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Tag: Daura

  • Buhari treks home after Eid el-Kabir prayer in Daura [Video/Photos]

    President Muhammadu Buhari on Tuesday joined thousands of Muslim faithful to observe the two raka’at Eid el-Kabir prayer in Daura, Katsina State.

    The president arrived the Eid Praying Ground in company of his aides and relatives at about 9.48 a.m. He performed the annual sacrifice of slaughtering of the ram immediately after the prayer session.

    He trekked for over 800 metres from the prayer ground to his private residence amidst chanting of `Sai Baba’ by well- wishers.

    Earlier in his sermon, the Chief Imam of Daura, Safiyanu Dansanwai, who led the prayer, stressed the need for peace.

    He called on the Muslim ummah to pray for peace, harmony and development of the country.

    The Emir of Daura, Alhaji Farouk Umar was among the thousands of faithful who performed the two raka’at prayer.

     

  • Eid-el-Kabir: Buhari departs Abuja for Daura

    Eid-el-Kabir: Buhari departs Abuja for Daura

    President Muhammadu Buhari on Monday left Abuja for his hometown, Daura in Katsina State.

    Buhari, who returned to Abuja from London on Saturday after 10-day working holiday, is to observe the Eid-el-Kabir (Sallah) in his hometown.

    His convoy left the forecourt of the State House, Abuja around 3.06 p.m

    Before embarking on the trip to Daura, the President presided over the Security Council meeting at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.

  • Jail Oshiomhole, sacked DSS DG, Daura, APC chieftains before other looters – PDP tells Buhari

    The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) on Sunday welcomed President Muhammadu Buhari’s declaration to jail treasury looters, but challenged him to start from the Chairman of the All Progressives Congress, APC, Adams Oshiomhole.

    PDP said in line with his declaration, Buhari should also prosecute the sacked Director-General of the Department of State Services, DSS, Lawal Daura, and chieftains of the APC.

    A statement by PDP’s spokesperson, Kola Ologbondiyan, said Buhari should show “integrity by starting with immediate investigation and prosecution of the factional National Chairman of All Progressives Congress (APC), Adams Oshiomhole and a host of other indicted persons in his presidency, who he is currently covering.”

    The party challenged Buhari to also allow an investigation into the alleged stealing of “billions of naira by his allies and party chieftains, including the sacked former Director General of the Department of State Services (DSS), Lawal Daura, his former Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Babachir Lawal and the Executive Secretary of the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS), Prof. Yusuf Usman.”

    The statement added, “President Buhari should immediately allow the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to commence Oshiomhole’s investigation, which has been stalled despite his indictment for allegedly stealing billions of naira belonging to Edo state.

    “The PDP further challenged President Buhari to allow an investigation into the alleged frittering of over N11 trillion in the petroleum sector, under his direct supervision as minister, including the alleged N9 trillion illegal oil contract as detailed in the leaked presidency memo, the alleged N1.4 trillion corrupt subsidy regime and alleged diversion of N1.1 trillion worth crude oil using 18 illegal companies allegedly linked to Presidency cabal and APC chieftains.

    “The President should also allow the investigation of his ministers, who as former governors, were indicted of stealing billions of naira belonging to their states, particularly, a former governor, who was
    indicted by his state for allegedly diverting over N40 billion to finance APC’s 2015 Presidential campaign.

    “Mr. President must also investigate how billions of naira allegedly moved from parastatals under his Petroleum ministry to finance the failed attempt to change the leadership of the National Assembly as well as the certificate scandals among his ministers and special advisers and jail all those involved.

    “These are the people Nigerians have been expecting President Buhari to investigate, prosecute and if found wanting sent to jail. Unfortunately, Mr. President has been pursuing perceived political enemies, and innocent opposition members while dining and wining with corrupt persons, a development that has completely called to question the integrity of his anti-corruption fight.

    “Since President Buhari came into office, he has not allowed any investigation into the corrupt activities under his Presidency, instead he has been attracting to himself, all manner of corrupt persons and giving them the perfume of sainthood, once they identify with his APC.”

  • Buhari’s men plotting to reinstate sacked DSS DG, Lawal Daura

    There are indications that some of the caucus close to the President has swung into action to bring back the recently sacked head of DSS, Lawal Daura.

    Recall that Vice President Yemi Osinbajo recently sacked Daura over DSS invasion of the National Assembly.

    However, Junaid Mohammed, a former lawmaker alleged that Buhari’s kinsmen want Daura reinstated while the National Security Adviser, Mungono should be fired.

    Speaking with Punch, the former lawmaker said the intrigues surrounding the sack and alleged move to reinstate Daura was an indication of how incompetent the Presidency is.

    He said, “What happened was very unfortunate and whichever side you want to blame or give credit to, it has really reduced our country, our democracy to that of a banana republic and the fact that since the event happened, there has been no statement-except the one which came from the office of the Acting President, denying any involvement in what happened.Recall that Vice President Yemi Osinbajo recently sacked Daura over DSS invasion of the National Assembly.

    However, Mohammed claimed that Buhari’s kinsmen want Daura reinstated while the National Security Adviser, Mungono should be fired.

    Speaking with Punch, the former lawmaker said the intrigues surrounding the sack and alleged move to reinstate Daura was an indication of how incompetent the Presidency is.

    He said, “What happened was very unfortunate and whichever side you want to blame or give credit to, it has really reduced our country, our democracy to that of a banana republic and the fact that since the event happened, there has been no statement-except the one which came from the office of the Acting President, denying any involvement in what happened.

    Similarly a loyalist of the President [name unmentioned] privy to the development revealed to TheNewsGuru that ‘the Acting President betrayed President Buhari by firing the relative of the President unceremoniously’.

    ‘Osinbajo did not receive Baba’s blessing before firing Daura. He is aware that Daura is an integral part of Baba’s re-election machinery and we are disappointed that he would have fired him that way’ the source stated.

    He continued by stating ‘President Buhari we believe is determined to have Daura back in his cabinet if not as DG SSS, a special portfolio will be created for him with equal power if not more’.

    Report has it that Vice President Osinbajo has threatened to leave if President Buhari should reverse his decision to get rid of the former DG SSS whom Osinbajo said was very rude to him and a threat to democracy

  • Orji Kalu to be turbaned Dan Baiwan Daura

    Dr Orji Kalu, former governor of Abia, it to be conferred with the traditional title of Dan Baiwan (gifted child), by the Emir of Daura, Alhaji Umar Farouk Umar.

    The monarch in a letter dated Aug. 9, conveyed the decision of the Daura Emirate Council to honour Kalu, who is also a chieftain of the All Progressive Congress (APC).

    A statement endorsed by Mr Kunle Oyewumi, Kalu’s Special Adviser, and made available to the News Agency of Nigeria(NAN) on Friday in Abuja stated that the event would take place during the Eid-el Kabir period

    Kalu in his acceptance letter dated Aug. 16, said that the honour would encourage him to sustain his good works.

    The former governor stressed that the emir has demonstrated his passion and commitment to a united and indivisible Nigeria.

    He said: “I received with so much excitement, a letter of conferment of traditional title of Dan Baiwan Hausa on me by the Daura Emirate Council headed by Emir of Daura, Alhaji (Dr) Umar Farouk Umar.

    “The honour is timely and encouraging.

    “I am a detribalised Nigerian. This is a good compensation for continually spreading the message of peace and unity across the nation.

    “We must continue to build friendship and relationships beyond our communities.

    “I was born in Aba, I had my university education in Maiduguri, and Lagos is my business base. I have workers from different ethnic groups and religions. Nigerians should see themselves as one.

    ” I am appreciative of the recognition of my contributions to nation building and I pledge my continued loyalty to Daura Emirate Council, Katsina State and Nigeria at large.”

    NAN

  • Daura: PDP charges Buhari, APC to speak out on alleged N21b loot

    The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), yesterday, challenged President Muhammadu Buhari and the All Progressives Congress (APC) to speak out on the N21 billion, guns and thousands of Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs) allegedly found in the residence of the sacked Director General of the Department of State Services (DSS), Lawal Daura.

    The PDP in a statement by its National Publicity Secretary, Kola Ologbondiyan, said the alleged discovery has exposed the hypocrisy of the Buhari administration. The opposition party stated that it had become obvious to the world that the Presidency had been using its “much hyped fight against corruption and sustained harassment of opposition as a cover to divert public attention from alleged humongous stealing within the government.”

    It added that while the Presidency and the ruling party were harassing members of the opposition on trumped-up corruption charges, their agents were busy frittering away and warehousing trillions of naira to fund their re-election in 2019 and wasteful lifestyles. The party said: “Today, the sneaky ways of this Presidency have further been exposed and it must not in any way seek to disown the sacked DSS DG as Nigerians already know that he was merely one out of the numerous agents being used by the APC and Presidency cabal in their nefarious activities, including warehousing money, fake PVCs and weapons to be unleashed during the 2019 elections.

    “What the APC and the Buhari Presidency should note is the eternal reality that though the truth may be suppressed for a while, it always has a way of showing itself to light at the end.

    “Nigerians are already aware of the leaked memo detailing alleged underhand oil contracts to the tune of N9 trillion at the NNPC and the Ministry of Petroleum Resources, which are under the direct supervision of Mr. President.

    “They are already aware of the alleged stealing of over N25 billion meant for the health needs of the people, from the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) and how the indicted and suspended Executive Secretary was recalled by Mr. President.

    “They are aware of the alleged diversion of crude oil worth N1.1 trillion, using 18 unregistered companies; the diversion of N18 billion Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) funds and billions of unremitted revenue from sale of crude for which there have been deadlock at the Federal Accounts Allocation Committee (FAAC), all of which are being swept under the carpet by the Buhari Presidency.

    “The time is ripe for the Buhari Presidency and its disintegrating APC to tell the nation how these corruption acts were allegedly perpetrated under an administration that lay claim to integrity.”

  • NASS Siege: Presidency planning to ‘doctor’ IGP’s report to implicate us – Saraki, Ekweremadu

    NASS Siege: Presidency planning to ‘doctor’ IGP’s report to implicate us – Saraki, Ekweremadu

    Senate President, Bukola Saraki, and his Deputy, Ike Ekweremadu, have accused the presidency of planning to influence the Inspector General of Police Ibrahim Idris, to manipulate the just released report on Tuesday’s siege at the National Assembly by masked operatives of the Department of State Security Service (DSS) to implicate them.

    This was released in a joint statement signed and released by their media aides, Yusuph Olaniyonu and Uche Anichukwu on Friday.

    They said the Presidency has constituted a closet panel to review the interim report submitted by the Inspector-General of Police (IGP), Ibrahim Idris, and submit a final recommendation that implicate them and their colleagues.

    Recall that the IGP had in a preliminary report to the Acting President, Yemi Osinbajo, accused the former DG, DSS, Lawal Daura of gross violation of Nigerian Constitution in Tuesday’s barricade of the National Assembly by DSS operatives.

    Idris said Daura was working for some politicians for selfish interest, but did not name the accomplices, and that he (Daura) did not consult with other security agencies before ordering the siege.

    The interim report questioned the validity of a security report that allegedly anticipated violence at the parliament.

    Daura was sacked by Mr Osinbajo on Tuesday afternoon. He was immediately handed over to the police for further interrogation over unathorised deployment of DSS officers.

    However, the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) defended Daura’s action, saying its findings indicated that the disgraced spy chief was trying to prevent violence which PDP lawmakers allegedly planned at the National Assembly.

    But IGP rejected this claim, saying Daura sent DSS personnel who “acted like mercenaries, hired to carry out executions.”

    Saraki pushed back against the allegations at a press briefing Wednesday afternoon, describing it as an ‘insult’ on the collective intelligence of Nigerians.

    He said it was baffling that he leaders of the parliament could be accused of being in bed with someone like Mr Daura, even when the parliament was also at the receiving end of the former spy chief’s unchecked recklessness

    In their statement on Friday, Messrs Saraki and Ekweremadu alleged that the mandate of the closet panel being formed by the Federal Government is to turn facts on their head and blame the invasion of the National Assembly on the two leaders of the Red Chamber, “who will then be presented as having worked in tandem with the sacked Director-General of the DSS, Mallam Lawal Daura to stage the parliamentary security breach.”

    “We have been reliably informed that instead of the Presidency to set up a public inquiry or judicial commission to probe last Tuesday’s early morning Invasion of the National Assembly as being demanded by the general public, they have commenced a process of manipulation and fabrication.

    “The Presidency has set up a closet panel, which would work to a predetermined conclusion in which they will now claim that the Senate President and the Deputy Senate President worked in collusion with ex-DG of DSS, Lawal Daura to stage the invasion.

    “They want to shield the fact that the previous night before the invasion and up till the early hours of Tuesday, there was a meeting of the All Progressives Congress (APC) senators and that the plan was for them to be moved in a coaster bus into the National Assembly complex later that morning for them to purportedly remove us and select a new Senate President and Deputy Senate President.

    The duo said the plot of APC senators only failed because the media, particularly social media, Nigerians and international community responded very swiftly as some legislators who came into the complex were refused entry by gun-wielding, hooded security operatives.

    “Now, they want to turn the facts on its head and blame us for their botched plot against democracy. We are hereby alerting all Nigerians and members of the international community that the present Nigerian government will stop at nothing to destroy, suppress and incapacitate the opposition. This is their new tactic and plot as we approach the period of the 2019 polls.

    “We hereby reiterate our earlier position that the coup against democracy as represented by last week’s invasion must be probed through an independent judicial commission of inquiry which will produce a comprehensive report. We reject any manipulated and fabricated investigation,” they said.

    The presiding officers added that they have also uncovered a sinister plot in which the government plans to use the anti-graft and security agencies to incarcerate them and some members of their families from next week, all in a bid to break their will and effect their removal.

  • Daura to remain under house arrest – Presidency

    Daura to remain under house arrest – Presidency

    The sacked Director General of the Department of State Services (DSS), Lawal Daura will remain under house arrest.

    A presidency source who pleaded anonymity said this to newsmen yesterday.

    Daura was sacked by Acting President Yemi Osinbajo on Tuesday, for unauthorised invasion of the National Assembly and was promptly arrested right inside the Presidential Villa, Abuja, by men of the Nigerian Police Force.

    The source also confirmed that Daura has been under house arrest in one of the presidential guests houses at Aso Rock.

    “He will remain there until several investigations over certain issues bordering on him are concluded,” the source added.

    Daura was fired by Acting President Yemi Osinbajo on Tuesday following the blockade of the National Assembly complex by operatives of the Department of State Service (DSS).

    A three-paragraph statement by the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Office of the Acting President, Laolu Akande, said the “unlawful act which was done without the knowledge of the Presidency is condemnable and completely unacceptable.

    “By this statement, Professor Osinbajo is consequently assuring Nigerians that all persons, within the law enforcement apparatus, who participated in this travesty will be identified and subjected to appropriate disciplinary action.”

    In a separate statement, Akande said Osinbajo had directed “the termination of the appointment of the Director General, State Security Service, Lawal Musa Daura, with immediate effect.

    “Mr. Daura has been directed to hand over to the most senior officer of the State Security Service, until further notice,” the two-paragraph statement read. Yesterday, Osinbajo held a closed-doors meeting with the Acting Director-General of the DSS, Matthew Seiyefa and the Acting Chairman of Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Ibrahim Magu, at the Presidential Villa, Abuja. The meeting started shortly after the Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting, also, presided by Osinbajo at about 2:30p.m. in his office. Seiyefa was appointed on Tuesday as the most senior officer in DSS, to take-over from Daura, who was sacked after the unauthorized the invasion of the National Assembly by operatives from the service.

  • NASS siege: Acting DG takes over DSS after Daura’s sack

    Sequel to the sack of the Director General of the Department of State Services (DSS) by the Acting President, Yemi Osinbajo, an acting Director-General has been inaugurated for the service.

    He is Matthew Benabafa Seiyefa, who until his appointment was the director in charge of the Institute of Security Studies (ISS), an institution established in 2005 as the cardinal training institution for the DSS.

    Seiyefa is the most senior official at the SSS after Lawal Daura who was sacked on Tuesday on the orders of Acting President Yemi Osinbajo.

    The acting DG, an indigene of Bayelsa State, was director of operations between 2007 and 2010 when Afakriya Gadzama ran the agency.

    Insiders at the SSS said he is close to retirement, and was indeed billed to proceed on terminal leave later this month.

    Daura, who was appointed to the post by President Muhammadu Buhari in 2015, was axed over the invasion of the National Assembly Tuesday morning by masked officials of the SSS, an incident the presidency said was not authorised.

    Sources said the handing over to Seiyefa was being conducted at the Yellow House headquarters of the agency by the agency’s director of administration and logistics as Daura was not available at the ceremony.

    The sacked DG’s official convoy returned without him from the Presidential Villa to the Yellow House hours after Mr Daura was fired.

    It is not immediately clear whether and where he is being held. Insiders at the DSS said he was placed under house arrest at the presidential villa. But that could not be immediately verified.

    Multiple sources at the agency on Tuesday expressed relief over the sudden end to the Katsina State-born Daura’s three years leadership of the DSS which they said was marked by high-handedness and autocracy.

    He was said to have denied five senior officials their official quarters in Abuja, instead allocating the facilities to his relations who are not officials of the agency.

    Daura was also said to have cancelled the regular meeting of the DG with state directors, the traditional channel for briefing his office on security issues around the country and the forum for top level evaluation of operations.

    He also closed the regular channel of communication with the public as he refused to appoint a spokesperson for the agency throughout his tenure.

    Osinbajo had earlier met with Mr. Seiyefa at the presidential villa shortly after sacking Daura, and directing him to hand over to the most senior official in the service.

    Seiyefa arrived the presidential villa in an official SUV at about 4 p.m., clutching a file.

    He was received at the entrance of the Villa by the aide de camp to the acting president. He later left for the DSS headquarters after the meeting to take charge of the security agency.

  • BREAKING: Acting President, Osinbajo sacks DG of DSS over invasion of NASS

    Acting President Yemi Osinbajo has terminated the appointment of the Director General of DSS, Lawal Daura over invasion of the National Assembly earlier today.

    Osinbajo on Tuesday summoned the Inspector-General of Police, Ibrahim Idris and the Director-General of the Department of State Security, Daura at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.

    Following the meeting, Mr. Daura has been directed to hand over to the most senior officer of the State Security Service until further notice.

    A statement by Laolu Akande, Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity said.

    “Acting President Yemi Osinbajo, SAN, has described the unauthorized takeover of the National Assembly complex earlier today as a gross violation of constitutional order, rule of law and all accepted notions of law and order.”

    “By this statement, Professor Osinbajo is consequently assuring Nigerians that all persons within the law enforcement apparatus who participated in this travesty will be identified and subjected to appropriate disciplinary action.” Akande stated

    It was gathered that the two security chiefs, who arrived Aso Rock at different times, were to update the acting president on security developments including the blockade of the National Assembly by security officials.

    The Inspector-General of Police was the first to arrive at about 12.35 p.m. before the arrival of the DSS Director General at about 1.15 p.m.

    The police and operatives of the DSS early on Tuesday, blocked the main gate of the National Assembly, preventing lawmakers and staff from gaining access into the complex. The security operatives, however, later allowed the lawmakers access into the complex while journalists and other staff were barred.