May 29: Preparation In Top Gear At Eagle Square For Tinubu Swearing In

 Tinubu Shettima Swearing In: Eagle Square Facelift on Course!

Preparations are in top gear at the iconic Eagles Square, Abuja, Nigeria, the venue of the May 29th Presidential inauguration ceremony. 

Serious facelift and enhancement works are currently being undertaken by Julius Berger Construction firm on the facility. The firm has promised to complete the ongoing project within the allotted time. 

Members of the Tinubu Shettima Presidential Campaign Council (PCC) led by the Director, Diaspora Directorate, Prince Ade Omole went on another inspection tour of the facility to confirm the progress of work and its readiness ahead of the important inauguration ceremony. 

Joining the delegation were Dr Wole Aboderin; Rt. Hon Ahmed Mohammed; Comrade Hafiz Yaaw and others. 

Prince Omole assured the press of the readiness of the venue and other plans to ensure the historic ceremony will be the best ever held at the venue. Visiting heads of state, business leaders and Nigerians from across the world are expected to grace the occasion.

MURIC To Obi: Confirm Or Deny ‘yes Daddy’ Leaked Audio For Fair Hearing

 The Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC) has asked Peter Obi, presidential candidate of the Labour Party (LP) and David Oyedepo, founder of the Living Faith Church Worldwide, to confirm or deny the authenticity of the viral leaked audio allegedly involving the duo.

In the audio clip, a voice similar to that of Obi can be heard asking Oyedepo to speak to the Christians in the south-west and Kwara to vote for him in the presidential poll, describing the election as a “religious war”.

So far, there have been conflicting statements regarding the authenticity of the tape from the LP.
The LP campaign council said the audio was a deep fake and accused the All Progressives Congress (APC) of trying to demarket Obi.

The council said it was a plot to create a credibility problem for its candidate and had no other purpose than mischief. Valentine Obienyem, Obi’s media aide, also said the leaked audio of his principal’s conversation with Oyedepo was edited out of context. Kenneth Okonkwo, a spokesperson of the LP campaign, however, said the clip was authentic.

Okonkwo said “political criminals are trying to spin the conversation as if the LP candidate was making a religious comment” instead of seeing that “Obi was simply urging the Bishop to help him push this message of equal stake of all Nigerians in the Nigerian project to his people and the Christendom because the politicians of the other party are carrying on this campaign as if it is a religious war”.


While Obi is yet to address the controversy, Oyedepo said he has never and will not campaign for any political candidate.The cleric neither confirmed nor denied that the conversation took place.

“CONFIRM OR DENY IN THREE DAYS”

In a statement issued on Wednesday, Ishaq Akintola, MURIC executive director, asked the duo to speak up on the authenticity of the viral clip now dubbed “Yes Daddy”. Akintola said the call was made so as to give the duo a fair hearing before interrogating the content of the audio.

“The leaked audio tape of a conversation between the presidential candidate of the Labour Party (LP), Peter Obi and the founder of the Living Faith Church Worldwide, Bishop David Oyedepo, has gone viral,” the statement reads.

“In the leaked telephone conversation which occurred on the eve of the February 25, 2023, presidential election, Peter Obi was heard saying, ‘Yes Daddy’ to every remark made by the bishop. The LP presidential candidate called the election a ‘religious war’ to which the bishop replied ‘I believe that’. Peter Obi also told the bishop, ‘Like I keep saying if this works, you people will never regret the support.’

“MURIC urges the duo of LP presidential candidate, Peter Obi and the founder of the Living Faith Church Worldwide, Bishop David Oyedepo, to confirm or deny the authenticity of the leaked audio tape within three days.

“#SpeakUpPeterObiOyedepo #AdmitOrDenyIn3Days.”

DHQ: Interim Government Unconstitutional — We Stand With The Presidency

 The Defence Headquarters (DHQ) says the calls for interim government are unconstitutional.

Musa Danmadami, director, defence media operations, spoke on Thursday in Abuja at the bi-weekly briefing on military operations across the country.

He said those calling for an interim government are trying to be mischievous, adding that the constitution does not provide for such a situation.

“On the issue of interim government, it is rather unfortunate. An election has been conducted and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) that is mandated has announced a president-elect,” he said.

“It is not our responsibility to speak on that issue but I know that several calls have been made from the presidency that there is nothing like interim national government.

“So I think people were just trying to be mischievous. It is unconstitutional and all of us know that.

“The constitution does not provide for an interim national government and that is the point the presidency has been hammering on and that is our stand.

“It is unconstitutional so anything unconstitutional as far as I am concerned is not applicable.”

Danmadami said the military is ready to provide support in two states where elections were declared inconclusive.

He said the military is still working around the clock to make sure there is peace and security in the country.

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has fixed April 15 for the conduct of supplementary elections in Kebbi and Adamawa states.

LP Suspends Ex-chair Salako, Salvador, 4 Others In Lagos Over Anti-party

The Labour Party (LP) in Lagos State has indefinitely suspended six of its chieftains, including the immediate past chairman, Mr Kayode Salako, over alleged anti-party and disparaging activities in the just-concluded elections.

The LP Secretary in the state, Mr Sam Okpala disclosed this at a news conference on Thursday at the party’s secretariat in Ikeja, Lagos.

Okpala listed the suspended leaders to include: Mr Moshood Salvador (LP Senatorial Candidate, Lagos West), Mr Mutiu Okunola (House of Ikeja Rep. Candidate), and Messrs Theodore Ezeunara, Mr Olumide Adesoyin and Opeyemi Taiwo.

He said the suspension followed the party’s reception and ratification of the report of the Disciplinary Committee set up to investigate the acts of anti-party activities levelled against the leaders.

Explaining that the decision was taken at the State Working Committee meeting held on March 31, Okpala said the affected leaders had been found culpable of acts inimical to the progress of the LP.

He said: “Labour Party in Lagos state discovered a lot of anti-party activities committed by people who claimed to be members of the party in Lagos state.
“Our post-mortem of what really transpired and happened during the general elections revealed that a lot of people who called themselves members of the party were indeed working for the opposition.

“With that information, the LP in Lagos state set up a disciplinary committee headed by one of the deputy chairmen of the party to look into these allegations.

“As an obedient party that adheres to the rule of law, the committee gave everyone involved a fair hearing and opportunity to defend themselves and clear their names.

“At the end of the exercise, the report was tendered before the LP state working committee and at the meeting held on March 31, the report of the disciplinary committee was accepted and ratified for implementation.”

He said that out of the seven chieftains, involved, one Mr Sunbo Onitiri, said he had resigned his membership of the LP.

“In obedience to the relevant sections of our constitution, the party took the decision to suspend them from being members of the party with immediate effect.

“The essence is to serve as deterrent to others who may want to toe that inglorious path again,” he added.

Okpala said the party could not accept having enemies within its fold.

 

Miles Routledge 'Lord Miles' Captured By Taliban

 A British Youtuber and self-styled “danger tourist” is among three British men being held by the Taliban’s feared counter-intelligence unit in Kabul, it has emerged.

Miles Routledge, a 21-year-old from Birmingham who goes by ‘Lord Miles’, has over 140,000 followers on Twitter, where he brands himself as a person who will “go to the most dangerous places on Earth for fun.”

Two other Britons, charity medic Kevin Cornwell, 53, and a second unnamed man who manages a hotel in Kabul, are believed to have been held by Taliban secret police since January following a separate incident.

Mr Routledge was arrested on March 2, along with two Polish nationals named as Adrian Wojcik, 22, and Roman Bilski, 24, and is being held for further questioning, a senior European diplomatic source told The Telegraph.

A Taliban security officer confirmed the arrest of multiple foreigners last week to the Telegraph. 

The official added that the group were found partaking in “suspicious activities” and were being held with the Taliban’s counter intelligence department in Kabul.

It is not the first time that Mr Routledge has visited Afghanistan. Last August, the blogger received widespread criticism for visiting Kabul during the Taliban’s ongoing takeover of Afghanistan.

He acquired a spot on a British Army evacuation flight to Dubai while thousands of Afghans who had worked alongside British troops in the country were left behind where they face ongoing targeting by the Taliban.

it is unclear why Mr Routledge, who studied physics at Loughborough university, again travelled to Afghanistan but it is believed he intended to shoot footage for his social media accounts. 

Last August, Mr Routledge posted a video of him meeting with an alleged Taliban gunrunner in the city of Jalalabad after boasting of entering Afghanistan on a forged document. The video has over one million views on YouTube. 

In the same footage, Mr Routledge is seen firing several automatic weapons with a Taliban fighter and a member of a local mafia, which he describes as “a lot of fun”.

Return Home For Census, IPOB Urges Igbos

 The Indigenous People of Biafra has urged Igbos outside the South-East region to return home and be counted during the 2023 census.

The group said it was imperative for the Igbo to be counted during this year’s census in order to ascertain their actual population size, adding the opportunity will equally prove to the world that they are not really, “a dot” in a circle.

IPOB’s Director of Media and Publicity, Emma Powerful, disclosed this in a statement on Wednesday.

Earlier, The PUNCH reports that the National Population Commission said it had put out measures to guard against all forms of malpractices ahead of the forthcoming population and housing census.

The commission also stressed that citizens living away from their states of origin do not need to travel to home for the purpose of the exercise.

It said people would be enumerated at their places of residence.

Powerful disclosed that the census would serve as a chance for the Igbo to ascertain the population and the size of amenities it needed in their territory.

“The mass return of our people during this forthcoming population census will help us quantify the population of Biafrans in Nigeria. Therefore, we must seize the opportunity the Nigeria Government is offering to our benefit. They have always told the world that we are a dot with an insignificant population. Now is the time to let the world know the population of Biafrans in Nigeria as the Biafra agitation is gathering international attention and speed. Biafra is coming, and no one can stop it. IPOB is gradually dismantling all obstacles to our freedom, and this population census will provide another opportunity to collect more evidence to that effect.

“Should there be any reason why you can’t travel to Biafra land to be counted, make sure you and your family members are not counted outside Biafra land. We must prove them wrong once and for all.”

He added that it would engage transport owners to be part of this project so that those willing to travel to the East to be counted could do so.

“We are calling on all well-meaning Igbo business men and women, entrepreneurs, senators, ministers, commissioners, House of Assembly members from the Eastern states to contribute in one way or the other to ensure that our people come back home during this population census exercise.”

Rivers, Kano, Abia… 27 States Attracted Zero Foreign Investments In 2022

Foreign investors ignored 27 states as the value of capital importation into Nigeria fell by 20.5 percent to $5.33 billion in 2022 from $6.70 billion in 2021.

The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) disclosed this in its latest Nigerian Capital Importation report for the four quarters of 2022. The publication looks into the value of fresh investments that flowed into the country’s economy in the year under review.

According to the NBS data, the 27 states snubbed by investors include: Abia, Adamawa, Bauchi, Bayelsa, Benue, Borno, Cross River, Delta, Ebonyi, Edo, Enugu, Gombe, Imo, Jigawa, Kaduna, Kano, Kebbi, Kwara, Nasarawa, Niger, Ogun, Osun, Rivers, Sokoto, Taraba, Yobe, and Zamfara.

LAGOS OUTSHINED OTHERS TO REMAIN INVESTORS’ FAVOURITE

In 2022, only ten states attracted foreign investments.Lagos took the lead as it outshined others, and federal capital territory (FCT), to top the list of states that attracted the most investments within the year.

Analysis by TheCable Index shows that the country’s commercial city attracted $3.61 billion in investment, representing 68 percent of the total capital inflow into the country for the period under review. This also shows an increase when compared to the $2.21 billion investment recorded in 2021.

NBS said Abuja (FCT) emerged second top investment destination with $1.63billion-representing 31 percent of the total capital inflow in the country in 2022. Other states that attracted foreign investments in 2022 are Akwa Ibom ($42.52 million), Anambra ($36.97 million), Oyo ($3.00 million), and Kogi ($2.00 million). Katsina follows with $0.70 million, Ekiti ($0.51 million), Ondo ($0.20 million), and Plateau ($0.04 million).

Out of 52 countries that invested in Nigeria, the United Kingdom emerged as the top source of capital investment in 2022 with $2.76 billion; followed by South Africa ($428.73 million), Singapore ($420.97 million), and the United States ($286.92 million).

EIGHT STATES FAILED TO ATTRACT INVESTMENT IN FOUR YEARS

Meanwhile, out of the 27 states that were ignored by foreign investors, eight also failed to attract foreign investments in the last four years (2019 -2022).

The states are Bayelsa, Ebonyi, Gombe, Jigawa, Kebbi, Taraba, Yobe, and Zamfara. A recent report by the Debt Management Office (DMO) and the NBS also shows that some of the states are accumulating domestic and foreign debt.

According to DMO, apart from Kebbi state, the others had an increase in domestic debt in the last seven years. Yobe state had a domestic debt growth of +2,247 percent, followed by Taraba at +218 percent, Gombe at +161 percent and Zamfara at +142 percent.

Others are Ebonyi with +139 percent growth in domestic debt, followed by Jigawa at +98 percent and Bayelsa at +42 percent. Only Kebbi state (-4 percent) had a decrease in its domestic debt in the last seven years.

On the internally generated revenue (IGR) front, data also shows that the above states are doing poorly in generating revenue for their respective states.

The 2021 data released by NBS (which is the latest) shows that Yobe generated N8.5 billion, which is the lowest among the 26 states;  followed by Taraba with N9.6 billion, and Kebbi at N9.9 billion.

Gombe generated N10.6 billion as IGR in 2021, followed by Ebonyi (N13.8 billion) and Bayelsa, an oil-producing state, generated N13.3 billion in 2021. Jigawa and Zamfara generated N16.5 billion and N18.9 billion, respectively.

‘NIGERIA LOSING FOREIGN INVESTMENT TO RISING INSECURITY’

Speaking on the continued dwindling of Nigeria’s attractiveness to investors, Adejare Bello, the nation’s ambassador to Mexico, said restoring security in the country was a prerequisite for productive investment. Bello said Mexican investors were willing to “invest heavily in Nigeria’s economy but for the prevailing security situation in the country”.

“The embassy receives frequent enquiries from investors on possible areas of collaboration between both countries but all these efforts to attract foreign investments are being thwarted by the news of insecurity,” he said.

“Some of the areas the foreign investors have been looking to invest include oil and gas, gold mining, agriculture as well as establishing a partnership with Dangote in the area of fertiliser procurement.”

Bello said although the federal government has been proactive in dealing with the security challenges in the country, he advised that the current onslaught against criminals must be sustained. This, according to him, will go a long way to enhance the inflow of foreign direct investment into the country.