Presidency for 2023: Ndigbo Should Exercise Caution ― Minister

As the clamour for a President of Igbo extraction in 2023 continues to collect momentum, the Minister of State, Education, Emeka Nwajiuba, has urged the South East to exercise caution in its quest or campaign for the “Igbo Presidency”.

Nwajiuba also advised the people to form sure that whoever they might be presenting within the 2023 election would be accepted by every a part of the country.

Speaking to journalists in his office, in Abuja, while reacting to the agitations for a president from the South-East extraction, the minister argued that other ethnic groups that had produced Nigeria’s president never associated it with the name of their tribes.

He said that in previous presidential elections within the country, no aspirants from the South East had been barred from contesting the position of president, adding that persons from the zone at just one occasion or the opposite , had vied for the presidential ticket of their parties.

Emeka Nwajiuba ChannelsTV

He said that if the presidential aspirants from the South-East geopolitical zone had won, nobody would have denied them the position.

The minister noted that in politics, no position is ceded as a present , noting that in 2015, the sole ethnos that didn't participate within the presidential primaries of the All Progressives Congress (APC) was the Yoruba.

Vanguard quoted him to possess said,“Anybody talking about Igbo presidency should take care because there was never a time we heard about Hausa presidency. When the Yoruba were contesting, we didn't hear of Yoruba presidency, why is our own different?

“Remember that before Obasanjo won in 1999, he contested the ticket against Ekwueme. There was never a time we as Igbo didn't contest within the primaries; the sole thing was that we weren't voted for.

“There is not any time people involved in politics will cede an edge to anybody. Up to 2015, the sole tribe that didn't contest the APC primaries was the Yoruba, is it not true? The North West ran, North East ran, North Central vied, South East vied.

“If Owelle Rochas Okorocha had defeated Buhari within the 2015 APC primary, are we getting to be talking about Igbo presidency now? But what's important if the Igbo want to become president, it’s not for you to mention it’s your turn.

“Any day you bring out an aspirant that's acceptable to other Nigerians, that's the day you indeed want the position of president in Nigeria. All you would like is that the majority. Buhari won the APC primary with 3,886 votes.

“That’s what we counted. i used to be a official therein election. Kwakwanso came second, then Atiku, Rochas, then Nda-Isaiah. I can still recall this stuff .

“So there was never a time it had been ceded to Buhari. The folks that voted for Buhari outnumbered others therein primary. So once we bring out a suitable aspirant, he will eventually win. that's what you're alleged to start checking out now. albeit the Igbo cry from now till thy kingdom comes, if they don’t bring out an individual that's acceptable to other Nigerians, nothing happens.”

Posted by Admin July 09, 2020

COVID-19 may be a hoax, says Kogi governor

KOGI State Governor Yahaya Bello on Tuesday said the fear of Coronavirus kills faster than the virus itself.

According to him, an epidemic that has killed 510,909 people worldwide as of Tuesday was an “imported” illness that was “forced on people” to shorten their lifespan.

The governor disagreed with the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) over the death of the state Chief Judge, Justice Nasir Ajanah.

Ajanah died on Sunday at the Gwagwalada COVID-19 Isolation Centre.

His interment, which happened at Gudu Cemetery, Abuja, was conducted in compliance with the COVID-19 burial protocol set by the NCDC.

Bello had accused the NCDC of creating up numbers that were neither correct nor emanated from the state.

Speaking at the third-day prayer for the late Chief Judge on Tuesday, he urged the people to not concede to fear.

He described the COVID-19 as worse than banditry, insurgency and genocide put together, adding that it had been artificial, but unfortunately sold to Nigerians.

He said Justice Ajanah died naturally, and urged the people to not attribute his death to anything as is “being insinuated by certain persons for political and mischief purposes”.

The governor said: “Do not concede to fear and evil of the problems of COVID-19. it's a disease that has been imported, propagated and made on the people for no just cause.

“Nothing kills faster than fear. I urge you all to not accept cut and paste as COVID-19.

“It is merely bent create fear, panic and pandemic, orchestrated to scale back and shorten the lifespan of the people.

“Whether doctors and scientists believe it or not, COVID-19 is bent shorten the lifespans of the people. it's a disease propagated by force for Nigerians to simply accept .”

Bello described the late Ajanah as a sound jurist and a devotee of peace. He prayed Allah to grant him Aljanah Firdaus.

Ajanah’s death followed that of Kogi Customary Court of Appeal, Justice Ibrahim Shaibu Atadoga, who died on summer solstice after a quick illness.

In May, Kogi State rejected two cases of Coronavirus reported by the NCDC.

“Kogi State till this very moment is COVID-19 free. we've developed the complete testing capacity and have conducted many tests thus far which have returned negative,” Commissioner for Health Saka Audu, said.

Kogi alleged a plot to compulsorily report COVID-19 cases within the state.

It barred an NCDC team from conducting COVID-19 tests within the state, insisting that it had conducted over 100 tests that each one clothed negative.

The governor had asked the officials to go away the state or continue a 14-day quarantine.

Posted by Admin July 09, 2020

Minister, lawmakers clash over decide to recruit 774,000

The Special structure Programme (SWP) of the federal designed to rent 774,000 youths has sparked an enormous row between a Federal council (FEC) member and federal lawmakers.

The federal has put aside N52 million to pay the 1,000 youths from each of the 774 government areas at 20,000 per member for 3 months.

Those engaged are expected to try to to structure for the half-moon of the year.

At issue is that the formation of the choice committee which will recruit the beneficiaries.

Minister of State for Labour and Employment Festus Keyamo on Tuesday appeared before the Senate and House of Representatives joint Committee on Labour and Employment.

The meeting saw troubled waters when Director-General of the National Directorate of Employment (NDE), Nasir Ladan Argungu, was asked to elucidate the composition of the Keyamo-led 20 member committee handling the choice of beneficiaries.

Argungu said he could only account for eight statutory members of the committee, adding only the minister of state could speak on the remaining 12 members.

Some members of the joint committee complained that the representatives of their states within the selection committee were unknown to them.

They requested Keyamo for insight into how the 12 members were picked; the roles of representatives of the tutorial Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) within the recruitment and why a programme which budget is under the NDE is being hijacked by him.

The joint committee members accused Keyamo and Argungu of not being on an equivalent page on the programme.

Before the minister could respond, co-chairman of the joint committee, Senator Godiya Akwashiki, said the briefing would enter a closed door session.

However, Keyamo argued that since the questions were asked and allegations made within the full glare of the media, a executive session was not necessary. He said his response should even be captured by the media.

His insistence angered the lawmakers who said he (Keyamo) couldn't direct how a session by a national assembly committee should be conducted.

They asked Keyamo to apologise for attempting to upturn the committee’s resolution on how the sitting should be conducted.

Keyamo, who declined because he had “done nothing wrong”, threatened to steer out on the committee.

The disagreement and insistence by the minister led to flared tempers, banging on tables and eventual storming out of the session by Keyamo.

The uproar brought the session to an abrupt end.

Speaking to reporters, Keyamo said: “What they need not allowed me to mention inside, i will be able to say it outside.

“The background to the present is that a few of days ago, they started mounting pressure on me that i need to bring an inventory of these to pick 1,000 persons per government across the country for them to direct me on what to try to to from state to state.

“The chairmen insisted i need to come to them privately to be handed an instruction on what to try to to and the way this programme would be done.

“I told them that it might amount to sharing the powers of the President. I can only be in charge of what I even have done by the provisions of the Constitution, but you can't direct me.

I can’t explain in an closed session matters like this because it involves the 774 Local Governments Areas across the country.

“You cannot accuse me of a lopsided issue within the open then want to travel into a executive session .

”They can investigate the programme I are often coming here a day to elucidate but they can't control it.”

The minister later issued a press release in which he said: “I will not surrender the programme to their control since their power under the constitution doesn't reach that.”

Keyamo, who said he learnt that the joint committee later suspended the work of the choice committee nationwide, directed the members to travel ahead with the assignment as “only Mr. President can stop them.”

He argued that the action of the lawmakers was ”tantamount to challenging the powers of Mr. President.”

Keyamo, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), added: “I regret to mention that their powers under section 88 of the 1999 Constitution is merely limited to investigations, to not give any directive to the chief .”

“I won't inherit government and be intimidated to abandon my principles. i will be able to rather leave this assignment, if Mr. President so directs than compromise the roles meant for ordinary Nigerians who haven't any godfathers or who aren't affiliated to any party .”

Senator Akwashiki, who presided over the joint committee, told reporters after the botched session that Keyamo insulted them.

Akwashiki said: “We asked the minister of state to elucidate to us how far they need gone because we read on the pages of newspapers that a 20-man selection committee from each state was inaugurated. .

“He said it had been a tripartite committee found out by Mr President that comprised eight ministries but we disagreed with him thereon because we are lawmakers and that we attempt to work always within the ambit of the law for the implementation of whatever we've for the Nigerian people.

“We said this money (N52billion) has been approved under the NDE. it's even within the budget. So for him to mention it's eight ministries that are involved during this we afflict him.

“If we didn't catch on right with the choice committee, i would like to inform you that this programme goes to be a failure.

”How the minister received the remaining 12 people is best known to him. The Director General who happens to be the accounting officer of the agency didn't skills he happened the choice of the 12 people.

“We cannot sit down and watch him. But because he claims he's a lawyer, he's trying to bring confusion.

“He is trying to show us around. he's trying to form the entire system appear as if a busy-body saying that this is often public hearing. this is often not public hearing.

“At the top of the day, he tried to insult the lawmakers. He was trying to inform us the procedures of our sitting.”

Posted by Admin July 04, 2020