had the constitutional right to move to any political party of his choice but should not deceive the PDP that he had returned to the PDP with key players in ACN,  adding that his party was waiting for the proposed (APC) registration of merger of opposition  political parties going on. He said there were formidable structures on ground to wrestle power from the PDP come 2015.

However, the state PDP Secretary in the Kugama led-faction, Mr. PP Elisha, said Madaki was instrumental in dragging the structures of the PDP from Haruna and Atiku, when he was the governor of the state with Madaki as the chairman of the party.

He added that he didn’t know why Haruna decided to join the party through the same Madaki faction who was against him in 2007

Because Nyako was not satisfied with the political permutation in the state, he therefore opted to decamp to another platform as his Director of Press, Ahmed Sajoh, has said the governor’s principal political associates and stakeholders would soon defect from PDP to another platform to realise their political ambition.

Sajoh also said his principal loyalists have finally made up their mind to dump the PDP to other platforms.

However, the state Chairman of the PDP, Alhaji Umar Minijiyawa Kugama, which is loyal to Nyako, denied such arrangements, saying they would not leave PDP.

“These people talking are not member of our party and lack authority to speak for us we will not leave PDP but to work for the victory of the party in the coming polls,” Kugama claimed.

But, Sajoh insisted that the stakeholders of PDP in the state, especially those loyal to the governor have agreed to dump the party.

According to him, the stakeholders loyal to his boss met the Sarki Matasa of the state and the governor’s first son, Commander Abdulaziz Nyako (rtd), to brainstorm and come out with solutions to the present political squabbles as Nyako camp have a formidable political structure in the state.

He also told them that even though he (Abdulaziz) was not a fully fledged  politician but a senior stakeholder that is interested in the state enterprise (project) so, he told them that all options are widely open to ensure peace and harmony is maintain in the state.

According to Sajoh the stakeholders from all nook and crannies in the state in the meeting observed that, when the national secretariat of the PDP directed that all delegates names from Adamawa PDP should be forwarded but to their greatest surprise those that are termed to be loyal to Nyako were rejected so they decided to approach a senior stakeholder for direction in their present quack mare.

Sajoh explained that, in the meeting chaired by one of the most senior stakeholder in the state had political appointees including commissioners, Special Advisers, Special Assistants, local government chairmen, Ward Executives where they agreed unanimously that wider consultation should commence with a view to addressing the ongoing factionalisation in the PDP in the state.

“We have elected our delegates at the last concluded Nassarwo Binyeri state assembly bye election seat but to our greatest dismay to national chairman and his cohort of turn it. So we decided in other to maintain our formidable political structure to allow it go for posterity to judge us,” a stakeholder lamented.

ThisDay

NIGERIAN LAWMAKERS TOP SALARIES CHART

by Habeeb I. Pindiga

Nigeria Senate

...beat MPs in US, Britain, S/Africa, Brazil, Japan

Nigerian federal legislators receive much higher salaries than their counterparts in wealthier countries and key developing nations, according to an analysis published by the Economist magazine.
A Nigerian legislator receives an annual salary of about $189,000, equivalent of N30 million, which is 116 times the country’s gross domestic product (GDP) per person, says the publication which was posted on the magazine’s website on Friday.
The figures put salaries collected by Nigerian senators and members of the House of Representatives way ahead of those received by fellow parliamentarians in the 29 countries whose data was analysed by the Economist.
In terms of volume of cash earnings, the Nigerian legislators beat their counterparts in Britain who take $105,400 yearly, as well as those in the United States ($174,000), France ($85,900), South Africa ($104,000), Kenya ($74,500), Saudi Arabia ($64,000) and Brazil ($157,600).
In terms of lawmakers’ salaries as a ratio of GDP per capita, the gap is even much wider. While the salary of a Nigerian lawmaker is 116 times the country’s GDP per person, that of a British member of parliament is just 2.7 times.
The report said Britain’s legislators pay is “relatively parsimonious” when compared with that of their counterparts in poorer countries, including Nigeria, who “enjoy the heftiest salaries by this measure.”
According to the data, only Australian lawmakers, with $201,200 annual salary, receive higher amounts compared to Nigerian legislators, but their salaries are only 3 times their country’s GDP per person.
Other yearly salary details published by the Economist are those of lawmakers in Ghana ($46,500), Indonesia ($65,800), Thailand ($43,800), India ($11,200), Italy ($182,000), Bangladesh ($4,000), Israel ($114,800), Hong Kong ($130,700), Japan ($149,700), Singapore ($154,000), Canada ($154,000), New Zealand ($112,500), Germany ($119,500), Ireland ($120,400), Pakistan ($3,500), Malaysia ($25,300), Sweden ($99,300), Sri Lanka ($5,100), Spain ($43,900) and Norway ($138,000).
Secretive
The National Assembly has been secretive with the specific amounts members collect in salaries and allowances, refusing to provide information to journalists and activists even when requests are made under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA).
A total of N150 billion was voted for the National Assembly in the 2013 national budget but there is no breakdown, which should have shown at least a summary of the legislators’ earnings.
 Months ago, Daily Trust wrote a letter under FOIA requesting for the National Assembly’s budget breakdown but this was refused.
However, Revenue Mobilisation, Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC) documents in possession of Daily Trust show that a senator is entitled to N35 million and member of the House of Representatives N29.28 million in the first year of each legislative session when they receive allowances that are payable once in four years—accommodation, furniture and car allowances.
The annual salaries are supposed to be lower for the next three years of a parliamentary session.
But given the secretive nature of the parliament’s finances, there have been claims, including by RMAFC leadership, that the lawmakers receive much more than this amount in padded allowances.
Based on the RMAFC documents dated February 2007, which are the subsisting approved packages for National Assembly members, the lawmakers’ allowances include accommodation (Senator N4m, Rep N3.97m), vehicle loan (Senator N8m, Rep N6.948m), furniture (Senator N6m, Rep N5.956m) and severance gratuity (Senator N6m, Rep N5.956m), which are due once in four years.
Other allowances, which are payable every year, are car maintenance (Senator N1.52m, Rep N595,563), constituency (Senator N5m, Rep N1.687m), domestic staff (Senator N1.5m, Rep N1.488m), personal assistant (Senator N506,600; Rep N496,303), entertainment (Senator N202,640, Rep N198,521), recess (Senator N202,640; Rep N198,521), utilities (Senator N607,920; Rep N397,042), newspaper/periodicals (Senator N303,960; Rep N297,781), house maintenance (Senator N101,320; Rep N99,260) and ward robe (Senator N405,280; Rep N397,402)
There are also estacode (Senator $600, Rep $550) and duty tour allowance (Senator N23,000; Rep N21,000) payable per day when a lawmaker is on official trip.
“Untenable”
In February 2009, then-President Umaru Yar’Adua initiated a process of reducing the pay packages of public office holders on the ground that the amounts were untenable in view of government’s finances.
Months later, then-chairman of RMAFC Engr. Hamman Tukur presented a report to Yar’Adua, containing reviewed pay packages for federal, state and local government political, public and judicial office holders.
In the report, Tukur said the affected government organs were flouting the remuneration provisions made by the commission through frivolous foreign trips, arbitrary appointment of aides and use of excessively large motorcades. He warned that this must stop.
Based on the constitution, RMAFC has the final say on the remuneration package of National Assembly and State Houses of Assembly members, while a law needs to be enacted based on the commission’s proposals regarding the pay packages of executive and judicial office holders.
But Daily Trust understands that the National Assembly and other arms of government have refused to implement the reduced packages on the grounds that the constitution says earnings of political officers should not be reviewed to their disadvantage.

DailyTrust

Tribune Caught Fabricating Anti-Nigeria Sectarian Propaganda Fake News

• 0
   EmailShare

• Tribune rigorously spreads fake news of so-called north preparing for war

July 21, 2013

NewsRescue- As the Boko haram threat that at a stage seemed to be the crack that would render Nigeria into bloody chaos and sectarian war, gets resolved, mischievous elements in the Nigerian media, who have been known in the past to intentionally distort information and stoke flames of ethnic and sectarian tension, are at work again.

This time the culprit is the Tribune newspaper. Back to back, two articles, yesterday and today by Nigerian Tribune have invented and promoted a ludicrous and preposterous tale of the north of Nigeria gathering arms for 2015 war. The first story written by Olawale Rasheed, was invented, connected to a US report from the US war college.  The Tribune publication was captioned, “2015: North prepares for war •Beware of another civil war, US report warns Nigeria“. The caption is total hubris. The entire US report can be downloaded on this link. It will immediately be noticed that there is no reference to a so called preparation for war by the north in the US report. Absolutely no similar or related reference in the entire US article to the Tribune headline. The reasons why the Tribune article fabricated such in their heading can only be that they do not like peace. They are sad that Boko haram is being contained and they wish to add fuel to make a new fire.

Following up closely was another article (Arms stockpile: North prepares for war over 2015?) on the 21st of July (Today), in which Tribune author, Tayo Babarinde, wrote expansively on a so-called northern ammunition stock-up for 2015 elections war. The evidences in the article included a recent report that Zamfara state governor had imported arms to give to a state vigilante force he claims he uses to fight crime. This story, even though accurate has no bearing and connection to a broad northern weapons accumulation project.

The rusty weapons found recently in Kano, linked to Hezbollah, that were suspected to be connected to Nigeria’s former and serial NSA, Aliyu Gusau, and were found buried in a bunker in some Lebanese’s house, was also connected to make some kind of complex conspiracy. From the images of the weapons, they were very rusty and had been imported and buried God knows how long ago. The purpose of these weapons was also stated by the security services, as being for anti-Israeli and US interests.

The pathetic Tribune story finally added a recent shootout with Boko Haram suspects in Jigawa state, claiming that the weapons recovered from this shoot out are part of the 2015 northern arsenal.

Media senate proceeding misinterpretation

It is really shameful how junky Nigerian editorials and journalists are. NewsRescue recently revealed how senate proceedings that led up to the public chaos, were actually not about child marriage as the media publicized, but about the rights of women who are married, regardless of the age they marry. The right in review, was their right to renounce Nigerian citizenship–in seeking asylum for instance. Senator Yerima and 35 other senators voted to keep the law as is, giving these young wives the full rights of adults, to make decisions including citizenship renouncement, divorce, etc. Nigeria’s media has been awash with shameful misinterpretation of the happenings, which had nothing to do with child marriage. Our article here explains. Sadly, it is evident that many of Nigeria’s senators who voted to delete the law, are slightly more than barely literate and the Nigerian press is no better. See error and ludicrous journalism in Punch, AllAfrica,Dailypost, Naij, SaharaReporters, to point out a few irresponsible editorials that assumed the proceedings had something to do with enabling child marriage.

These malicious journalists feel that they can simply invent and throw any insult and fabrication against the predominantly Muslim Hausa-Fulani north and it will stick. Not so, there is NewsRescue to filter news, north and south. What is most peculiar and incandescent about their desperate tactics, is that the north is always referred to in entirety as being united in a huge conspiracy, rather than the elements within states being reported under crime headings as is done in publications when syndicates are found in the south.

Government officiated terrorist army

The reality of the situation however is that there is concrete evidence including the fact that the president of Nigeria officially hired Niger Delta terrorists, Asari Dokubo who regularly threatens the nation, and Tompolo, with millions of dollars to ‘protect’ southern pipelines, that these terrorists have been stockpiling advanced weapons in the creeks.

The Boko haram northern threat, and cause of weapon proliferation and insecurity in the north, has been largely controlled and is expected to soon be checked, thanks to the concerted efforts of the military and civilian JTF.

NewsRescue

FIVE GOVS TO MEET IBB, ABDULSALAMI TODAY

 by Aliyu M. Hamagam

Gen Ibrahim Babangida

Five governors will be visiting Minna, the Niger state capital today for a meeting with the two former heads of state Gen Ibrahim Babangida and Gen Abdulsalami Abubakar, Daily Trust has learnt.

Four governors, Murtala Nyako (Adamawa), Sule Lamido (Jigawa), Rabi’u Musa Kwankwaso (Kano) and Aliyu Wamako (Sokoto), visited former President Olusegun Obasanjo in Abekuta on Saturday.
Today they are expected to team up with their host governor Mu’azu Babangida Aliyu to meet with Generals Babangida and Abdulsalami.
Niger State government spokesman Danladi Ndayebo confirmed that some governors will be visiting the state but did not give details or the purpose of the visit.
But a source that follows events on the national political scene said the visit is not unconnected with plans about 2015 general elections.
President Goodluck Jonathan himself visited former President Obasanjo in Abeokuta weekend. His visit is seen as an effort to mend fences with former leader who has for long kept away from party and government activities.
The four governors also visited Obasanjo same day. Their visit came minutes apart with that of Mr. Jonathan, but they took pains to avoid each other even though they belong to the same ruling party.
Man governors in the ruling PDP want to stop President Jonathan from running again in the election insisting he must abide by an agreement he had signed in 2011 not to stand for election this time around.
The President’s aides, however, have insisted no such agreement exists. The President himself last year said he would announce in 2014 whether or not he will run for reelection.

DailyTrust