TheNewsGuru

Tag: President

  • President Buhari’s 2017 Christmas message to the nation

    Dear Compatriots,

    I felicitate with all Nigerians, particularly our Christian brothers and sisters, on the occasion of this year’s Christmas day celebration.

    The commemoration of the birth of Jesus Christ is an important opportunity for us to show love to one another and encourage unity by spending quality time with our friends, families and the less-privileged.

    It is also an occasion to draw inspiration from the exemplary lifestyle and teachings of Jesus Christ, who constantly stood for what is right, true and honest.

    The Holy Book describes Christmas as a festival of peace, joy, healing, hope and fulfilment. It kindles great expectations in the heart, irrespective of the challenges of the moment.

    As we celebrate this Yuletide season, let us devote some time to pray and appreciate the sacrifices of members of our armed services to keep our nation safe and secure.

    By the same token, and keeping with the spirit of the season, our gallant troops serving in the frontlines in the fight against insurgency; those wounded, lying in the hospital, as well as civilians who have suffered the brunt of evil and wicked elements these past years, deserve our fervent goodwill and sustained prayers.

    The personal fortitude of these individuals will continue to inspire us to victory as we turn the tide against the enemy and annihilate those who work against the unity of our nation.

    In this season of hope, let us remember to provide refuge to those who cannot enjoy Christmas at home with their families, or have been driven from their homes by insurgency or violence, particularly the Internally Displaced Persons.

    Lately, we have witnessed an upsurge in the activities of trans-border syndicates who lure our youths to modern slavery through irregular migration. While we have stepped up our efforts to halt this wickedness against the upwardly mobile generation, and have evacuated some of our compatriots stranded abroad, we appeal to them to shun the allure of embarking on such perilous journeys.

    I am deeply convinced that better days lie ahead for us as a nation as we make progress on all the major fronts where we have set our energies to surmount the challenges.

    I wish you all Happy Christmas celebrations.

    Muhammadu Buhari

  • 2019: Atiku too desperate to be president – Buhari’s adviser

    …says former Vice President will leave PDP if he doesn’t realise presidential ambition in 2019

    The Special Adviser to the President on Political Matters, Senator Babefemi Ojudu hassaid former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar is too desperate to be president in 2019, hence his recent defection to the opposition, Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

    He chided the Waziri Adamawa for twisting facts and wiping up sentiments against the Buhari administration and the All Progressives Congress (APC) for partisan reasons.

    Ojudu said Atiku’s departure was not surprising to the APC, stressing that it was typical of the former vice president to call it quits with a platform that cannot guarantee his bid for the highest office.

    He recalled that Atiku has always destroyed the parties that hosted him by turning around to pull it down, following his inability to clinch the nomination ticket.

    Ojudu spoke on Channels Television’s Sunrise on the implications Atiku’s defection for himself, the PDP and the APC.

    Describing Atiku as a serial defector, the political adviser said the gale of defections peculiar to the eminent politician underscored his desperation for power.

    He said the Turaki Adamawa lied about his marginalisation in the APC, recalling that he often declined to make any constructive and useful contribution during the meetings of party’s founding fathers.

    Ojudu said: “Atiku’s defection is not surprising . During the meeting of the G-19, the Legacy Group that formed the APC, Atiku was there. We laid our programmes as a government before the party leaders and asked for their contributions. He was the only person who refused to talk. The second time the meeting was called, Atiku did not attend. We knew that he will leave. Each time he wants to leave a house, he demolishes the house.

    However, the presidential adviser said it will be myopic to dismiss Atiku as a politician without weight, judging by his status and antecedents in politics.

    Ojudu also said that Atiku has the right to defect under the constitution to seek refuge in any party, despite his constrains and limitations.

    He stressed: “It will be stupid to dismiss his weight. He is an asset to an extent that he stays there. His goal is to be the president. If he cannot get the ticket, he will leave.”

    Ojudu acknowledged the complaint by kaduna State Governor Nasir El-Rufai on the alleged marginalisation of party elders, which Atiku also cited as reason for leaving the APC, saying that the situation has been corrected.

    He said: “There is no perfect organisation and there is no perfect government. The Kaduna governor expressed hos mkind and he has joined others to put things right. You don’t jump out.”

    Ojudu said Atiku was fed up with the APC the moment he failed to get the presidential ticket atv the primary, adding that he is now playing his last card.

    He added: “Atiku is playing his last card. He is desperate to be president. If President Buhari get a second term, he knows that the presidency will go to another region. The presidency will not go to another region. Before it goes back to the North, it may take years and he would have become old.”

    Ojudu also dismissed Atiku’s allegation that the government has not done much for the youths, clarifying that efforts were being made to create jobs in many ways, including massive investment in agriculture.

    He challenged the former vice president to list his contribution to job creation in his native Adamawa State.

    Ojudu queried: “What were the contributions of Atiku to APC’s efforts to rebuild Nigeria? What has he done as a godfather in Adamawa to solve the problem of unemployment. What agenda for youths did he take to the president that was rejected?”

    The political adviser gave the Buhari administration a pas mark, saying that it is a government of planning and anti-corruption.

    He said: “There is planning and there is no siphoning of public funds.”

  • FIFA suspends Brazil’s football president,Marco Polo del Nero

    Brazil’s football federation president has been suspended for 90 days while he is under a Fifa ethics investigation. Marco Polo del Nero is provisionally banned from all football activity.The 76-year-old has remained as head of the sport’s governing body in Brazil despite being charged by American authorities in 2015 over money laundering allegations.

    He quit Fifa’s executive committee that year, but has not been extradited from Brazil to the US to face charges.

    Three South American former Fifa executives are currently on trial in New York accused of racketeering, wire fraud and money laundering.

    World football’s governing body said on Friday that the the duration of Del Nero’s ban “may be extended for an additional period not exceeding 45 days”.

    “During this time, Mr Polo del Nero is banned from all football activities at both national and international level. The ban comes into force immediately,” it added in a statement.

    Del Nero was elected president in 2003 and took up a role with Fifa in 2012.

    He appeared at the Rio Olympics last summer when he welcomed Fifa president Gianni Infantino to the Brazilian football federation offices.

    He has not left Brazil since being indicted two years ago

    BBC Sports

  • Peacekeeping: Send our troops back home, Buhari tells Guinea Bissau President

    President Muhammadu Buhari on Friday said the nation was in dire needs of the services of the troops that had been keeping peace in the crisis-riddled Guinea Bissau back home.

    Buhari also advised President José Mário Vaz to use a constitutional way of resolving the crisis in the country.

    He said Nigeria needed its troops that had been keeping peace in the country back home.

    According to a statement by his Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Mr. Femi Adesina, the President spoke while receiving the President of the ECOWAS Commission, Marcel A. de Souza, at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.

    Buhari was quoted as saying that he expected a formal report on the situation in Guinea Bissau at the 52nd Ordinary Session of the ECOWAS Authority of Heads of State and Government holding on Saturday in Abuja.

    “We need our troops back home, and I hope the President of that country will accept a constitutional way to resolve the situation there,” the President said.

    Buhari also said it was gladdening that the organisation demand accountability from its headquarters staff, which made it to invite the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission from Nigeria recently to look into its books.

    “Thanks for being firm, and for insisting on transparency and accountability at the ECOWAS headquarters,” President Buhari said, adding that Nigeria would continue to fulfill its obligations to the sub-regional body.

  • Angolan president urges officials to repatriate overseas money

    Angolan President Joao Lourenco has urged government officials to repatriate their money in overseas accounts back to the homeland by the beginning of 2018, local media reported on Thursday.

    He made the remarks on Wednesday as vice president of the ruling MPLA party at a seminar on fighting corruption crimes.

    Lourenco said that those who act on his advice will not be questioned about the reasons for having the money outside the country, nor prosecuted.

    The president warned that at the end of this period, the state will confiscate the money and bring it back to the country to benefit all Angolans.

    He also encouraged those dealing with the fight against corruption and money laundering to fulfil their duties accordingly.

    “Do not confuse the fight against corruption with persecution of the rich or of wealthy families.

    “The rich are welcome as long as their fortunes are lawful,’’ Lourenco said.

    Lourenco, sworn in as head of state in September, has been calling for greater transparency so as to better fight corruption and economic crimes rooted in some institutions.

  • 2019: We are planning Buhari’s retirement; Atiku is next president of Nigeria – PDP Senator

    2019: We are planning Buhari’s retirement; Atiku is next president of Nigeria – PDP Senator

    Senator representing PDP/Bayelsa East, Ben Murray-Bruce on Sunday said his party (Peoples Democratic Party) was already making a good retirement package for President Muhammadu Buhari while also making preparations to install former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar as next President of Nigeria.

    TheNewsGuru.com reports that Atiku announced his defection to the opposition, PDP on Sunday after resigning his membership of the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC, last week.

    Murray-Bruce tweeted from his Twitter handle @benmurraybruce, “Just watched @atiku, the next President of Nigeria,#Atikulately announcing he would return to my party, the @OfficialPDPNig.

    “We in the PDP already have a good retirement package for President @MBuhari. Time to#ChangeTheChange.”

    In his defection speech, the former Vice President said:

    “Some of you may know that I was elected Vice President under the banner of the PDP, which is the political party I had helped to found some ten years before.

    “And some of you may also know that I left the PDP four years ago when I believed it was no longer aligned to the principles of equity, democracy and social justice upon which we had founded it.

    “I joined the APC as I had hoped it would be the new force that would help improve life for our people and I was excited about the party’s manifesto to create three million new jobs a year.

    “The result has not been the change people had been promised or voted for, as in the last two years almost three million Nigerians have lost their jobs.

    “And today with a record 25% of people aged 18-25 unemployed, I can see how difficult it is for our youths to find a job.

  • Former NANS President, Dauda Mohammed dies at 38

    The National Association of Nigerian Students, NANS, has announced the death of its former National President, Dauda Mohammed, 38, due to a protracted illness.

    NANS’ incumbent President, Chinonso Obasi revealed this on Monday.

    Obasi explained that Mohammed died on Sunday enroute India where he had gone for medical treatment.

    Obasi said that the mail sent to him by Artemis Group of Hospitals, Delhi, indicated that Mr. Mohammed passed on five minutes before landing at Delhi Airport.

    He said that the mail indicated that the hospital would conduct an autopsy on October 3 after which his remains would be released for transportation back to Nigeria.

    TheNewsGuru.com reports that Mohammed departed Abuja for India on September 30 to receive treatment for liver cirrhosis.

    According to health experts, cirrhosis is a chronic progressive disease of the liver characterised by the replacement of healthy cells with scar tissue.

    “We declare one month mourning and national action against cancer as we pray God to console his family.

    “We also declare a national action against cancer and appeal to government at all levels to be more proactive on issues pertaining to the health of citizens.

    “Medical facilities in Nigeria should be standardised to enable our medical personnel handle complex forms of sicknesses,’’ Obasi said.

    The NANS president said that Mohammed’s family had been informed of his demise.

    Born in 1979, Mr. Mohammed, who was NANS’ President from 2011 to 2012, attended the University of Jos.

     

  • Why I declared support for Fayose’s presidential bid – Fani-Kayode

    A former Minister of Aviation, Femi Fani-Kayode, has explained why he is backing the presidential bid of the governor of Ekiti State, Ayo Fayose.

    Mr. Fayose had on Thursday in Abuja formally declared his intention to run for president in 2019 on the ticket of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP.

    In a statement sent to TheNewsGuru.com on Saturday via email, Mr. Fani-Kayode, said he was backing Mr. Fayose because of his courage, frankness and conviction.

    “I stood with Governor Ayodele Fayose because, unlike most, he has courage,” the former minister said.

    “We come from completely different backgrounds and we do not agree on everything but we have a similar disposition and we share the same perspective on most things.

    “He is not bound up in fear and he is not chained down by political correctness. He speaks the raw and bitter truth and he stands up for the weak and the defenceless.
    “Like me, he moves in the prophetic and his source of strength is the spirit and power of God.

    “We both love God and we are both men of strength, courage, faith and destiny. The spirit of David and Jehu runs through us both. We neither fear death nor incarceration and we hate injustice, evil and oppression.”

    Mr. Fani-Kayode said the governor had done an excellent job in Ekiti State since he assumed office and had consistently and fearlessly stood against “the evil of the Buhari administration and constantly kept them on their toes.”

    He added, “He is a Yoruba man who has the courage and conviction to say that he wants to be president. Why would I not stand with him and attend the launching of his campaign?

    “I believe that he would make an excellent president and effect the necessary changes and restructuring that our country desperately needs.

    “I am very proud of Ayo Fayose and I never desert or abandon my friends. He is and will always be my friend and brother.”

    Meanwhile, recall that Fayose’s plan to run for president has drawn fierce criticisms from members of his party, who describe it as a violation of the zoning agreement reached by the party in 2015.

  • You can’t run for president in 2019, Ex-PDP chair, Nwodo tells Fayose

    A member of the Board of Trustees of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Okwesilieze Nwodo, says Ekiti State Governor, Ayodele Fayose, cannot contest in the party’s primary poll for 2019 presidential election.

    He stated this on Thursday in Abuja shortly after Fayose’s formal declaration of his intention to contest for the position of president of Nigeria in 2019 on PDP’s platform.

    Nwodo, a former National Chairman of the PDP, told newsmen that party’s ideology forbade Mr. Fayose and other members from the South from contesting in the presidential race in 2019.

    He said that the ideology would be followed to the letter in spite the governor’s declaration.

    “Fayose cannot run and I will tell you my reason,” he said.

    “When we formed PDP, the first battle we fought and won as a party was to zone the presidency to the South.

    “Those of us from the south made a case because in the first republic, prime minister was from the North; in the second republic, the president was from the North, and in the third republic, a southerner won and the election was annulled.

    “There was no way we could go back to the south and say let’s elect a northerner again without giving the south a slot.

    “A decision was taken that the presidency should come from the south and the chairman of the party to come from the north.

    “That was how Solomon Lar became the chairman of PDP and secretary was zoned to the south; that was how I became the first secretary of the party.”

    Nwodo, a former governor of Enugu State, said that the party would take a decision to ensure that its constitution and ordinances were respected.

    He explained that those who tried it in the past failed to achieve their aim.

    He said, “For example, late Abubakar Rimi, former Governor of Kano State paid for a form and wanted to run.

    “Then I was the national secretary, I returned his cheque and informed him that the party had taken a decision that the presidential candidate could only come from southern Nigeria.

    “When we went to the Convention in Jos, he went to the venue and started to campaign without having a form because we didn’t give him.

    “We had to get some party leaders around to go and counsel him; we didn’t want security agencies to manhandle or embarrass him and good counsel prevailed and he stepped down.

    “That was what PDP did and now we did not only zone the presidency to the north, we have re-emphasised at every opportunity we had that the zoning will take place.

    “So, the party will not collect expression of interest money from anybody else who is not from the North and will not issue him a nomination form to contest; no, we will not do that.’’

    However, TheNewsGuru.com reports that Fayose had in a letter to PDP leaders insisted that his ambition to be president was without prejudice to the party’s position, adding that it was in the interest of the party and Nigeria.

     

  • Buhari hosts Ugandan President, Yoweri Museveni in Aso Rock

    President Muhammadu Buhari on Friday played host to Uganda President, Yoweri Museveni in Aso Villa, Abuja.

    TheNewsGuru.com reports that the two leaders met behind closed doors at about 2.52ppm.

    TheNewsGuru.com reports that the Ugandan president has been showing interest and concern over the activities of the deadly Boko Haram sect operating in Nigeria over five years ago.

    Mr. Museveni was quoted in 2014, during the administration of former President Goodluck Jonathan, as warning the Nigerian government against negotiating with the Boko Haram insurgents.

    “It would be a mistake for the government of Nigeria to negotiate with these people.”

    “The most important thing is to defeat them, then negotiations can come after that,’’ Museveni told a local Ugandan newspaper in an interview in May 2014.