NEWS REEL: SUNDAY MORNING HEADLINES..

FG SET TO BAN MOTORCYCLES (OKADA) NATIONWIDE.

The use of motorcycles as commercial means of transport in Nigeria, popularly known as ‘Okada’ or ‘Achaba’ may soon be banned throughout the country.

The proposal for the ban was made by the National Council on Transport after its annual conference in Enugu State and endorsed by the Minister of Transport, Sen. Idris Umar.

A statement from the Federal Ministry of Transport on Saturday evening stated that the ban of commercial motorcycle was one of the measures proposed towards adequate provision of safety and secure transportation in Nigeria.


It said the recommendation was contained in a statement of the week long meeting which had in attendance all the state commissioners of transport, permanent secretaries, directors and officials in the federal and state ministries of transport across the country.

The council advised all states in the federation to henceforth discourage the use of commercial motorcycles as a means of public transportation.

“All states and the Federal Capital Territory have therefore been advised to establish a public transport system that ensure strict regulation of the operation of public passenger transportation system through a well-articulated management system for enhanced safety, security, effective and efficient service delivery,” the statement said.

It added, “The states are to also develop master plans for the development of intelligent transport system to facilitate the development and management of their transport operations in line with emerging trends and global best practices.”

The statement noted that the council also agreed that all commercial vehicles should be properly registered in each state while their enumeration should be carried out periodically to enhance safety and security.



I AM NOT A RELIGIOUS FANATIC-BUHARI


former Head of State and presidential aspirant of the All Progressives Congress, Gen. Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), has said he is not a religious fundamentalist. He also said he was not opposed to a Muslim-Muslim ticket in the 2015 elections.

In an interview with TheCable, an online news medium, which was published on Saturday, Buhari hinted that his running mate may be a Muslim or a Christian.

He noted that he had chosen Christians as his running mate on several occasions, contrary to the belief that he is a fanatic.

Buhari said, “Nigerians will always uncover impossible room for manoeuvre for politicians. I had to face one of the governors during one of our party’s meetings (over the issue of religion).

“In 2003, I chose Chuba Okadigbo as my running mate. He was a Roman Catholic. He was an Igbo. In 2007, I picked Edwin Ume-Ezeoke. He was a Roman Catholic. He was an Igbo. And in 2010, I chose even a pastor, Pastor Tunde Bakare.

“Honestly, what do Nigerians want me to do? If they don’t believe I’m not a fundamentalist, what else can I do?”

According to the former Head of State, the new phenomenon of religion is another blackmail political confusionists in Nigeria are bringing to the fore.

Buhari stated that religion could not be an issue, if he won the APC ticket and the presidential election due to the background of many political leaders from the south-west.

He noted that the APC chiefs whose wives are Christians include former Governor of Lagos State and National Leader of the APC, Bola Tinubu; Governors of Oyo State, Abiola Ajimobi; Lagos State, Babatunde Fashola; Ogun State, Ibikunle Amosun; and former Governor of Osun State and former APC Interim National Chairman, Bisi Akande.

Buhari likened his situation to that of Moshood Abiola, a southern Muslim, who picked Babagana Kingibe, a northern Muslim, as his running mate in the June 12, 1993 presidential election. He recalled that the Muslim-Muslim ticket went on to win the election that is still considered by many as the most credible in Nigeria’s history.

He further said, “I have not absolutely closed my mind to picking a Christian or Muslim as running mate if I get the ticket. I firmly believe that Nigerians, having gone through what they have gone through, realise it is not a matter of religion, but a matter of Nigeria.

“And the main religions, Christianity and Islam, they know and they believe in the Almighty God. The question of stealing and short-changing people in the name of religion should stop,” he said.

“For goodness sake, the children of these political leaders were bred and brought up by Christian mothers. You think those people, wherever they participate, they will bring a religious issue? What kind of people are we?

“Nigerians will always bring something to cause confusion while we are trying to stabilise the system.”

 
DEFECTION- TAMBUWAL LOBBIES REP AGAINST IMPEACHMENT.

The Speaker of the House of Representatives, Mr. Aminu Tambuwal, is making moves to ensure members of the House of Representatives will not impeach him when he finally defects from the Peoples Democratic Party to the All Progressives Congress.

There had been speculations that Tambuwal might defect from the PDP, on which platform he was elected to the House, to the APC.

On Monday, the Speaker attended a meeting of APC members convened by the Sokoto State Governor, Aliyu Wamakko, to discuss the political future of the state.

Tambuwal, however, said he was still consulting and would brief Nigerians very soon on his final decision.

The Office of the Speaker had claimed that a reconciliatory mission of the Board of Trustees of the PDP to Sokoto on Monday did not invite Tambuwal to a meeting of the PDP stakeholders in the state.

The BoT members were said to have been led by the Chairman, Chief Tony Anenih.

A statement by Tambuwal’s Special Adviser on Media, Mr. Imam Imam, stated that the Speaker obliged the invitation by attending the Wamakko meeting.

Tambuwal’s romance with the opposition is said to be puzzling to the Presidency, the representatives and leadership of the PDP.

Findings showed that Tambuwal, who is in the last lap of his consultations on the issue, might likely defect on Thursday this week.

The House too is set to adjourn plenary on Thursday to allow members prepare for the primaries of their various political parties.

SUNDAY PUNCH gathered that the Speaker had been talking some members into supporting his defection for “stabilising the House since June 2011.”

Leadership stability is said to be his lobbying thrust to retain the speakership after the speculated defection.

Insiders said he used his loyalists across party lines to preach the need to sustain the seeming unity in the House till May 2015.

“Meetings are going on; a lot of members are being spoken to. It is to prepare the ground for the Speaker’s final move, which should happen any moment from now”, one source told SUNDAY PUNCH.

Investigations revealed the targets of the intensified lobbying were PDP members of the House, who could move against Tambuwal should he defect to APC.

As things stand, the PDP has regained full control of the House with about 206 members, while the APC controls about 151 lawmakers.

Accord Party has two members, while Labour Party has one.

“The Speaker’s game plan is to ensure that he will escape removal from his seat should there be a plot by the PDP to impeach him.

Consensus Candidate: APC may dump Atiku for Buhari


the All Progressives Congress, APC is set to adopt former Head of State, Gen. Mohammed Buhari (retd) as its consensus candidate for the 2015 presidential election.
Saturday Vanguard’s investigation, yesterday, revealed that the issue featured prominently at the October 17, 2014 National Executive Committee, NEC meeting of the party.
It was gathered that the party’s national leader and former governor of Lagos State, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, in the course of the meeting, openly declared his support for Buhari as against the expectation of former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, another presidential aspirant who was present at the meeting.
A source at the national secretariat of the APC said Tinubu’s open support for Buhari was hinged on the popularity of the former military ruler.According to him, Tinubu was bitter that his earlier advice to aspirants from the North to agree among themselves for a consensus candidate was not heeded
To that end, he chose to queue behind Buhari’s candidature.
The source added that Tinubu, who was excited by Buhari’s 12 million votes in 2011 presidential elections has decided to bankroll Buhari’s campaign to any length it will take to win the votes of the majority of Nigerians.
He stated that the party believes it is only Buhari that can give President Goodluck Jonathan of the ruling Peoples democratic Party (PDP) a good run for his money.
He also stated that most national leaders of the party who are loyal to Tinubu do not  welcome the idea of primary election to choose their presidential candidate.
“Tinubu said it openly that day that he would support Buhari. He told everyone who was present,” the added.
To pave way for Buhari, the party may not conduct primaries as Atiku is said to have the structure to win delegate election.
Mini-convention
So, the APC has  scheduled to hold a mini convention on next Wednesday to enable it amend some portions of its constitution that are incongruous  with the electoral act on political parties primaries should a party decide not to conduct such.
It will be recalled that  Lai Mohammed, APC’s national publicity secretary told Journalists at the end of the NEC meeting that the party was going to hold a mini-convention.
“Principally,  we proposed certain amendments to the constitution of the party that will allow the party to function much more efficiently and to that extent we will hold what I call an extraordinary convention of the party on the 29th of this month in Abuja to submit the proposals for the amendment to the national convention of the party,” he said.
Speaking further on the modalities for the primary election, Mohammed said:  “It is part of the reason  we need to amend our constitution because the Electoral Act  as amended says that one can conduct a primary but if you are going to, then one must be explicit on how you are going to conduct it and that is why we need to amend our constitution.”
Obviously, the development would limit of the chances of other presidential aspirants which included Governors Rochas Okorocha of Imo State and Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso of Kano State and former chairman of Leadership newspaper, Mr. Sam Nda-Isaiah.
But another source at the secretariat hinted that some of them might consider dropping their ambition since the leader of the party has shown support for Buhari.
- See more at: http://www.vanguardngr.com

Boko Haram sponsorship: No secret trial for Ndume – Court 




The Abuja Division of the Federal High Court, yesterday, refused an application for the trial of Senator Mohammed Ali Ndume who is accused of sponsoring the Boko Haram sect, to be conducted in secret. - The application was filed by the office of the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Mohammed Bello Adoke, SAN.
The Federal Government had alleged that Ndume who is currently representing Borno South Federal Constituency in the Senate, was the one that hitherto furnished the sect with information that aided their terrorist operations in Nigeria.
He was among other things alleged to have furnished them with the telephone numbers of top government officials and Judges, among which included the phone number of the AGF himself.
The sect was said to have called some of those whose numbers were given to them and threatened to visit them with ‘fire and brimstone’.
The government had earlier tendered a proof of evidence that indicated that Ndume who is answering to a 4-count criminal charge, made contacts with the Boko Haram sect 73 times.
Though some call logs and three digital video discs (DVDs), containing call-data records, as well as documents containing findings based on investigations carried out by a Special Investigation Panel (SIP) set up by the Department of State Security, DSS, were previously admitted into evidence by the trial court, it was subsequently expunged from the trial record on the order of the Appeal Court  in Abuja.
Meantime, following the decision of the Federal Government to produce two more witnesses to testify against the accused lawmaker, it urged the court to order a closed-door hearing on the matter.

- See more at: http://www.vanguardngr.com

PATIENCE JONATHAN ANGRY WITH ME BECAUSE I REFUSED TO SHARE RIVERS MONEY WITH HER--AMAECHI


The Rivers State Governor, Chibuike Amaechi, has provided rare details of what he said was the actual reason behind his long-drawn row with First Lady, Patience Jonathan, saying Mrs. Jonathan had asked that state funds be corruptly shared with her.
Speaking Saturday, Mr. Amaechi said Mrs. Jonathan, an indigene of the state, became angry with him after he turned down the dubious demand.
The governor spoke in Port Harcourt at the joint graduation of the students of University of Ibadan and pioneer graduates of Ignatius Ajuru University of Education.
Recounting his role in stopping militancy in the state, the governor said the First Lady deliberately ensured militants, who had fled the state to Lagos, Ghana and Cote d’Ivoire, returned to fight him.
“I refused to give them money in Abuja because if I do that, I won’t be able to carry out any development project or finish the road from Rumuolumeni to Rumuepirikom.
“The quarrel between me and the wife of the President is because she said I should bring your money, Rivers people money and share with her,” he explained.
Mr. Amaechi called on the people of the state as well as members of the All Progressives Congress, APC, to ensure the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, does not manipulate and rig the 2015 general elections.
Mr. Amaechi said if the PDP was allowed to rig the election and President Goodluck Jonathan, a member of the party, was voted back into office in 2015, poverty and underdevelopment would ruin the state.
“Now that you are graduates, you are now eligible voters that can use your voters’ card to change society,” he said.
“Ask yourselves this question that I have always asked Rivers people. What have we (Rivers people) done to President Jonathan that he has refused to bring any project to Rivers State. We had to fight them before they could do the East-West road.
“I had to abuse the federal government and they abused me back before they could do the work you now see on that road,” he said.
The governor alleged that Mr. Jonathan, who is from the South-South zone to which Rivers State belongs, had taken the state’s oil well from Soku to his (Jonathan) home state, Bayelsa State.
He also said 41 oil wells in Etche Local Council of the state was given to Abia State.
He asked, “Is the President or his wife from Abia State? Why do they want us to suffer? If President Jonathan comes back to power in 2015, Rivers State economy will crash.”
Mr. Amaechi lamented the consistent shortfall in oil revenue and the negative impact it had created to frustrate innocent Nigerians and urged the graduates to question the inconsistencies of the federal government in revenue sharing between it and the states.
“Graduates like you have the opportunity to ask the federal government to explain what they are doing with our money,” Mr. Amaechi advised.
“Since September this year, the federal government has not been able to pay any state from the federal allocation. They said they don’t have money. This is the first time that our president is emerging as the 6th richest person in Africa.”
He tasked the graduates to register as eligible voters ahead of the general elections.
Mr. Amaechi also blamed the failure of the Rumuolumeni Road construction project on the immediate past minister of state for education, Nyesom Wike, whom he described as incompetent.
He said the state government awarded N1.5 billion for the construction of internal roads in Rumulumeni and had already given the indigenous contractor, who is also from the area, N700 million.
“We said Rivers money for Rivers people because they don’t have capital. This man took the contract and gave it to a man who now wants to be governor.
“This man that is being backed by Mrs. Jonathan gave N250 million to the indigenous contractor and disappeared with N450 million without constructing the road. And this is the man who wants to be governor, with billboards screaming the concept of ‘New Vision’.
“What kind of vision is that for a thief? They have been thieves for too long so it cannot be new vision. The only thing that is new is that he has industrialized stealing. The former minister of state for education in a radio interview said, he ‘shedded tears’. Everyone knows there’s no word like that.”
Mrs. Jonathan’s media assistant, Ayo Adewuyi, could not be reached to respond to Mrs. Jonathan’s allegations. His mobile telephone is switched off the several times PREMIUM TIMES called...


Fayose swears in Judge who headed his impeachment panel


Ekiti State Gover-nor, Mr Ayo Fayose yesterday stunned the people of the state when he swore in as a judge of the state the man who in 2006 headed his impeachment panel.
Fayose equally announced the promotion of an official of the state Ministry of Justice,Mr Lawrence Ojo who signed his warrant of arrest papers at Ikoyi Prisons during his murder case to position of Acting Permanent Secretary in the Ministry.Speaking during the official swearing in ceremony of Justice Bamidele Omotoso, the governor said he went against some of his supporters who felt he should take his pound of flesh.
Omotoso,an Ado Ekiti based legal practitioner, was cleared by the National Judicial Council (NJC) to be made a judge in the state but was refused to be sworn in by the regime of Dr. Kayode Fayemi led government.
Fayose said the inauguration of Omotosho as a judge after two years of being cleared for the post by the National Judicial Council, was a demonstration of a forgiving spirit.
“Few days after my inauguration, some people came to me and reminded me of the role played by Omotoso during my impeachment saga. They said I should not swear  him in as a  judge of the state High Court
“I am not here to revenge,vengeance belongs to God.
“If you want to report anybody to me bring the person here,otherwise I will invite the two of you.”
At the ceremony which was attended by the state Chief Judge,Justice Ayodeji Daramola and the Speaker of the state House of Assembly,Fayose stretched hands of friendship to the legislator and judiciary.
“I plead with the other two arms of government that  Ekiti should come first. You may not like my face and I may not like yours, but Ekiti should be number one.”
“I am ready to work with the Assembly. I am a man of uncommon history, coming back to office after eight years is divine. I have a stern warning from God, do not avenge.
There is nothing personal I have against the judiciary.
People would want to be where you are and life is about struggles. We need more judges and we will help in making them comfortable in the discharge of their duties.
There is need for fair hearing. I want the other arms of government to give my administration a fair hearing and the chance to perform,” he said.
Omotosho, in his remarks, promised to abide by his oath of office and thanked the governor for the appointment.
- See more at: http://www.vanguardngr.com

NFF CRISIS- GIWA BRINGS BACK OUSTED KESHI.




The Chris Giwa-led faction of the Nigeria Football Federation has overturned the decision of the body earlier taken by the opposing faction of Amaju Pinnick to reinstate Stephen Keshi as the Super Eagles coach.

The Amaju-led faction replaced Keshi with Amodu Shaibu a fortnight ago after leading the Super Eagles to a 3-1 victory over Sudan in Abuja. The win was the team’s first in four matches in the qualifying series for the 2015 Africa Cup of Nations.

The Giwa faction took over the NFF following Thursday’s ruling by a Jos Federal High Court, which ordered the return of the status quo in the NFF before the September 30 election that brought in the Amaju-led board in Warri.

A part of the communique released on Friday by the Giwa-led board reads, “The NFF board reviewed and feels so strongly to sustain the out-of-contract assignment given to the technical crew of the Super Eagles led by Stephen Keshi at a very critical moment like this. Nigerians want the national team to play well, win and a pride to them.”

The board also dissolved all committees set up by the Amaju group and constituted new ones to manage the nation’s football.

Giwa told Sunday PUNCH on the telephone on Saturday that he would have no problem bringing Keshi back to manage the Super Eagles despite the coach saying he was prepared to move on after the NFF failed to renew his contract.

“I don’t have problem bringing Keshi back; he has not told me he was not interested. I’ve spoken with him and there are positive signs he is ready to lead the team to success,” Giwa said.

“I’ve never met Keshi before but I cannot agree with the idea of replacing the coach at a time we have crucial matches to play and qualify for the Nations Cup.

“Inasmuch as I don’t have anything against Amodu, I don’t think it is the right time to bring him on board. Amodu has not coached any team in that capacity for a long time, and this is a crucial time when we need to be on top of everything.”

The Amaju group, however, said it was not losing sleep over the activities of the Giwa faction.

The group confirmed on Saturday it has filed a Stay of Execution at the Federal High Court, Jos Judicial Division over the court’s ruling of Thursday.

The hearing of the case Stay of Execution comes up on Wednesday.

“We’re not losing sleep over this, we’ll get what we want from the court because we’ve not done anything wrong by conducting the NFF elections,” a member of the Amaju-led board said.

Punchng.com