18042021 - Ex-Gov Aliyu Lied, not all northern govs worked against Jonathan in 2015

Buhari's Nigeria
By all indices,Nigeria is on
fire. Nigeria today
seems to be a long way from
where President Buhari met it.
It is a poorer, sadder, more
insecure, and more torn-apart
country today. Looking at
Nigeria now, the picture is of
a truly terminally ill behemoth
reeling from the many
historical abuses to which she
has been subjected.
Nigeria is like the subject in
that hymn that says: “he that
is down needs fear no fall/ he
that is low no pride…” Nigeria
is on the ground, prostrate and
clearly helpless. There is no
pride left in this once proud
“giant of Africa” that has now
turned into Africa’s giant shit.
Nigeria is broke; Nigeria is a
neo-colonial foot-mat;
Nigeria is being shaped as a
province of the new Ottoman
Empire; and Nigeria is
insecure. Nigerians who sit on
the fence watching this
happen are complicit in its
destruction, and they must
own it.
One of the facts Nigerians
now must own up to is the
mistake in “electing” the
curent government, or in
succumbing to the blackmail
that brought them to power in
2015.This has set the very
stage for what is looking
increasingly to be the end of
this federation if nothing
happens fast to check this.
There has never been any
other time in the history of
Nigeria when every part of
Nigeria is up in arms; in active
rebellion against the Federal
Government. There is mass
discontent of the kind never
seen before. This current
government lacks clear
direction.In spite of a massive
machinery of lies that
continue to insult Nigerians
built by this regime, Nigeria
continues to regress and bleed.
This is the only administration
that has invested in an
extraordinary office
dedicated to online or digital
disinformation headed by a
young Nigerian that once had
great promise, Tolu Ogunlesi.
These guys sell a dud; or what
folks out in Florida call
“lemons.” And they sell it
hard. They too will in the
fullness of time account to
Nigerians for their complicity
in prodding up a fascist
regime whose clear doctrinal
intention was never the
elevation of Nigeria as a
nation, but the categorical
dismantling of the balance of
reason that undergird the
historical superstructure of
Nigeria as a modern,
multiethnic nation. This is a
regime headed by a Fulani
nationalist who is nepostic in
his appointments. He does not
pretend, nor does he care
about what the rest of Nigeria
thinks or feels in filling the
entire structure of his
administration with his
kinsfolk. For the first time in
Nigeria, under Buhari, where
you come from now
determines what position you
occupy in the federal
government. Two examples
will just suffice here: when it
came to appointing the DSS
in 2018, Buhari side-stepped
Mr. Matthew Seiyifa, and
many other senior operatives
ahead of him and appointed
Yusuf Magachi Bichi. Last
week, he continued the pattern
by appointing DIG Usman
Alkali as Nigeria’s new
Inspector-General of Police,
once again side-stepping
many fine officers senior to
him in the force. These are
only two examples, but it is a
pattern which Buhari has now
established. The politicization
of these career positions by
Buhari has not only damaged
the confidence in the work of
Nigeria’s security services, it
has introduced something
more egregious than the
quota system that destroyed
merit as the basis of
consideration in selections to
the higher services. More than
once, his own publicists have
said that the President is not
guided by whatever Nigerians
think in making his strategic
decisions. So, who does he
work for? If he does not care
what huge sections of
Nigerians think, why is he
president? Yes, the president
has the power to make
appointments. But that power
is not absolute. It is power
Domestic accident: Former Edo Commissioner
seeks N9.5m lifeline
By Ozioruva Aliu
A
former Commissioner
for Arts, Culture and
Tourism and former Youth
Leader of the Peoples
Democratic Party (PDP) in
Edo State, Hon. Vincent
Akhere, has appealed to the
public and governments to
assist him raise N9.5m
needed for his medical
treatment .
Akhere, who was also a
former transition chairman of
Esan North East Local
Government Area of the state,
said he had a domestic
accident last year that led to
the collapse of his hips and
that he needed a Total
Bilateral Hip Replacement
Surgery (TBHRS) to be able
to walk again.
He explained that the
initial hip replacement
There has never been
any other time in the
history of Nigeria when
every part of Nigeria is
up in arms; in active
rebellion against the
Federal Government
normally mediated by
legislative oversight. But that
branch too has failed
Nigerians.If Nigeria’s
National Assembly were up to
its constitutional task, it
should have investigated this
president for sundry acts
allegedly inimical to the wellbeing
of the federation of
Nigeria. This president has
shown himself more
concerned with the welfare of
Niger republic than Nigeria,
the nation that gave him
everything. Only recently he
authorized, although he has
no such constitutional right,
the naming of a major road
for the President of Niger
Republic in Nigeria’s federal
capital, Abuja. No Nigerian
has any idea what the
president of Niger has done
for Nigeria. What he means
to Nigerians. His relevance to
the history of Nigeria to
warrant such an honour.
Nigeria’s federal capital has
no streets that bear the name
of Mazi Mbonu Ojike, one of
Nigeria’s foremost
nationalist figures, who
actually fought the British and
campaigned for Nigeria’s
independence, at a time when
the north were collaborators
By Henry Ojelu
The
National
Engineering and
Technical Company,
NETCO, a subsidiary of
Nigerian National Petroleum
Corporation, NNPC says it is
exploring business
opportunities in Equatorial
Guinea to boost its revenue
generation capacity in line
with the GMD, Mallam Mele
Kyari’s vision to make
NETCO the hub of
Engineering, Procurement
and Construction in the West
African sub-region and major
revenue earner.
Mr Usman Baba,
Managing Director, NETCO,
made the disclosure during an
oversight visit of the House of
Representatives Committee
on Petroleum Resources
(Upstream) to the company
in Lagos.
Usman revealed that
NETCO was established in
December 1988 to provide an
Edo North: Anamero Foundation empowers 5,000 farmers
In an effort at promoting
agricultural practises and
also encourage farmers in the
country, the Anamero Idofe
Anamero Foundation
organised a three-day
empowerment programme
tagged, ‘Food Security: A
Panacea for Socio- Economic
Development’, aimed at
adding value to farmers in
Edo North.
The event had in
attendance a total of 5, 000
farmers from the six local
government areas that make
up the senatorial district, who
were trained by seasoned
agriculturists on critical topics
which includes cocoa
farming value chain, rice
farming, agricultural
cooperative societies, cashew
production and farm produce
marketing.
In his welcome address, the
convener and founder/
carried out failed and that his
doctor in Abuja said his two
hips have to be replaced.
Narrating his ordeal to
Sunday Vanguard, Akhere, a
lawyer, who is now a shadow
self, said his situation has been
pathetic since March last year,
when he had the accident. He
appealed to well-meaning
Nigerians to support him
raise the N9.5m which, he
said, he can not afford as he is
on wheel chair battling
excruciating pains, all day.
“I am now on wheel chair, I
hardly go out, where am I
going? Whatever I want to do,
my children carry me. If I want
to sleep in the night, they will
carry me on the bed. It has not
been easy, only God knows
how I have been surviving, he
said. Anyone touched by
Akhere’s story and wishes to
donate to help his cause can
Chairman of Anamero Idofe
Anamero foundation, Mr.
Sunday Dekeri Anamero, said
the training became
imperative in view of the
economic contributions of
farmers to nation building.
According to him, farmers
are critical to the survival of
the populace given their
enormous contributions to
Nigeria’s food security
architecture.
Speaking further, Anamero
stressed on the need to assist
local farmers to grow beyond
the level of subsistence
farming, adding that the
foundation would continue to
assist them to improve their
farming business, as well as
enhancing the agricultural
value chain for the gain of all.
He noted that the task of
food security and
commercialization is
important to the collective
do so through his account
details:: Vincent Akhere,
Zenith Bank account
Number 1001844393.
• Hon. Akhere
survival of the nation, while
saluting the courage and
commitment of the farmers at
producing food and other
crops for the sustenance of the
country.
Going down memory lane
on how he started as a young
farmer in the 90s, Anamero
explained how his
commitment to agriculture
contributed to where he is
today. He therefore urged
farmers in the senatorial
district to rise above their
present level of subsistence
farming.
Convener and founder, Anamero Idofe Anamero
Foundation, Mr. Dekeri Anamero (right), presenting an award
to a facilitator at the 3-day agricultural summit.
SUNDAY VANGUARD, APRIL 18, 2021, PAGE 19
with the colonizers, rejecting
independence for Nigeria.
There is no street that bears
the name of Nigeria’s leading
modernist artist of the 20 th
century, Ben Enwonwu, or her
leading Mathematician of the
20 th century Chike Obi, or
icons of the women’s fight for
freedom like Margaret Ekpo,
Funmilayo Ransome Kuti or
her son Fela, or even the
inimitable Israel Ransome-
Kuti. This is a federal capital
of Nigeria that does not bear
a street named for Kola
Balogun, or Olu Akinfosile, or
Fred Anyiam, or Fred
McEwen, or Ladipo
Solanke,or Raji Abdallah, or
H.O. Davies, or MCK
Ajuluchukwu, or Smart Ebi,
or Mokugo Okoye, or Pius
Okigbo or Aboyade or
Abdulaziz Attah; or Adegoke
Adelabu; or Stanley Wey or
Sir Louis Ojukwu (never
mind his son Chukwuemeka
who also deserves all the
honours available to truly
great Nigerians) – so many,
many more who actually
meant something in the
history of modern Nigeria.
But the president of
Niger?On what account?
What strategic significance
does he radiate for Nigeria?
Granted, there are many
hidden facts that inform the
diplomatic actions of a
country intent on acquiring or
securing leverage, but what is
Niger republic’s strategic
importance to Nigeria? It is
quite ironic because this
former General of the
Nigerian Army campaigned
from 2003 to 2015 to be made
President of Nigeria. That is a
record eleven years and four
presidential campaign cycles.
Many Nigerians were swayed
by his zeal, and by what some
began to see as his passion for
Nigeria. That zeal and
passion clearly turned with his
election in 2015 into the
horror! The horror we see
today in Nigeria. Today,
Buhari makes General
Ibrahim Badamasi
Babangida and General
Olusegum Obasanjo look
beautiful and radiant. That’s
something. The Obasanjo
years for instance, were not
altogether trouble-free years.
There were troubles in
Southern Nigeria. The oil
producing regions in the
Niger Delta were up in arms
on the matter of the inequities
in the distribution of oil
wealth. Kidnappings were rife.
Obasanjo had sent soldiers
into Odi who killed a high
number of civilians, just
during Babangida regime
soldiers were sent to kill
civilians in Umuechem.
Aside from the massacres at
Zaki Biam in Benue State and
Odi, in Rivers State, there were
political assassinations –
Harry Marshall, A.K. Dikibo,
Uche Orji the ANPP
Senatorial contender in Orlu,
Layi Balogun, Professor
Chimere Ikoku, former V.C.
of the University of Nigeria,
the publisher of Fourth
Dimension Books, Victor
Nwankwo, Mr. Funso
Williams, the PDP
Gubernatorial candidate in
Lagos, and of course, Nigeria’s
Attorney-General, Bola Ige –
under Obasanjo; murders
which remain unsolved and
are still open cases to date.
But in none of these instances
was Nigeria under any threat
of political implosion as it is
today.
NETCO targets business
opportunities in Equatorial Guinea
efficient and reliable
engineering base for the
NNPC Group and the
Nigerian oil and gas industry.
According to him, NETCO
has been involved in some key
projects in the Oil & Gas sector
in the last five years
including the Nigerian
Liquefied Natural Gas Train
7 project, refineries
rehabilitation project and the
Ajaokuta-Kaduna-Kano Gas
pipeline project which are
ongoing.
Baby Efana-Okon emerges Cussons
Baby of the year…Wins N2m
By Juliet Umeh
It was yet another
successful finale of the 7th
season of the PZ Cussons as
Ms Naomi Essienawan
Efana-Okon won the Cussons
Baby of the year with a N2
million consolation prize.
Efana-Okon who beat about
9000 other entrants to the
biggest prize is also entitled
to a year supply of Cussons
Baby products.
Baby Ojelade Daphne also
emerged as the first runner up,
winning N1 million and 6
months’ supply of Cussons
Baby products while the
second Runner up, Aliu
Ayomide got N500, 000 and
6 months supply of Cussons
Baby products.
The Top 7 finalists were not
left out as the 4th-7th position
walked away with N100, 000
and 3 months’ supply of
Cussons Baby products each,
while others got one month
supply of Cussons Baby
products.
Reacting to her wins, the
parents of Baby Efana-Okon,
who were full of praises for the
organisers of the competition
said: “When we started this
journey we didn’t imagine this
end, but here we are, God bless
Cussons Baby and PZ Cussons
for such a competition and
thanks to all those who voted
and brought our baby this far,
God will reward you all.”
L-R: Joyce Coker, Human Resources and Admin Director,
Africa, PZ Cussons; Family of the winner of the 7th edition of
the Cussons Baby Moments competition, Peace
Nwachukwu, Binta Nwachukwu, Baby Naomi Essienawan,
Ebere Obi and Daniel Gyefour, Head of Marketing, PZ
Cussons at the Grand finale of Cussons Baby Moments 7
held at Lagos.