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You Can’t Surrender Your Security Duty To Govs, Wike Cautions Buhari

 

President Muhammadu Buhari has continued to come under attack since his statement that state governors should take re­sponsibility of security in their states.

Responding to the president’s statement, governor of Rivers State, Nyesom Wike, said it is unconstitutional for President Buhari to shift the power of securing lives and property of Nigerians to state governors.

According to Governor Wike, president is the com­mander-in-chief of the armed forces and cannot declare that governors are in charge of security in their respective states.

Governor Wike, while speaking at the commission­ing of the 21 kilometers Odu­for-Akpoku-Umuoye Road in Etche Local Government Area of the state on Tuesday, said such position suggests that the APC led Federal Govern­ment has lost grip of strategy on how to tackle the troubling security issues, and make the country safe for Nigerians.

“Mr. President, you’re the commander-in-chief of the Armed Forces of the Feder­al Republic of Nigeria. You appoint Inspector-General of Police, you appoint the Chief of Army Staff, Chief of Na­val Staff, the Commissioner of Police (CP), Director of Department of State Services (DSS) and other heads of secu­rity. Which one do we appoint? How can people appointed by Mr. President be under me?” Wike queried.

He said: “It is not only to borrow money for Nigeria that you’re in charge. You must, also, be in charge in other things including secu­rity. Who signed Order 10? Is it the governors? It is not when things are going bad concerning security, and you say you’re not in charge, and it becomes governors’ respon­sibility.”

Governor Wike admon­ished the Federal Govern­ment to own up that it can no longer fulfil promises made to Nigerians, and also lead the country out of its present predicament.

According to Governor Wike, when there is a failure, what makes leadership re­spectable is that such leader is able to accept his weakness publicly.

The governor pointed out that it was time Nigerians began to compare the per­formances of PDP and APC governors in office.

He said Mr. President was short of calling names of those governors who run to Aso Rock when they are sup­posed to stay in their states to see the needs of their states and people.

“Mr. President should have come out openly and said, my APC governors, stop worry­ing me. Go back to your states and do your work. On that, I support him.

“Thank God, Mr. Presi­dent knows that I am not one of those that go to visit him over one problem or the oth­er. I, as the governor of Rivers under PDP, you’ll never find me there.”

Former Senate President David Mark, who performed the commissioning of the 21 kilometers Odufor-Ak­poku-Umuoye Road, noted the excitement expressed on the faces of the locals who are di­rectly impacted by the project.

He noted that even those in opposition in the state have become so weak to have anything more to say against Governor Wike who is not only performing, but has re­mained as a strong pillar of the PDP.

“I told him I’ll be here because he loves his people. Politics and democracy is not about enriching one or two persons within a community. The Odufor-Akpoku-Umuoye Road is project that will out­live everybody in this place. The legacy you’re leaving be­hind, Rivers people will not forget you. They will defend you, they’ll protect you and they will stand by you always.

“That is why you can walk tall. That is why you can jump into your car and go any­where because you’ve shown them love. You’ve brought de­mocracy to the people. PDP as a party is happy to have you. You’re one of the pillars of our great party”, he said.

Ecobank Partners Linda Ikeji’s Selfmade Woman Conference; says Women Are Bedrock of Entrepreneurship

The Managing Director, Ecobank Nigeria, Patrick Akinwuntan has said the decision to partner with the media entrepreneur and blogger, Linda Ikeji to host the latest edition of her yearly popular empowerment programme, ‘Selfmade Woman Conference (SMWC) 2021’ is in line with the bank’s empowerment policy for women, stressing that the challenges facing the nation has made it more imperative to recognize the potentials in women and develop it.

 

According to Mr Akinwuntan, Ecobank recognizes women as the bedrock of most families and entrepreneurship in society, and if we must succeed as a nation, it is imperative that we recognize their unique potentials and support them sufficiently.

“Our decision to support Linda Ikeji conference aligns with our women empowerment policy. As a bank, we have been playing a leading role in this respect. Like you know, we have a long standing partnership with  Tera Kulture, that is Bolanle Austen Peters who has come out with various movies such as ‘Bling Lagosians’, ‘Moremi The Musical’, ‘Fela and the Kalakuta Queens,’ ‘The Oluronbi Musical’ and others. Recently, we also supported ‘The Wait’, a movie inspired by the popular book from renowned lawyer and entrepreneur, Yewande Zaccheaus.

We are also currently working with the Ogun state government to promote the Adire industry which is also primarily women driven. In the agric industry, we have supported the Anchor borrowers programme of the Central Bank of Nigeria across the six regions of the country to reach out to farmers, especially the women folk to support them financially to increase their farm size and yield capacity through the introduction of new techniques. Let me also add that Ecobank has a women empowerment programme “Ellevate” for women in Business; this will be publicly launched across the country in July. With Ellevate, we want to ensure we raise and recognize our women for the significant role they have always played to ensure a better society for us all”.

The Linda Ikeji Self-Made Woman, which debuted in 2013, is an advocacy project with the sole aim to mentor and provide financial empowerment to young female entrepreneurs or aspiring ones. it is essentially to build stronger economies and improve the quality of life for women, men, families and communities.  Speakers for this year’s conference scheduled for Saturday, June 19th at the Federal Palace Hotel, Victoria Island, include Tara Durotoye, renowned beauty and make-up entrepreneur; Dr. Ola Brown, Founder of the Flying Doctors Healthcare Investment Company; and Dr. Nancy Nnadi, Serial Entrepreneur & CEO of Telecom Distribution Company.  They will provide actionable strategies and hope to women who would like to start their own businesses, enhance their impact in various industries or broaden their creative roles in traditional industries.

Other guest speakers will include Tomie Balogun, Investment Expert & Fin-tech Entrepreneur; Sola Adesakin,  Finance Coach & Chartered Accountant; Kemi Adetiba, Film Maker and content creator; and TV star Dorathy Bachor.

Heirs Life Assurance Partners Avon Medical on World Blood Donor Day

Newly launched specialist life insurance company, Heirs Life Assurance (HLA) has partnered Avon Medical to organize a blood drive in commemoration of the 2021 World Blood Donor Day. The event, which was held on Monday, June 14, 2021, at the ultramodern Avon Medical Dialysis Centre in Ikeja, Lagos had individuals present to donate blood for those in dire need of medical attention.

This year’s edition, the first partnership between both companies, set out to increase awareness of the importance of safe blood for transfusion and highlight the critical role voluntary blood donors play in national health. The Chief Marketing Officer, Heirs Life Assurance, Ifesinachi Okpagu confirmed that the partnership is in line with the company’s goal of promoting, not just the importance of life insurance, but wholesome living.

‘At the core of our business operations at Heirs Life Assurance is care for people and their families and we are pleased to have demonstrated this with our partnership with Avon Medical. There are several statistics that show that blood donation is of much benefit to the end user as much as it is to donors and here today, we are raising awareness for the need to encourage this culture and celebrate as many that have come out to be superheroes’, she said.

Shekinah Olagunju, Head, Marketing and Corporate Communications at Avon Medical, also expressed delight in the partnership, describing it as laudable especially as it helps both companies further their commitment to building a healthier nation and, in the process, improving the economy and transforming Africa; values held by the companies within the Heirs Holdings group portfolio.

Since its official launch on Tuesday, June 1, 2021, Heirs Life has continued to actively push its offering of life insurance that is simple, quick, accessible, and reliable with its array of value adding products, served on several easy-to-use platforms. Heirs Life’s product offerings comprise of insurance-backed savings plans and life insurance security for individuals, families, children’s education, debtors, creditors, entrepreneurs, and employees. The company is backed by top-notch Reinsurers to provide second-layer security for its clients’ insurance portfolios.

Nigerians see Buhari as a “willing horse” to be ridden to death – Ngige

 

Chris Ngige, the Minister of Labour and Employment, has said no president would tolerate what Nigerians are throwing at President Muhammadu Buhari.

Ngige said Nigerians see Buhari as a “willing horse” to be ridden to death.

Speaking on Channels Television, the Minister claimed that former Presidents Olusegun Obasanjo and Goodluck Jonathan would not tolerate some of the criticisms thrown at Buhari.

Buhari tolerating rubbish from Nigerians, hasn’t failed – Gov Masari

He also dismissed claims that Buhari was fond of flouting the rule of law.

Ngige said the President was afraid of breaching any of Nigeria’s laws.

He said: “If a government has done well; if a president has done well, give him accolades there. Areas he has not done well, point them out and discuss.

“Buhari is a democrat and is so afraid of a breach of the constitution or any law. I am even stronger than him in terms of that.

Biafra agitation: Shehu Sani hails Ngige over support for united Nigeria
”Even President Obasanjo, can he give you people this latitude? He will not. I know him. Even ex-President Goodluck Jonathan will not allow such.

“They will not grant you people that. So, Buhari is a willing horse and Nigerians want to ride him to death.”

Oyo Government begins evacuation of beggars in Ibadan

 

The Oyo State Government on Tuesday said it has commenced evacuation of beggars in some parts of Ibadan, the state capital.

The government noted that the evacuation of the beggars from the Jemibewon area to a resettlement facility in Akinyele started on Tuesday.

Our correspondent learnt that beggars had over the years been living around shanties on Jemibewon Road in the Sabo area of Ibadan.

The government, however, on Tuesday said that it has commenced evacuation of the beggars to the newly built Akinyele Resettlement Centre.

Our correspondent gathered on Tuesday that the evacuation process commenced at 7 a.m. on Tuesday.

The evacuation followed a tour of the site by Arewa community leaders and representatives of the beggars on Saturday.

Commissioner for Environment, Barrister Idowu Oyeleke, who led the first set of evacuees to Akinyele, said that the new site is fitted with social amenities.

Other ministries involved in the exercise according to him include Women Affairs and Social Inclusion, Information, Culture and Tourism, Local and Chieftaincy Matters.

 

‘Nigeria May Not Celebrate Another Democracy Day If Buhari Fails to Listen To Nigerians’ – Wole Soyinka

 

Popular Nigerian playwright and renowned nobel laureate, Professor Wole Soyinka has warned President Muhammadu Buhari that Nigeria may not celebrates another Democracy Day, if the system of government is not decentralised by providing leadership that addresses the agitations and grievances of various groups of Nigerians.

Soyinka who stated this while speaking on Arise Television Programme on Monday lamented that the country is on a suicide slide, adding that Buhari should listen and take action against the challenges which are causing people to demonstrate.

Speaking while featuring on the programme, Soyinka described the recent interviews and press statements by Buhari as tantamount to threatening, bullying and intimidating the people.

He, however called on the president to address the nation like a leader awake to the realities of the situation while being seen to be taking actions.

He said, “And that is what’s happening to people in the streets. That’s why they are moving, that’s why they are demonstrating; that’s why they are defying even threats from the police and the government.

“If you demonstrate, we will do this, if you do this, we will deal with you, we will talk to you in language which you understand – it does not wash with anybody any longer.

“Because if a nation is on a suicide slide, the people who feel that they do not deserve that kind of suicidal plunge have a right to say they are getting off this plane before it nosedives,” he said.

When asked if Nigeria can continue as one, Soyinka said, “Not if it continues this way. Not if it fails to decentralise. If Nigeria fails to decentralise, and I mean to decentralise as fast as possible, manifestly and not as rhetoric, then Nigeria cannot stay together.

“Again, it is not Wole Soyinka saying this. Everybody has said it: ex-heads of state have said it; politicians have said it; analysts have said it; economists have said it, and sometimes we get tired.

“I am saying this whole nation is about to self-destruct and I am not the only one saying it, except Buhari and his government listen and take action, we would not celebrate another Democracy Day come next year.

“Take for instance the position of the Southern governors on open grazing, at least 50 per cent of a nation are saying that within this democratic dispensation we are operating, we are saying on behalf of our people, we do not want open grazing anymore and then somebody sits in Aso Rock and says to them, I am instructing my Attorney-General to dig up some kind of colonial law, which arbitrated between farmers and herders.

“This means that he is not listening to what the people are saying, he is not listening to what the government representing them is saying. When I listen to things like that, I really despair. His last interview was instructive, not that there was anything new in it, one was just hoping that this government has transcended that kind of partisan thinking.”

 

Real Reason Why Bola Tinubu Was Absent During Buhari’s Visit To Lagos Emerges

 

During the commissioning of the 157 kilometers Lagos-Ibadan standard gauge railway for commercial operations at the Mobolaji Johnson Station in Ebute Metta and the Integrated National Security and Waterways Protection Infrastructure in Nigeria (also called the Deep Blue Project) at the ENL Terminal, Apapa Port, the National Leader of the All Progressive Congress and the Jagaban of Lagos, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu was notably absent at the event.

Sahara Reporters gathered that before the event, the Presidency did not send an official invitation to Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, which sent a signal of a proposed misunderstanding between the two Party Leaders.

 

During an interview with Arise TV hours before the President went for the commissioning, President Muhammadu Buhari made a statement that indirectly shades Bola Tinubu. According to Mr. President, he said: “You cannot seat in Lagos and decide the zoning of APC.”

Although, the spokesman to the President, Garba Shehu cleared that the statement was not directed to Bola Tinubu but the fact remains that something is going on between Tinubu and Buhari.

Since Tinubu was not officially invited to the event, he had to avoid public humiliation by jetting out to an undisclosed destination.

 

Why are the two Party Leaders playing hide and seek? You can take to the comment section to share your thoughts about this. Also, share this article so others can contribute as well.

Source: Sahara Reporters.

‘No Better Youth To Succed Buhari In 2023 Than Yahaya Bello’ – Mikel Obi Makes Shocking Revelation

 

Former Super Eagles captain, Mikel Obi has said no better youth to succeed President Muhammadu Buhari than Governor Yahaya Bello of Kogi State.

Mikel, who currently plies his trade with Stoke City, England made the remark during a courtesy call on the governor.

The former Chelsea star said Nigeria has come of age to produce a youthful leadership.

Mikel also pledged to support Bello’s political ambition ahead of 2023.

He said youths should be given the chance to get the much-desired change.

“What better person to lead the youths than him, because he has been doing all these good works and that is why I am here to see whatever way I can come in.”

To get the youths together to know and see how we can make things better for our country and how we can align to achieve all that,” he said.

 

‘Youths Can Only Correct Nigeria’s Abnormalities Through Their Votes In 2023’- Banky w

 

Banky W says the youth in Nigeria can’t possibly protest all the problems in the country.

In an interview with HipTV, the actor and musician spoke of the backlash that trailed the government’s Twitter ban.

“It’s a shame that despite all the issues we’re facing as a nation, Twitter deleted a tweet of the president and the best course they thought up is to ban a service young Nigerians use in expressing themselves and in business,” he said.

“We’re as unsafe as we’ve never been. Kidnapping, banditry, terrorism, and robbery are on the rise. Our educational system is in tatters; healthcare is nothing to write home about. Everywhere you turn in Nigeria, there are issues.

“It’s sad leaders lose all sense of empathy to dialogue and the automatic reaction is ‘ban’. There were [EndSARS] protests. But, instead of a dialogue where they do what the youth were asking, they started looking for scapegoats.

“CBN froze people’s accounts. FG seized passports. It’s almost like young people are in an abusive relationship with our country.”

Banky W said he hopes the Twitter and #EndSARS situations would push the youth into action.

“I hope actions that like this push us to the wall, where we decide to speak up, stand up, push back, and fight for this democracy,” he said.

“Not in a violent way but that we stand up for democracy; move from protest to power. Honestly, we can’t protest about every problem we have. But we can focus on power and those we allow to get into positions of power.

“I mean, all of this is going on and where are our elected representatives? Where our senators? Where are those supposed to be speaking for us and fighting on our behalf? Surprisingly enough, everybody’s quiet.

“Young people in Nigeria and outside need to use this as motivation, as fuel. Let’s organise. 2023 is really not that far away.

“Let’s start from the ground up. The problem is from the top down, but we can start lower and push back. We can organise ourselves and vote. It’s time to take a stand. We have to be the generation all of this nonsense stops with.”

 

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