Senate Presidency: ACF Dissociates Self From Akpabio’s Endorsement

The Arewa Consultative Forum, ACF, has dissociated itself from the endorsement of Godswill Akpabio for Senate Presidency by Coalition of Northern groups.

Musa Saidu, a member of the ACF, said this in a statement on Sunday in Abuja.

Mr Saidu, also the leader of the Arewa Community in Southern Nigeria, said that endorsing Mr Akpabio for the Senate Presidency would spell doom for Northern Nigeria.

“We hereby dissociate ourselves from the endorsement of Sen. Godswill Akpabio for the Senate Presidency by a coalition of Northern groups.

“The coalition is not speaking for the North, it is just speaking for itself.

“No true Northern group will want to endorse Akpabio for a sensitive position like that of Senate President because he is not friendly with the North.

“We are the people who know Akpabio, because we are resident in the South, we know those who are friendly with the Northern people and Akpabio is actually not one of them,” he said.

Mr Saidu added that the coalition must have made the endorsement out of ignorance.

“I want to condemn the endorsement in its entity because it was done out of ignorance.

“It is also possible that the groups were given some inducement to endorse Akpabio.

“I want to say that the Northern people are not beggars that will be endorsing people who are not friendly with them because of inducement,”he said.

Mr Saidu said that the ACF would continue to fight for the speak against injustice in the country.

“Why should the All Progressives Congress (APC) be bent on zoning the 10th Senate Presidency to the South, when we have competence hands in the the North.

“The North-West gave the APC the largest votes in the February 25 presidential election, why not consider somebody from the zone.

“I think it’s time for the party to reward the zone for the massive votes rather than start looking for somebody from the South as Senate President,” he said.

A Coalition of Northern Groups had endorsed Mr Akpabio for the Senate Presidency, saying he was best suited for the position.

https://dailynigerian.com/arewa-consultative-forum-3/

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Senate Presidency: PDP Senators-elect Reject Akpabio

The aspiration of the annointed candidate for the office of the Senate President in the 10th National Assembly, Senator Godswill Akpabio, has suffered a setback as the major opposition caucus in the Senate has rejected his choice.

The much-awaited zoning arrangement for the leadership of the 10th Assembly was made public at the end of an eight-man caucus meeting of the All Progressives Congress (APC) held in President-elect, Bola Tinubu’s Abuja residence on Friday morning.

Akpabio, who joined the ruling APC in the build-up to the 2019 general election, is the preferred candidate of the President-elect and the leadership of the ruling party. While Senator Jibril Barau from Kano State has been picked as Deputy Senate President.

For the incoming House of Representatives, the APC Caucus led by Tinubu opted for Hon. Tajudeen Abbas from Kaduna State and Hon. Benjamin Kalu from Abia State as Speaker and Deputy Speaker, respectively.

LEADERSHIP reports that Senator Barau and Hon. Abbas are from the same North-West zone, a development that may put spanner in the works of the APC Caucus.

Also, Akpabio is not in the good books of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) caucus in the National Assembly both the outgoing 9th Assembly and the incoming 10th Assembly, hence all entreaties from the former Akwa Ibom State Governor have fell on the PDP lawmakers-elect’s deaf ears.

He is said to enjoy the support of only three of the 36 PDP Senators-elect. The three Akpabio’s supporters are Senators-elect from Rivers State because of Governor Nyesom Wike’s alliance with APC at the centre.

“He is offering us money but we don’t want his money because he is not principled. He will eventually sell out the Senate if allowed to emerge the Senate President.

“Remember what he did in 2018/2019. The PDP honoured him as a first-timer in the Senate by giving him an exalted position of Minority Leader. Without any just cause, save for his pocket and selfish interest, he abandoned the PDP midstream and joined APC. He was rewarded with a ministerial position. We can’t trust such person as a Senate President, he is unstable,” a PDP Senator-elect from South-South, who did not want to be named, said.

Also, it was learnt that another thing against the APC choice, is the way he embarrassed and threw the federal lawmakers under the bus during a Senate hearing on Niger Delta Affairs Ministry under him in 2021.

“His behaviour that day shows someone who hate the legislators’ guts and he is ready to shut the door of reconciliation.

“Another reason why most legislagors are afraid of supporting Akpabio is his connection to the travails of two South-South Senators, Senator Bassey (Akpan) of Akwa Ibom and Senator Peter Nwaoboshi of Delta,” the lawmaker added.

https://leadership.ng/senate-presidency-pdp-senators-elect-reject-akpabio/

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El-rufai: I Am Not Interested In Tinubu's Appointment

Governor Nasir El-Rufai of Kaduna State has dispelled the rumours of him jostling to become Chief of Staff in President-elect, Sen. Bola Tinubu’s cabinet.

El-Rufai stated this in Gombe on Saturday while addressing newsmen.

El-Rufai was in the state to inaugurate the construction of 550 housing units and Gombe Geographic Information Systems (GOGIS) Service Centre.

He described the reports on the different portfolios being assigned to him and published on national dailies as “mere speculations”.

The Governor said he was more interested in contributing to the development of Nigeria than jostling for positions.

El-Rufai noted that being in government was not the only way to contribute to Nigeria’s development, saying even if he was not in government, he would remain committed to the progress of the country.

“I have not had that discussion with the president-elect and I don’t like to speculate.

“I read in the newspapers all kinds of portfolios assigned to me but you know, I am a committed Nigerian.

“I want to see my country make progress and whatever I can do to contribute to the development of the country, I will do it.

“But, I don’t have to do it working in government. Everyone who is working either in the private sector or the civil society is contributing.

“There is not just one way to contribute to the country and I will never stop working for Nigeria’s progress,” he said.

The Governor said upon leaving office in the next 22 days, he would take a break but be available to provide advice, where needed, on how to move the country forward.

“I will be in the private sector, not any chief of staff. I will take a break and advise people like Governor Inuwa Yahaya if they need it,” he said.

On Tinubu’s presidency from May 29, El-Rufai said Nigerians would not regret voting the president-elect, stressing that better days were ahead of Nigerians under Tinubu.

https://thewhistler.ng/el-rufai-im-not-interested-in-tinubus-appointment/

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How Buhari Spent N8trn On ‘non-existent’ Petrol Subsidies

 He lacked understanding at inception, says expert

By Obas Esiedesa, Abuja


Before he won the 2015 presidential election, President Muhammadu Buhari led the opposition party, the All Progressive Congress (APC) in grand opposition to the removal of petrol subsidies.

President Buhari’s contention then was that there was no subsidy on petrol and that the government then under President Goodluck Jonathan was corrupt and was looking for ways to fraudulently enrich themselves at the expense of the Nigerian masses.

Eight years down the line and with just days before the end of his two terms in government, President Buhari is leaving the country with the highest amount spent on subsidizing petrol in Nigeria’s history.

According to oil and gas industry reports conducted by the Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI), the cost of petrol subsidy from 2015 to 2020 was N1.99 trillion.

Also reports by the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) to the Federation Accounts Allocation Committee (FAAC), showed that petrol subsidy cost N1.57 trillion in 2021 alone and another N1.27 trillion from January to May 2022. The government has a budget of N3 trillion to cover petrol subsidy costs from June 2022 to June 2023.

An aggregation of the entire costs showed that under President Buhari the government would have spent N7.83 trillion on petrol subsidies.

Refineries remain moribund despite promises

In 2015, while Nigeria’s four refineries located in Port Harcourt, Warri and Kaduna operated below full capacity, they produced about six million litres of petrol daily for local consumption with President Buhari through the then Minister of State Petroleum Resources, Dr. Ibe Kachikwu assuring Nigerians that the refineries would return to full capacity by the end of that year. It never happened.

In 2017, the refineries were partially shut down for maintenance but two years later in 2019 with no headway, the refineries were completely grounded.

The President leaves in about three week’s time with the refineries still under rehabilitation and badly mismanaged. In 2021, helped by loans from the African Development Bank, NNPC announced that it would completely overhaul the Port Harcourt refinery at the cost of $1.5 billion. The refineries in Warri and Kaduna are also under-going similar process.


Expert speaks

Speaking to Saturday Vanguard, oil and gas governance expert, Mr. Henry Adigun said by his failure to resolve the petrol subsidy issues in eight years, President Buhari is leaving the situation worse than he met it.

Mr. Adigun said the politics and emotion around the issue have pushed the country into huge debt burden, adding President Buhari lacked an understanding of how big the issue was and how it could be tackled.

According to him, “The first thing is you cannot manage properly what you do not understand. Most times our politicians talk from emotion and lack of fact. At times they do not take professional advice and would let you know how long they have been in government.

“The man didn’t believe there was a subsidy and they all assumed it was corruption but when they came in and it stared them in the face then they learned and when they learned they now had to make harsh decisions. Buhari made one in 2016 when he raised (pump price) from N87 to N145 but he didn’t sustain. That point in time was the time to allow it to go once and for all but he capped it.

“By capping it and not providing enough foreign exchange for other importers, but allowed only NNPC to become the sole importer of the product in the country, they made the situation worse. That led to the problem they are having now.

“What they have done in the last eight years is to make it worse for the country, make it worse for the incoming administration. They have ballooned the cost and the volume. They failed because they never understood the problem and they made it political”.

He explained that NNPC became the sole importer of petrol due to economic reason, stressing that the difference the exchange rate approved for the NNPC compared to the other importers made impracticable for the others to import and remain profitable.

Adigun therefore urged the incoming administration to settle first settle down and understand the problem before taking a decision on the petrol subsidy challenge.

He noted that the government should eventually hands off any role in the downstream sector and allow the private sector run for the growth and economic development of the country.

The cash the private sector has can bail Nigeria out but the private sector will not invest in area where they cannot get good returns. Look around you in Abuja and Lagos, you will see everybody investing real estate or fintech; that is because it is where they can get good returns. It is not the business of the government to build or rehabilitate refineries”, he added.

He advocated phased removal of subsidy rather than having it in one swoop, stressing that in the past two years government has increased electricity tariff several times thereby eliminating the subsidy on power.

“Let’s have something like a three months phased removal, because it will become a political issue with labour unions opposed to it”, he stated, warning that the new government would struggle to fund its operations except it resorts to huge borrowing policy like Buhari has done.


TABLE – Petrol
Subsidy under Buhari
2015 ——————— N316.70 bn
2016———————- N99.00bn
2017 ——————— N141.63 bn
2018 ——————— N722.30 bn
2019 ——————— N578.07 bn
2020 ——————— N133.73bn
2021 —————— N1.573trn

https://www.vanguardngr.com/2023/05/how-buhari-spent-n8trn-on-non-existent-petrol-subsidies/

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'NOT MY KING'' - In UK, Thousands Protest Against The Monarchy

Protesters Are Demanding An Elected Head Of State, Say The Royal Family Has No Place In A Modern Constitutional Democracy And Is Staggeringly Expensive To Maintain.

LONDON — Just a mile away from London’s Westminster Abbey where King Charles III is preparing to be crowned, thousands of his subjects protested against the monarchy — and at least seven people were detained by police.

“A significant police operation is underway in central London,” the Metropolitan Police said in a statement Saturday. “The individuals have been held on suspicion of breaching the peace.”

Among those reportedly detained was Graham Smith, leader of the anti-monarchy group Republic, during protests at London’s Trafalgar Square. London’s Metropolitan Police would not confirm his detention but images on Twitter showed Smith being led to a police van. Ahead of his detention Smith told The Washington Post in an interview that for many Britons, Queen Elizabeth II “was the monarchy and the monarchy was the queen.” But Charles, he added, “hasn’t inherited any of that” — and his accession to the throne could mark a turning point for the anti-monarchy movement.

“Things are changing already,” Smith said. “People are no longer worried about criticizing, challenging and speaking up about being a republican.”

King Charles has faced many protesters at his public engagements. Hecklers disrupted public events organized for the proclamation of his accession to the throne and last year he had eggs thrown at him not once but twice, in York and in Luton. Polls show king Charles is less popular than this mother or even his sister, Princess Anne, his eldest son, Prince William, or daughter-in-law Catherine, Princess of Wales. His wife Camilla is even less popular — many Britons blame her for breaking up Charles’s previous marriage with the widely beloved Princess Diana, who died in a car crash in Paris in 1997

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2023/05/06/republic-protests-king-charles-coronation/

SEVERAL ANTI-MONARCHY PROTESTER ARRESTED

Several anti-monarchy protesters have been arrested in central London ahead of the coronation of King Charles III, their group has said, as the Metropolitan Police force faces scrutiny for its approach toward demonstrators at the historic event.

Thousands gathered in central London on Saturday to celebrate the once-in-a-generation event. But it also drew demonstrators, with protesters wearing yellow T-shirts booing and shouting "Not My King" throughout the morning.

Republic, Britain's largest anti-monarchy group, told CNN that police -- without providing any reason -- arrested the organizers of Saturday's anti-monarchy protest.

https://amp.cnn.com/cnn/2023/05/06/uk/king-charles-anti-monarchy-protest-arrests-ckc-gbr-intl/index.html

Photo credit: 
Sebastien Bozon - WPA Pool/Getty Images
Gareth Fuller/Pool via REUTERS
Justin Tallis - WPA Pool/Getty Images
Piroschka van de Wouw -WPA Pool/Gettyimage

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JAMB: Between The Conservative North & The Chest-Beating South - Reno Omokri

A lot of Southerners do not understand the North. Both Northern Christians and Muslims are guided by conservative religions and cultures, which teach them to be modest from an early age. Google it. Northerners have scored the highest in both JAMB and WAEC/NECO, but they tend to be humble even in victory.

In 2018, the highest scorer in JAMB's UTME was a young man named Galadima from Borno. He scored 364. Interestingly, he did not post his score on social media. He was outed by the press.

Last year (2022), a girl from Sokoto, named Mariam scored the highest result in the NECO exams. And she remained camera-shy. 

If not that Forbes exposed him, I doubt that many Nigerians would have known that Aliko Dangote is the richest Black person on Earth. Such is their modesty. But if he were to come from elsewhere and have even 1% of his current wealth, he would have declared himself King of Money. 

Do not use your lifestyle to judge Northerners. In birth, life, and death, they tend to be modest. The showoff life is not for them. 

That sort of lifestyle has its benefits. It also has its drawbacks. Too often, it leads to unhealthy rivalry, which pushes youths to go into crime and perversion to get money so that they can also show off, so that people will not come on social media and laugh at them for not boasting of their achievements like their peers. 

#TableShaker

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1654746980906684416

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Soldier Spotted Fanning Corp Member Who Slept Off During NYSC Lecture

funny scene played out at a National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) camp when a soldier caught a corps member sleeping during lectures. In a video posted on TikTok, the corps member appeared to be tired and slept off inside the lecture hall.

The soldier walked to where the corps member was sitting and used his cap to fan him in a hilarious way. As he fanned him, the corps member continued to sleep while his colleagues laughed uncontrollably. Although the soldier did not immediately punish the corps member, people who have seen the video commented that the young man might do a frog jump later.

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