Exactly one week after Atiku Abubakar, former Vice President, left the All Progressives Congress (APC), another chieftain of the party, Yusuf Datti Baba-Ahmed, has followed suit.
Datti accused the President Muhammadu Buhari government of incompetence and and corruption.
A senior party member in Kaduna State, he was a member of the House of Representatives from 2003 to 2007.
He was also elected a Senator on the platform of the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) in 2011 when he defeated two-time Kaduna Governor, Ahmed Makarfi.
On Thursday, Datti, founder of Baze University, Abuja, submitted a letter to the Chairman of Tudun Wada ward in Zaria Local Government, informing him of his decision to quit the party.
Although he did not give reasons for his decision to leave the party in his letter, he told PREMIUM TIMES in a telephone interview on Friday that “for a party like APC, the shorter the better”.
“Buhari’s government is incompetent and corrupt,” he said.
“The government is lying. The government of Buhari was established by looted funds and over 80 per cent are from the PDP; his so called fight against corruption is a ruse.”
He said he had returned to the PDP “where 80 per cent of current APC members are from”.
He said the 80 per cent “are the same people who destroyed Nigeria in the last 18 years and they are now in APC”.
Bukola Saraki, the Senate President, has recounted two encounters that convinced him that Goodluck Jonathan, the former President, condoned corruption and was never prepared for leadership.
Saraki shared his experience on Thursday at the public presentation and launch of ‘On A Platter Of Gold: How Jonathan Won and Lost Nigeria’, a book written by Bolaji Abdullahi, the National Publicity Secretary of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).
The Senate President said he was shocked by Jonathan’s response when he presented the issue of fuel subsidy fraud to him.
“I remember when I was then senator and I came across this issue of fuel subsidy and the way the country was losing close to about N1.3 trillion. In the history of this country, I don’t think of any singular kind of level of corruption as huge as that.
“I had a motion already [that] I wanted to present on the floor of the Senate. I felt as a member of the ruling party at that time, it was only proper I discussed it with the President (first). I booked an appointment to see Mr President, I went with my paper.
“I started with the background of how people brought in petroleum products. I said Mr President, in the past, people used to get award letters from NNPC to bring in PMS, DPK, and make 10, 20 per cent profit. I said sir, they’ve taken it to another level. Now, they get an order to bring in products. They don’t want to make 10, 20 per cent any more. They will get an offer to bring in a cargo of 20,000 litres, they will bring in 5,000 to be stamped for 20,000.
“Instead of making 10 per cent, they make ten times the amount. I was telling the President, thinking the President would get very agitated. He said, ‘Senator Saraki, you know this oil business is very oily.’ I was stunned and taken aback but in a way, that was Jonathan; in a sad way, that was who he was,” Daily Trust quoted the Senate President.
Saraka recalled that the second encounter he had with Jonathan was when he wanted to contest for President.
He said Jonathan’s response to his ambition convinced him that the former President was never desperate for power but he was not prepared for leadership.
“And if you look at the second encounter, I will recollect the day I decided I am going to contest to be President. I felt that I didn’t want Jonathan to hear it as news. I booked an appointment to go and see him. I didn’t know what I was thinking that day.
“I went to the Villa, he said ‘come in, come in, how can I help you? I looked at the President of a third world country and said Mr President, I came to tell you that I am going to be contesting your seat.
“Jonathan looked at me and said, ‘oh, okay, good luck, good luck.’ If it were any other person, maybe, I would not have left the villa but that again sums up Goodluck Jonathan. I think it is us Nigerians that produce the kind of leaders we get.
“No matter what you say about him, I don’t think he was someone who was desperate for power. He was not someone that was prepared for leadership.”
Kashim Shettima, Governor of Boko Haram-ravaged Borno State, says former President Goodluck Jonathan performed very poorly during his presidency because he surrounded himself with “religious bigots, tribal kindred and reactionary elements”, unlike Olusegun Obasanjo who had quality people in his administration.
Shettima made these comments at the public presentation of a book, ‘On a Platter of Gold’, written by Bolaji Abdullahi, who was Minister of Sports in the Jonathan administration and is now the spokesman of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).
According to Shettima, Jonathan was an honest man, but he had many incompetent people in his administration and that was why he failed.
“Comparing (former President Olusegun) Obasanjo and the people he worked with and those Jonathan worked with, you will understand why,” Shettima said.
“If you look at Obasanjo, hate him or love him, you have to respect Obasanjo for not only believing in the Nigerian project, but for surrounding himself with men of quality.
“If you mention Obasanjo, the names that readily come to mind are those of Oby Ezekwesili, Aliko Dangote, Femi Otedola, Jim Ovia, Tony Elumelu, Nasir el-Rufai, Nuhu Ribadu, Bukola Saraki and other quality Nigerians who have the capacity to add value to the system.
“But when you think of President Jonathan, with all due respect, he surrounded himself with an assorted crop of religious bigots, tribal kindred and all sorts of reactionary elements. Ateke Tom, Government Tompolo, Late Oronto Douglas, Asari Dokubo, Edwin Clark, Ayo Oritsejafor and others.”
Shettima described calls for restructuring as “madness”, saying “to hell with restructuring”.
He said the term ‘restructuring’ had become a regular phrase in the country due to bad leadership, adding that if Nigerians begin to feel the positive impacts of governance, nobody will remember restructuring again.
“People are talking about artificial intelligence, other nations are talking about nano technology or robotics engineering but unfortunately, the topical issue in Nigeria is restructuring. Restructuring my foot! To hell with restructuring,” he said.
“Let us improve on governance, let us work for the people, invest in education, create jobs for our people; this madness will stop.”
The migrant crisis that is currently ravaging various parts of the world, especially Africa, took a different twist early this month when CNN aired video clips showing African Migrants being sold in an auction in Libya for as little as $400.
Libya is the major connecting point for migrants who are trying to reach Europe through the Mediterranean sea. Hundreds of thousands drown while undertaking the perilous journey while many end up as slaves in the hand of traffickers in Libya.
In a recent report by Reuters, two Cameroonians — Christelle Timdi and Foka Fotsi — who were among the 250 migrants that were recently repatriated back home by the International Organisation of Migrants (IOM), narrated their ordeals.
Timdi described how kidnappers dressed like Italian coastguards abducted them at sea, and whisked them to a location in Libya where they were allegedly raped, beaten and forced to make calls to their families back in Cameroon to send them money to secure their freedom.
“We tried to hide the younger girls among us. I was heavily pregnant — that’s why I wasn’t raped. And it’s all done in front of others — they say it’s so that you know what will happen to you if you don’t pay up,” she said.
Timdi said that she had not seen the video clips broadcast by CNN, but that she witnessed the trade in humans while in Libya.
“I saw it with my own eyes,” she said, “the place was surrounded by army-style vehicles with guns ready to fire, so we didn’t dare try and escape.”
Timdi said her family paid 1 million CFA francs ($1,800), frantically collected from relatives and friends, to free her.
Christelle Timdi was delivered of a baby girl just days after she was released by her captors
She however added that ransoms were no guarantee of safety as one can easily fall into the hands of another set of traffickers and get re-sold.
“If they send you a good taxi, you’ll arrive at your destination, but if it’s a bad taxi the driver will sell you on to someone else,” she said.
“There are people who have been resold twice, three times. And when you call your family to tell them that you’ve been resold once again, no one will believe you, they won’t send more money to free you.”
Timdi was released by her captors in October and gave birth to a baby girl, Brittanie, in a Libyan hospital just days later.
GHANIANS, NIGERIANS RUN TRAFFICK CELLS
According to Fotsi, who was trafficked two times, the clandestine trafficking networks in Libya comprised many nationalities.
He said the people in charge of one of the places where he was held at some point were Ghanaians and Nigerians.
Fotsi said he left for Europe last year because he was unable to find work to support his family, but he fell into the hands of a Libyan kidnap ring before reaching Europe.
“There was torture like I’ve never seen. They hit you with wooden bats, with iron bars,” he said, removing the hood of his sweatshirt and showing the still raw red wounds on his skull.
“They hang you from the ceiling by (your) arms and legs and then throw you down to the floor. They swing you and throw you against the wall, over and over again, ten times.
“They are not human beings. They are the devil personified.”
Thousands of African Migrants have been returned to their countries by the IOM as part of a voluntary return scheme for migrants stranded in Libya.
The programme, funded by the European Union, provides the returnees with clothing and medical checks, while the most vulnerable, including pregnant women, also received around 400 euros ($475).
“We need to create opportunities for them here,” said Boubacar Saybou, head of the IOM in Cameroon. “That’s what’s important.”
Winifred Oyo-Ita, Head of Service of the Federation (HoS), on Thursday expressed reservations with Abubakar Mgaji, Permanent Ministry, for referring to her as “that person” during the House of Representatives hearing into the controversial reinstatement of Abdulrasheed Maina into the civil service.
Both public officers, as well as Abubakar Malami, Attorney General of the Federation; Kemi Adeosun, Minister of Finance and Ibrahim Magu, Acting Chairman of the EFCC, were at the National assembly to present their cases in the ongoing Maina recall saga.
While making a point during his presentation, Magaji had referred to the HOS as “that person”, but this did not go down well with Oyo-Ita and she did not hesitate to take exceptions.
“I am amazed at the presentation being made by a senior permanent secretary of the Federal Republic of Nigeria to refer to the Head of Civil Service of the Federation as ‘that person,'” Oyo-Ita said.
“I want to tell Engr Magaji: ‘I am not ‘that person’. I have a name.”
Oyo-Ita also criticised Magaji for issuing Maina a reinstatement letter without her approval even though the reinstatement was approved by the Federal Civil Service Commission (FCSC).
According to Oyo-Ita, since the letter removing Maina from the civil service was endorsed by the Head of Service at the time, “it only stands to reason that the reinstatement letter, which the Federal Civil Service Commission issued to the said Abdulrasheed Maina, would also have been endorsed by the sitting Head of Service”.
“Refusal to take a copy of the endorsed letter to report at the ministry [of interior] and for him to now be given his duties at the interior [was an error],” she added.
Oyo-Ita said she brought this error to the attention of the Permanent Secretary in a letter dated October 26, 2017.
“The Ministry of Interior acted in error to document and deploy Mr A.A Maina by using a copy of the letter addressed to Mr A.A Maina from the Federal Civil Service Commission, which was for information only and not to be acted upon,” she said.
“The original letter … has never been endorsed or released to Mr A.A Maina, and is still in my custody.
“There was no posting instruction for Mr A.A Maina to report to the Ministry of Interior from the office of the Head of Service of the Federation.
“In the Civil Service, if you are employed newly or reinstated, as the case may be, by the FCSC, the officer who is being brought into the service either afresh or on reinstatement has to report to the office of the HOS before he is given his posting to whichever MDA.
“In this instance, Mr Maina was never issued a posting instruction to Ministry of Interior. There are so many issues wrong with the process in which Mr Maina was absorbed back into that Ministry.”
In his reply, Magaji apologised to Oyo-Ita for referring to her as “that person”.
Magaji also accepted responsibility for the letter of reinstatement issued to Maina, saying he was sick when the letter was issued.
“I directed a letter, verbally, to be written to the Head of Service, and the content of that letter, actually I did not know, because I left sick, I was in the hospital seven days after that letter was sent to the Head of Service,” Magaji said.
“Usually, when we direct a letter to be written, we vet the letter, but that time, as I was going I was sick. I couldn’t wait for that letter.
“The Permanent Secretary is the head of administration, I’m here to take responsibility of whatever interior has done wrongly in accordance with the way administrative matter has been taken, to the end of this matter.
“I cannot reject it, I am the Permanent Secretary, Head of Admin. I take responsibility for any administrative wrongdoing that the interior has done, as Permanent Secretary of that ministry.”
Fifty-four babies delivered in Nasarawa State between January and September 2017 have tested positive to the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV), Zakari Umar, Executive Director of Nasarawa State Aids Control Agency (NASACA), has said.
Speaking in Lafia, capital of the state, on Thursday, Umar said out of the 1,194 pregnant women who keyed into the Prevention of Mother-to-Child Transmission (PMTCT) HIV programme in 2017, 54 of them transmitted the virus to their babies.
“Science has proven that it is possible to totally eradicate mother-to-child transmission of HIV if pregnant women adhere to medical advice and take their drugs regularly,” NAN quoted him as saying.
He explained that the cases of transmission from mothers to babies were due to lack of adherence to medical advice and refusal to take prescribed drugs.
“Those women whose babies tested positive must have refused to comply with their drug regimen during pregnancy.”
Umar stressed that the case of mother-to-child transmission of HIV in the state had reduced over the years due to sensitisation and other preventive measures taken by stakeholders.
He said available records from 2016 indicated that 66 babies were born with HIV, noting that reduction in transmission of the disease to babies in 2017 was due to sensitisation and adoption of the PMTCT programme.
He also advised members of the public to avoid acts capable of making them vulnerable to the virus, adding that “the virus is not yet over, hence the need for people to take preventive measures”.
He said Nasarawa State had domesticated the anti-stigmatisation law aimed at protecting those living with the virus.
Umar, therefore, advised those being stigmatised on the account of the disease to always seek redress at the appropriate quarters.
The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) has kicked against the mass sacking of about 5000 local government workers by the Kaduna State government.
Ayuba Wabba, NLC President, described the purported sack as a violation of the provision of all known labour laws and industrial relations practice and processes.
While calling on President Muhammadu Buhari and the leadership of the All Progressives Congress (APC) to call Nasir el-Rufai, Governor of the state to order, he advised him to rescind the action in order to avoid mass action by the congress.
“In the event the government of Kaduna State is obdurate enough not to heed this wise counsel given in good faith, let it consider this statement as a notice that we at the Nigeria Labour Congress will use all the lawful means available to us to contest this wave of mass sack, including mobilising to Kaduna, workers and pensioners from across the nation and our civil society allies in solidarity with workers of Kaduna State,” Wabba said in a statement he issued in Abuja on Thursday.
THE FULL STATEMENT
The purported sack violates the provisions of all known labour laws and industrial relations practice as well as processes.
The reasons adduced by the government are spurious and unfounded.
Aside from this, the process is patently faulty and unlawful.
For instance, redundancy cannot be carried out without following the provisions of the Labour Act.
When the Government of Kaduna State announced to the whole world its plan to lay off about 25,000 teachers for failing a competency test for Primary Four Class, we not only expressed our misgivings, we said the so-called competency test was a subterfuge and part of a premeditated plan to drastically cut down the workforce in furtherance of dangerous neo-liberal policies.
The latest illegal mass sack of workers lends credence to our assertions or fears.
We would want to warn of the consequences of the reckless actions of the government of Kaduna State and will call for caution and restraint on the part of the government.
It is evident that the government has not given sufficient consideration to the social consequences of laying off en masse 5,000 workers.
The Governor boasts that no one, absolutely nothing, could stop him from carrying out his agenda of mass retrenchment of workers.
This is most unfortunate and a direct fulfillment of the exact opposite of his campaign promise and APC’s manifesto to create jobs.
He often says as Governor, he has the right, power, means and will to do as he likes, but this is undemocratic and anti-workers.
We are worried by these emotional outbursts, and their infectious effects on his peers and the polity as a whole.
We at the Nigeria Labour Congress expected more maturity and flexibility.
We accordingly advise the government to rescind its decision on the mass sack. We call on the President and his party, the APC to call him to order.
We also find it necessary to remind the Governor here that Mr President’s support for a reform in the education sector is not synonymous with mindless and conscienceless retrenchment. Some states in the federation have carried out far-reaching reforms in the education sector with impressive results without causing this level of social violence.
Finally, in the event the government of Kaduna State is obdurate enough not to heed this wise counsel given in good faith, let it consider this statement as a notice that we at the Nigeria Labour Congress will use all the lawful means available to us to contest this wave of mass sack including mobilising to Kaduna, workers and pensioners from across the nation and our civil society allies in solidarity with workers of Kaduna State.
Four former commissioners in Kogi State during the governorship tenure of Idris Wada have been arrested and detained by the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) on allegations of misapplication of government funds and abuse of office.
They are Kayode Olowomoran, Commissioner for Culture and Tourism; Abdulrahman Wuya, Commisssioner for Transport; Onama Godwin, Commissioner for Works; and Ali Ajuh, Commissioner for Budget and Planning.
According to a statement issued by Rasheedat Okoduwa, spokesperson of the ICPC, the suspects were arrested after investigations into allegations that they embezzled a loan of N2 billion obtained from the Central Bank of Nigeria under the Small and Medium Enterprises scheme.
The fraud was allegedly carried out “in connivance with the former Governor (Wada), former Accountant-General Ibrahim Idakwo and a former Permanent Secretary in the state Ministry of Commerce, Frank Onoja.”
Investigations by the ICPC revealed that the suspects also took part in the embezzlement of another N8 billion bond that was raised to fund 57 projects across the state.
Large sums of monies released for the projects were allegedly far beyond the levels of work done.
The ICPC further stated that the four suspects also benefited from illegal deductions from funds meant for the 21 local government areas in Kogi State. The total sum that was illegally deducted amounted to about N1.3 billion
The suspects will remain in custody until they fulfill the administrative bail conditions granted them by the Commission, while investigation remains ongoing.
Wada, the former Kogi State Governor, was arrested by the EFCC on November 6 after about N500 million was traced to his account.
The money was said to be part of the N23 billion allegedly disbursed by Diezani Alison-Madueke, former Minister of Petroleum Resources, during the campaigns for the 2015 general election.
He was later released but the EFCC said investigation was ongoing.
Kemi Adeosun, Minister of Finance, says a total of N421.33 million is ready to be paid to various whistle-blowers, including the person whose information led to the recovery of about N13 billion at Osborne Towers in Ikoyi, Lagos.
Adeosun said this after Wednesday’s Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting, presided over by Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo, at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
“The total amount, which also includes Osborne Road, Ikoyi, is N421, 330, 595. This is for the November batch and it is ready for payment,” Adeosun said.
“The only condition necessary is that the money will be paid to the whistle-blower who signed the agreement, not to any company.
“If we get the court judgement, we have to wait for three months to ensure that there are no encumbrances.
“We will also make sure that all applicable taxes are paid ahead. We will get in touch with the state government where the person is domiciled and we will pay the tax directly to the state and issue the tax receipt.
“We built in these procedures to protect the whistle-blower.”
According to the whistle-blower portal of the Ministry of Finance, “A Whistle-blower responsible for providing the Government with information that directly leads to the voluntary return of stolen or concealed public funds or assets may be entitled to anywhere between 2.5%-5.0% of amount recovered.
“In order to qualify for the reward, the Whistleblower must provide the Government with information it does not already have and could not otherwise obtain from any other publicly available source to the Government.
“The actual recovery must also be on account of the information provided by the Whistleblower.”
Forty-seven-year-old Abdullahi Uye Zhiya, a civil servant from Oguma in Bassa Local Government Area of Kogi State, has taken his own life.
This incident occurred barely a month after a top civil servant committed suicide over non-payment of salaries.
Zhiya, a Chief Store Officer at the state Universal Basic Education, Oguma, was said to have ended his own life early this week due to frustrations from non-payment of 12 months’ salaries by the state government.
He was said to have complained bitterly to a friend over his inability to feed his family members.
A close family source told The Sun that due to his economic distress caused by the non-payment of his salaries, four of his children could no longer attend school while the deceased could not afford to buy drugs for his health challenge that had deteriorated.
“He was a hardworking man, his situation became unbearable because those he was indebted to, kept on taunting him and would not accept that he had not been paid. This made life more miserable to him,” the source said.
At the beginning of his predicament, it was gathered, many of his relations were reaching out to him to help in assisting his family members with foodstuffs, but all that were said not to be sufficient, as he resolved in ending his life.
However, some of his relatives indicated that though the deceased was owed 12 months’ salaries, it was not enough for him to end his life abruptly.
“Zhiya may not have taken his life because of his economic challenges; there seemed to be other challenges, which he refused to disclose,” a family source hinted.
“We suspected that what happened has a spiritual undertone. The deceased, at some point, became withdrawn, but even when we asked he was never forthcoming but the frustration of staying for months without salaries contributed a lot,”
He was said to have killed himself by drinking a poisonous liquid substance but he did not leave a suicide note.
Meanwhile, the deceased has since been buried according to Islamic rites.
Civil servants in Kogi State are currently being owed between two and 23 months salary arrears, but Yahaya Bello, the State Governor, claims he has cleared all the arrears and workers are being owed only August and September salaries.
