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6 — SATURDAY Vanguard, NOVEMBER 23, 2019
I won’t seek 3rd term in 2023, Buhari
declares
By Omeiza Ajayi
PRESIDENT Muham
madu Buhari has denied
speculations by critics
that he was working towards
getting a third term of office,
saying he would leave by
2023 in accordance with the
Constitution.
He gave the assurance
Friday in Abuja in his opening
remarks at a meeting of
the National Executive
Council NEC of his ruling
All Progressives Congress
APC at the National Secretariat.
Buhari urged leaders of
the party to work towards
dominating their constituencies
politically, warning that
history will not be fair to
them should the APC collapse
after his tenure in
2023.
According to him, any office
holder of the party “who
fails to maintain the respect of
his constituents and is thrown
out, that is his problem.”
Speaking on whether he
will relinquish power in
2023, Buhari said: “I am not
going to make the mistake
of attempting a third term.
Beside the age, I swore by
the holy book that I would
go by the constitution and
the constitution says two
terms. I know that I am in
my last term and I can afford
to be reckless because I
am not going to ask for anybody’s
vote.
“Every member of NEC
from today should reposition
himself or herself to ensure
that you have dominated
your constituencies politically.
The aim is that history will
not be fair to us if outrightly,
the APC collapses at the end
of this term.
“History will be fair to us if
APC remains strong and
hold the centre and make
gains. I want you to read the
constitution. I made sure that
when the constitution says
the election as we did it the
last time would start in 18
months time or 20 months
time, it was going to be
done.”
Speaking on his presidency’s
relationship with the
National Assembly, Buhari
said: “On the relationship
between the executive and
the legislature, I was constrained
to tell the caucus
meeting yesterday that
there was a time I called the
Senate President and the
leader of the House and told
them that to sit on a budget
for seven months was not
politics and it was not hurting
the president whoever
it was, but the country.
“For that reason I was
pleased to mention yesterday
that members of the ninth
National Assembly, as you
can read in the papers, have
so much commitment on important
issues and we have
made a lot of progress. We
will try and maintain this relationship,
we cannot allow
some of the things go public
but I assure you that we have
made a lot of progress,” the
president said.
Earlier, the party’s national
chairman Comrade Adams
•Worst APC candidate better than PDP’s angels
—Oshiomhole
•President Buhari, (right) Vice President, Prof Yemi Osinbajo, (2nd left);
APC National Chairman, Adams Oshiomhole and others during APC NEC
Meeting at Party Headquarters in Abuja, yesterday.
Oshiomhole, mocked former
Senate President Bukola
Saraki and fourteen other
Senators who left APC in
2018 to the Peoples Democratic
Party PDP, saying they
have all been defeated.
Oshiomhole boasted that
the senator representing
Kogi West, Dino Melaye, will
next weekend, join the other
15 National Assembly
members who rebelled
against the party, noting that
Nigerians punished the
Bukola Saraki-led rebels by
retiring them.
The party chairman however
lamented how in-fighting
and internal wrangling
denied the party re-election
in Bauchi and Adamawa
states, even as he assured
that APC will reclaim its stolen
mandate in Sokoto state.
“Mr President, I have chosen
to amplify where we lost
but we also made some gains
that are quite outstanding.
I am sure it gladdens the
heart of every APC member
and even APC well wishers
that the man who led rebellion
against our party, former
Senate President, that the
people of Kwara state did not
only deny him return to the
Senate, they also voted out
every element in PDP and
today from the governorship
we won, Senators we won
and of course the House of
Representatives and state
House of Assembly.
“I think our victory in
Kwara state for me was most
outstanding. I think we now
generally refer to Kwara with
pride as the Otooge revolution.”
The NEC meeting was
attended by Vice President
Yemi Osinbajo, APC governors
and other party leaders.
Among those who attended
the meeting were:
former interim National
Chairman of APC, Chief Bisi
Akande, Secretary to Government
of the Federation,
Boss Mustapha, Senate
President, Ahmed Lawan,
Deputy Senate President,
Ovie Omo-Agege, Deputy
Speaker, Ahmed Wade, Senate
Leader, Abdullahi Yahaya,
Deputy Senate Leader,
Prof. Ajayi Borrofice, Senate
Chief Whip, Orji Uzor
Kalu and Deputy Senate
Whip, Sabi Abdullahi.
Also in attendance were
governors of Nasarawa, Abdullahi
Sule, Kaduna, Nasir
El-Rufai, Borno, Prof.
Babagana Zulum, Kogi, Yahaya
Bello, Katsina, Aminu
Masari, Edo, Godwin
Obaseki, Ondo, Rotimi Akeredolu,
Osun, Adegboyega
Oyetola, Ekiti, Kayode
Fayemi, Jigawa, Abubakar
Badaru, etc.
Also in attendance were
the suspended Edo State
APC Chairman, Anslem
Ojezua and the suspended
Deputy National Chairman
North, Lawal Shuiabu.
The Speaker, House of
Representatives Femi Gbajabiamila,
governor of Ogun
state Dapo Abiodun were,
however, represented by
their deputies.
Pro, Anti-Oshimhole protesters
clash
Earlier in the day hundreds
of pro and anti-Oshiomhole’s
protesters clashed
at the secretariat.
The anti-Oshiomhole protesters
had arrived Blantyre
Street in the early hours of
Friday, disrupting human
and vehicular movements
leading to the national secretariat
of the party in continuation
of the demonstration
they started on Thursday
morning. The situation
soon degenerated to a free
for all, save for the intervention
of security operatives
who checked the rampaging
youths.
We raked N1.125trn in 10months — CG
*Says Nigeria’s borders remain largely porous
By Henry Umoru
THE
Comptroller
General of Nigeria
Customs Service, NCS,
Col. Hameed Ibrahim Ali,
retd has told the Senate
that the extant laws of the
Service such as the Customs
and Excise Management
Act, CEMA were
outdated.
According to him, the
Act which allows the
movement of goods into
and out of Nigeria by land
or inland waters were
long overdue for review.
He also stressed that the
rules and regulations in
their operational guidelines
no longer meet up
with modern day challenges,
which has reduced
measurably, the
accruing revenue against
the volume of trade.
Disclosing this yesterday
in Abuja when he appeared
before the Senate
Committee on Customs,
Excise and Tariff led by
Senator Francis Alimikhena,
All Progressives Congress,
APC, Edo North to
defend the proposed 2020
Budget Estimates, the
Customs boss said that
the agency raked a total
sum of N1.125trillion in
ten months from January
to October this year.
According to him, the
Service collected the sum
of N207.19 billion as Value
Added Tax( VAT) on
imports for the period under
review, just as he said
that despite the antismuggling
drive of the
Service, Nigeria’s Borders
remain largely porous
which leads to smuggling
activities.
Ali said that the gross expected
revenue collection
with VAT inclusive for
2019 Fiscal year was put
at N1.357 trillion.
He said, “the revenue
target by the Service in
2020 Financial year is set
at N1.679 Trillion, consisting
of N1.500 trillion for
Federation and N178.62
billion for Non- Federation”,
adding that when
compared with the 2019
Revenue Target, the 2020
Revenue Target was higher
by N741.43 billion or
44.17 percent.
Tragedy: Family of three
found dead in their home
By Peter Duru, Makurdi
A
MIDDLE aged man, Greg Indyer, his wife Linda and
son Terpase were Thursday evening found dead in their
residence, opposite NASME road, in the North Bank Area of
Makurdi the Benue state capital.
Saturday Vanguard gathered from residents in the neighbourhood
that a two-year-old member of the family was however
found alive among his dead parents and sibling.
According to a resident who craved anonymity, the deceased
family members were late Thursday night found dead by curios
neighbours when it was discovered that the doors to their
living home were wide opened at late hours and there was no
sign of life in the house.
He said “It was when a neighbour called out the names of
the couple to urge them to shut the door of their home and
there was no response that out of curiosity, he entered and
saw the lifeless bodies of the couple and their three year old
son on the floor.
“However their two-year-old son was found alive in the
house though he was obviously unaware of what happened
to his parents and sibling. At the point neighbours rushed
them to North Bank General Hospital hoping that they would
survive since there was no sign of cut or injury on their bodies
but unfortunately they were all confirmed dead.
“As we speak the matter has been reported to the Police who
visited the house and have been asking questions in order to
find out if they were strangulated or poisoned but we hope
that the hospital autopsy will reveal the cause of their death”,
the witness added.
Meanwhile the Police Public Relations Officer, Deputy Superintendents,
DSP, Catherine Anene who confirmed the incident
said the command had commenced investigation into
the matter.
Appeal Court upholds Tambuwals’
election in Sokoto
By Adakole Auke, Sokoto
THE Court of Appeal sitting in Sokoto on Fri
day upheld the election of Governor Aminu
Waziri Tambuwal of the PDP as the winner of the
2019 general elections.
This followed the dismissal of an appeal filed before
it by the APC and its defeated candidate,
Ahmed Aliyu Sokoto.
The APC had approached the Governorship Election
Petition Tribunal shortly after the election challenging
the declaration by INEC of Governor Aminu
Waziri Tambuwal as elected and returned.
Having looked into the grounds for the challenge,
the Election Petition Tribunal dismissed the petition
filed before it by the APC which led the party
to approach the Court of Appeal.
‘Church greatest opposition to
family planning in Nigeria’
By Vincent Ujumadu
ANAMBRA State coordinator of family planning, Mrs.
Stella Ekweozor has accused the church of posing the
greatest challenge towards achieving the goals of family planning
in the country.
In an interview with Saturday Vanguard in Awka, Ekweozor
said the resultant effect was that many women embark on unsafe
abortion at the risk of their lives.
A non-governmental organization, Marie Stopes Nigeria,
recently observed that contraception and abortion contributed
to high maternal mortality ratio of 451deaths per 100,000 live
births, while unsafe abortion contributed over 30% of maternal
deaths in Nigeria.
At a training programme for journalists, officials of Marie
Stopes Nigeria argued that access to safe, voluntary family
planning was a human right and a key factor in reducing
poverty, adding that having children should be by choice and
not by chance.
The organization also observed that about 214million women
in developing countries, who want to avoid pregnancy,
were not using safe and effective family planning methods, for
reasons ranging from lack of access to information or lack of
support from their partners or communities.
Corroborating the position of Marie Stopes, the Anambra
State family planning coordinator said the position of the church
on the issue was very worrisome.
She said: “We have serious opposition from the church on
family planning matters. Recently we went to a church forum
and once we mentioned family planning, members of the church
flared up.
“Because some denominations were against the artificial
method of family planning, we were always careful with them.
We have a scientific method of family planning which we will
soon roll out in the state, but unfortunately the church was
bringing some people who do not have knowledge of health to
teach the women Billings’s method which is a form of natural
family planning method.
“However, we tell them that they cannot teach family planning
methods with their limited knowledge. We try to prove to
them that it requires health professionals to impart the knowledge,
which can only be found in approved health centres.
“Surprisingly, they became hostile and queried why we should
refer the women to health centres. To, them, the only thing we
should teach the women is the natural way of family planning.