Politics

By Francis Etuko

Abuja (Precise Post) – The Peoples Democratic Party has said that the latest operational exploit on our soil by United States exposes the failure of President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration to secure our national borders and territorial integrity.

Recall that United States military rescued her citizen held hostage by bandits in Nigeria killing 6 bandits without any harm on their part.

The PDP disclosed this on Sunday in a statement released via it’s official twitter handle.

The statement reads:

The swift operation by the WhiteHouse to rescue her citizen held hostage by bandits on Nigerian soil has further confirmed that the Mohammadu Buhari Presidency can neither secure the territorial integrity of our nation nor arrest the wave of insecurity ravaging our country under its inept watch.

The party describes the situation where the WhiteHouse had to come on our soil to pull a rescue, as an international embarrassment and shows how low the Muhammadu Buhari Presidency had fallen in its failure to guarantee the safety of lives and property in our country.

Moreover, the fact that under President Muhammadu Buhari, bandits and abductors from neighboring countries now freely cross into our nation to use our soil as detention camps further shows the failure of his administration to secure our national borders and territorial integrity.

It is indeed grossly disconcerting that under our Commander-in-Chief, a general, who had consistently promised to lead from the front, it took a foreign country to come on our soil to rescue their citizen, while hordes of our citizens are reportedly being held, tortured and killed in various kidnappers’ and insurgents’ dens in various parts of our nation.

Our party recalls that earlier in April, Nigeria was equally embarrassed by reports of how the Chadian President Idris Deby, personally led his troops to rout out insurgents and freed Nigerian territories and soldiers held captive by terrorists in northern part of Borno state, while our leaders recede into the safety and comfort of Aso Presidential Villa.

The fact that other countries with competent and determined leadership have successfully dislodged and vanquished bandits on our soil highlight the incompetence, lack of honesty and want of will power on the part of the Muhammadu Buhari administration to effectively secure our nation.

The exploits of these countries on our soil only go to show that the bandits, vandals, kidnappers, insurgents are not invincible but have been allowed to take hold of our nation due to the failures of the Muhammadu Buhari administration.

Such failures had dragged our nation down to rank as the third country with the highest level of terrorism, after Iran and Afghanistan, according to 2019 Global Terrorism Index rating by the Institute for Economics and Peace (IEP).

Our party believes that the latest experience will compel President Buhari to accede to widespread demand by Nigerians to rejig his security architecture as well as replace his service chiefs with more competent hands to effectively tackle insecurity challenge facing our country

Nevertheless, our party commends and immensely values the courage and sacrifices of our gallant troops who are daily risking their lives in the front to safeguard our nation against the insurgents despite the challenges they face.

The PDP also charges all Nigerians to remain vigilant and continue to pray for our nation at this trying time.

Edo State governor, Godwin Obaseki, has reaffirmed his support for Nigeria’s former finance minister, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala to clinch the position of the director-general of World Trade Organisation (WTO).

Obaseki noted that Okonjo-Iweala’s competence and experience as a renowned economist and international development expert make her eminently suited for the WTO top job.

In a statement, the governor described the former minister as a global icon with proven leadership skills that the WTO requires to chart a new course for global trade, amid the coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic.

Obaseki urged the United States to align with Nigeria and other nations of the world to support the candidacy of the renowned economist, as she has shown over time to possess the requisite temperament, skill-set and experience needed to lead the global trade body.

READ ALSO: Distribution of 900,000 free electricity meters begins today in Lagos, Kano, Kaduna

According to him, “as a two-time minister in Nigeria, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, with proven leadership skills, left indelible marks as an astute manager of the nation’s economy and resources.

“She has in time past spearheaded several World Bank initiatives as a former managing director (operations) and possesses the bundle of skills and experience required for the new role.

“In the light of the coronavirus pandemic, she would bring her experience as the board chair of GAVI, the Vaccine Alliance, in negotiating the right deals to deliver vaccines, build stronger alliances to promote multilateral trade and instil the needed discipline to advance the development of developing economies so as to address the trade imbalance.”

The governor added: “Having garnered the overwhelming support of the WTO’S 164 members, Okonjo-Iweala has moved a step closer to becoming the first woman and the first African to be DG of the global trade watchdog in its 25-year history.”

Source

Nigerians protesting against bad governance and police brutality have been challenged to enter government.

The challenge was given by Nollywood actor now politician, Desmond Elliot.

The lawmaker representing Surulere constituency made this submission in a recent plenary session held by the Lagos state House of Assembly.

According to him, the youth have a constitutional means to change government and it is called the ‘PVC’.

In his words, “Mr. Speaker, we need to address certain things. The Nigerian Youth, The Social Media, The Social Influencers, All of these are making the narrative that we are seeing today, except we are joking with ourselves. Social media is good but it has Negative impacts.

Let me thank you for condemning the killings and carnage that happened at Lekki. When i went through the comments i could not believe it Mr. Speaker, the curses, the abuses from children and i ask myself, is this Nigeria ? What is going on?

Children cursing, people having the effrontery to enter an Oba’s palace, hold the staff of office ? Culture is gone. Mr. Speaker, in the next 5 years, there will be no Nigeria if we don’t act now.

The youth is not only those who do the peaceful protest, those who have looted and destroyed lives are youths as well.

Go to the elections, if you are tired come and enter government. People are dying. The narrative must change.

Watch video below:

Source

Kano State Governor, Abdullahi Ganduje, on Wednesday night, ordered the reinstatement of his Special Adviser on Media, Salihu Yakasai.

The PUNCH had reported on October 11, 2020 that Yakasai lambasted the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), for not addressing Nigerians amid national outrage as well as days of online and offline protests against the Special Anti-Robbery Squad of the Nigeria Police Force.

Yakasai, who tweeted through his handle, @dawisu, had said the President has no empathy for Nigerians by his inaction.

Reacting in a statement, the Kano State Government had described Yakasai’s comments as “unguarded utterances” and suspended him “with immediate effect”.

But in a tweet on Wednesday, the state government, @KanostateNg, wrote, “H.E Governor Dr. Abdullahi Umar Ganduje OFR has approved the reinstatement of his Special Adviser on Media, Salihu Tanko Yakasai from his suspension.”

Ganduje had in April sacked the state’s Commissioner for Works and Infrastructure, Mu’azu Magaji, for celebrating the death of the Chief of Staff to the President, Abba Kyari.

Source

Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Wike, has approved the employment of 5000 youths into the state’s civil service and ordered civil servants from grade one to 10 to resume work.

The governor also effected minor cabinet reshuffle during the state’s Executive Council meeting at the Government House, Port Harcourt, on Wednesday.

Speaking after the meeting, the Commissioner for Employment Generation and Empowerment, Mr. Sylvanus Nwankwo said the youths to be employed must not be more than 35 years.

He said there were existing vacancies in the civil service for engineers, lawyers, medical doctors, technicians and other fields.

In his remarks, the Commissioner for Information and Communications, Paulinus Nsirim said the recruitment drive undertaken by the Wike’s administration would cushion the employment gap in the state.

Nsirim also said the council directed civil servants, who were asked to stay back at home during the COVID-19 pandemic, to resume work on November 2and.

He said: “Civil servants on grade level 1 to 10 who have been at home because of COVID-19 pandemic lockdown are to resume work Monday November 2nd 2020.

Similarly, bars that have been closed down since COVID-19 lockdown are to open, while night clubs will remain closed.”

He said the government approved a minor cabinet reshuffle moving the Commissioner for Chieftaincy and Community Affairs to the Ministry of Works.

He said the current Commissioner for Works would henceforth head the Ministry of Urban Development and Physical Planning, while the commissioner he replaced would move to the Ministry of Transport.

Nsirim said that the current Commissioner for Transport would be in charge of the Ministry of Chieftaincy and Community Affairs.

He said the council decided that the Rebisi Flyover would be inaugurated on 7th November, 2020 by the Minister of Works, Babatunde Fashola (SAN).

On his part, the Commissioner for Youths, Prince Ohia said the council approval for the employment of 5000 youths showed that governor Wike is youth friendly.

Source

By Chris Udochukwu

(Precise Post) – Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, has once again called for the regulation of social media in Nigeria. According to him, Nigeria is sitting on a keg of gunpowder if the issue of fake news shared on social media is not urgently addressed.

Lai Mohammed said this when he appeared before the House of Representatives Committee on Information, National Orientation, Ethics, and Values to defend the 2021 budget proposed by his ministry.

While responding to questions from members of the committee, Lai Mohammed said that the next war to be fought in the country and across the world might be fought through social media, making reference to the ongoing #EndSARS protests.

According to Mohammed, the biggest challenge facing the country was the issue of fake news and misinformation, adding that the government identified this since 2017 and decided to launch a national campaign against fake news. He explained that the government was not seeking to shut down the social media space in the country because “the social media has come to stay”, but to have a social media policy that regulates the social media and check fake news and misinformation.

“The biggest challenge facing Nigeria today is fake news and misinformation. Based on that, we dedicated an entire National Council on Information’s meeting to that issue, after which we launched a national campaign against fake news in July 2018.

We said, then, that the next war will be fought without a shot being fired, but with the use of fake news. We didn’t stop there. We went on a tour of all media houses to solicit their support in the fight against fake news. We launched the campaign to regulate social media, which was bitterly contested by the stakeholders. We kept saying that if we don’t regulate social media, it will destroy us. Social media and fake news will not destroy Nigeria.

The recent #EndSARS war was fought on social media. They mobilised using the social media. The war today revolves around two things. Smartphone and data and these young men don’t even watch television or listen to radio or read newspapers. You will be shocked that when you start arguing with your children, they will be quoting the social media. So, we need a social media policy in Nigeria and we need to empower the various agencies and we need technology to be able to regulate the social media.”
Members of the committee, however, disagreed with the Minister.

A member, Emmanuel Oghene, warned against any attempt to shut down the social media in the country, saying the action will be counter-productive and would make the youths to believe that there is an attempt to truncate democracy in the country. He said the government should not only focus on the negative effect of social media.

“Talking about the recent looting of COVID-19 items, in some places they will be looting, but nobody will know. The government will not know and the police will not know. But because of social media, people will be posting as it is happening and the government will be able to go there and save lives.

There was a time when some boys were digging the road and because of social media, this information came out and the situation was arrested. If there are no social media, that will not happen.
I want to appeal that this desire to shot down the social media, we should not overdo it because it will harm us. China is not a good example because it is a communist country. Nigeria has always been free, we are a Democratic country.
Let us look at other democracies and see what they have done with their social media. This technology is already here. It is not going to go away. We should have enough laws in our law books to deal with social media. If people post things that are not correct, they can be taken to court. If the laws are not enough, bring a bill and the National Assembly will pass it into law. If you shut down the social media, democracy will be greatly hampered.”he said.