It was precisely 30 months ago, in July 2017, when the United States of America and North Korean Presidents flexed both nuclear/arsenal muscles and threatened a Third World War to prove who was superior in warfare strategies!

Though there existed a loose United Nations international convention which banned acquisition, accumulation, engagement, or deployment of nuclear warheads against member nations, both countries threatened to destroy each other without consideration for their innocent mass of people who would suffer the tragic consequences! They displayed hostile attitude and military threats which in the ensuing conflict, agitated global panic among the peaceful and law-abiding citizens of the world over inordinate ambition!

That America’s military/arsenal prowess is highly sophisticated, shoulder-high and above other nations is not in doubt! The United States Air Force and the Navy are the deadliest and most vicious in the world and their ground forces are, by all standards, the most intimidating in military operations and armed combat warfare!
And it was exactly for those reasons that the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), sued for peaceful co-existence among the United Nations (UN), since the end of World War II in 1945!

BUT NORTH KOREA CLAIMED IT WAS NO PUSH-OVER FOR AMERICA!

In that year 2017, THIRTY-THREE-YEAR-OLD Chairman of the Workers Party of Korea (WPK), and Supreme Leader Kim Jong-un of Democratic Peoples' Republic of Korea (DPRK), who assumed office, 13th April, 2012, persistently and deliberately flouted all international laws in respect of the use of nuclear weapons of mass destruction without regard for international conventions/treaties and consistently provoked US Ally, South Korea, to war!

The young leader had boasted of his country's dexterity in the invention and manufacture of highly sophisticated nuclear war heads, atomic/hydrogen bombs, which can destroy any country and confidently claimed that his NUCLEAR PROGRAMME was specifically designed against US global aggression!

Kim Jong-un attracted international condemnation, championed by President Donald Trump for having tested a number of provocative Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles (IBMs), though he accused the US of using the North Korea's nuclear programme as an excuse to mask its own opposition to banning nuclear weapons. He also claimed through his envoy at the United Nation's (UN), mission, in that year, that the US drove his country to make and possess nuclear weapons to defend itself against any American aggression.
He said that the US was the first country to use nuclear weapons against Japan, during World War II and had continued to use them, "to threaten and blackmail other countries" including North Korea which supported global effort to eliminate nuclear weapons until the denuclearization of the world was implemented.

The US had said that it would not participate in the UN talks aimed at banning nuclear weapons because, in Donald Trump’s words, "bad actors” wouldn't sign or comply with a potential treaty since "North Korea would be the one cheering and the people we represent would be the one at risk." Although there is a global move to totally ban nuclear weapons, the five nuclear powers, -US, Russia, China, Britain and France, have refused to attend the meeting, saying a ban won't work but opted for "a more (unexplained), gradual approach." DPRK's envoy to the UN has disclosed that his country would not also take part in the talks because of joint military exercises by US and South Korea using Special Forces and "all kinds of nuclear strategic assets", AIMED AT SECRETLY INVADING NORTH KOREA TO ELIMINATE ITS LEADERSHIP!

IS THE SAME SCENARIO PLAYING OUT WITH IRAN? DOES IRAN TRULY POSSESS WEAPONS OF MASS DESTRUCTION?

Trending now is, Iranian President Ayatollla Khamenel, who is angry with Donald Trump for daring to assassinate his right hand man and commander of the Iranian Quds Force [believed by the US to be an international terrorist organization], and is ready to avenge his death and those of his lieutenants who were eliminated in deadly drone attack near Baghdad International Airport! The US and Iran are now the arrowheads of a fresh threat to a world that is grappling with severe climatic conditions ranging from heat waves, bush fires, tornadoes, tsunamis, hurricanes, devastating floods, which bombs and nuclear warheads can only aggravate to accelerate and end to the existing Earth as it is presently constituted!

What was his grouse against Iran? They are multiple! Trump fanatically believes in the American military prowess that positions it as the “greatest global super power”, to which other nations must bow and tremble before; and would therefore not condone any contrary theory to that position!
Diplomatic relations between America and Iran had been strained with over 40 years of violent hostilities between the two nations!

Therefore when American Embassies in Baghdad, came under siege in view of organized mob protests, days before a US drone strike killed Major General Qasem Soilemani, top Iranian commander, Donald Trump did not waste time to refer to a similar incident when 52 Americans were taken hostage for 444 days from 1979 to 1981, in a similar manner at the US EMBASSY in Tehran and quickly swung into action to avoid a re-occurrence by eliminating the late Iranian military general on 3rd January, 2020?

WHO POSSESSES THE POWER OF VENGEANCE, MAN OR GOD?

“Vengeance is mine and I will avenge”, says the Lord of Hosts, but Mr. Donald Trump believed he could eliminate any person or overthrow any government at will while Iran also trusted that it could defend its position and retaliate when attacked! As a result of the recent faceoff, nine others were killed alongside Soleimani, including the deputy chairman of Iraq’s Popular Forces and commander of Kata’ib Hezbollah, Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, who was listed as a terrorist in the United Arab Emirates and the United States.

ATTACKS AND COUNTER ATTACKS – TRUMP AND AYATOLLAH ARE STILL ALIVE WHILE THEIR PEOPLE PERISH!

Prior to that operation, [on 27th December, 2019, the K-1 Air Base in Iraq which hosts Iraqi and US personnel was attacked and an American contractor was killed. The US promptly responded by launching airstrikes across Iraq and Syria, killing 25 Iran-backed Kata’ib Hezbollah militiamen and days later, Shia militiamen and their supporters retaliated by attacking the US Embassy in the Green Zone!

Iran has launched series of missile attacks on the US Forces based in Iraq, without casualties until the shooting down of a Ukranian Airliner, Boeing Co. 737-800 jet, in which all passengers, 176 – including 82 Iranian nationals – lost their lives, shortly after take-off, which it claimed was human error!


IRAN HAS CLAIMED RESPONSIBILITY!

Iran “deeply” regrets the accidental shooting of the Ukranian Airliner early last week as it blindly pursued the evil doctrine of Vengeance against the United States and profusely apologized for the disastrous mistake to all countries (including, Canada, Sweden, Afghanistan, Germany, Britain, Ukraine ), whose citizens perished in the avoidable disaster! Iranian protesters took to the streets after Tehran admitted that the Ukranian Airliner was un-intentionally shot down as it approached a sensitive military base due to human error according to the armed forces!

IRANIANS SHOULD THINK TWICE BEFORE STORMING THE STREETS TO DIE FOR BAD LEADERSHIP! When two elephants fight, the grass suffers the consequences!
WHO WILL FIRE THE NEXT MISSILE? HAS GOD NOT INTERVENED AGAIN IN THE AFFAIRS OF MEN? CARNAL WAR CANNOT BE WON BY MIGHT NOR BY POWER, BUT BY GOD’S INTERVENTION!

When Donald Trump came to power in January 2016, he did not waste time to reverse the bilateral agreements between the two nations on nuclear disarmament, certain concessions on gradual reduction and stoppage of further acquisition which would attract economic sanctions for violations of terms of agreement between Iran and the US under the watch of President Barak Obama, his predecessor in office!

WHO WILL CLAIM USD $80MILLION DOLLAR PRICE ON DONALD TRUMP’S HEAD?

We have consistently claimed that President Donald Trump had no business in politics and the Americans would have left him to pursue dollars and dimes which was his main pre-occupation as an addicted global businessman but he manipulated them with his bullish doctrine of “AMERICA FIRST”!

NO MORE ASSASSINATIONS PLEASE!

THE 21ST CENTURY WORLD POWERS MUST put their Trust (faith and believe), and take refuge in the Lord and His Anointed, instead of NUCLEAR ARSENAL which is capable of destroying a World which they did not create! “ Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall’’ (I Cor. 10:12.)

I am, yours sincerely, Dr. David B.A. Olufon. 08130669886, 08098194390. 08080243066. G-mail- dvdolufon@gmail.com.

It is gratifying to observe that at the turn of new decade 2020, President Muhammadu Buhari, has decided to get closer to his Nigerian Constituency through the art of “letter writing”, which is actually not an innovation but a diplomatic stunt to get filial attention from the entire grassroots who secured the electoral platform which brought him to power for the second term in office and as their trusted confidant, leader and number one citizen of the Federal Republic, whose testimony could be taken to the bank!

Nigerians are not unaware that the President is on the last lap of his mandate which will definitely terminate constitutionally on 29th May, 2023, and that he has debunked insinuations from various quarters of tenure elongation in any form because he had no such ambition!

To prove his genuine intentions, he rolled out an impressive resume of immediate and subsequent plans to conclude all mapped-out plans to push closer dividends of democracy to the entire populace irrespective of party affiliation through several aggressive moves of fresh political, socio-economic and security thrusts to ensure dividends of democracy to the masses as President and Commander-in-Chief of the Nigerian Armed Forces, by rolling out new drives to ensure actualization of all mapped-out strategies to assert the second term mandate of four years given to him by the Nigerian electorate from 29th May, 2019 to 29th May, 2023!

In his Year 2020 Letter to Nigerians, President Buhari left no one in doubt that he would put in his best to leave behind a convincing legacy that he achieved even beyond expectations of several detractors of his second term appointment to further serve his nation with honesty, diligence, probity and with the intention to build on the foundations already laid on security, diversification of the economy and ruthlessly attacking the “curse of corruption” to destroy it from foundation, ensure more stable, sustainable and more prosperous future for all Nigerians.

The President debunked all allegations and intentions of any THIRD TERM – elongation of office beyond 2023, which he believed was the imaginations/machinations of his detractors! He promised to strengthen the electoral process in his second and final term, win the battle against violent extremists, cultists and organised criminal networks with a view to restoring peace to the North East and by extension to other geo-political zones through co-operation with all State Governors, neighbouring West African States, and international partners and tackling the tide of violent extremism and networks that finance and organize terror, kidnapping, banditry and armed robbery!

THE PRESIDENT DEALT EXTENSIVELY ON THE NAGGING ISSUE OF INSECURITY AND FOCUSED ON THE CHALLENGE OF WINNING PEACE!
He promised in his letter to intensify the challenge to win peace, reconstruct lives, communities/markets through the North East Development Commission (NEDC), which will work with local and international stakeholders to help create a new beginning for the region. The President promised to address the root cause of violent extremism/terror and re-organize the security forces, provide them with best training, modern weaponry to increase their professionalism and respect for human rights by providing them with sophisticated technological resources to professionally tackle kidnappings, banditry/armed robbery in all sectors of the economy, through increased recruitment by the new Ministry of Police Affairs!

YEAR 2020 STRATEGIES!
According to his address, the year 2020 would witness gradual implementation of all of the above, including aggressive power generation to address ease-of-doing-business across board in transportation, second Niger bridge, Lagos –Ibadan Express Way, Abuja –Kano Highway, Lagos-Kano Rail Line in collaboration with private sector partners; not leaving out new international airport terminals in Kano and Lagos in this new year to impact business operations which fiscal feasibility/sustainability, would attract both government and private sector investments. Year 2020 will also witness opportunities in agriculture, manufacturing, increased value from oil and gas which will operate on commercial principles and free from political interference in order to deliver a more competitive, attractive and profitable industry.

THE LIQUEFIED NATURAL GAS AS AN ADDITIONAL ECONOMIC RESOURCE!
The President in Council, late December, 2019, approved a fair framework for the USD 10 billion expansion of Nigeria Liquefied Natural Gas, which will increase exports by 35%, restore Nigeria’s position as a world leader in the sector and create thousands of jobs for the nation’s jobless youths!

There was also the amendment of the Deep Offshore Act of October 2019 which signalled the nation’s intention to create a modern forward-looking industry in Nigeria. The President believes that vibrant youth population would also play vital role to accelerate the pace of change in technology in the decade ahead in a way that it would benefit the nation through the huge opportunities it offers. He also re-stated his 2019 Democracy Day promise to lay the enduring foundations to take a hundred million Nigerians out of mass poverty over the next ten years through reforms in education, health care and water sanitation through the support of international donor agencies who would work with States and Local Governments to ensure continuity.
Workers are to enjoy living wages while pensioners will be succoured through clearance of arrears and benefits that have been long neglected adding that implementation of the approved 2020 Budget would take off seamlessly and commended the 9th National Assembly (NASS) for their co-operation with the Executive in restoring the January to December Budget cycle to ensure the Nigerian Decade of prosperity etc, etc.

SOME PROJECTS TO RECEIVE IMMEDIATE ATTENTION IN 2020!
47 road projects scheduled for completion in 2020/2021, including roads leading to ports.
Major bridges including substantial work on the Second Niger Bridge;
Completion of 13 housing estates under the National Housing Project Plan.
Lagos, Kano, Maiduguri and Enugu international airports to be commissioned in 2020.
Launching of an agricultural rural mechanisation scheme that will cover 700 Local Governments over a period of three years;
Launching of Livestock Development Project Grazing Model in Gombe State where 200,000 hectares of land has been identified;
Training of 50,000 workers to complement the country’s 7,000 extension workers;
Commissioning of the Lagos-Ibadan and Itakpe-Warri rail lines in the first quarter;
Commencement of the Ibadan – Abuja and Kano-Kaduna rail lines also in the first quarter;
Further liberalisation of the Power Sector to allow businesses to generate and sell power;
Commencement of the construction of the Mambilla Power project by the first half of 2020; and
Commencement of the construction of the AKK gas pipeline, OB3 gas pipeline and the expansion of the Escravos - Lagos pipeline in the first quarter of 2020.

HISTORY OF NIGERIAN VISION 20:2020!
The purpose of the Vision 20:2020 was conceived since 2007 by the Federal Government, for Nigeria to qualify to be among the 20 largest global economies by the year 2020, through deliberate planning by technocrats! Building a solid foundation for Vision 2020 through the National Council established for that purpose in an itemized thematic areas numbering 36 and focussed in all areas of the economy ranging from poverty alleviation/developmental issues to revenue allocation, public and financial management, capital market development, micro small and medium scale enterprises, agriculture and value chain, manufacturing solid mineral development, banking and finance, education, health, manufacturing, macro economy, agriculture, transport , housing water etc, etc! Nigeria should be able to consolidate its leadership position in Africa and establish itself as a significant player in the global economic and political arena by year 2020!

Funding of the 2020 Vision: A Business Support Group (BSG), an initiative of the National Steering Committee of Vision 2020, made up of dynamic and visionary business leaders and entrepreneurs of repute and distinction was established to engender private sector support for the Nigeria Vision 2020 process through technical and financial support, organized fund-raising activities and mobilize resources from the private sector of the economy and update the President as at when due on progress and outcomes of its activities.

IS NIGERIA ONE OF THE 20 LARGEST GLOBAL ECONOMIES NOW IN THE YEAR 2020?
The 20:2020 Vision could not be actualized as envisaged but significant achievements were made in the areas of agriculture, natural mineral resources, since the partial border closure since 20th August, 2019. According to the summarised table of the list of African countries by GDP (PPP), Nigeria has the third-highest Gross Domestic Product (GDP), at Purchasing Power Parity (PPP), among African countries 91,168.399 million international dollars).
The top ten African countries by GDP(PPP) are: Africa, Egypt, Nigeria, South Africa, Algeria, Morocco, Ethiopia, Angola, Sudan, Libya. Although, there was no significant success in the actualization of dream 2020, the All Progressive Congress (APC), Change Administration has made significant thrust into the extended economic programme which is now tagged 2030 SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS (SDGs), through all of the itemised economic activities which must be meticulously executed and re-road Nigeria back for massive economic growth in this new direction of the sustainable growth! President Buhari and his economic team should be given the support by all patriotic Nigerians to actualize his lofty programmes by shunning all forms of negative/antagonistic diversionary tendencies sponsoring or encouraging crimes, through criminal connivance, which are vices against sustainable economic growth, just because they are sworn enemies of progress!
Seest thou a man diligent in his business? he shall stand before kings; he shall not stand before mean men.(Prov 22.29)

I am, yours sincerely, Dr. David B.A. Olufon. 08130669886, 08098194390. 08080243066. G-mail- dvdolufon@gmail.com.

WHO among the religious elites in Nigeria that would claim ignorance of the Islamic Sharia Law, especially when it is given adequate prominence in the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999, which is 20 years old, this December, except mischief makers, confusionists and bigots!

Sections 260 – 279 are devoted to explicitly to analyze the Establishment, of Sharia Courts of Appeal, Appointment of Grand Kadi and Kadis, Constitution, Practice and Procedure of both the Federal and States Sharia Courts of Appeal without creating any form of ambiguity and allowed governments at both levels to apply discretion in implementation!

Wikipedia classifies “Shari-ah” as an Arabic word, meaning “divination” and which refers to God’s immutable divine law and also defines Sharia law as a religious law derived from Islamic precepts of the Qur’an/Hadith and forming part of the Islamic tradition.

Recently, Wednesday, 25th December, 2019, the incumbent Chief Justice of Nigeria, advocated that Sharia education should be conducted in Arabic language at the university level for it to gain more prominence among the adherents but his postulation attracted a barrage of condemnations/vilifications from the social media subscribers, professional and religious bodies, who are programmed to oppose any thought or ideas from all quarters, high or low without bordering to interrogate or verify the integrity of such thoughts!

They delight in throwing away the baby with the bath water!


FALSEHOOD AGAINST THE CJN BY “LEARNED BROTHERS”!
Judging from his impressive resume and professional diligence, no critic can succeed to smear or impugn Chief Justice Ibrahim Tanko Muhammad’s character as to classify him as an advocate for Islamisation Agenda of Nigeria considering the fact that he is an authority when it comes to analytical details of the Islamic Religious Laws and Jurisprudence, who studied and received the bachelor, master and doctorate degrees in LAW from Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria between 1980 and 1998, and was called to the BAR in the year1981, the same year he graduated from the Nigerian Law School!


While We might ignore the ranting of illiterate users of the social media, We completely disagree with the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), which castigated the erudite legal luminary that he was neither a lawyer nor was he called to the BAR, contrary to the prescribed qualifications as stipulated in Section 261 (1) (2) (3) (a) (b) (i) (ii), with which he got appointments in his former positions as Judge of both the Sharia and the Appeal Courts respectively.
The Muslim Lawyers Association of Nigeria (MULAN), rejected attacks on the person of the CJN by Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), and Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria (HURIWA), Afenifere, Ohaneze,Yoruba Council of Elders (YCE), Middle Belt Group and described the criticisms as an act of religious intolerance and advised them to desist from “fuelling Islamophobia agenda!

This 67-year-old Nigerian Jurist is the highest ranking judicial officer and Head of the Supreme Court, whose position was confirmed by the Senate on 16th July, 2019, is in no way a man of controversy, although some critics made mountains of his appointment following the travail and subsequent exit of his predecessor, Justice Walter Samuel Nkanu Onnoghen.


THE SHARIA EDUCATION ADVOCACY BY THE CHIEF JUSTICE OF NIGERIA!
Chief Justice Tanko Muhammad, who rose through the ranks was once a Kadi, and later a Justice of the Nigerian Courts of Appeal, made his presentation with mindset of encouraging more awareness of academic interests among Islamic Faith practitioners at the tertiary level in order disabuse the lukewarm attitude of academicians should champion and re-invigorate the noble cause through the language of ISLAM which is ARABIC and not ENGLISH!

CHRISTIANITY and ISLAM are the TWO major Faith-based religions that are very prominent in Nigeria with the former having greater number of adherents in the SOUTH, while the later holds sway in the NORTH. Since Sharia gained public attention in 1999, because of its inclusiveness in the 1999 Constitution, no Southern State adopted its tenets nor practiced its laws because THEY ARE NOT BINDING ON THE CITIZENS NIGERIA IS A SECULAR STATE – ie, a State without an adopted religion! It is also noteworthy that of about the TEN Northern States that “practice” Sharia, only Kano and Zamfara seemed to show some level of seriousness in the implementation of the law which traverses Islamic criminal justice, procedural matters, marriage and divorce, issues relating to children, financial legislation , among others.

WHEN DID IT BECOME AN OFFENCE FOR A NIGERIAN CITIZEN TO EXERCISE HIS/HER FUNDAMENTAL RIGHT OF SPEECH OR OPINION? IS JUSTICE TANKO THE AUTHOR OF THE SHARIA LAW, WHICH WAS PRESCRIBED AS PANACEA FOR GOOD GOVERNANCE AND HAD BEEN IN EXISTENCE FROM THE TIME OF PROPHET MOHAMMED, FOUNDER OF ISLAM?

The CJN is a Muslim whose religion embraces the Sharia Law and has the fundamental right to express his opinion which did not contradict any extant law
From intensive and painstaking research – Sharia Law as practiced in Nigeria is LIBERAL and advocates good governance, sane society where rights and opportunities are apportioned in gender-friendly proportions to avoid infringements on any side.
The CJN believes that if Sharia Law was taught in Arabic instead of English at the tertiary level, the Muslim academia would be in better position to propagate the religious tenets adequately to reach out to more adherents across board.

Our research also clearly revealed that all tenets of the Islamic Faith, were geared toward social justice, equal life opportunities for all adherents and societies devoid of violence in all forms; but like in every society/community, some extremists or fundamentalist would step outside acceptable norms to oppose, disagree and kick against social and religious laws meant to ensure peaceful co-existence!


MUST ANYONE CONDEMN ANOTHER’S RELIGION IN A SECULAR STATE- ESPECIALLY WHEN IT DID NOT ADVOCATE VIOLENCE?
At XMAS, President Muhammadu Buhari condemned the gruesome murder through beheading of 11 Christian hostages, who were abducted in Bornu State, by a faction of the Islamist Boko Haram, fighting under the banner of Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP), which claimed retaliation for their leader who died during US raid in Syria in October, 2019!
Although ISWAP deliberately timed the senseless killings to coincide with Xmas to infuriate Christians with the intention to cause a religious war but, President Buhari pleaded with all Nigerians not to allow the dastard act to divide them as a united nation.


US PLACES NIGERIA ON “RELIGIOUS PERSECUTION” WATCH-LIST!
Shortly before Christmas, Friday 20th December, 2019, the US Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo, announced that his country has placed Nigeria on its Special Watch-List (SWL), of countries that engage in severe religious persecution!
What an irony of fate! The same US sent its troops to raid Syria in October 2019, killed scores of ISWAP leaders and their ranks only for the terrorist group to murder CHRISTIAN S in Nigeria at Xmas instead of attacking the US Military Base!
Wikitionary defines Islam as, “a monotheistic Abrahamic religion followed by Muslims that is based on the teachings of Muhammad and the Qur’an.”


CONTROVERSY OF SHARIA: SINCE 1999!
HOW MANY STATES PRACTICE SHARIA IN NIGERIA? ABOUT TEN.
ANY NEGATIVE IMPACT OF SHARIA LAW ON CHRISTIANITY OR OTHER RELIGIONS? NO OFFICIAL DOCUMENTATION.
HOW HAS SHARIA LAW FAIRED IN ZAMFARA, KANO & OTHER SHARIA STATES? NO PUBLIC RESISTANCE FROM MUSLIMS WHO ARE SUBJECT TO THE LAW!
NO RELIGION PREACHES VIOLENCE, discrimination, tribalism, hatred, nepotism, hate speech, intolerance, bigotry, etc, but LOVE!
CRITICS SHOULD NOT DISMISS THE MESSAGE AND THE MESSENGER WITHOUT VETTING THE AUTHENTICITY AND BENEFITS OF SUCH INFORMATION TO THE SOCIETY IN A DEMOCRACY SUCH AS NIGERIA, EVEN IF THEY WERE CONTROVERSIAL!
“Where no counsel is, the people fall: but in the multitude of counsellors there is safety.’’ (Prov 11:14)
I am, yours sincerely, Dr. David B.A. Olufon. 08130669886, 08098194390. 08080243066. G-mail- dvdolufon@gmail.com.

The critical mass of the so-derogated underclass and the seriously-poverty-stricken, Western education-disadvantaged Nigerians (about 80 million), are very current with trending news on the social and electronic media and could no longer be hoodwinked by dubious/greedy politicians in these trying times of our national history, because they had always been short-changed in spite of their constitutional superiority over and above those arrogant “representatives”!

THEY HAVE HEARD THAT THE SUPER-RICH LEGISLATORS (WHO SHOULD BE SERVANTS TO THE PEOPLE), LIVE LIFE OF OPULENCE, DRIVE POSH/EXOTIC CARS THAT COST NIGERIAN TAX PAYERS, A WHOOPING N55 BILLION NAIRA IN 2019, (WITH SIMILAR FIGURES IN THE PAST YEARS FROM 1999), DWELL IN PARADISE APARTMENTS/SUITES BOUGHT THROUGH THE BLOOD AND SWEAT OF THE TALAKAWAS WHOM PRESIDENT BUHARI VOWED TO SUCCOUR; ARE NOW BENT ON SPENDING ANOTHER N37 BILLION NAIRA TO RENOVATE THE NATIONAL ASSEMBLY COMPLEX WHERE THEY PERFECTED ALL DIRTY DEALS OF ANNUAL BUDGET PADDING TROUGH WHICH THEY PROCURE THEIR ILLICIT WEALTH! AND THE PEOPLE ARE ANGRY, VERY ANGRY, AND ARE DEMANDING REVERSAL OF THE NON-TRANSPARENT DEAL! Show me a Nigerian politician from 1999 till date, not puffed up for occupying transient position of office and authority having accumulated illegal lucre and illicit financial gains created through various loopholes in the military-crafted Constitution of the nation’s capitalist Presidential system of government which is expensive, wasteful and prodigious!


Check out the convictions of high-profile cases won in the courts and you will not be surprised to find scores of former GOVERNORS/POLITICAL APPOINTEES in the various Correctional Institutions in spite of long delays in jurisprudence which must fulfil the constitutional grace of “suspects being innocent until proven guilty” by competent courts of lawful jurisdiction! The anti-corruption war score-card released by the Minister of Justice and Attorney General, on Friday, 20th December, 2019, was quite impressive: 1,636 convictions including FOUR ex-Governors in prison, while 22 other governors are also under investigation for corruption!


SUGAR AND HONEY POLITICS IN NIGERIA!
Have we not consistently and persistently shouted to the whole world that Nigerian politics can be likened to SUGAR/HONEY that attract multitude of ants and flies because of their sweetened ingredients? WHY DID THE SOLDIERS OPT FOR THE PRESIDENTIAL SYSTEM AND THE SELF-ACCLAIMED DEMOCRATS WHO TOOK OVER FAIL TO CHANGE THE SYSTEM UNTIL NOW, 1999-2019? Why must Nigeria maintain a BI-CAMERAL Parliamentary arrangement which gulps almost half of every annual budget appropriations in CONCURRENT EXPENDITURE into to the bellies of those GLUTTONS?
Was it not high time we dispensed with 109 SENATORS and reduce the REPRESENTATIVES TO AN AFFORDABLE FIGURE OF 74 on part-time in this age of super Information Communication Technology (ICT)? How could a country which was battered through a self-inflicted “Biafra” 30-month Civil War (1967-1970), and was immersed in military dictatorship for almost 30 years, opt for the luxurious administration of reckless affluence that satiates only the politicians in the chaotic midst of a scotched/dry land which badly needed showers of economic blessings to comfort a people thirsty for better life and basic amenities of life? And why had the politicians who took over the mantle of leadership from 1999-2019, found it very difficult to draft a brand new people-oriented/friendly Constitution that would ensure prudent management of scarce resources, suitable to deliver dividends of democracy to the masses, instead of a “prodigious” (wasteful), presidential system which recklessly institutionalized corruption.

The psyche of the already traumatized poor Nigerians because of the unacceptable disparity of life between the insensitive politicians who daily flaunt the illicit wealth stolen from the common wealth unabashedly, should not be further bastardized by PLOUGHING N37 BILLION TO RENOVATE THE WALLS OF THEIR POSH OFFICES AND CHAMBERS INSTEAD OF RENOVATING THE SOULS OF THE TALAKAWAS WITH: Modern Health care facilities, Decent Houses to accommodate their families, Provide millions of employment opportunities for the jobless youths, women and able-bodied adults, Guarantee Free and compulsory education for all street children, Potable water in every home, Electricity power to boost the economy etc, etc.


PRESIDENT BUHARI SHOULD PROVE TO BE THE TRUE GAME-CHANGER!
During the recently-launched National Security Strategy Road Map,(3rd December, 2019), held at the State House, Abuja, National Security Adviser (NSA), Mohammad Babagana Monguno, described the Almajiri System prevalent in the North as a ”time bomb” but comforted his audience and Nigerians that a comprehensive approach had been devised in the document to address the ugly trend!

In an overview on the feasibility of the working document, he expressed genuine concerns that the out-dated system of education whose graduates constitute the bulk of about 10.5 million out-of-school street children in Nigeria, should challenge the nonchalant attitude of governments at all levels to redress the dangerous trend and assured that the newly-reviewed security strategy would take care of NOT only the nagging issue but also address POVERTY AND HEALTH CARE DELIVERY SYSTEM across the nation!

President Buhari promised in October 2019, to take 100 million Nigerians out of POVERTY IN TEN YEARS, but most people across the divide believed; that was “a tall order”, considering many militating -socio-economic factors – including but not limited to, regular deficit budgeting/budget padding, external borrowings/debt-servicing – but We believe it is achievable through frugal expenditures!


PRESIDENT BUHARI COULD NOT HAVE APPROVED N37BILLION NAIRA TO RENOVATE NASS WALLS? OR DID HE? HE MUST SPEAK OUT NOW!
The President was alleged to have approved the controversial N37 billion naira (US $100million dollars), to renovate the National Assembly Complex, which was initially constructed at a cost of N7 Billion naira in 1999! On Monday 16th December, 2019, a day before President Buhari signed into law the 2020 Budget, an excited Senate President, Ahmed Lawan, hinted that: “Mr Buhari approved the amount (N37billion), after lawmakers met with him to explain the poor condition of the legislature building in Abuja.
Between 2013 and 2017, the sum of N41.27,440 billion was approved by Federal Executive Council (FEC), for construction of Phase III Part III of NASS and upgrading of the two chambers and purchase of security equipment. Also in the twilight of President Buhari’s first term, the following monies: N874,000, N1,032 and N820,000 were disbursed to carry out sundry renovation contracts ranging from “Painting of Committee Rooms; Replacement of Address System in the Committee Room, to Supply and Installation of E-Parliament Software/Hardware etc which reeked of duplication, inflation/outrageous procurements and contract fraud!
Why is NASS building renovation a PRIORITY when the nation is burdened with so much DEBT? All of the above-listed expenditure totalling N3.4billion, was said to be balance of the controversial N10billion naira that former Minister of Finance, ‘Kemi Adeosun illegally released to the National Assembly! The sum of N6.6billion was allegedly spent on exotic cars by the legislators, according to a report released in 2018, s by the International Centre for Investigative Reporting, as published by Premium Times of 27th April, 2018 and 18th December, 2019, respectively. WE ARE NOT AWARE THAT THE PRESIDENCY HAS DENIED THIS DAMNING REPORT!


IS THE 9TH NASS A RUBBER STAMP? NO!
Whoever said that the Senate President and NASS were “RUBBER STAMP” to all Executive requests got it very wrong! The following activities before the D Day, 17th December, 2019, which debuted both the President’s 77th birthday and signing of the 2020 Budget into law should prove our point. President Buhari submitted the year 2020 Budget proposals totalling a sum of N10.3 trillion to a joint National Assembly (NASS), in September, 2019. The Senate jacked it up from N10.33 to N10.6 trillion with (N63.9 billion), which included the N37 billion for renovation of WALLS, surreptitiously inserted and the President could not withhold his assent to avoid the new Budget cycle period of January to December promised by Lawan and company from derailing! Has the crime of budget padding (which legislators always denied), not been committed by these 2019, “LEGISLATORS” again? Who are they representing, their pockets and families or “WE THE PEOPLE......” to whom they should be subservient? According to Lawan, FCT would carry out renovation through the FCDA; – But who will carry out the OVERSIGHT DUTY, where legislators have been alleged to regularly collect heavy BRIBES in other to look the other way? And the legislators are shamelessly defending their action for inserting the controversial amount in spite of negative foreign assessments with regards to Nigeria’s ratings as the nation with the worst index in corruption, poverty, under development, illiteracy, insecurity, human rights abuse, etc, etc!


INTERNATIONAL CENTRE FOR INVESTIGATIVE REPORTING SAYS N37BILLON NAIRA COULD BE BETTER UTILIZED AS FOLLOWS:
(1)Two Primary Health Centres each will be built across the 774 LGAs for N24.77billion at N16million naira each! (2) Twenty-one (21), Federal Teaching Hospitals will be equipped with Linear Radiotherapy Machines, for CANCER treatment (which are virtually non-existent compared to Nigeria’s population), for about N9.6 billion! Only FOUR tertiary hospitals are equipped!
The total cost of the above is N33.83 billion, leaving a balance of N3.17billon which can be ploughed into the Social Intervention Programme (SIP), to assist Small and Medium Scale entrepreneurs (SMSEs); At N500,000 NAIRA each, 834 beneficiaries will quit the labour market and at N250,000 each, 1.068, would have been established! THE APPROPRIATION OF N37BILLION NAIRA FOR THE UMPTEENTH RENOVATION OF NASS IS ANATHEMA – A MISNOMER WHICH MUST BE CANCELLED AND RE-ALLOCATED TO ALLEVIATE POVERTY!
Senator Ahmed Lawan who had been a legislator since 1999, should know better!

“There is a way that seemeth right unto a man; but the end thereof are the ways of death.” (Proverbs. 16:25). Merry Christmas and a prosperous New Year to our highly-esteemed readers and followers.


I am, yours sincerely, Dr. David B.A. Olufon. 08130669886, 08098194390. 08080243066. G-mail- dvdolufon@gmail.com.

The urgent need for religious synergy between all adherents as posited by both the Federal Government and the Nigerian Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs (NSCIA), could not have been initiated at a better time than now following the unholy move by desperate politicians who whipped up ethnic/faith sentiments to perpetrate mayhem among the diverse electorate for the purpose of victory at the recently concluded governorship elections in Kogi (North Central), and Bayelsa (South South)! Citizens of thirty-four States of Nigeria and security agents watched helplessly, hopelessly and in consternation as political gladiators in the two States engaged youth thugs in blood-spilling clashes that consumed the lives of about 17 people including an opposition female politician, who was burnt alive in her home, on the black Saturday (16th November, 2019), when the citizens should have voted peacefully to elect their preferred candidates!


The atrocities took religious and ethnic dimensions when most electorate rejected all electoral malpractices and refused to be cajoled into selling their votes for peanuts. The constitutionally-recognised and acclaimed “not-too-young-to-rule” youths in Kogi in particular, patrolled the streets in open vehicles, dressed in military camouflages and freely used dangerous weapons to harass, intimidate, maim, injure and kill their opponents unrestricted!
Before and after independence elections in Nigeria had always witnessed violence but must this civic obligation turn into a cycle of perpetual nightmare at every turn of electoral engagements?

At the National Executive Council Meeting of the NSCIA General Assembly held at the Abuja Central Mosque on Friday, 29th November, 2019, Vice President, Professor ‘Yemi Osinbajo, who declared open the 3-day event, commended the Council for promoting religious tolerance in Nigeria because it serves as an important intermediary between Muslim community and persons of other Faith.
The theme was the “Role of Islam In the Development of a Multi-Religious and Multi-Ethnic Nation.” Osinbajo was described by the Sultan of Sokoto as a pride to Nigeria.


ADVOCACY FOR A VIABLE PUBLIC THEOLOGY IS VERY APPROPRIATE NOW!
In the centuries before the two World Wars religious leaders could be said to have been very complacent in the demand for adequate social amenities for the masses – and globally they constituted part of administrative dereliction of socio-economic contract in that regard!

Roman Catholic Church (RC) was regarded as a State Institution and consecutive Popes as Heads of State were accorded with territorial powers plus the accompanying authorities and influences to administer their adherents in constitutionally demarcated areas allotted by the Italian Government according to the law!
Numerically RC is the largest body in the Christendom because its members (about 1 trillion), are found in every part of the world through full emancipation (1829), from politics and other disabilities they suffered in Britain from the time of the Reformation. RC claim Apostolic authority through the unbroken succession, going back to the Apostle Peter, though it had been virtually docile in respect of massive advocacy for social welfare reforms of the downtrodden world especially in Africa, Latin America, the Philippines etc.

A VOICE IN THE WILDERNESS!
However, history recorded the bravery of German Friedrich Gustav Emil Martin Niemoller, a soldier-turned protestant Lutheran Pastor and theologian (14 January 1882 - 6th March, 1984), who vehemently opposed the Nazi Regime STATE CONTROL of Churches and atrocities during the 1930s, and was imprisoned in Concentration Camps from 1938-1945, but narrowly escaped death! After his ordeal, he still regretted that he did not do enough to help Nazi victims (especially semites of Jewish origin), over 6 million, who perished in holocausts because he was deceived by Herr Adolf Hitler, the German maximum ruler who promised not to interfere with neither the Church nor the JEWISH population but later reneged! In his very famous poem reproduced below, Niemoller stated as follows:
“First they came for the Communists, and I did not speak out - because I was not a communist; then they came for the Jews and I did not speak out because I was not a Jew; they came for the Catholics and I did not speak out because I was not a Catholic; and, then they came for me - and there was no one left to speak for me.”

NOW, GLOBAL RELIGIOUS LEADERS INCLUDING NIGERIA AND THE DIASPORA ARE VEHEMENTLY SPEAKING OUT AGAINST BAD GOVERNANCE & BAD LEADERSHIP! THEY NOW CRITICIZE POLITICAL/ECONOMIC ISSUES AND ARE DEMANDING BETTER LIFE FOR THE MASSES! Niemoller has led the way and others have followed suit! Sultan of Sokoto is speaking out, the Emirs and Imams are all speaking out especially Abubakar Abdullahi of Plateau State, who saved the lives of over 200 Christians in his Mosque during the June 2018 religious clashes spoke loudly; Archbishop Matthew Kukah is speaking out, Apostle Suleiman, Pastor Adeboye, Bishops Oyedepo, Okonkwo and Praise etc, are also speaking out with one voice that all men (governments and the governed), MUST FEAR GOD AND OBEY HIS COMMANDMENTS!

ISSUES TO BE QUICKLY ADDRESSED! Are the religious leaders not all witnesses to global societal ills, inequity, injustice, unfairness, abuse of inalienable human rights; terrorism, brigandage, kidnappings, ethnic and religious conflicts, discrepancies of abundance and squalor, wealth and poverty, opportunities and disadvantages which have long pervaded all mankind? And should these abnormalities not prick even holy consciences? Challenges of homeless families which have become refugees, and Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs), have become common place due to maladministration by successive SIT-TIGHT government officials and legislators in developing economies which failed to provide basic social amenities of security, education, health facilities, employment opportunities, housing accommodations, portable water, pliable roads etc, to the citizens especially the majority youths, whom they claimed to represent in government!


THE ABSENCE OF CONSENSUS PUBLIC THEOLOGY IS THE MISSING LINK!
Nigerian leaders especially the crop of politicians who took over from the Military in 1999, have derailed in national conversation, instead of engaging in a rational discourse on the doctrine of Public theology, which is a common denominator to the masses peaceful existence – they chanted instead; Restructuring of Nigeria along the discarded regional system, clamoured for more States creation when majority of the present 36 were unviable, others agitated for State Police, Power sharing/Derivation formula, etc, etc. THE 2014 NATIONAL CONFERENCE WHICH GULPED OVER N8 BILLION OF NAIRA TAXPAYERS MONEY WAS BARE-FACED ROBBERY OF THE COMMON WEALTH BY THE PAST ADMINISTRATION OF EX-PRESIDENT EBELE JONATHAN!


What is public theology?
Public Theology (PTh.), is religious or faith engagement, discourse/dialogue with the larger society which is predicated on cordial relationship between God and His Creation! PTh. Is not a new concept at all, it has existed from the beginning human existence and it was convenient for the United States of America (USA), to imbibe the public theology culture into their public domain and concluded with this motto: “In God we trust.”
Should anyone still wonder why the US remains the “numero uno” (number one), world power nation in military prowess, nuclear armament, economy, politics, social welfare, modern civilization ...... all roads lead to God’s own country!

And what stops Nigeria and Nigerians from emulating the US and several other countries whose democracies have been very successful, lucrative and peaceful for centuries through an acceptable public theology.
NIGERIA DOES NOT HAVE A UNIFIED AND ACCEPTABLE PUBLIC THEOLOGY LIKE THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA! We do not have a deep and broad concept of what God requires of humanity in our public behaviour in a broken, divided and threatened world – but a cacophony of discordant voices which were always at dagger drawn! It is true that everyone has the consciousness of God in a unique way as the SUPERNATURAL ONE in charge of all signs and wonders that are visible in Creation but the most important question is, “What do we collectively believe about Him? According to Martin R De Hann II: “Beliefs are at the root of everything we do. Those beliefs may be unexamined, illogical and blindly tied to our desires. But they are constantly fuelling and shaping what we do. This is why the highest priority must be given to what we belief and why. Nothing can shape human character more than minds and hearts determined to think right about ourselves, our God, our lives and our relationships.”

CONCLUSION: All hands must be on deck: leadership & followership in religious, socio-economic, political and governance issues while greatest focus should be on protecting our human rights through God’s perspectives. This is our collective responsibility as a people and as a nation!
*POLITICS SHOULD BE MADE LESS ATTRACTIVE IN NIGERIA!
*THE SENATE MUST BE SCRAPPED BEFORE 2023 GENERAL ELECTIONS!
*THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES MEMBERS MUST BE PRUNED TO 74 ON PART-TIME!
*REMUNERATIONS OF ELECTIVE OR APPOINTED POLITICIANS MUST PEGGED TO RMAFC SALARY GRADES FOR ALL CIVIL SERVANTS!
“Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a reproach to all people!” (Proverbs. 34:14).
I am, yours sincerely, Dr. David B.A. Olufon,. 08130669886, 08098194390. 08080243066. G-mail- dvdolufon@gmail.com.

It is a fact that detractors of the All Progressives Congress (APC), ruling party will never admit that all positive results and claims itemized by the Federal Government in the three prioritized thrusts of the Change mantra of adequate security, war against corruption and the fight against insurgency were on course, but their mischief would not distort the glaring truth of those achievements within the period of the past four years!

Crimes and criminalities have reduced drastically, kidnappings, armed robberies, human trafficking, pastoral/farmers clashes, gunmen attacks, and Boko Haram terrorism onslaughts etc, have been contained to the barest minimum while the war against corruption has proved to be a respecter of no person or persons! A former Attorney General of the Federation, was recently arrested in Dubai in connection to fraud!

The Niger Delta insurgents have sheath their swords and have supported President Buhari to probe the over 1trillion naira, appropriated between 2005- 2019, to the Niger Delta Development Commission (NNDC), for strategic structural developments which could not be located anywhere in the region.
The Armed Forces, Police, Department of State Security and all stake holders in the fight against terror, including the local vigilantes in all the 774 local governments areas are all united to bring to a permanent end all manner of violence that have ravaged the nation for too long!
President Buhari and his genuine, original APC founding members from the Action Congress (AC), All Nigeria Progressives Party (ANPP), Congress for Progressive Change (CPC), (except for the New Peoples Democratic Party (N-PDP), who were mere opportunists and most of whom have been divinely jettisoned from the party), can now access clearly that those moles almost derailed the change agenda before! During and even after the 2019 General Elections! They defected en-masse to the PDP to consume their vomit but for divine intervention, APC still had the day up to the Supreme Court decision of Wednesday, 11September, 2019, which they still want reversed if possible!


A TIME FOR DRASTIC MEASURES!
We believe that the next 42 months should be the most crucial in the life of APC which revolutionized and overthrew the unrepentant vicious cycle of taskmasters of consecutive PDP Governments of 16 years, 1999-2015, but neither exhibited remorse nor penitence!
President Buhari needed to remind himself that it was providence that gave him another shot at the presidency on the FOURTH attempt in 2015, having contested fruitlessly 2003, 2007, 2011, respectively!
That his first term was a near disaster, because of a breach amongst his so-called close allies and an unfaithful inherited security agencies which could not even detect the “successful” National Assembly (NASS), coup de tat by Saraki and his cohorts which caught the nation agape, moping and embarrassed!
The success of the first term which witnessed a recession of three consecutive quarters, virtually slowed down the pace of achievements especially with the brazen confrontations of the notorious 8th NASS which represented a very nasty and clandestine opposition throughout its 48 months of atrocities against the ruling government, but were eventually surmounted through the special grace of God!
The President should remind himself that the remaining 42 months of this second and final months, could fly past in a twinkle of an eye if judicious care was not employed to work every SECOND of the hour for positive gains in all sectors of the common goal! HE SHOULD MAINTAIN THE PARTIAL BORDER CLOSURE UNTIL 2023!
President Buhari should realize that only few of his “associates” had similar ideologies and integrity like him because majority of them are political jobbers whose “modus operandi” is to follow the winning team irrespective of their clout!
He should remember that while he was on vacation recently, all manner of permutations in respect of the 2023 General Elections dominated the political space in his absence to suffocate him and Vice President ‘Yemi Osinbajo, and re-direct the tempo of governance in its determined focus to complete the agenda of its concrete manifestoes!
“Once beaten twice shy,” the President should not take the current 9th NASS Legislators on their face value and continue to sing their praises about being co-operative in their working relations with the Executive! It’s all farce! Each of them is after how much money they could garner between now and 2023, for them to remain relevant in the electoral race!
How many of the present crop of APC Legislators can be trusted to support him righteously in the execution of the 2018 Budget which is about to dovetail into the 2019 Appropriation Document which was submitted early to return the January to December Budget cycle? Has the President forgotten so soon that most of them ported to APC from PDP for position of authority and financial gains?
Recently the President, acting ICPC’s report that Legislators had been appropriated with 1 trillion naira worth of Constituency projects between 2011-2019, with no concrete project on ground to show to the grassroot and has called for probe. But the lower house has denied the allegation and claimed that he was misinformed because they were not contractors!
The President has few honourable friends among these mixed multitude and he should not allow them to derail his plans for the betterment of the TALAKAWAS whom he pledged to defend to the uttermost!


NIGERIAN LEGISLATORS MUST HANDS OFF CONSTITUENCY PROJECTS!
Some Nigerian Legislators always cast overboard constitutional financial procedures, when they were desperate to grab un-entitled monetary allowances from the common wealth irrespective of what the sacred document of the “WE THE PEOPLE” said! But there are certain facts that must be put in their proper perspectives to remind those set of politicians that they had long been exposed by one of them in 2016 for legislative pilfering outside of their legitimate salaries, allowances and emoluments under the cover of oversight functions of constituency allowances!
Reproduced below is the true confession of the then Chairman of the House of Representatives Finance Committee:
"HOW WE SHARED NIGERIA MONEY BY HON. Abdulmumin JUBRIN "I got N650 million as my running cost as the Chairman of Appropriation Committee. Speaker Yakubu Dogara got N1.5 billion, His Deputy Yusuf Lasun got N800 million. House Majority Leader Femi Gbajabiamila got N1.2 billion; Deputy Majority Leader Buba Jibrin got N1.2 billion. House Whip Alhassan Ado Doguwa got N1.2 billion, Deputy House Whip got N700 million. House Minority Leader Leo Ogor got N1.2 billion, Deputy Minority Leader Onyema got N800 million. Minority Whip got N700 million, Deputy Minority Whip got N700 million. I have documents to back up all these.
"TO ALL HONOURABLE MEMBERS HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES NATIONAL ASSEMBLY ABUJA.
My dear Colleagues, BURDEN OF PROOF OF EVIDENCE: RUNNING COST OF HONOURABLE MEMBERS OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES.
"I wish to draw your attention to the fact that since you suspended me yesterday and the suggestion of the Ethics Committee report that my allegations were generalized and without proof, I have come under intense public scrutiny and pressure to prove that there exists systemic corruption in the House. I have taken it as a responsibility to prove to the public that the House is a den of systemic corruption. As colleagues, I have bound with many of you and built a life long friendship. "I have some of you that I hold in high esteem. If you end up at the receiving end of the actions I will be taking up in the next few days, I want you to know there is nothing personal but commitment and fervent desire to ensure that corruption is wiped out of the House and reforms that will restore the battered image of the House and take back the House to the Nigerian people is implemented. Consequent upon the above and before I proceed with the aggressive steps I intend to take, I hereby DEMAND that if you have illegally taken or stolen any money meant for the RUNNING COST OF YOUR OFFICES FOR YOUR ENTIRE STAY IN THE HOUSE, YOU SHOULD RETURN THE MONEY WITHIN ONE WEEK TO THE CLERK OF THE NATIONAL ASSEMBLY AND FOR THE PURPOSE OF CLARITY, I AM REFERRING TO ABOUT 10 MILLION NAIRA YOU COLLECT FROM TAX PAYERS' MONEY MONTHLY. THE CLERK WILL PROVIDE YOU WITH OFFICIAL ACCOUNT DETAILS, FAILURE OF WHICH I WILL TAKE NECESSARY ACTION TO ENSURE THAT YOU RETURN ANY MONEY STOLEN AND STAND WITNESS AGAINST YOU IN CASE OF PROSECUTION.”
Abulmumin was promptly suspended from legislative sittings for one calendar year; he went to court, won the case he instituted against the House leadership, was paid all of his emoluments for the period lost and reinstated! Did that matter die a natural death? Of course, but the same House still challenges President Buhari to a CONTEST OF INTEGRITY!


REVENUE MOBILISATION ALLOCATION AND FISCAL COMMISSION SHOULD RESCUE THE MASSES FROM THIS BRAZEN ROBBERY!
According to the Chairman of the Revenue Mobilisation Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC), the wardrobe allowance of legislators is 25% of their basic salary which is N506,600 per annum not N17million or N20 million as was reported in the newspapers! We shall give Mr. Chairman benefit of the doubt but we urge the electorate to watch closely every move of these lawmakers, majority of who were used to collecting the quarterly jumbo Constituency Allowances, because we are now aware that the monthly pay packets of legislators in the green and red chambers are N1.8million and N2 million respectively which we believe are still on the high side! We will still continue to agitate and insist that legislative duties should be on part time engagement in which only sitting and transport allowances would be paid as at when due considering the socio-economic realities on ground!

MR. PRESIDENT HAS FEW FAITHFUL FRIENDS ON THIS LAST LAP!
This should serve as a faithful warning to President Buhari to depend on God’s wisdom on this last lap and not on charlatans who are bent on discrediting his cherished reputation and integrity. He should be more focused, cut down on foreign trips, listen to the suffering masses who still believe he could still resolve their predicaments! The President should ask his faithful Chief of Staff to bring out the barrage of petitions written by those who seek redress for several injustices of the past and present and grant them desired reprieve! President should live up to his name and leave behind a legacy that would be difficult to attain by those who would come after him! “A good name is rather to be chosen than great riches, and loving favour rather than silver and gold.’’ (Prov 22:1)

I am, yours sincerely, Dr. David B.A. Olufon. 08130669886, 08098194390. 08080243066. G-mail- dvdolufon@gmail.com.

Although, acts of harassment, intimidation, and assault of persons are listed as offences in the Electoral (Amendment) Act (No. 2), 2011 of Nigeria, the only female candidate, Natasha Hadiza Akpoti, in the Kogi State gubernatorial election which was concluded on Saturday, 16th November, 2019, tasted those bitter pills during the process that led to the re-emergence of the incumbent, Governor Yahaya Bello!

The print, electronic and social media were awash with the travails of Natasha, a legal practitioner and Social Democratic Party (SDP), candidate, [who strongly believed in gender equality and implementation of the 35 per cent Beijing Declaration of 1995 which advocates for stronger/effective female representation and participation in politics and governance], which began with the rejection of her candidacy by the electoral umpire, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), for fielding an under-age running mate.
A flurry of legal tussles had to be initiated by her team of lawyers for the Abuja Appeal Court to rule in her favour before her Party’s name and logo were restored on the ballot! She had to cross other hurdles which included but not limited to late electioneering campaigns for votes, mostly from her women folks and the Kogi Youths, who turned out to be both her albatross and worst nightmare!

On one occasion when she was billed to attend a stakeholders meeting with INEC, in Lokoja, the State capital, irate youths barraged her with unprintable verbal insults and physical attacks in the open glare of law enforcement agents, who (according to those reports), turned the other eye “even when she was assaulted and pushed to the ground!”
Before that show of shame, the SDP Secretariat in Lokoja , Kogi State Capital, was razed by unknown criminals, its party Chairman and driver were attacked and assaulted by thugs who inflicted head and body injuries which landed the duo in hospital, while the official vehicle in which they travelled was totally vandalized!


According to security experts, Kogi State, was one of about EIGHT flash points identified for electoral violence across Nigeria and for that uncharitable appellation, its entire topography of polling units was flooded with about 30,000 Police and Civil Defence personnel to ensure adequate law and orderliness, in the 3,000 polling units; but did the massive deployment achieve the desired results?


ANY SOLIDARITY FOR NATASHA BY KOGI WOMEN FOLKS?
It has been proven beyond reasonable doubt that Nigerian women are their own “household enemies”! When Mrs. Sarah Jubril, an articulate and eloquent woman activist/politician, in 2003, offered herself to run for the presidency, she was sneered by her women folk at the party primaries where she garnered no votes but hers! But, a determined Natasha has proved beyond all reasonable doubts that with the right environment women could conveniently be better leaders than the male chauvinists through her determination never to give up!
Nigerian women have the golden numerical advantage which they had obstinately failed to utilize to advantage over the years. Maybe they are satisfied to take the back seat in the KITCHEN but they needed to wake up and be their “sister keepers” because the digital 21st Century global village with its ICT Opportunities has provided great opportunities for the girl child and women to occupy the front seats in every endeavour of life without excluding the vulnerable “not-too-young-to-rule folks being used as criminals during electoral processes in Nigeria! The women, “as the hands that rock the cradle”, have proved to be better politicians, presidents, professionals, captain of industries, administrators, etc, in other climes!


NATASHA CALLS ON INEC TO CANCEL KOGI ELECTIONS!
Natasha stated that security situation during the Kogi election was very tense because criminals who were on a well coordinated rampage had free reign. SHE WAS CORROBORATED BY SOME FOREIGN OBSERVERS AND YAGA AFRICA, SAM ITODO’S UNBIASED LOCAL OBSERVER OUTFIT, AND HAS UNEQUIVOCALLY CALLED ON INEC TO CANCEL THE ENTIRE GOVERNORSHIP/KOGI WEST SENATORIAL DISTRICT ELECTIONS BECAUSE OF MULTIPLE FORMS OF MALPRACTICES AND VIOLENCE RECORDED IN ALMOST ALL POLLING UNITS! SHE CAME THIRD WITH 8,539, 000 VOTES!.


NIGERIAN WOMEN SHOULD SET UP A NATIONAL TRUST FUND (NTF)!
Women often complained about being unable to cope with the unwholesome trend of Nigeria’s money-induced politicking dominated by the male money bags! But have they ever thought of uniting to set up a National Trust Fund (NTF), which could be centrally administered to support the Amazons amongst them and beat the men folk to their game in the political turf?
NATASHA IS A WOMAN OF EXCELLENCE WHOSE POLITICS TRANSCENDS HER LOCALITY – SHE WILL SURVIVE ALL STORMS ANY DAY AND ANY TIME AND EMERGE STRONGER! WATCH OUT FOR NIGERIA’S FIRST FEMALE PRESIDENT IN THIS WOMAN OF INTEGRITY!


REPORTS ON KOGI AND BAYELSA ELECTIONS BY OBSERVERS!
Beginning with logistics, INEC endorsed Memorandum of Understanding (MOU), with transport owners since it lacked its own fleet. Late arrival of materials which delayed registration, accreditation and voting were recorded in both States but INEC claimed that 90% and 80% delivery of voting materials arrived in both States respectively, before 10am of 16th November, 2019, in spite of pockets of disturbances and violence, which led to the alleged death of three persons on 13th November, 2019, in Nembe, Bayelsa State, during an electioneering campaign.
INEC in a press release said that it was aware that there were pockets of violence, perpetrated through open vote buying, thuggery and ballot snatching. Police confirmed impersonation of security agents by criminals who dressed in camouflages and arrest of 21 persons including recovery of some quantities of live ammunitions. Where elections were disrupted, elections have to be cancelled and INEC would reorganize fresh ones according to extant laws, both the 1999 Constitution and Electoral Act. Political actors and politicians always dragged INEC to court even when they had no strong petitions. INEC has performed creditably but the stakeholders needed to avoid further disruption of elections in desperate manner, the agency advocated.

THERE WERE EARLY WARNINGS AND YET IN 20 YEARS OF DEMOCRACY, NEGATIVE INDICATORS STILL PREVAILED BEFORE EVERY ELECTION! PEACE ACCORD REPRESENTED MERE RHETORIC & FORMALITY! WHY WERE CRIMINALS ABLE TO CIRCUMVENT ABOUT 60,000 - STRONG SECURITY OUTFIT IN KOGI AND BAYELSA WHERE A NEW HELMSMAN, MR. DAVID LYON OF THE ALL PROGRESSIVES CONGRESS (APC), IS THE NEW SHERIFF?

SOLUTIONS: WAS IT NOT HIGH TIME ELECTRONIC VOTING SYSTEM (E- VOTING), WAS INTRODUCED BY LAW? IT IS POSSIBLE IF PRESIDENT MUHAMMADU BUHARI COULD MUSTER THE POLITICAL WILL WITH THE SUPPORT OF THE LEGISLATORS OF THE 9TH NATIONAL ASSEMBLY (NASS)! IN ADDITION, AN URGENT NEED FOR SERIOUS ADVOCACY FOR POLITICIANS TO DESIST FROM RESULTING TO ETHNIC AND RELIGIOUS SENTIMENT IN DESPERATION FOR VICTORY, SHOULD BE INITIATED BY THE RULING ALL PROGRESSIVES CONGRESS PARTY QUICKLY TO CHANGE THE VICIOUS CYCLE!

WHAT WENT WRONG IN KOGI AND BAYELSA, WITH SUCH MASSIVE SECURITY OCCUPATION?
How did 30,000 Security personnel fail in KOGI and a similar figure in Bayelsa could not be ON TOP OF THE SITUATION IN ONLY TWO STATES?
A serious conversation on the urgent need for the introduction of PUBLIC THEOLOGY for national discourse which MUST simultaneously dovetail into educational curriculum at all levels is most appropriate at this critical period of our political and electioneering architecture!
WE WILL CHAMPION THE ADVOCACY IN OUR SUBSEQUENT PUBLICATIONS! Electioneering bloodshed MUST be eradicated and it should be now! “A stitch in time saves nine!”



I am, yours sincerely, Dr. David B.A. Olufon. 08130669886, 08098194390. 08080243066. G-mail- dvdolufon@gmail.com.

The 60th anniversary celebration of WNTV, first Television Station in the continent of Africa on Thursday, 31st October, 2019, at Ibadan, capital of Oyo State, Nigeria, has no doubt ignited fresh hopes and enthusiasm that the age-long rating of prestigious/highly-rated profession of journalism now being threatened through the dissemination of fake news and hate speeches from the uncensored SOCIAL MEDIA portals could still be redeemed!

Of recent, disappointed and disgruntled politicians had taken to the social media to disparage all achievements of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), in the areas of security, economy and war against corruption, since 2015, through distortion of facts and figures on the social media where authors identities were hidden with pseudo names!
However it is gratifying that the present administration is very much alert to uncover the fifth columnists behind the clandestine moves and speedily bring them to justice according to the Minister of Information and Culture who took advantage of several fora to announce that the APC-led Federal Government, would not fold its arms and watch the unfolding scenario degenerate into chaos or anarchy!

ANTECEDENTS OF WNTV!
Corporate Western Nigeria Television (WNTV), the brain-child of late sage, Chief Jeremiah Oyeniyi Obafemi Awolowo, (GCFR), Premier of the then Western Region Action Group Government, which debuted on 31st October, 1959, shortly before Nigeria's independence in the following year, symbolized the patriotic capacity of a leader who strongly believed in the educational emancipation of the people as the greatest legacy that could be bequeathed to posterity! Before that epoch event, Chief Awolowo, an erudite lawyer, a great philosopher, an outstanding patriot and de-tribalized Nigerian, whose colossal image transcended his generation, had in 1955, introduced FREE PRIMARY EDUCATION for all residents in Western Region, irrespective of tribe, tongue, caste, place of birth, religion or region and today eminent and very successful Nigerians from all geo-political zones, who benefited from Pa Awolowo's educational largesse, have proudly broadcast his benevolence at every opportunity or occassion with much pride and well wishes to the memory of this great leader of all times!

WNTV was not only first in Africa, but a trail-blazer ahead of some European countries of Netherlands (1960), New Zealand (1960), Ireland (1961), China (1962), Malta (1962), Greece (1966), Canada (1967), Federal Government of Nigeria's NTA (1975); and it was not surprising that Vice President and other eminent dignitaries graced the symbolic august occasion in Ibadan, seat and headquarters of the station in Oyo State, In a tweet to commemorate the day, Vice President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Professor 'Yemi Osinbajo (SAN), reminiscence that exactly 60 years ago, late Premier of Western Region. Chief Obafemi Awolowo, then flanked by Governor General, Sir John Rankine, Chief Anthony Enahoro and Chief T.T. Solaru, formally entered the history books by inaugurating the Western Nigeria Television, first in Africa, adding, " we celebrate what is possible".

WESTERN NIGERIA TELEVISION (WNTV), AS AN EDUCATIONAL TOOL!
According to Wikipedia citation, WNTV was created as a partnership between the Western Regional Government and a foreign firm, Overseas Rediffusion and designed to be an educational tool for the masses and also a medium to beam local culture, foreign news/aims and objectives of government's social contract with the people in that region. It was also revealed that the, "Establishment of the station was enhanced by a Constitutional change which removed broadcasting from an exclusive item to a concurrent item and political resolution of the Regional Premier, Chief Obafemi Awolowo and the Regional Minister of Information, Chief Anthony Enahoro!" WNTV, later re-named Nigeria Television Authority (NTA, Ibadan), following its acquisition by the Federal Government which in 1975, established its network of TV Stations across Nigeria in a sweeping move to educate the entire population, was studded with well-qualified, well-educated, professional, articulate, sagacious and obsessively-patriotic journalists whose pedigrees and antecedents were unquestionable!

MUST LOFTY IDEALS OF GREAT MINDS BE RUBBISHED THROUGH FAKE NEWS, HATE SPEECHES?
These days, you don't have to be a trained journalist to express opinions, comments or publish your views in the print, electronic or social media in Nigeria because the existing internet platforms of the 21st Century are very porous and accommodative to all comers irrespective of low education, training or exposure! Prior to now, especially in the years preceding and few years into independence (1950-1966), the Nigerian Press enjoyed much respect and prestige because of the pedigree of practitioners, authenticity of news, quality of published articles, commentaries, documentaries and the richness of editorial opinions of that era.
Those were the hey-days of respectable media practitioners and great personalities like the late Herbert Macaulay, late Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe, late Babatunde Jose, late Anthony Enahoro, late Bisi Onabanjo, late Alade Odunewu, late Adamu Ciroma; Mrs. Theresa Ogunbiyi, octogenarian Lateef Jakande, Peter Enahoro, Sam Amuka etc, who all blazed the trail in professional and qualitative journalism of the 20th Century Nigeria! Those journalists of great repute articulated social engagements to inform, educate and entertain the citizens with vital information of government policies/activities as they affected them, demanded for accountability to the people because they were fearlessly to published the truth even in that colonial era!

HAS THE NIGERIAN PRESS GONE TO ROOST?
Now that that the nation has experienced 20 years of uninterrupted democratic governance, why is the Nigerian Media not on full throttle as the true Watchdog and defender of the defenceless citizens according to their constitutional obligations in Chapter II Section 22 & Chapter IV Section 39? The Nigerian Union of Journalists (NUJ), should carry out an urgent FORENSIC AUDIT to fish out not only MERCENARY journalists in their ranks, but also, FAKE broadcast, print or electronic media establishments which are being sponsored by drowning renegade politicians who were bent to destroy all economic gains of the nation because they were not in the saddle! The corporate media should realize by now through investigative engagements that its ranks have been infiltrated by mercenaries who work for the highest bidders to heat up the polity especially in the past FOUR years when failed politicians could no longer loot the TREASURY which they converted into Automatic Teller Machines (ATM), between 1999-2015! THEY ARE THE ENEMIES WITHIN - WHO TAKE ADVANTAGE OF THE UNCENSORED SOCIAL MEDIA TO PERPETRATE EVIL! THEY HAVE TO BE STOPPED!

NIGERIAN BROADCASTING COMMISSION (NBC) VERSUS AFRICAN INDEPENDENT TELEVISION (AIT)!
The Nigerian Broadcasting Commission (NBC), is the regulatory body of all broadcast establishments in Nigeria and since part of its responsibilities also include control and discipline of erring licensees of the broadcasting industry, it was high time sentiment was cast aside for the law to take its course against defaulters of the provisions of the NBC Act Cap N 11, Laws of the Federation of Nigeria and the broadcasting code! It is no longer secret that African Independent Television (AIT), and Ray Power, the twin broadcast stations, owned by PDP Chieftain, Raymond Dokpesi, had been arrowheads of reckless dissemination of fake news and hate speeches against the person of President Buhari, APC Leader, Asiwaju Ahmed Tinubu, during the events leading to the 2015 General Elections and thereafter till date and have refused to repent, because they have evaded requisite punishments that should have been meted to serve as deterrent to their ilk’s! In spite of the fact that TWO court cases against AIT were withdrawn by President Buhari and Chief Tinubu in 2016, the stations continued to heat up the polity through licentious broadcasts and on 6th June 2019, EIGHT days after the fresh second term mandate of the APC, the duo broadcast stations had to be shut down and suspended indefinitely from any form of broadcast in Nigeria! AIT in particular was defaulted for being partisan; airing an unprofessional presidential documentary of a matter pending before a tribunal, inability to pay its fees as at when due; and using divisive and inciting contents from the SOCIAL MEDIA!

URGENT MEASURES TO STOP THE MENACE!
WE suggest that because the broadcast stations have had previous opportunities to redeem whatever was left of their tainted image and had refused, fresh forensic investigation should be conducted by a combined synergy of the Nigerian Police Force (NPF), Director of State Security (DSS), and the National Intelligence Agency (NIA), to unravel if AIT & Ray Power were still not the brains behind the continuous torrents of FAKE NEWS AND HATE SPEECHES on the social media! Unlike WNTV, AIT/RAY POWER, which is just 25 years in existence, "is patently partisan - and, especially in the last two years - it decided to conduct its activities in a manner detrimental to national interest as if it was beyond regulatory direction of NBC by heating up the polity through the habit of using the channel to fight its personal battles contrary to the statutory requirements of the law" says the Commission. The NBC monitoring reports also claimed that the following divisive comments accredited to the segment of Kakaki, tagged "Kakaki Social", which were inciting were as follows:
(1) 'Nigeria is cursed', 'we declare independent state of Niger Delta', 'Nigeria irritates me', 'this country is gradually Islamising'; other similar slogans were also used without editorial control in breach of the broadcast code!
WAS THIS THE KIND OF FREE PRESS AND INDEPENDENT MEDIA THAT NUJ ADVOCATED FOR DURING THEIR MEDIATION OF REPRIEVE ON BEHALF OF AIT?

"When men are cast down, then thou shalt say, There is lifting up; and he shall save the humble person. He shall deliver the island of the innocent: and it is delivered by the pureness of thine hands." (Job. 22:29-30). THE MASSES MUST BE DELIVERED FROM THIS DELIBERATE AFFRONT OF AIT/ RAY POWER AGAINST THEIR FUNDAMENTAL RIGHTS TO RIGHTEOUS GOVERNANCE!


I am, yours sincerely, Dr. David B.A. Olufon. 08130669886, 08098194390. 08080243066. G-mail- dvdolufon@gmail.com.

[Lamentation Over Africa: Pride of the Black Race Across The Universe!]
Africa, O Africa! How have you fallen disgracefully to the ground?
From grace to grass in the miry clay to lose your prestige, albeit, first estate;
Through greed, thou wast ravished by strangers for filthy lucre,
Your children orphaned, scattered in White man's land;
Enslaved, disparaged, disillusioned; how did we get here?
Africa, O Africa! You must rise from the ashes, regain your pride of place!
It is not late, it will never be too late to regain lost ground!

Historians have failed to dispute the fact that civilisation was first noticed in the North Eastern part of your vast and richly-endowed landscape, before it debuted in other lands of Medieval/Modern Europe and your sister continents of Asia, the United States and Australia!
Geologists and anthropologists have proved that early artifacts of letterings, writings, sculptures of Africa, were found in its various countries not limited only to NE but also in the West's Nok culture, in Kaduna, North Central Nigeria - notable for Iron deposits and a population named after the Ham Village of Nok; also gold/tin mineral deposits in Zamfara, North West; works of art, architectural designs/constructions, metal works, canals for waterways, artesian wells, the pyramids, mausoleums, etc, were commonplace in Alexandria, Egypt's southern coast of the Mediterranean Sea; Philistia (present day Palestine), which had rich deposits of lime, chalk and alluvial deposits from streams; not forgetting the mineral resources of the Lebanon Region, the Transjordan and the Dead Sea (an inland body of water, 50 miles or 80.46 km. long and 10 miles or 16.093 km. wide), full of very rich mineral deposits; Mesopotamia (Western Asia), within Rivers Tigris Euphrates waterways, and Democratic Republic [DR] Congo (formally francophone ZAIRE), is one of the richest countries in natural resources with untapped deposits of raw materials estimated to be worth in excess of US $24 trillion dollars), in Central Africa, etc, etc.!
QUESTION 1: What happened to your arable agricultural lands/ farms produce, animal husbandry projects, abundant milk, fura de nunu, green vegetables, peppers, tomatoes; cotton/jute industries, large stocks of timber woods, merchandise of gold, expensive ornaments and vestures; innumerable natural mineral deposits of iron, steel, copper, silver, uranium, deposits of lime and chalkalluvi etc, the sea/faring ships and your daring voyagers?
QUESTION 2: How did you suddenly become the most-backward continent among the rest, that you now have to go cap in hand to beg for virtually all the basic amenities of life from UK, USA, EU, CHINA, JAPAN, GERMANY, ARAB NATIONS, G8, G7, COUNTRIES, etc, and now RUSSIA in spite of your enviable tropical sprawling lands that enjoy abundant sunshine and rainfalls at their unfailing seasons?
QUESTION 3: Why would you be described as backward, poor, illiterate, raw, uncouth, unhealthy, UNDER-developed despicable etc?
QUESTION 4: Why do you catch cold each time one of these advanced countries sneezed?
QUESTION 5: Do you know who or where the next Summit will hold? - Maybe on the MOON?
QUESTION 6: How did you get to this harrowing level to BEG for their workforce to come and build your strategic structures, bridges, hospitals, refineries dams and for their finances to feed your children?
QUESTION 7: Don't you have your own AFRICAN workforce? How would you expect them to transfer their technology/intellectual property to YOU? Don't you have any shame? Have you ever thought of technology acquisition?

ALL 55 AFRICAN UNIONS (AU), COUNTRIES ARE FREE - AREN’T THEY?
The United States of America fought bitter wars to become the greatest global economy, China did the same and the Russian Revolution of 1917 open rebellion, succinctly supported by the armed forces against the ruling overlords headed by strings of very powerful and domineering TSAR title holders, brought to an end bad governance and ushered in "communism" - the doctrine of commonness, i.e., common ownership of all property which progressed gradually from 1917 into revolutionary socialism which was based on the writings of Karl Marx - a German social economist of Jewish origin whose ideologies also influenced governments of Poland and China! All EU Countries have gained independence in similar fashions - not on a platter of gold, - but unlike their Asian, European or American counterparts, their leaders adopted neo-colonialist attitudes of illegal acquisition of wealth/properties to the detriment of the masses of freedom fighters - many of who lost their lives in the process!

BUT THE EQUATION MUST CHANGE NOW! AFRICANS WILL EAT WHAT THEY GROW; WEAR THEIR MANUFACTURED CLOTHES; DWELL IN HOUSES THEY BUILT; AND RIDE IN CARS & TRUCKS THEY CONSTRUCTED! THEY MUST SHUT THEIR LAND BORDERS LIKE CHINA IN THE YEARS OF STUBBORN PATRIOTISM, AND ACHIEVE ALL-ROUND SUFFICIENCY, IF NEED BE!

The 21st Century stampede by World Powers for the abundant natural resources massively studded in the belly of Africa is reminiscent of the MAD GOLD RUSH of 19th Century which swept through Continents of Australia/United States; New Zealand, Brasil, Canada and South Africa! In the 15th Century, before World War I, the civilized World powers described Africa as a DARK CONTINENT, because little was known of its interior as British and Portuguese seamen and explorers only established trading ports around the coastal areas especially of the Cape of Good Hope, in South Africa!

Now in the 21st Century, swarms of expatriate geologists, economists, industrialists, engineers, scientists, technologists, information communication experts, technocrats, portfolio investors etc, are clustered in the 53 African nations determined (this time around), to "legitimately" explore, exploit and harness the immense mineral resources outside of CRUDE OIL, and all economic opportunities available within the bowels of black continent! Of the Seven geographic global continents, AFRICA, is the most divinely-blessed with the greatest number of natural resources and also the most-endowed with friendly climatic condition, predictable weather and virtually devoid from all ecological calamities/disasters that beset Asia, Europe, United States like, devastating landslides, earthquakes, storms, tornadoes, tsunamis; massive forest fires, etc, constitute regular affront to safety of lives and properties in those continents!

Therefore, the alien invasion/aggressive occupation from Cape to Cairo; Freetown to Addis Ababa; DR Congo to Libya, etc, by G8, G7 and EU entrepreneurs, including the United States, the Asian Tigers (China, Japan, Koreans etc,), and now, the re-entry of the RUSSIAN FEDERATION, in all areas of trades, industries, manufacturing, and investments especially is therefore not surprising, cannot be overemphasized, nor wished away!
Most prominent among the contestants are the United States (acknowledged as the global economic giant), the Socialist Republic of China, ( the second largest economy after the US), and now the Russian Federation, just concluding, "The Russia African Summit", held at Sochi, and attended by over 50 African Presidents/Head of States, including Nigeria's Muhammadu Buhari.


RUSSIA,S PRESIDENT VLADMIR PUTIN IS A MAN TO WATCH VERY CLOSELY!
In some bi-lateral agreements with Nigeria, Mr Putin will ensure completion and commissioning of the AJAOKUTA STEEL ROLLING MILLS, which construction began in 1979, but aborted along the line by a Russian outfit! He will support war against crime, corruption, insurgency, supply Nigeria with military weapons to end Boko Haram terrorism etc, etc, improvement of the Oil Sector through upgrading NNPC Refineries and a Russian-based Oil & Gas Company, and to develop Nigeria's gas facilities. Russian engineers will build and deliver the 1,400 km. railway line from Lagos-Calabar and construct NUCLEAR PLANT for Nigeria which should start immediately and also renew Nigeria-Russia military cooperation, not forgetting collaboration in Security, Education and Agriculture, according to the deals!


ONCE BITTEN, TWICE SHY!
Since the USSR was voted out by the Supreme Soviet on 26th December 1991, and its 8th and last President Mikhail Gorbachev, resigned about 26 years ago, the Russian Federation had remained s shadow of itself and could only play the opposition in global security affairs with whatever remained in its arsenal! Current President, who had made all of the above promises is a man to monitor very closely because he had been involved in many controversies across the globe –
He was fingered in some expansionist ambition both in Poland and Ukraine through renegade Russian soldiers;
Accused of masterminding the shooting down of a Malaysian Airline Flight 17 (MH17), commercial aircraft Boeing 777 - 200 ER from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur, on over the Eastern Ukraine/ Russian border -283 passengers and 15 crew were killed in that horrible incident, but President Putin denied any involvement!
He was also accused of collaborating with Turkish rebels who tried unsuccessfully in the state capital, Istanbul, to oust President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in July 2015; he also denied; and
President Putin's Russian army, was also deployed to support the oppressive government in Syria, headed by Bashar Al - Assad since the beginning of the Syrian conflict 2011 - with at least 400,000 death recorded as at 2016!


ALL OTHER CONTINENTS PUT TOGETHER NEED AFRICA MORE THAN AFRICA NEEDS THEM!
It is most gratifying to note that these developed nations have realised that they could no longer stand aloof and dismiss Africa as a DARK CONTINENT or under-developed, when their industries could actually run aground without continual replenishment of their warehouses from the inexhaustible natural mineral endowments that abound all over the blessed lands!

Prior to this period of economic advancement, the British and French Administrations took early steps to secure sovereignty over their colonies in Africa shortly after World War II, for three strategic reasons:
To assert authority as colonial masters;
To protect the colonies from unforeseen invasion;
To grow their economies which were severely devastated through wars, with natural mineral /agricultural deposits that were in excessive abundance in those colonies!
They adopted a very simple strategy through language diplomacy which encouraged closer affinity and were so classified as Anglophone/Francophone Colonies until the attainment of self-rule or independence!

A cursory glance at the map of Africa will reveal startling facts that virtually all countries of the black continent were at one time or the other (apart from Ethiopia and Liberia), colonized/enslaved by some superior forces! Their fears were not misplaced after all in view of the present trend of the economic battle for the SOUL OF AFRICA - but this time around, MUST not be by foreign predators or taskmasters, BUT by equal project partners working together to achieve mutual economic goals beneficial to both sides.

Nigeria' foreign policy of non-alignment since independence would surely give the nation a comfortable leverage to chose its friends or allies with the good leadership already exhibited by MR. INTEGRITY, President Muhammadu Buhari! "A stitch in time saves nine"!


I am, yours sincerely, Dr. David B.A. Olufon. 08130669886, 08098194390. 08080243066. G-mail- dvdolufon@gmail.com.

Antagonists who believed that Nigeria's 2020 Budget and subsequent ones would be very difficult to implement, have hinged their unfounded fears/arguments on three planks, that unless issues of debt management: i.e. external indebtedness/debt servicing, internal borrowings and the controversial petroleum products subsidy, are completely resolved favourably, the country might encounter another economic recession, whereas, these challenges have been adequately addressed in the Mid- Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF), and the annexed Financial Document, which were submitted earlier by Executive to the National Assembly!

The Federal Government is aware that all of the budgets from 2019-2023, MUST serve as legal testaments that MUST be cast in iron to prove the credibility of the Change Administration of EIGHT consecutive years, because 2015-2018 budgets had served as the FOUNDATION STONES on which APC's legacies MUST be solidly built for posterity to judge the administration of the man who contested FOUR TIMES to occupy the much-coveted seat of the President and Commander-In-Chief of the Federal Republic of Nigeria - the man, Muhammadu Buhari, GCFR!

For the painstaking an discerning minds, the contentious issues which were meticulously addressed even when the Minister of Finance, recently addressed the media in respect of the breakdown, should no longer attract any further condemnation because Internally-Generated-Revenues (IGR's), should exceed budget assumptions especially as the crude oil bench mark at US$60 dollars and the Nigerian Customs Service, with the advantage of the closed borders should rake in higher quarterly revenues (which stood at N 311.2 billion, as at the end of the First Quarter of 2019), while Onne Port, Area 2 and Tin Can Island Port Commands have also reported a total of N81.1 billion naira, and N78.8 bn respectively (as at the end of the First and Third Quarters of 2019, respectively), to reduce the impact of debt-servicing and borrowings and mitigate deficits!
It is also very important to note that exploration, exploitation and extraction of the natural mineral deposits (available in large quantities in all States of the Federation), are being aggressively addressed and intensified by both the Federal and State Governments and through a concerted effort of bringing everybody (the locals and their foreign partners on board), revenues from this Sector, would exceed that of Crude Oil, in a very short while!
Fuel subsidy would eventually be cancelled when:
The nation is flooded with Refineries and petroleum products were no longer imported;
All forms of oil bunkering eliminate;
Road networks across the nation are in perfect conditions;
Public transportation of air, rail, roads and water ways are modern and digital like in other climes between 2019 and 2021.

DID NIGERIA BORROW MORE IN THREE YEARS THAN IN 30 YEARS?
It is not true that Nigeria borrowed more in the last 3 years than it did in 30 years! That must surely be part of the grand plan to discredit the Change Administration because, the nation's new attempt at democracy is only 20 years now -1999-2019!
Between 1999-2005, Nigeria's total foreign debt was US$35.916 billion when ex-President Obasanjo, successfully negotiated with the PARIS CLUB CREDITORS, to pay back in monetary transaction - the sum of US$18 billion dollars while the rest was forgiven? When Obasanjo exited office in 2007, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), held sway as the ruling party and accrued fresh debts to the tune of US$63.806 billion dollars by 2015, when it handed over to the APC which won the Presidential election! Nigeria's total foreign debt as at March, 2019, was US$ 68.4 billion dollars and nominal GDP reached US$114 billion dollars as at June, 2019!

Is the ruling party borrowing to pay salaries? No! All borrowings are channelled towards CAPITAL PROJECTS/INFRASTRUCTURES that are people-oriented and are identifiable unlike what transpired in past administrations!
It is a welcome development that the President had ordered a probe into the accounts of NNDC which had gulped trillions of naira from 2001-2018, with barely any tangible infrastructures to show for it!

THE TRUTH ABOUT NIGERIA'S DEBT BURDEN & EARNINGS!
Vice President, Prof. 'Yemi Osinbajo, said on 27th October, 2018, Nigeria's debt was US$73 billion dollars - a $N10 billion dollar increase from the N63 billion dollars, the APC Administration inherited in 2015, at the 9th Public Lecture of Sigma Club, at the International Conference Centre, University of Ibadan, South West, Nigeria. He further said that the nation's debt in 2010, was US$ $35bn dollars; 2011, $41 bn dollars; 2012, $48bn dollars; 2013, $64 bn dollars; 2014, $67.7bn dollars; 2015, $63.8bn dollars; 2016, $57.8bn dollars; 2017, $70bn dollars; 2018, $73 bn dollars!


UNDISPUTED EARNING FIGURES DURING THE OIL-BOOM ERA ARE AS FOLLOWS: 1990-1998, a period of 8 years, $119.8 bn dollars; 1999-2009, a period of 10 years, $481bn dollars; and 2010-2014, a period of 4 years, $381bn dollars! Total earnings by PDP Administration between 1999-2015, was, US $ 862bn dollars in 16 years!

OUR POSTULATION: MULTIPLY US$ 862 bn dollars with an aggregate forex rate of N160 naira per dollar and get a whooping N137.920 trillion! DIVIDE this figure by 16 and get N8.62 trillion per annum earning, while annual BUDGET ASSUMPTIONS, never exceeded N4.5 trillion ($22.6 bn dollars), as per the 2015 Budget figures submitted to the National Assembly by ex-President Ebele Jonathan, before his exit! NOW, DEDUCT N4.5 trillion naira from N8.26 trillion, you get a balance of N4.21 trillion!! FELLOW NIGERIANS, WHERE DID THE MONEY DISAPPEAR? IS THE 3-YEAR-DEBT OF BUHARI MORE THAN THE 30 YEARS DEBTS OF THE MILITARY JUNTA/PDP PUT TOGETHER? YOU BE THE JUDGE!

OUR RECOMMENDATIONS: BLOCK ALL WASTAGES IN BOTH THE EXECUTIVE AND THE LEGISLATURE!
News have it that the President is taking measures to look into areas of wastages in government, beginning with the dispensing of ESTACODES (foreign exchange allowances paid to top public officers who travel overseas for official duties), many of who travel Business Class, which ripped off government coffers in millions of US dollars annually! Mr. President should not scratch the surface of the War Against Corruption in this SECOND AND LAST TERM, but ensure to keep his integrity intact by going the whole hog!

He should beam his searchlight on the following areas of wastages/leakages urgently:
All bogus, humongous, fraudulent allowances by the TWO ARMS - especially the LEGISLATURE! N5.5 billion for legislators exotic vehicles MUST be stopped - they should purchase locally- manufactured vehicles from INNOSON MOTORS!
Budget padding MUST not be allowed - not ever again - enough is enough! HOR Member Jibril Abdul Mumini's confessions of this heinous crime by the citizens representatives are still in the public domain!
ONE LEGISLATURE IS SUFFICIENT FOR NIGERIA! - (a) We members of the editorial board of the Zion B-BC Newsletter began the campaign and advocacy since 2013, and we have never stopped whoever cared to listen that, parliamentary duties should NOT only be on PART-TIME but that each State of the Federation and the FCT, should produce TWO representatives each - totalling 74 Certified Citizens, who would distinguish themselves righteously!
THE SENATE MUST BE SCRAPPED! It is long overdue for the upper house of the NASS to be locked and its keys thrown into River Niger! Nigeria's Senate of the of the FOURTH REPUBLIC from 1999, had served - with very few exceptions - as a CONFLUENCE OF GREEDY POLITICIANS (discredited ex-governors, expired civil servants, ex-Commissioners/Ministers, political jobbers, etc), who are sworn enemies of downtrodden masses who neither voted for them nor were even aware of their representation, to date!
Apart from a regular annual N150 billion for their allowances, they would always manoeuvre the Constitutional duty of oversight to corner huge sums of money as CONSTITUENCY ALLOWANCES illegally to swell their insatiable appetites for the love of money at the expense of the masses who die every day in the hands of terrorists, bandits, kidnappers, armed robbers etc, and always had the guts to label Nigeria as the poverty capital of the world with 100 million who could hardly afford a meal per day, over 60% youth unemployment, over 13 million out-of-school children who roam the streets etc!

THE ADVOCACY IS GAINNING MOMENTUM! The argument that the President could not wake up one morning and annul the Sections of the Constitution that established the SENATE is very untenable! HOW LONG DID IT TAKE THE 7TH/8TH NASS TO PASS ABOUT 48 BILLS WHEN IT WAS CONVENIENT TO FAKE LEGISLATIVE PERFORMANCES? ANSWER: ONE DAY!!

President Buhari MUST make the bold move with the support of all patriotic citizens, send an EXECUTIVE BILL FOR THE SCRAPPING OF THE SENATE LIKE HIS SENEGALESE COUNTERPART WHOSE COUNTRY IS NOT FACING EMBARRASSING FOREIGN DEBTS and whose country is relatively at peace with a virtually contented citizenry! IF LEGISLATORS would not co-operate, the President could call for a REFERENDUM TO DECIDE THE ISSUE ONCE AND FOR ALL!

We are sure that all monies that would be saved from wastages from all of the above sources would be more than sufficient to take care of all INDEBTEDNESS, place Nigeria on a very sound economic footing and NIGERIANS WOULD DEFINITELY FORGET THE PAST, MOVE FORWARD AND SUPPORT LEADERS WHO WOULD EMERGE AS HEROES OF THIS OVERDUE PURGE OF A CORRUPTED NATION!
LET IT BE KNOWN TO ALL ELECTED POLITICIANS, POLITICAL APPOINTEES AND PUBLIC OFFICER- ESPECIALLY THE PROFESSIONAL CIVIL SERVANTS, THAT NO ONE WILL BE ABLE TO STEAL ONE KOBO FROM THE TREASURY SINGLE ACCOUNT (TSA), BECAUSE ALL EYES ARE FOCUSED TO MONITOR, LIKE THE CCTV CAMERAS, & ENSURE THAT ALL DEPOSITS/WITHDRAWALS WERE LEGAL AND THAT NO ILLEGAL TRANSACTIONS WOULD EVER BE ALLOWED!
‘’And five of you shall chase an hundred, and an hundred of you shall put ten thousand to flight: and your enemies shall fall before you by the sword’’ (Lev 26:.


I am, yours sincerely, Dr. David B.A. Olufon. 08130669886, 08098194390. 08080243066. G-mail- dvdolufon@gmail.com.

The 2020 Budget of Sustaining Growth and Job Creation was not so christened just for the sake of grammatical expression nor for appending a nomenclature but was a deliberate thought that speaks volumes of its righteous intentions to succour all patriotic citizens who must now enjoy sure dividends of sound democracy!

In four years and four months of the Change mantra, the nation went through the travail of the gold, silver or precious stone that must be baptized by the fuller's furnace to discard all dross in other to come out shinning and attractive for more valuable commercialization!

Going down the memory lane from 2015 when there was a change of guards, Nigerians cannot easily forget the chaotic social insecurity, an economy at the brink of recession coupled with an almost empty treasury that was bequeathed to the victorious All Progressives Congress (APC), which won the general elections in spite of the advantageous power of incumbency of 16 years by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP)! Nigerians bore the pains and pangs during those years of economic hardship coupled with large scale insecurity which escalated with Boko Haram insurgency/terrorism in the North East, herdsmen/farmers clashes in the North Central and all forms of crimes and criminalities especially kidnappings across the nation AND still voted for continuity because they believed in the sincerity and faithfulness of the incumbent captain of the ship!
At several stages, the people had to bear scarcity of petroleum products - premium motor spirit (petrol), and kerosene, which became incessant an unbearable until the pump price was raised from N87.00 to N145.00 and did not protest - even when the organised labour incensed them; because of a determined resolution to support the new administration to block all loopholes created through the notorious and very infuriating scam called, "petroleum subsidy"! The President said at the 2020 Budget Presentation that good governance, inclusive growth and collective prosperity could only be sustained in an environment of peace and security. We could not agree more!

ECONOMIC PALLIATIVES IN THE 2020 BUDGET FOR ALL PATRIOTIC CITIZENS!
The 2020 Budget is the panacea to those several years of sufferings as it will provide the following palliatives:
Unlimited opportunities for all farmers, industrialists, manufacturers to freely sell their products - locally and internationally since local borders closure had provided the leverage! Prior to this period, the Nigerian market had been suffocated with foreign agricultural produce/goods from neighbouring West African countries to the detriment of Made-In-Nigerian products!
All farm produce and locally-manufactured products will continue to be exempted from the Value Added Tax (VAT), regime - which percentage should not be increased but closely monitored by faithful/righteous personnel with integrity.
The very rich and affluent should be made to pay more tax to alleviate poverty from the land!
The CBN cashless policy/banks charges and commissions should maintain status quo MUST not affect deposits/withdrawals of the 40% bank-friendly citizens to avoid heavy deposits in SEPTIC TANKS!
Education/Health's seemingly low appropriations will receive greater boost through allocations to Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC), and Basic Health Care Provision Fund (BHCPF), aside of their N48 billion/N46 billion, budget figures, and in true perspectives, these headings are not the exclusive responsibility of the Federal Government, which takes care of only TERTIARY LEVELS while the 774 Local Government Areas, the 36 STATES of the Federation and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), take care of the PRIMARY & SECONDARY levels of Education/Health!
All ongoing capital projects (roads, bridges, etc,), will be prioritized and completed while it is planned that 16 roads and bridges would be added to existing ones to boost transportation of agricultural products from the rural to urban markets in commercial acceleration for gains and profits!
Outside of income (direct/indirect), taxes, government would lay greater emphasis on Internally Generated Revenue (IGRs), from agriculture, solid minerals, tourism, film industry etc, while it is strongly believed that the status quo of 5% VAT which would accrue at least a whooping N 4.7 trillion, (at GDP's 78%-80% of consumption expenditure), or more, if properly monitored by righteous agents of government, be maintained for sure results.
A general overview of the budget of Sustaining Growth and Job Creation reflects a determination by government to build on existing gains of the 1.9% economic growth and further reduce inflation rate to the barest minimum because its appropriation was evenly spread to touch all aspects of the mandatory social-economic activities of the people and simultaneously inculcate the culture of patronage of local products!


PDP CONTRACTED ECONOMISTS & SENATE MINORITY LEADER CONDEMN 2020 BUDGET!
But the PDP opposition detractors and their hired economists had never stopped to condemn the best of APC policies, and the 2020 Budget was not an exception!
They believed that the new budget was incompetent because debt servicing had swallowed one quarter of N10.33 trillion; that a large chunk would also go into recurrent, without considering the inclusiveness of the approved N30, 000, National Minimum Wage; while they also condemned the N2.4 trillion which would be borrowed to fund part of the budget assumptions - when compared with the 2019 figures! They also criticized the N3.32 billion allocated for foreign/local travels for the President and his Vice, which they believed was on the high side forgetting the high premium benefits that have accrued over the years to establish Nigeria as the economic destination of both Africa and the world!
Debt servicing/finance borrowing is global trend as no country, not even the United States of America, can even be self-sufficient without borrowing! For instance, the US Federal Budget deficit for fiscal year 2020, is $1.10 trillion, which occurred because government spending of $4.75 trillion, is higher than its revenue of $3.65 trillion! According to the report, US Fiscal Year 2019 Budget created a $1.09 trillion deficit!


BUHARI IS DETERMINED TO RESTORE BUDGET CYCLE!
UNTIL Tuesday 8th October, 2019, when President Buhari presented the earliest annual budget in recent times to the joint session of the 9th National Assembly (NASS), his APC Change Administration, found it very difficult to revert to the constitutional budget cycle of January to December calendar, courtesy of an inherited unfaithful Civil Service and an inordinately ambitious hostile Legislature which held sway between 2015-2019!
Apart from a total sum of N8.156 trillion estimated as IGRs in 2020, a finance Bill which proposed the controversial increase of VAT from 5%-7.5%, was also attached to the budget proposal on the assumption that a revenue estimate was expected from that source to partly fund the 2020 Budget.


FRESH COLLABORATION BETWEEN THE EXECUTIVE AND LEGISLATURE!
The two chambers have swung into action and are currently discussing the general principles of the 2020 Budget assumptions and would soonest, commence a second reading before breaking into Committees which will then invite officials of Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs), to defend the figures appropriated to them!
They have also promised the nation that, by the special grace of God, they would complete all deliberations on the new budget and pass it before they proceeded on break in December in order to restore the constitutional budget cycle of January to December!


IMPORTANT HIGHLIGHTS OF THE 2020 BUDGET ASSUMPTIONS!
Total budget estimate is, N10.33 trillion or US.$33.8 billion dollars;
Capital expenditure, N721.33bn, which is 23% less than 2019 allocation;
Internally-generated Revenue (IGR), N8.155 trillion, to comprise (a) oil revenues, N2.64 trillion; (b) non-oil tax revenues of N1.81 trillion, plus other revenues of N3.7 trillion;
Debt Servicing, N2.45 trillion, about one quarter of the total budget;
Economic Growth of 1.9%.
Oil Benchmark: US$57 dollars per barrel;
Daily Oil Production, N2.18 million barrels per day (mbpd);
Foreign Exchange Rate, N305 naira per US dollar and
Budget deficit is projected at N2.18 trillion,


Others are, STATUTORY TRANSFERS: NASS, N125 billion; Judiciary, N110 billion; North East Development Commission (NEDC), N110 billion; Basic Health Care Provision Fund (BHCP) N44.5billion; Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC), N11.79 billion; Niger Delta Development Commission, N80.88 billion (now under the supervision of the Ministry of the Niger Delta Affairs.

NON-DEBT RECURRENT EXPENDITURE: Personnel Costs, N3.6 trillion, an increase of N620.28 billion over 2019 Budget - to cater for the new national minimum wage as well as for an improved welfare package to the Armed Forces and Police; and an Overhead Costs projected at N462.6 billion.

CAPITAL EXPENDITURE: Capital projects were allocated N2.46trillion ( which embodied Statutory Transfers of N318.06 billion), but at 24% of aggregate expenditure, this provision falls short of the 30% recommended in the ERGP of 2017-2020. Other key capital expenditures include but not limited, to: Works and Housing, N262 billion; Power, N127 billion; Transportation, N123 billion; Defence N110 billion; Water Resources: N82 billion; Agriculture & Rural Development, N83 billion; Interior, N35 billion; Zonal Intervention Projects, N100 billion; Social Investment Programmes, N30 billion; Federal Capital Territory (FCT), N28 billion; Industry Trade and Investment, N40 billion; etc, etc.
WILL THE NEW NASS BE A RUBBER STAMP IN VIEW OF PROMISE TO RE-ACTIVATE BUDGET CYCLE? NO! BECAUSE GBAJABIAMILA SAYS: NASS HAS AUTHORITY OVER THE PURSE AND WILL BE VERY THOROUGH IN OVERSIGHT! WHAT'S THE INFERENCE?
PAST APC EXECUTIVE BUDGETS WERE ALWAYS PRESENTED LATE AND DELIBERATELY DELAYED BY THE PDP-LED NASS - NOT EARLIER THAN JUNE OF EACH YEAR - BUT THAT WOULD SOON BECOME A THING OF THE PAST! "Where there is a WILL, there, certainly will be a WAY!



I am, yours sincerely, Dr. David B.A. Olufon, 08130669886, 08098194390. 08080243066. G-mail- dvdolufon@gmail.com.

It is true that the Nigerian government is backed by law to collect taxes from its citizens for the purpose of fulfilling social contracts in governance but the legal document did not insinuate in any form that official taxation should be exploitative or punitive against the governed!

With the recent flurry of fresh taxation of virtually every aspect of social life: first, it was the government's plan to increase Value Added Tax (VAT), from 5% - 7.2%, because Nigeria's VAT levy was the lowest in the world! But the protagonists of the new tax drive did not bother to carry out painstaking researches to discover the enormous economic advantages that accrued to the citizens in climes with higher VAT! With the current 5% VAT regime, can past and present administrations point to any benefits that have accrued to vast majority of the populace of which government is the sole beneficiary?

A value added tax (VAT), is a consumption tax placed on a product whenever value is added at each stage of the supply chain, from production to the point of sale. The amount of VAT that the user pays is on the cost of the product, less any of the costs of materials used in the product that have already been taxed.

In Nigeria, VAT is payable on goods and services consumed by private concerns, business entrepreneurs, government agencies etc! However, some agricultural produce/fertilizer, pharmaceutical/medical equipments, including commercial vehicles/ spare parts, diplomatic baggage, etc, were exempted from VAT!


NEGATIVE EFFECTS OF NEW VAT REGIME!
The fact remains that although government would enjoy buoyant revenue to cater for various strategic infrastructures and other special intervention programmes through the tax increments if such funds were managed by righteous officials; but on the other hand, products and services that are not VAT exempted would attract serious inflation that would further deflate the purse/purchasing power of the average income earner as they would purchase what they could only afford! By implication, the formal sector of the economy - especially the SMSE's will suffer significant patronage which in turn will be counter- productive for an economy which is consumption-driven!

An Investment Researcher, Mr Robert Omotunde, in a radio interactive programme, stated that Nigeria's GDP as at 2018, stood at 78% of consumption expenditure adding that if government taxed that percentage at 5% VAT, the country should have earned N4.7 trillion in VAT, but that it got only N 1.2 trillion instead! It is obvious that the Economic Advisory Council (EAC) should waste no time to advise the President against the imminent danger posed through the proposed VAT increase as it would produce human vultures ready to predate the common patrimony!
Nigeria should expand its TAX NET to the RICH and the AFFLUENT and also to non-oil revenue base in order to spare the poor masses of further economic agonies!

TAX SHOCKER FROM CENTRAL BANK OF NIGERIA (CBN)!
And while the organized Labour Unions/masses, Civil Society Organizations/NGO's who hold the short end of the stick expressed resentment and outright condemnation over the proposal, a SECOND SALVO was released by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), through a tax shopping list which would fleece the 40% bank-friendly citizens through new tariffs on deposits/withdrawals - manual or electronic transactions at unbelievable percentages! According to Governor Godwin Emefiele, CBN's new policy on increased tax collections was introduced to ensure greater financial inclusion for increased economic growth and that only 5% of bank customers would be affected! Is CBN not contradicting its CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY PORTFOLIO?


LEGISLATIVE INTERVENTION SHOULD HOLD SWAY NOW!
From all indications, it is very unlikely that the Senate which must review the VAT Act Cap VI LFN2004 (as amended), would assent the planned increase by government in order to avert further hardship on the meagre income of the poor masses, in spite of the fact that the Federal Executive Council (FEC), meeting of 11 September 2019, approved the increase for its consideration! In Nigeria, governments at Federal and State levels, are empowered to tax several items, commodities and services as stipulated under Legislative Powers of the Second Schedule - Parts I & II - Exclusive/Concurrent Lists. There are 68 "controversial" items on the exclusive list under the purview of the Federal Government and Sections A-L in Part II, which are exercisable by both Federal and States Government.
* The National Minimum Wage was yet to be implemented nationally - except by Kaduna State which paid its workers the agreed amount at the end of September, 2019! WHY PUT THE CART BEFORE THE HORSE BY FORCING ADDITIONAL VAT AT THIS AUSTERE TIME?
* Who would VAT favour - rich or poor? Definitely, the RICH who have more than sufficient funds to shop anywhere all the time!
* Must government become taxaholic on the poor masses rather than the rich and the affluent who are pathetic tax dodgers and tax evaders? NO!

The Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 states without ambiguity in Chapter II Section 2 (a) (b) (c), as follows: (a) " sovereignty belongs to the people of Nigeria from whom government through this Constitution derives its powers and authority." We will stop there for brevity!
Section 24 (a) (b) (c) (d) (e) & (f), of the same Chapter also clearly spelt out Duties of the Citizens; but for the purpose of this work, we will restrict our analysis to (f), which specifically urged the citizen: "to declare his income honestly to appropriate and lawful agencies pay his tax promptly." Are the Nigerian affluent TAX-FRIENDLY? NO!


THE GREATEST ASSET OF ANY NATION IS ITS PEOPLE!
Nigeria is not an exception to this global conception which classifies the people as power house, engine room, workforce, the golden goose that lays the golden eggs etc, etc; from whom governments derive not only their POWER but also their LEGITIMACY and MUST therefore handle them with the greatest care and treat them with utmost respect and dignity! Governments should never forget that a people could make or mar the nation's development, peace, economy etc, depending on the kind of leadership that navigates the ship and the economic team at the helm of affairs!

TAX DRIVE NET SHOULD BE SPREAD TO CATCH MILLIONS OF RICH EVADERS!
Statistics have proved that only 40% of Nigerian taxable adults actually fulfil this constitutional obligation, while the very rich and wealthy form the bulk of evaders whether it is direct or indirect! DESIGNATED CONSTITUTIONAL TAXES: VARIOUS FORMS OF TAXES IN NIGERIA - INCOME TAX, VAT, BANK TAXES, COMPANY TAX, ROAD TAX, PORTS TAX, ETC, SHOULD NOT BURDEN THE POOR ALONE!
*WHAT ABOUT THE PROPOSED RE-INTRODUCTION OF TOLL GATES ON FEDERAL HIGHWAYS WHICH WOULD BE COUNTER-PRODUCTIVE AND TANTAMOUNT TO DESTRUCTION OF THE GAINS AGAINST CORRUPTION, KIDNAPPINGS, ARMED ROBBERIES, VIOLENCE, BLOODSHED AND TERRORISM IN NIGERIA?
*MULTIPLE TAXES BY FEDERAL AND STATE GOVERNMENTS IN NIGERIA MUST BE ABOLISHED BY THE BRAND NEW ECONOMIC ADVISORY COUNCIL (EAC)!
*SIX NIGERIAN BILLIONAIRES CAN ERADICATE POVERTY IN THE NATION! Whistle Blowers should come to our rescue and fish them out! After all, they made their billions from this great country!
*CAUSES FOR DESPERATE TAXATION; DEFECTIVE CONSTITUTION, SOURCING OF MONTHLY FUNDS FROM FEDERATION ACCOUNT BY STATES; DELIBERATE REFUSAL BY GOVERNORS TO GENERATE FUNDS INTERNALLY (IGR's); FAILURE TO EXPLORE & EXPLOIT NATURAL RESOURCES THROUGH EXTRACTION - OUTSIDE OF CRUDE OIL!
*AJAOKUTA STEEL INDUSTRY, KOGI STATE – ESTABLISHED IN 1979, HAS BEEN ABANDONED UNTIL THE VERY RECENT RUSSIAN INTERVENTION – WHICH HAS REQUESTED FOR URGENT ESTABLISHMENT OF A SEA PORT AT LOKOJA, NIGER STATE AND RAIL LINES TO TRANSPORT HEAVY IRON PRODUCTS FROM THE PLANT TO OTHER LOCATIONS FOR INDUSTRIAL PURPOSES AND EXPORT!
*ALL EFFORTS MUST BE HARNESSED BY FEDERAL AND STATE GOVERNMENTS TO GENERATE FUNDS FROM NATURAL RESOURCES IN ORDER TO RELIEVE THE POOR MASSES FROM TAX OVER-BURDEN!

CONCLUSION OF THE WHOLE MATTER!
New Tax ID: FG directs CBN, others to synergise with the Joint Tax Board. The Federal Government has directed the Central Bank of Nigeria, Nigeria Interbank Settlement System, the National Identity Management Commission to cooperate with the Joint Tax Board in the release of relevant individual records! What does this mean to the Nigerian taxable adult? The end of multiple taxation on his meagre take-home-pay is in sight!
WHO SAYS PRESIDENT BUHARI'S APC GOVERNMENT IS NOT ON COURSE? When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice: but when the wicked beareth rule, the people mourn. (Prov 29:2)


I am, yours sincerely, Dr. David B.A. Olufon. 08130669886, 08098194390. 08080243066. G-mail- dvdolufon@gmail.com.

The choice of the phrase: #Revolution Now', adopted by the organizers of a planned nation-wide protest and the timing of the nocuous event, conceived by Sahara Reporters publisher, Omoyele Sowore, to provoke fresh civil disobedience was very offensive/insultive to the sensibilities of compatriots for peace, stability and good governance in Nigeria - especially the vulnerable downtrodden who would unfortunately become canon fodders, peradventure it succeeded!

Law-abiding citizens had hardly recovered from the atrocities unleashed on the innocent population severally at the Federal Capital and the Commercial cities of Abuja and Lagos, by the Islamic Movement of Nigeria (IMN), Shi'ite protesters between June and July, 2019, when fresh news spread that another 'revolution', that would heat up the polity and further destabilize a nation grappling to contain acts of terrorism, banditry, kidnapping, farmers/herders clashes etc, by some disgruntled elements, was in the offing!


The nation-wide protest tagged, 'Revolution Now', which was disrupted by security agents on 5th August 2019, was a STUNT; a dangerous adventure which back-fired for Omoyele Sowore, the "not-too-young -to-rule" candidate and chairman of the African Action Congress (AAC), during the February 23rd, 2019, Nigerian Presidential Election because the Directorate of State Services (DSS), operatives did not waste time to arrest him on charges bothering on terrorism in Lagos, on Saturday, 3rd August, 2019, for questioning before he could hatch a CIVILIAN COUP-DE-TAT in Nigeria!

Without falling for the legal semantics making the rounds, the security agents who had other evidences against Sowore told him that his revolutionary project was a process of removal and replacement of a government in a political upheaval and was a criminal and treasonable offence - against legally-constituted authority of a STATE/COUNTRY!
The DSS told Sowore that his planned protest was a ploy to overthrow the democratically-elected government of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), through the application of force!

IS SOWORE A HUMAN RIGHTS ACTIVIST OR A CONFUSED POLITICIAN?
Prior to his incursion into Nigerian politics - 48-year-old Sowore stood out as an outstanding, respectable and successful entrepreneur in the Diaspora, being the chief executive of the internationally-accredited online news outfit, the SAHARA REPORTERS - a trait that cut across accomplished Nigerian professionals, who normally returned home to add value to their nation's socio-economic pursuit of a better life for the citizens!
Sowore lost woefully in the 2019 Presidential Election - coming 10th with 33,953 votes as against President Buhari's 15,191,847 million; but that was not all, the National Executive Council (NEC), of his party later accused him of anti-party activities including refusal to render accounts of donations/ expenditures and wasted no time to relieve him of his position as chairman, - even with a court judgement in their favour!
Sowore first tried his 'revolutionary ideology' to "BANDY OUT", military dictatorship at a very tender age of about 21/22 years as an undergraduate student at the University of Lagos, Akoka, but he and his cohorts seemed to have forgotten that constitutional democratic governments that cannot be 'bandied out' had been entrenched for about 20 years in Nigeria!
Sowore was born in February 1971, just when the 30 month-long BIAFRA WAR ended! That war consumed over one million lives and strategic properties in millions of dollars and by 1992, he was of age and matured sufficiently to re-act negatively to the military environment into which he was conceived and born!
BUT has he not negated his own ideology being the major dramatis personae who conceived the idea of the mass protest (this time, against a democratically constituted government), sold it to his cohorts who defied official ban and occupied some public spaces in Lagos and Abuja on Monday 5th August, 2019, while he was being quizzed by DSS operatives in respect of treasonable offences? Or was he acting the script of the opposition who never saw anything good in neither the APC ruling party nor the person of President Buhari or had he an inordinate ambition? IS HE A MISGUIDED YOUTH LIKE NNAMDI KANU - THE FUGITIVE SELF-ACCLAIMED LEADER OF THE PROSCRIBED INDEPENDENT PEOPLE OF BIAFRA (IPOB), WITH WHOM HE POSED WITH IN A RECENT PORTRAIT WHICH WENT VIRAL ON INTERNET?


'BUNDLE' DEMANDS FROM SOWORE'S 'REVOLUTIONARY' GROUP!
Sowore and the organisers of #Revolution Now' adduced several DEMANDS ranging from: * release of all political prisoners without trial; * implementation of new workers salaries, payment of pensions to retirees; *massive employment opportunities across board; * end of special privileges to the ruling class in the choice of private educational institutions and hospitals for their wards - in Nigeria or overseas; *abolition of humongous salaries to political appointees; *return of political power and national wealth to the working people in order to break monopoly over land ownership; *term limits for lawmakers; devolution of power from federal to states; resource control; * abolishment of the Senate; and the enactment of a new people's Constitution, among several others with IMMEDIATE MILITARY EFFECT! Although those contracted to participate in the protest were advised not carry weapons - even the smallest stones, BUT the organisers had fore-knowledge that members of the recently-proscribed Islamic Movement of Nigeria (IMN), and IPOB fanatics would hijack the protest if government did not moved swiftly to nip the mis-conceived "revolution" in the bud?

THE LISTED DEMANDS, CONTAINED NO NEW SUGGESTION OR IDEAS - THEY ARE ALL BEING IMPLEMENTED SEQUENTIALLY BY THE CHANGE APC ADMINISTRATION! IT IS EVIDENT THAT SOWORE INTENDED TO TAKE OVER THE NIGERIAN GOVERNMENT AS WAS DONE IN SUDAN, TUNISIA, OR EGYPT, BUT THE NIGERIAN SITUATION HAS NO SEMBLANCE WITH THE ARAB SPRING!

Although, the Nigerian nation's challenges are multi-faceted due to its cultural, lingual, tribal and religious diversities but all citizens enjoy equal fundamental rights and cannot be manipulated by a mis-guided youth who in spite of his education believed that the POLITICAL UNITY - displayed by all of them in 1993, to vote MOSHOOD ABIOLA to presidency, was synonymous to a 'revolution' that could be replicated in 2019! NIGERIA IS NOT A MUSLIM STATE!

An Abuja High Court on Thursday, 8th August, 2019, granted an ex-parte motion by the DSS to further detain Sowore in its custody for 45 instead of 90 days requested by the agency, while further investigations continued in the treasonable charges brought against him under Terrorism Prevention Act, Section 27 (1) and the video evidences: exhibits/clips of his fraternity with the fugitive revolutionist, Nnamdi Kanu and also some proscribed IMN adherents! Sowore should go through the process of the law to prove his culpability to the charges or otherwise!

#RENAISSANCE NOW', NOT, #REVOLUTION NOW'!
Nigerian YOUTHS should come of age and embrace the lofty government programmes for better socio-economic life for all citizens, bond together with security agencies in intelligence gatherings to tackle on-going crisis of BOKO HARAM and other security challenges in the country, because they will eventually take over the reigns of administration in the nearest future!
Are those social critics in support for a regime overthrow by Sowore who recently lost an election more populated than the united millions who voted for Buhari's first and second terms in office? Those to be bandied out are the terrorists, kidnappers, militants, bandits, herdsmen killers etc! Sowore is no doubt the arrowhead of the gang of bad losers who tried to stop BUHARI both in 2015 & 2019 elections without success!

Nigerians need SPIRITUAL REBIRTH - a process of change that would give fresh hopes to the downtrodden through the sacrifices of all compatriots - who must ensure good governance, block avenues for corruption, treasury-looting and financial wastages; for the common patrimony to go round and provide all social amenities for all citizens!

All State Governors, irrespective of party affiliations should partner with the Federal Government to actualize the ongoing socio-economic/political restructuring programmes - which include aggressive diversification to agriculture, scientific/technological exploration and exploitation of natural mineral resources which abound in the 774 Local Government Areas, State and Community Policing etc. ALL HANDS MUST BE ON DECK TO BUILD ON THE APC GAINS OF THE LAST FOUR YEARS TO ACTUALIZE OUR DREAM OF AN EGALITARIAN NATION!


"For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the LORD, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end." (Jeremiah. 29: 11).


I am, yours sincerely, Dr. David B.A. Olufon. 08130669886, 08098194390. 08080243066. G-mail- dvdolufon@gmail.com.

TWO strategic economic thrusts in the month of August, 2019, by President Buhari: first, declaration of Nigeria's attainment of food security/immediate ban on forex allocation for food importation through the Central Bank of Nigeria (on the 13th), ; and second, partial closure of the nation's northern border with Benin Republic due to massive smuggling activities, especially of rice (on the 20th), were no doubt, positive ideas of government to boost patronage of locally-made products; and which the newly inaugurated Economic Advisory Council (EAC), must advantageously employ as a starting point to further deepen the execution of the Economic Recovery Growth Plan (ERGP)!
The body will be required to advise the President on economic policy matters, fiscal analysis, economic growth and a range of internal and global economic issues in collaboration with relevant cabinet members and head of monetary and fiscal agencies and will report directly to the executive President unlike the disbanded Economic Monitoring Team (EMT), chaired by the Vice President, Professor 'Yemi Osinbajo, with a view to achieving quicker implementation and eliminate bureaucratic bottlenecks in this second and last term of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC)!
Although, the EMT under Osinbajo's watch performed creditably, in spite of the self-inflicted economic recession foisted on the nation by the failed PDP 16 years of woeful administrations, ulterior motives have been adduced to the President's move by government detractors who believed that Osinbajo was being sidelined by the Presidency "cabal" which would not want him to succeed his principal in 2023!

VP Osinbajo is constitutionally Chairman of the National Economic Council, current Chairman of the Governing Board of National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA); National Boundary Commission, the Border Communities Development Agencies and the Niger Delta Holding Company - a limited liability company owned by the three tiers of government; but it was being alleged that the President was planning to strip him also of his brain-child passion known as the Special Intervention Programmes (SIP), which comprises of the Trader Money Scheme; N-Power/School Feeding programmes and others, while some of Oshinbajo's aides had been transferred out of Presidential Villa and seconded to MDA's!

All of the welfare programmes previously under the VP's purview/supervision are expected to be transferred to the newly-created Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development, headed by Sadiya Umar Faruk, according to the allegations!

Without losing sight of the President's core mission to provide adequate security, actualize successful economy and destroy institutional corruption, this second term aggressive moves within three months of inauguration could safely be interpreted to mean only one thing; a determined General who MUST win the battle at all costs by deploying his arsenals in the right directions under a unified command! The Presidency is ONE, because both the President and his Vice were elected with ONE TICKET!


TEMPORARY BORDER CLOSURE IS YIELDING POSITIVE RESULTS!
Nigerian borders were not normally shut except for very logical reasons which have to do with all forms of sabotage that border on infiltration of the economy: through illegal importation/exportation of foods, beverages, goods/services; or with security: smuggling of dangerous weapons, illegal immigration, terrorism or external war! The Federal Government was not unmindful of economic saboteurs, whose sole ambition was selfish aggrandizement through illicit trades and gains in collaboration with unfaithful ECOWAS neighbours and was poised to destroy their structures/cartels where they existed by destabilizing all their nefarious activities with the combined efforts of security agents at the land border posts, sea and air ports!

The Economic Community Of West African States (ECOWAS), bloc which could not call its saboteurs to order, were mostly concerned with the implementation of the Africa Continental Free Trade Act of which Nigeria is a signatory rather than the welfare and economic prosperity of the Nigerian people whose fundamental rights were being trampled upon through the criminal dumping of banned foreign goods and products on the nation! They strongly believed that Buhari's stringent measures would not prevent smugglings into Nigeria but insisted, through its Parliament for the re-opening of the borders which had remained shut for over TWO MONTHS and promised to support a co-ordinated fight against the menace! But President Buhari told a delegation of Nigerian Association of Chambers of Commerce Industry, Mines and Agriculture (NACCIMA), on Friday, 20th September, 2019, in Abuja that the border closure was yielding positive results/dividends!


THE EAC MEMBERS ARE SEASONED AND GLOBAL-QUOTED AND TESTED ECONOMISTS!
The Chairman of the 7-member Presidential Economic Advisory Council is Prof. 'Doyin Salami and Dr. Mohammed Sagagi, Vice Chairman; Dr. Mohammed Salisu, Secretary; other members of the crack economic team are Prof.Charles Chukwuma Soludo, former Governor of the CBN; Mr. Bismack Rewane, a renowned business economist,; Mr. Ode Ojowu, a former presidential chief economic adviser; Iyabo Masha, former International Monetary Fund (IMF), Country Representative for Sierra Leone. Though not recognised by the Constitution, EAC will influence the President to take immediate and decisive actions this time around. They will hold monthly technical sessions as well as scheduled quarterly meetings with the President but the chairman could meet with Mr. President at short notice over pressing/urgent matters!


URGENT EXPECTATIONS FROM EAC!
According to a Public Finances Analyst, Mr. Olusegun Lemo, Nigerians would expect the new advisory body to urgently analyse current indices in respect of fiscal/monetary policies as they affect the economy viz: Gross Domestic Product (GDP), rate @ 2.85%, annual GDP growth @ 1.94%; unemployment rate @ 23.1%, inflation @ 11%; interest rate that the CBN recently held @13.5%, cash reserve ratio @ 22.5%, and Public Finances Crude Oil is $70 bpd. in order to shore up revenue that would address the masses unfriendly TWO DIGITS ratings of unemployment, inflation and interest rates to enable government to lift 100million Nigerians out of poverty annually from 2019 and in subsequent years ahead, since government administration is a continuum!


TWO OTHER SWEEPING CHANGES IN QUICK SUCCESSION!
Head of Civil Service of the Federation, Mrs. Winifred Ekanem Oyo-Ita was suspended indefinitely on 19th September, 2019; for her to be investigated over allegation of over a bank account deposit of N3 billion naira contract scandal by EFCC/money laundering financial crime linked to her through her assistant while she was a Director in the Ministry of Petroleum Resources. She has been replaced by Dr. Folashade 'Yemi-Esan, with immediate effect!
Chairman of the Presidential Investigation Panel on the Recovery of Public Property, (SPIP), Mr. Okoi Obono-Obla, was suspended on 21st September 2019, to face investigation by the Independent Corrupt Practices and other related offences Commission, in respect of alleged certificate forgery and extortion perpetrated while in office as head of the ad hoc body!

AFENIFERE DESCRIBES OSINBAJO'S OFFICE AS IRRELEVANT, REDUNDANT AND INCAPACITATED!
The Yoruba socio-cultural group, Afenifere, has faulted President Buhari for inaugurating the Economic Advisory Council (EAC), to replace the Economic Management Team (EMT), being headed by his Vice, Professor 'Yemi Osinbajo. They claimed that the move was to render the second-in- command moribund, though his principal unequivocally stated that EAC would address mounting economic challenges with a view to attaining Nigeria's position among the first 20 economically-viable countries by the year 2020 and also achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG's), by the year 2030! The group also insinuated that the development was a Northern agenda in a permutation, to sideline Osinbajo and by extension the South West, ahead of 2023 Presidency, which is rotational between the North and the South!

During the first term when Osinbajo held fort as acting President for President Buhari who had health challenges, and no lacuna was noticed as he discharged the duties of the two men creditably, Afenifere did not allege any discrepancies in the hierarchy! Afenifere must be reminded that both men are regarded as associates in the Constitution!

We disagree with the myopic, nepotic and tribalistic position of Afenifere and their ilk’s who forgot that President Buhari acted within executive/constitutional rights and powers which allowed him to deputize his Vice or the Ministers or any other officer in the public service of Nigeria to act on his behalf as he felt appropriate in the process of diligent exigencies of services, according to the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999, Chapter vi Section 148(1)! Positioning Osinbajo for presidency in the 2023 General Elections is nothing short of sheer absurdity and a political miscalculation deliberately posited by Afenifere to heat up the polity!

Serious-minded Nigerians have no time for idle minds which would rather read negative meanings to every move of a determined APC Government which would stop at nothing but stamp an indelible mark of economic laurels in the sands of time for a country which global highly developed countries almost ran aground through an avalanche of horrible negative reports BUT would support the new drive to make this nation economically-viable by the 2020!
Nigeria will surely achieve this enviable status with the duo of BUHARI AND OSINBAJO in the saddle and in perfect control of the SHIP to the shame and detriment of the detractors! Whosoever God hath blessed, let no man curse!


I am, yours sincerely, Dr. David B.A. Olufon. 08130669886, 08098194390. 08080243066. G-mail- dvdolufon@gmail.com.

The over eight-hour land-mark judgement of Wednesday, 11th September 2019, at the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal, Abuja, by a five-member panel of eminent, articulate and proven jurists of the Nigerian Bench, headed by his lordship, Justice Mohammed Lawal Garba, which gave a resounding victory to President Muhammadu Buhari, has sent a very strong judicial signal to appellants, that electoral disputes/litigations could never be settled in the courts of public opinions, social media or pages of newspapers but in Constitutional Courts of competent jurisdiction, legally constituted for such duties!


But before that judgement which dismissed all prayers of the petition "in its entirety", the major litigant, Atiku Abubakar, Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), candidate, in his characteristic desperation, wrote to the President of the Appeal Court on 5th September, 2019, on the need not to allow his petition to be caught up by constitutional timeline since the Tribunal had on 21st August, 2019, reserved judgement after the petitioners and respondents - INEC, President Buhari, and his Party, the All Progressives Congress (APC), adopted their final written addresses!

However, when the deed was done, head of the opposition PDP legal team had no choice than to eat the "humble pie", acknowledged the professionalism, thoroughness, legal prowess and outstanding conclusions of the cohesive team of the legal luminaries, who were united to dismiss in entirety, all of the three prayers sought by the appellants to nullify the victory of the winner of the Presidential Elections of 23rd February, 2019, President Muhammadu Buhari, and declare the runner-up, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, as winner in his stead!


RUMBLINGS BY PETITIONERS BEFORE THE D-DAY!
Weeks before the D-Day, PDP in frenzied desperation to sway public opinion in favour of Atiku Abubakar, the social, print and electronic media was orchestrated with all manner of postulations that negative reports by international observer groups, which alleged electoral malpractices, vote buyings, ballot boxes snatchings, security agents interventions at polling stations etc, should sway judgement in favour of the candidate who lost woefully!
Their three-pronged appeal was predicated on the following planks:
That the election was marred by irregularities;
That Atiku received more votes than Buhari and:
That the president did not have a secondary school certificate, a basic requirement to contest the election. PDP said it would appeal against the ruling at the Supreme Court!
President Buhari, according to the results released by INEC, garnered 61% of the votes as against the 41% of Atiku Abubakar at the 23rd February, 2019, election but that the 35.6% turn-out of the electorate was lower by 8.6%. compared with the 44% in 2015, and Atiku rejected the results hours after Buhari was declared winner with a promise that he would challenge the results at the Appeal Tribunal while his Party described it as a "direct assault on the integrity of our nation's justice system"!

*Contrary to PDP's stand, Rivers State Governor, Nyesome Wike, congratulated President Buhari for his second victory over Atiku through a live broadcast because, he would not pay the nocturnal visits to Aso Villa like other opposition governors and party stalwarts - though he neither liked the President nor his policies!

SUMMARY OF THE LAND-MARK JUDGMENT THAT WOULD STAND THE TEST OF TIME!
The Jury was very painstaking in reading out the judgement through the lead Judge who initially decided pre-trial applications which favoured Atiku and his lead counsel before advancing into the main prayers of the appellants. The lead counsel's name which were abbreviated in some documents were accepted as genuine while ATIKU WAS DECLARED AS A BONA FIDE NIGERIAN AND NOT A CAMEROONIAN AS ALLEGED BY THE RESPONDENTS!
With analytical precision, one after the other, all arguments raised by the petitioners: from the crime of perjury in a sworn affidavit; to the existence of an INEC website/server; alleged electronic transfer of results through Card Readers to INEC's central server; vote-buying; criminal intervention by security agents (especially soldiers and policemen), to support electoral rigging by the APC; malpractices through ballot boxes snuffing/snatching at the polling booths with the connivance of policemen, etc, etc, were all succinctly treated without giving any room for ambiguity or controversy!

The lead Judge, Justice Garba, who took over from President of the Court of Appeal, Abuja, Justice Zainab Adamu Bulkachuwa, who was initially rejected by the PDP, for probable vested interests, adduced and quoted copiously from a plethora of decided cases ranging from the lower courts through to the Apex court in a manner of a jurist who knows his onions and conversant with extant laws in the terrain of legal jurisprudence! The English definitions of some contentious words were not left to doubt as the learned judge employed the Webster/Oxford and other dictionaries to lend credence to the judgement!

And the "coffin" of the judgement pronouncements which did not favour Atiku Abubakar, was finally nailed by two other distinguished judges of the panel, who further buttressed the conclusions of the lead judge on the prayers in respect of Perjury and Vote-Buying, which were unsubstantiated by neither evidences nor witnesses by the petitioners, according to the law!

ALL FIVE JUDGES DISMISSED THE APPEAL IN ITS ENTIRETY, STRESSED THAT THE ONUS OF PROOF RESTED SQUARELY ON THE APPELLANTS WHO FAILED TO PROVE THEIR ALLEGATIONS BEYOND REASONABLE DOUBTS!

ATIKU'S LEGAL TUSSLES BEFORE 2019!
The PDP Presidential Candidate at the 2019, General Elections, former Vice President, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, (1999-2007), suffered public disgrace/humiliation in the hands of his principal, Chief Aremu Obasanjo who accused him of alleged crimes of official corruption, aggrandizement and abuse of office during their second term, all in a bid to scuttle the ambition of the former from succeeding him in office and he (Obasanjo), succeeded!
Obasanjo instituted official panel of investigation and found Atiku guilty of impropriety in the handling of sales of Federal Government's critical assets, of which he was chairman; in his alleged involvement in a $500,000 bribery scandal involving a US Congressman, William J. Jefferson; and in the manipulation of the Petroleum Trust Development Fund, (PTDF), accounts, in other to castigate, reduce him to odium and unfit to further hold any public office - especially, his obsessive ambition to become the president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria!

Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, denied all allegations and got redress in over seven case which he instituted against Obasanjo and the Federal Government between 2006-2007, and was cleared by the Supreme Court as suited and qualified to contest the 2007 Presidential Election as the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), candidate, but lost to late President Umaru Yar 'Ardua!
Political observers strongly expected, Alhaji Atiku to institute legal actions of libel, slander, defamation of character, etc, against his boss years after they both lost the immunity shield, but that never happened; instead, Atiku sent emissaries to placate Obasanjo and subsequently travelled to personally beg for pardon and obtain assurances to shore up his dented political clout.

ATIKU HAS FUNDAMENTAL RIGHT OF APPEAL TO SUPREME COURT!
But in this trending matter, Alhaji Abubakar has the fundamental right to go the whole hog in the belief that he still had a good chance of upturning the verdict of the Appellant Court at the Apex Court!
Atiku, whose penchant for litigation had become obstinate is poised to proceed to the Supreme Court, which would finally arbitrate on the judgement of the Appeal Court and lay the case to permanent rest within the constitutional 90 days window allotted to the excercise from September 11, 2011!
Incidentally, the Abuja Presidential Appeal Tribunal judgement coincided with the18th anniversary of September 9/11 catastrophic terrorists bombings of the New York Twin Trade Center Towers, and other strategic government structures which humbled America, the most powerful global nation, which had won several battles ( civil wars, world wars), in its 233 years of independence! HE WHO THAT THINKS HE STANDS SHOULD BE CAUTIOUS, LEST HE FALLS! HERE LIES THE LITMUS TEST FOR ATIKU WHO STRONGLY BELIEVES HE WOULD NEVER LOSE ANY LITIGATION AT THE SUPREME COURT!

Atiku Abubakar's determination to further launch his appeal at the Apex Court for a final and logical conclusion should not be constrained that the outcome may further strengthen not only our DEMOCRACY, but also establish the much-desired foundation for STRONG INSTITUTIONS and become a REFERENCE POINT for future LEGAL JURISPRUDENCE!

"Whatever has a beginning MUST SURELY have an end!


I am, yours sincerely, Dr. David B.A. Olufon. 08130669886, 08098194390. 08080243066. G-mail- dvdolufon@gmail.com.

The White minority South Africans who lost power to the majority Blacks in 1994, when the African National Congress (ANC), won the presidential elections for the very first time in the nation's history were never comfortable in defeat! It has been 25 years when fortunes were reversed, when the Enslaved legitimately took over the Masters tables and the once powerful and mighty task masters became the subservient in the equation; but as bad losers, had surreptitiously sponsored deliberate and regular XENOPHOBIC ATTACKS from Mandela to Ramaphosa, against African immigrants across the nation by applying the wicked and insensitive doctrine of divide and rule!


From prison to palace, late President Nelson "MADIBA" Mandela, proved to be magnanimous in victory, brushed aside the pains of 27 years of incarceration at the dreaded Robben Island, the massive slaughter of about 700 innocent SA SOWETO BLACK SCHOOL CHILDREN and an estimated 1,000 injured, on 16th June, 1976, for protesting against the "Afrikaans Medium Decree of 1974, which forced all Black schools to use Afrikaans and English in a 50-50 mix, as languages of instruction!
He equally waved off crimes of Boers massacres of his fellow country men/women over trumped-up charges by consecutive White minority governments which were the worst kinds of racism/apartheid/xenophobia against fellow citizens of the same country! He forgot that the bestial act of that cold-blooded murder of school children precipitated a setback to child education/ mentoring and simultaneously created a deficit in the overall education sector for massive illiteracy to flourish! AND NOW, IT IS VERY EASY FOR THE WHITE BOERS TO EASILY MANIPULATE THE ILLITERATE AND JOBLESS SOUTH AFRICANS INTO XENOPHOBIA!

And when he climbed the podium on 10th May, 1994, Mandela in his inaugural speech, solicited that "bygones be bygones" but forgot to bequeath a bonding legacy that South Africans should remain eternally grateful to their African brothers/sisters especially governments of Nigeria, Congo, Malawi, Rwanda, Uganda, Kenya, Lesotho plus other African countries, which allied to put an end to the evil practice of "apartheid" with huge fundings and effective advocacies, and effected the desired democratic administration where the majority blacks eventually won the 1994 elections to break the shackles of bondage by White supremacists of several decades!


THE STORY OF APARTHEID: TRUTH MUST BE TOLD NOW!
BLACK South Africans must definitely have short memories! Once upon a time, THEY WERE NOT A PEOPLE and virtually had no citizenship because their WHITE TASK MASTERS burdened them with an everlasting servitude, treated them worse than second class citizens and yoked them as SLAVES in their fatherland where they had no respite and no one to rescue them but successive NIGERIAN GOVERNMENT AND ITS PATRIOTIC CITIZENS!
The story of Apartheid began in 1948 when the White-supremacist government of that dispensation introduced an inhuman and detestable policy of racial separation/discrimination purposely against the majority indigenous Blacks, who actually owned the land and successfully enslaved them until 1990, (42 consecutive and uninterrupted years of man's worst kind of wickedness against his brethren), when the MADIBA, President Nelson Mandela, who had been in the forefront of the emancipation of his great fatherland from colonial domination, was released from 27 years of prison incarceration and emerged through an overwhelming popular votes to become the first-ever Black SA President! Right from independence in 1960, successive Nigerian governments and its patriotic citizens condemned APARTHEID in all its ramifications and mobililized international support for a crusade against the obnoxious and very irratitating policy in which PETS OWNED BY WHITE SOUTH AFRICANS HAD SUPERIOR RIGHTS THAN THE BLACK CITIZENS!

Under the policy, Blacks were forbidden to dwell in cities and urban centres with their White counterparts; they must not ride in the same public transportation with the whites, must never share public toilet facilities, schools, churches etc, with the Whites because they were regarded as slaves and very inferior to their masters and MUST ALWAYS PRESENT OFFICIALLY-APPROVED IDENTIFICATION CARDS for employment unlike the Whites! South Africans owe Nigerians an everlasting GRATITUDE!
The present generation of South African blacks who lacked historical knowledge of past contributions of other African States to their liberation and independence, had continuously blamed their massive jobless woes (about 48%), on legitimate African immigrants who are engaged in honest businesses, instead of directing their venom on the Whites and the few RICH conniving-Blacks, who owned virtually all the thriving business in their country!
Xenophobia is synonymous to apartheid/racial insensitivity/bigotry/segregation/discrimination of an immense dimension that could provoke the kind of atrocities displayed through massive daylight destruction of valuable properties, lootings and killings of Africans by Africans for the umpteenth time on the streets of Johannesburg and Pretoria as they were ferried with BUSES FROM ONE LOCATION TO ANOTHER WHILE SA POLICEMEN, CONNIVED BY STANDING ALOOF!!
The White BOER minority which perpetrated APARTHEID (racial discrimination), through government machinery for decades (1948-1990), following de-colonization of SA territory, [though hidden in the background since May 1994, when Nelson Mandela became the first black President], still lay claim to a superior skin ego and also undue socio-economic headstart during the dark days when the SA blacks dwelt in squalor and abject poverty in their fatherland!

Whatever unfortunate pains/agonies/sorrows/losses, and collateral damages suffered by Africans through xenophobic attacks of the past or present, MUST be squarely laid at the doorsteps of all past and present South African presidents, including the "Madiba", who honourably bowed out after ONE TERM of five years but failed to educate their citizens on the need for unity and brotherliness with all African nations which supported them in their time of need!
Presidents Thabo Mbeki, Jacob Zuma, and the incumbent, Cyril Rhamaphosa, (believed to be multi-billionaires), cannot feign ignorance of the enormous contributions of Nigeria and their neighbouring African country during the painful/agonising years in the struggle against APARTHEID regimes of White minority!

ZIMBABWE'S NATIONAL HERO, ROBERT MUGABE SUPPRESSED WHITE SUPREMACISTS!
Late President Robert Mugabe critics would fault him for his solo effort of trying to put his country on the pedestal as a sit-tight for 31 years! But Mugabe fought the minority dominant Whites of the then Southern Rhodesia Government to a standstill until victory was achieved for him to take over the mantle of leadership in 1980!
From1980-2018 - ROBERT MUGABE who passed on at 95 on Friday 6th September, 2019, bequeathed a LEGACY OF SOUND EDUCATION to his citizens and earned for his country the credit of being placed as the only African country with the highest percentage of literacy! Mugabe was well educated. He was a teacher-turned-politician and had to his credit at least seven academic degrees. He did not only educate his people, he also empowered them through a deliberate agricultural revolution which transferred all Whites owned lands/farms to the rightful Zimbabwean black majority, who had been largely marginalized through racial bigotry of past White administrators! This true pan-Africanist would be fondly remembered for educating a people who do not believe in XENOPHOBIA!


WE ADVOCATE STRINGENT MEASURES BY NIGERIAN GOVERNMENT!
We join all Nigerians, from the Presidency/Legislature/Judiciary, including Nigerians in the Diaspora, to condemn the most recent SA xenophobic attacks which began from Thursday, 29th August, through Tuesday, 3rd September, 2019, and advocate for legal, economic, diplomatic sanctions against SA this time around - but We vehemently oppose and discourage any form of reprisals against SA interests or citizens in Nigeria!
On the legal plank, We support the suggestion that SA Government be dragged before the AFRICAN HUMAN AND PEOPLES RIGHTS COURT - based in ARUSHA, TANZANIA, to seek redress in the form of compensations for Nigerian victims in the unabated confrontations both in 2016 when 26 African immigrants, including Nigerians were killed and especially the18th February, 2017, reign of xenophobic terror which resulted in destruction, burning, looting of homes, workshops and properties of Nigerians - worth millions of US dollars, with professionally-documented evidences, authentic video footages, industrial experts/eye-witnesses reports!
Economic Sanctions: Trade between SA and Nigeria favours the former because its business interests in Nigeria spanning all areas of communications, industry, manufacturing, banking and commerce, are enormous; therefore, Federal Government should invoke economic sanctions against it without further delay! MTN which was slammed with a fine of US $5.2 dollars by the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), in 2016, for impropriety in business transactions, and is yet to pay the in full, should be forced to pay with interests. Some Nigerians have even suggested that all SA business interests should be NATIONALIZED AND THEIR LICENCES WITHDRAWN immediately to send strong messages to the nation!
On the diplomatic front, most Nigerians opined that all relations with the HOSTILE NATION should be severed, that our High Commission and Consulate shut down, our ambassadors recalled, while all immigrant Nigerians repatriated! We will not support extreme measures especially when Nigeria's Ministers of Foreign Affairs and Information and Culture, have confirmed that no NIGERIAN LIFE was lost in the fracas but stand by our President's statement in the belief that there would be no future occurrence!
‘’And as ye would that men should do to you, do ye also to them likewise (Luke 6:31)’’.

I am, yours sincerely, Dr. David B.A. Olufon. 08130669886, 08098194390. 08080243066. G-mail- dvdolufon@gmail.com.

The fundamental rights of Nigerian citizens had assumed the derogatory pun as the "Ruse of Law", instead of the "Rule of Law" for various reasons ranging from injustices experienced by suspects during investigations of infringements of the law, prosecutions of offences, bail procedures, temporary remands at the correctional institutions and finally, the unrighteous role of the Judiciary which should serve as the last hope of the common man!

Rule of law should not be given a blanket criticism/condemnation when unfavourable to some persons or segments of the society because of its human rights value chain and the wider implication of its jurisdiction over every facet of human endeavour and MUST be recognized:
As the law which is fundamental, inalienable, and enforces human rights of the individual as stipulated in the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria as amended;
That it should be recognised like the purveyor of freedom which must be prioritized through righteous governance to ensure fair play, justice and equity to each citizen at every level of enforcement, investigation, prosecution and, or judgement;
That it is a system of law which guarantees innocence of individuals under investigation/prosecution until the contrary was proved at competent courts of jurisdiction;
That the law is applicable to all and sundry: litigants, appellants, accused persons, defendants, plaintiffs, respondents, the religious, the criminals, the rich/poor and all law-abiding citizens without exception;
And that in every true democracy, rule of law must act as the watchword to guide all socio-economic activities and establish the solid platform for crime-free societies where awareness and limitations of citizens rights are respected religiously!

CONTRAVENTION OF THE RULE OF LAW HAS COST NIGERIA TREMENDOUS BLOODSHED!
It is a decade down the line, (30th July, 2009 - 30th July, 2019), when the rule of law was denied to Boko Haram leader Mohammed Yusuf, who was reportedly killed in police detention after his arrest and hand-over by the Nigerian Army for investigation/prosecution in respect of offences of unlawful assembly, violent attacks on worship places, contravention of public order, etc. Following the alleged extra-judicial killing, his lieutenants/followers swore to avenge his death through insurgency and all manners of brigandage which resulted in terrorist acts of suicide bombing and mass kidnappings for ransoms! Not less than 100,000 persons have lost their lives, while billions of naira worth of strategic properties lost to the avoidable calamities! If the rule of law was applied to Yusuf and his followers, in 2009, the nation would have been spared the agony of human and economic disasters that were still ongoing!


URGENT ADVOCACY IS NEEDED NOW TO IMPLEMENT RULE OF LAW IN ALL FACETS OF LIFE!
Who should then be the expert or best qualified to interpret the tenets of the Rule of Law and legal processes of Criminal Jurisprudence in Nigeria other than the practitioners under the aegis of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), whose affirmative submission at their recent 59th Annual General Conference held in Lagos between Friday 23rd to Thursday, 29th August, 2019, was a consensus vote that, "the rule of law must be entrenched and given the prominence it deserved as the priority policy of the Federal Republic of Nigeria!" Being an annual event poised to ensure clientele professional satisfaction, practitioners at the 2019 edition deliberated on the trending national discussion on the danger threatening smooth execution of citizens fundamental rights in respect all the "freedoms" as enshrined in Chapter IV, Section 33(1)46(1)(4)(a)(b)(i)(ii) of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. Current Chairman of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Barrister Paul Usoro, SAN, said during the Conference week that the ruling government of the All Progressives Congress (APC), could not be totally condemned for disobedience to the practice of rule of law, because in some cases, it was compliant.

The Chairman is also a beneficiary of the rule of law because in spite of being prosecuted for alleged money laundering fraud charge of the sum of N1.4 billion naira, he is presumed innocent and remains the Chief Executive of the body until the contrary is proven! APC was rule of law compliant in the case of el Zakzaki and wife, who were allowed to travel to India for medical treatment; it was compliant when the courts ruled that it had no candidates in the Rivers Governorship/Election and Zamfara Governorship/National Assembly Elections/State House of Assembly Elections, which ultimately favoured the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).


VARIOUS COMPLAINTS AGAINST GOVERNMENT ON VIOLATIONS OF RULE OF LAW!
Legal practitioners. pressure groups, NGO's, CSO's etc, are quick to accuse governments at all levels of deliberate disobedience to courts orders and thereby violating the doctrine and the rule of law and by extension, the fundamental rights of several individuals! Although leader of the Islamic Movement of Nigeria, (IMN), el Zakzaki and his are now enjoy bail facility, retired Col. Sambo Dasuki, who is facing charges of economic sabotage, money laundering, arms possession, in stilll in DSS custody in spite of many court judgements in his favour since 2015, because Government claims that NATIONAL INTEREST SUPERSEDES THE RULE OF LAW?


CULPABLE JUDGES AND LAWYERS!
In 2014, during a lecture titled "Nigeria at Centenary: A Nation in Bondage", a retired President of the Court of Appeal, in a very passionate indictment, claimed that the Judiciary was riddled with corrupt elements especially among those who called the shots at the Nigerian Judicial Council (NJC), and added that some dishonourable people, " not fit to be judges and senior lawyers, got into the system, made it the highest level of judicial career and subsequently frustrate the common man's quest for justice and equity" He also claimed that it was an open truth that both serving and retired judges acted as "arranges" or "couriers", who reach out to "purchase justice on behalf of crooked litigants”‘ and concluded that the problems with the Nigerian Judiciary, might be compounded or unresolved for a long time because "Nigerians naturally hate the truth and whosoever voiced the truth was marked for destruction"!
THESE REVELATIONS WERE MADE LONG BEFORE THE "STING OPERATION" CARRIED OUT BY THE DSS ON 8TH/9TH OCTOBER 2016, ON SOME JUDGES WHO HAD BEEN UNDER WATCH BY THE LAW ENFORCEMENT AGENCY!

Eight months after that operation, described as unheard of, unprecedented and unlawful by detractors of the WAR AGAINST CORRUPTION, even though they are aware that Judges were not above the LAW, one of the accused persons, Justice Adeniyi Ademola, was DISCHARGED AND ACQUITTED by his fraternal colleague on the BENCH following a "NO CASE SUBMISSION" by the defence counsel and was set free to go home to enjoy the sweat of his labours and RESUME AT HIS DESK for business as usual!
He was among the SEVEN Justices investigated after that STING OPERATION carried out by the DSS on 8/9th October, 2016.He and his wife Olabowale and Mr. Joe Agi, SAN, were arraigned by the Economic and Financial Crimes (EFCC), prosecutors on an 18- count charge bordering on criminal conspiracy to receive gratification in various ways contrary to Section 8( 1)(a) of the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Act, 2000 and items recovered from his home included the following: Large sums of money in foreign currencies; $121.279 US Dollars, 400 Euros, 110 Indian Rupees, £80 pounds sterling totalling several millions of naira and also TWO PUMP ACTION RIFLES!
During his trial at the law court, evidences were adduced that the Judge transferred N175 million in TWO TRANCHES in N90 million and N85 million respectively to a property company through a Nigerian Bank and was also admitted in evidence that a litigant standing trial before the Judge bought a car worth over N7 million naira for Mr. Ademola junior! That was not all, while the fate of ONE female Judge who was also on trial – Justice Ajumogobia, was yet to be decided, SIX Judges, who were about to be formally charged, were SUDDENLY RECALLED AND ASSIGNED TO DUTY POSTS BY THE NIGERIA JUDICIAL COUNCIL (NJC), who, arbitrarily decided that EFCC failed to file charges against them, months after their arrest and suspension!

WHAT ROLE HAS THE RULE OF LAW PLAYED IN ALL OF THE ABOVE? SHOULD CRIMINAL JURISPRUDENCE AND THE PRESUMPTION OF INNOCENCE TAKE ITS FULL COURSE WHEN NATIONAL INTEREST IS AT STAKE?


WHO DETERMINES WHAT CONSTITUTES NATIONAL INTEREST: EXECUTIVE OR JUDICIARY?
Defense of "National Interest" according to the Executive arm of government's understanding, constitutes total clamp down on clandestine initiatives/plans conceived and to be hatched by persons with ulterior dispositions in order to perpetrate criminal acts that could destabilize an otherwise peaceful environment with a view to causing confusion, danger, civil disobedience, anarchy or insurgency to innocent citizens, while the Judiciary believes that national interest should constitute total execution of the rule of law which would subdue and nip in the bud any form of disgruntled citizens insurrection!
Either way, both arms should unite to correct all existing flaws in the existing Constitution with a view to preparing the platform for a Constituent Assembly of eminent citizens who will fashion a BRAND NEW and unambiguous Constitution for Nigeria! "A house divided against itself shall fall!" A word is enough for the wise.


I am, yours sincerely, Dr. David B.A. Olufon. 08130669886, 08098194390. 08080243066. G-mail- dvdolufon@gmail.com.

There was a time in the life of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, when prodigality occupied the centre stage and the common patrimony was converted to private possessions of some selfish few shortly after the "Biafra War" and the era of Oil Boom debuted! The hard currency flowed seamlessly into the coffers of successive military governments from the 70's into the 90's when they reluctantly handed over to the civilians in an arrangement which looked more of a Diarchy, because all the corrupt military generals could not take their hands off the TILL, and treasury-looting became the first sets of accredited government contractors through subtle intimidations of the new administration of 1999, headed by retired General Aremu Obasanjo, who perpetrated an import-driven economy!

They were all into the Oil and Gas, Export/Import of foreign merchandise, exotic foods, vintage wines, alcohols, tomato paste, stock fish, canned fish, beverages, milk, rice, palm oil, vegetable oil fabrics, electronics, automobiles, motor bikes, electric cables, household utensils/furniture’s, even tooth picks, etc all, to tightly keep the economy in their leach! And in all of those neo-colonialists manifestations, the downtrodden masses suffered deprivation of virtually all social amenities of electricity power, potable water, sanitation/drainage systems, motorable roads, adequate shelters, job opportunities, protection of life and property, etc!

During those periods of sufferings and deprivations one prominent civilian Commissioner in the North in the early 70's LATE ALHAJI UMARU DIKKO, philosophically SAID THAT THE TREND COULD STILL DEGENERATE TO CITIZENS PICKING GARBAGE’S FROM THE DUST BINS FOR SURVIVAL and quickly escaped to London the military could arrest him!!
HOW time changes! In the midst of those commotions, there was a divine intervention through one General who was preserved to change the unpalatable story line in the person of the incumbent second-term democratically elected President Muhammadu Buhari, who vehemently refused and resisted the successive and abusive prodigality of past administrations to entrench true federalism by returning the common wealth to the citizens through the very transparent, Treasury Single Account (TSA), which enshrines accountability as demanded by the Constitution and total war against corruption, violent crimes/criminalities, insurgency/terrorism, which were off-shoots of past maladministration’s!

From the inception of the first term, in 2015, aggressive diversification from the mono-foreign-exchange -earner product of crude oil to Agriculture engage the attention of the Change APC Administration under the watch of President Buhari, who ensured that all foreign goods that were detrimental and inimical to economic growth, were outrightly banned to give way for local manufacturers/industrialists, livestock and poultry farmers to thrive!

Therefore when self-appointed foreign economic growth global monitors of independent Republics announced in 2018 - that Nigeria was the "poverty capital" nation of the universe and detractors at home and the Diaspora chorused the rating to spite the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), government as if that verdict were the gospel truth, We debunked the unsolicited, unholy, abusive and detrimental ranting of the meddlesome interlopers as very incorrect, offensive and untruthful in our Vol. 7. No. 258 publication of 22nd July 2018.
CONSIDERING THE FACT THAT THE NIGERIA CAME OUT OF RECESSION EARLY IN THE YEAR 2018, WE BELIEVE THAT THOSE NIGERIANS WHO ORCHESTRATED THE POVERTY ANALYSIS BY UN (CCA), AND THE PROGRESSION CHART USED BY WORLD POVERTY CLOCK (WPC), TO DISCREDIT NIGERIA WERE VERY UNPATRIOTIC!


NIGERIA HAS ACHIEVED FOOD SECURITY!
On Tuesday13th August, 2019, the Executive President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Muhammadu Buhari, declared to the world that Nigeria had achieved food security and advised the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), to stop approval of foreign exchange (forex), allocations for food importation! His exact words: "Don't give a cent to anybody to import food into the country," but he later told critics that the forex ban was to improve agricultural production and attain full food security!
Prominent on the welfare policy of the ruling government is the aggressive diversification from crude oil, the only forex earner to agriculture, which attracted less investments, provided massive employment opportunities and produced credible, glaring and unhidden results for local/global testimonies!

In less than two years of its first term, the APC Government in collaboration with willing States, lifted farmers fortunes beyond measures and no fewer than 16 millionaires emerged from Kebbi, Kano, Jigawa, Ebonyi and Lagos States! Food Security is the AVAILABILITY AND ACCESS to food by all people - and according to the World Food Summit of 1996, such situation only existed when all people have that opportunity "to access at all times to sufficient, safe, nutritious food to maintain a healthy and active life." We believe that food security or sufficiency for any nation tantamount to agrarian economic growth and by implication, a veritable avenue to poverty alleviation, which is a trending situation of the new Nigeria of our collective dreams!


THOSE WHO CHORUSED POVERTY ARE ALSO AGAINST FOOD SECURITY!
They said that the President had no right to stop forex on food importation in spite of the noticeable depletion of the nation's foreign exchange reserves!
That the Executive could only deal with fiscal policy alone and not monetary, a prerogative of the banking agency which was autonomous and independent of government's manipulation, according to the CBN Act 2007, that established it and accountable only to the National Assembly (NASS).
That the Executive President was restricted to only three areas in the administration of the apex bank, namely: approvals of (a) Annual declarations; (b) Currency designs; and External investments, which were in tandem with global best practices and principles.
They also argued that if such forex had to be stopped, it should be gradual because importers would sought for forex from other sources since importation of food was only banned from official forex allocation, and would therefore create inflation - especially after Nigeria became a signatory to the African Continental Free Trade Agreement in July 2019, which encourages tariff wavers!
IT is pertinent to digest the President's directives from the proper perspectives: first government’s concern was predicated on encouraging more investors to venture into farming while discouraging external competitions, opening opportunities for regular exportation of surpluses to needy nations to speedily increase the depleting foreign reserves! FREE TRADE DOES NOT MEAN FORCED TRADE!
ALTHOUGH, all staple food items such as: rice, beans, millets, garri, soya beans, fish, milk, palm oil, etc, that are locally produced, have been totally banned from importation so that the local farmers could thrive, rich people could still import exotic foods and pay high tariffs to whet their luxurious/expensive tastes which they could easily afford and it should no longer be the concern of government to fund their vanities and frivolities!

For the records, the concern of the APC administration from the onset to erase poverty in all forms, through adequate provision of strategic social intervention programmes is very much on track and had yielded positive economic results! But detractors want the President to fold his arms because of some administrative clauses of CBN's independence which have no structure in the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria!
PRESIDENT BUHARI HAS SUCCESSFULLY WORKED WITH THE CURRENT CBN's GOVERNOR, GODWIN EMEFUELE, APPOINTED BY PEOPLES DEMOCRATIC PARTY'S (PDP), EX-PRESIDENT, EBELE JONATHAN, IN 2014, AND HAS ALSO RE-APPOINT HIM FOR A SECOND FIVE-YEAR-TERM!
Will this same Emefuele - whom PDP's candidate in the 2019 Presidential Elections, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, boasted that he would sack immediately he was elected - begin to quote CBN's Act 2007, which encourages social intervention strategies and disobey the Presidential directive?


MORE INVESTMENTS NEEDED TO BOOST NIGERIA'S ECONOMIC GROWTH!
Was it not high time for Nigerian investors to divert more attention to the agriculture, mineral exploration, tourism, entertainment, the film industry, and the Art sectors; etc, to boost all economic derivables, encourage Nigerian-made products manufactured within Nigerian borders for export, acquire more forex and attain the much-sought-after-position among the 20-most-economically-viable nations of the world by the year 2020?
CHINA AND NOT AMERICA, SHOULD BY NOW BE NIGERIA'S ROLE MODEL IN RESPECT OF DETERMINED NATIONAL ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT THAT IS MASSES-ORIENTED AND PEOPLE-FRIENDLY BECAUSE FOOD INSUFFICIENCY WOULD NEGATE BOTH PHYSICAL AND ECONOMIC GROWTHS AND SUBSEQUENTLY BIRTH POVERTY AND CRIME - AN HUNGRY MAN IS SAID TO BE AN ANGRY MAN!

IF some Nigerians had sufficient food to eat in 2010, when the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), was at its peak of corruption with impunity - A DEAD AND ROTTEN WHALE, WASHED ASHORE ON THE LAGOS BAR BEACH - would not have been aggressively attacked and bombarded with axes, cutlasses, machetes, jack knives, swords etc, by hungry people who had a field day in spite of warnings by the medics of consequences of health hazards!
FOOD SECURITY WOULD DEFINITELY ELIMINATE NOT ONLY POVERTY BUT ALSO UNEMPLOYMENT CHALLENGES IN ALL STATES OF THE FEDERATION!


I am, yours sincerely, Dr. David B.A. Olufon. 08130669886, 08098194390. 08080243066. G-mail- dvdolufon@gmail.com.

DURING his first term in office, the Presidential Villa, Aso Rock, was turned into a sort of "Mecca", because PresidentBuhari had to play the neutral arbiter and father of the nation, always on hand to settle feuds between elected/political appointees who, in spite of designated powers, failed to appreciate their high pedestal! But this time around, he had given marching orders to checkmate the influx of the Toms, Dicks and Harrys, whom his Chief of Staff (COS), must now properly screen for appointments to avoid administrative distractions!
In a statement at the conclusion of a two-day induction retreat for 43 ministers-designate, presidential aides, and other top government functionaries, on Tuesday, 20th August, 2019, the President was very categorical that he would not entertain an extension for frivolities in his second term as he enjoined the ministers to hit the ground and work for the People of Nigeria, from whom they DERIVE THEIR POWERS to function!
"In terms of co-ordination, kindly ensure that all submissions for my attention or meeting requests be CHANNELLED through the Chief of Staff, while all Federal Executive Council matters be co-ordinated through the Secretary to the Government of the Federation," said the President unequivocally. He also urge the new ministers to engage and benefit from the experience of the older ministers and former governors in the cabinet, because FOUR years is "not a very long time"! The ministers were eventually inaugurated and assigned portfolios on Wednesday, 21st August, 2019, about THREE MONTHS into the new administration.
BUT most critics faulted the presidential directive and described it as high-handed, despotic and very unconstitutional as it has reduced ministers into serfdom/subjection of an oligarchic government!
Further in his address, the President confirmed that solutions that would address collaborative, purposeful and quicker results in actualising a more prosperous Nigeria in the areas of adequate security, macro-economic stability through agriculture and food security, the anti corruption war, industrialisation, energy security for petroleum products/electricity, transportation SMEs, human capital development for social inclusion, transportation, housing, financing and consumer credit facilities for a greater percentage of POOR PEOPLE, were fully researched/discussed at the retreat and must be implemented for them to access regular good/nutritional food, quality education for their children, including affordable healthcare for their families without delay!
He also assured Nigerians that solid foundations for progress had been established through the recapture of 18 Local governments previously held by Boko Haram in the North East while revamping of decayed infrastructures through investments in Road and Rail infrastructures, diversification of the economy from Oil towards Agriculture and Industrialization in spite of the sordid state of the economy and the huge legacy debts bequeathed to his administration in 2015, were pursued with dedicated/patriotic vigour!

THOSE who have criticised the seemingly derogatory directive to the ministers had freedom of expression but no rights to stop the President who, according to the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Chapter VI, Sections 147 (1) - (6) and 148 (1) (2) (a) - (c), possess the prerogative and absolute authority to hire whom to work with, dictate contract terms, conditions of service and duration! For instance, the President could, at any time during the "marriage", revise the terms, reshuffle the cabinet or even FIRE those performing below expectations without infringing "pre-nuptial agreements", because in the final analysis, ACCOUNTABILITY WOULD BE DEMANDED FROM HIM BY THE PEOPLE WHO VOTED HIM TO POWER AND NOT HIS APPOINTEES!


CHIEF OF STAFF SHOULD NOT BE MADE THE SCAPE GOAT!
Eighty-one-year old Abba Kyari, (OON), a two-time Chief of Staff to President Buhari, is no mean personality. He was educated at the Universities of Cambridge and Warwick, attended the Nigerian Law School, Lagos and International Institute for Management Development, (IMD), Harvard Business School and possesses a Masters degree; first appointed to the position on 27th August 2015 and his main pre-occupation was always to organize the daily presidential itineraries and ensuring that his principal was well-informed in advance to avoid administrative negligence or diplomatic blunders; and ensure perfect/ingenious security network within the entire presidential complex! He is naturally unassuming; he is a silent backstage worker whose immense contributions could not be wished away for good governance!
During his first tenure, he caved under much pressure from all directions of the polity; from appointed ministers, secretary to government, heads of service and parastals, political jobbers in the corridors of power, high profile contractors, captains of industries, organised labour, lobbyists, protesters, etc, etc., because it was the first term of his principal after a long break from martial governance! The President then, had to be very accommodative as he converted to a new trajectory in democracy but this time around he has barred them all from barging into the Villa as if it were a Village Square where the "baale" had no prerogative!


WOULD ABBA KYARI HAVE MERCY ON THE AGGRIEVED?
What would be the fate of the thousands of thousands of petitioners who can only communicate their president through the mails when the men of timber and calibre were barred from free access to the Aso Rock Office? We have it on credible authority that Mr. President was always oblivious to the pains of the aggrieved from one administration to another because documented petitions ended in COS trash bins - in most cases without any form of acknowledgement, even when the addressee was personalized! We want to believe that the presidential directive was a BLANKET CHEQUE to deprive aggrieved citizens from seeking redress from their CHIEF SERVANT who promised to cater for their welfare at all times!


THE BREAKDOWN OF THE CABINET AND PORTFOLIOS!
The list contained 14 former ministers, 29 new names consisting 7 females. The 14 ministers retained their portfolios - Federal Capital Territory, Labour and Employment, Education, Science and Technology, Health, Foreign Affairs, Water Resources; Finance, Aviation, Justice, Information and Culture, Works and Housing, Transportation. Osagie Ehanire (Edo State was) - was made substantive Minister of Health while, Mustapha Babs Shehuri (Bornu State) - was moved from Power, Works and Housing as Minister of State, to Agriculture and Rural Development, in the same capacity.

NEW MINISTERS: Dr. Ikechukwu Ogah (Abia State), Minister of State, Mines and Steel Development; Sharon Ikeazor (Anambra State), -Minister of State, Environment; Ambassador Katagun (Bauchi State), - Minister of State, Industry, Trade and Investment; Clement Ike, (Edo State) - Minister, Budget and National Planning; Isa Pantami, (Gombe State) - Minister of Communications; Emeka Nwajiuba, (Imo State) -Minister of State, Education; Muhammad Mahmood, (Kaduna State) - Minister of Envirionment; Sabo Nanono, (Kano State) - Minister of Agriculture and Development; Major General Bashir Salihi Magashi, (Kano State) - Minister of Defence; Ramatu, Tijjani (Kogi State) - Minister of State, Federal Capital Territory (FCT); Goddy Jedi Agba, (Cross River) - Minister of State, Power; Mohammed H. Abdulahi, (Nasarawa State) - Minister of State, Science and Technology; Zubair Dada, (Niger State) - Minister of State, Foreign Affairs; Sunday Dare, (Oyo State) - Minister of Youths and Sports; Maigarai Dingyadi, (Sokoto State) - Minister of Police Affairs; a brand new Ministry Sale Mamman, (Taraba State) - Minister of Power; Abubakar D. Aliyu, (Yobe State) - Minister of State, Works and Housing; Sadiya Umar Faruk, (Zamfara State) - Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development; a brand new Ministry.

FORMER GOVERNORS AND SENATORS: Ex-Governor Timipre Sylva, new Minister of State, Petroleum under the President; Ex-Governor/serving Senator George Akume (Benue State), Minister of new Ministry of Special Duties; Ex-Governor Richard Adeniyi Adebayo, (Ekiti State) - Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment; Ex-Senator, Gbemisola Saraki, (Kwara State) - Minister of State, Transportation; Ex-Senator, Adeleke Mamora, (Lagos State) - Minister of State, Health; Olamilekan Adegbite, (Ogun State) - Minister of Mines and Steel Development; 'Tayo Alasoadura, (Ondo State) - Minister of State, Labour; Paulen Talen, Ex Deputy Governor (Plateau State) - Minister of Women Affairs;


EXPECTATIONS FROM THE NEW SQUAD OF LUCKY MARSHALS!
They should take the assignment as an opportunity to serve Nigerians righteously NOT because it was their TURN to share the NATIONAL CAKE! Nigerians MUST watch and monitor them very closely - especially - former governors and ministers who are back in the saddle to continue where they stopped in the first term and might likely relax! Their first task is to ensure that Nigeria attained recognition as one of the 20 economically-viable country in the year 2020 and also achieve the lofty ideals of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG), for African nations. Equally important is the fact that they MUST exhibit exemplary disposition: declare their assets on assumption of office, be content with their remunerations, avoid criminal tendencies through bribery and corruption and ensure they would not manipulate the Treasury Single Account (TSA), for illicit pecuniary gains!
RIGHTEOUSNESS EXALTS AN NATION; SIN IS A REPROACH TO ANY PEOPLE. (Proverbs. 14: 34).


I am, yours sincerely, Dr. David B.A. Olufon. 08130669886, 08098194390. 08080243066. G-mail- dvdolufon@gmail.com.

Concerned patriotic citizens of Nigeria believe that there could be no better LEGACY for President Muhammadu Buhari to bequeath as he serves out his second term in office, than to revert governance to the parliamentary system which was treasury-friendly and effortlessly fulfilled the fundamental rights of the people in areas of security, economy, education, health facilities, employment opportunities, shelter etc, as was the case from independence before the military interregnum!

The people enjoyed better life opportunities without parochial consideration, tribal sentiments, nor social discrimination/classification but as one united people which cared for one another!
But now, the youths have suddenly metamorphosed into Frankenstein monsters -- social miscreants, street children, insurgents, bandits, militants, gunmen and terrorists - especially in the past 20 years of the new democratic dispensation, because political jobbers of successive administrations short-changed them by forcing them into the illiterate world of the STONE AGE and invariably turned them into brutish beasts!

Although, heinous social crimes of kidnappings/homicides have turned out to be no respecter of persons considering the fact that the genre of victims cut across all facets of human discipline, We still believe in the determination of President Buhari to change the unpleasant scenario in no time for he is the divine Crusader who MUST give account of his stewardship to the Fathers of Lights who sent him!

To the ever greedy Nigerian politician, especially the LEGISLATORS, the presidential system is gold-mine, it is Eldorado, a condition of advantageous illicit financial flow through which all manner of dubious economic transactions contrary to good governance were cleverly executed!
The Nigerian type of presidential system opens its doors for treasury looters who hide behind the faulty 1999 military-conceived and crafted Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria to perpetrate all manner of heinous financial crimes from one administration to another through annual budget padding and dubious/illegal legislative oversight duties, unknown to the constitution!

The mono-economic crude oil foreign exchange earner did not help matter because those politicians were able to manipulate the system, acquired for themselves and their cronies Oil Licences through which they were able to penetrate the Oil and Gas Sector to become billionaires at the expense of the perpetually average youth/poor worker who could hardly survive with one US dollar (N360 naira), per day!


BRAZEN CORRUPTION AT NNPC!
In spite of the fact that President Buhari held on to the Ministry of Petroleum Resources portfolio in his first term, the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), under his watch, was still perceived to be a citadel of corruption because of the deliberately-infused intricacies of financial accountability through the Petroleum Act which established it and also by its officials, who have taken criminal advantage of the entire commotion that allows the corporation to keep certain percentages of financial accruals for "running costs" without first remitting all oil sales/financial transactions into the Federation Account and by extension, to the Treasury Single Account (TSA), before such deductions were effected!

Although it is gratifying that Minister of State for Petroleum, Ibe Kachukwu and Group Managing Director, Mai Kanti Baru, who publicly washed their dirty linens over accusations/denials in respect of illicit NNPC contract awards running into billions of US dollars during the President's first term had been cleverly eased out, that unacceptable administrative step had in no way erased the fact that NNPC cannot boast of a clean slate of annual forensic financial audit records even under the president's eagle eye!

Most Nigerian billionaires made their dollars as recipients of illegal OIL BLOCS while Nigeria is adjudged as one of the most corrupt nation and its citizens, the poorest mass of people in the world because NO ONE, NOT EVEN THE PRESIDENT, CAN AUTHENTICATE THE BARRELS OF CRUDE OIL EXPORTED FROM THE NATION ON DAILY BASIS!

Should Nigerians continue to suffer in the midst of so plenteous natural resources while very few percentage of privileged politicians continue to take advantage of a deliberately faulty system of DIARCHY instead of GENUINE/TRANSPARENT DEMOCRACY?

ARISE AND SHINE MR. PRESIDENT!
President Buhari MUST rise from the onset of his second term last opportunity as a DEMOCRAT to prove his detractors wrong by putting his very best into the ring and defeat those who want to smear his IMPECCABLE INTEGRITY by not only stealing but squandering the COMMON WEALTH through frivolities and vanities of dubious salaries/allowances which they claimed were legitimate perks of office in all departments and sectors of the economy!
Between 1999 and 2018, legislators pretentiously made several attempts to amend the contentious Constitution without success because those bunch of egotistic lawmakers, at every turn, tinkered with the rules of engagement to favour themselves over and above the other tiers - the EXECUTIVE AND JUDICIARY!


ATTEMPTS BY 7TH-8TH NASS TO AMEND THE CONSTITUTION!
The 7th National Assembly collected a "working capital" of over ONE BILLION NAIRA from the treasury to enable the Joint Committee of both chambers to function seamlessly and without any form of financial hitch.
Amendments to the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (Fourth Alteration) Act 2015, as presented by the National Assembly, met all statutory provisions as set forth in the 1999 Constitution. For instance, the two thirds majority resolution of States Houses of Assemblies were obtained according to Section 9(3) and not less than four fifths majority of all members of each House of the National Assembly, were also secured!

Although, the Nigerian Constitution is silent on presidential assent for Constitutional amendments, the legislators decided in the spirit of mutual co-operation of checks and balances, to send them like any other Bill of the National Assembly [NASS], that required such assent to become an Act, it was therefore a surprise that the outgoing President could VETO the document; but in a letter dated13th April, 2015, to NASS, the ex-President Ebele Jonathan, rejected the Federal Republic of Nigeria Constitution (Alteration) Bill 2015 because he perceived deliberate attempts by the very ambitious Federal Lawmakers to whittle down presidential powers!
The 8th NASS also made similar moves shortly before the 2019 General Elections especially in respect of Amendments to the Electoral Act 2010, to regulate the conduct of Federal, States and Area Councils' Elections by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), and were rebuffed by President Muhammadu Buhari who discovered several "booby traps" in the document which was submitted FOUR desperate times for presidential assent!


INTRODUCTION OF PARLIAMENTARY SYSTEM OF GOVERNMENT FROM THE YEAR 2023!
For starters, the SENATE must be scrapped before the commencement of a new government in 2023, for a single unicameral parliament that will be people-friendly to come on board! Unicameral parliamentary governance is popular globally because the practice enables government to save more money to cater for masses social infrastructures and also create employment opportunities for Small and Medium Scale Entrepreneurs (SMSEs), who are the backbone of the Real Sector of the economy!
THE SENEGALESE GOVERNMENT ERASED THEIR SENATE IN 2012 TO PROVIDE FOR MORE FUNDS TO SUCCOUR THE VERY POOR IN THEIR NATION!

BUHARI MUST REMEMBER THAT HE WAS DIVINELY-CHOSEN TO SAVE THE TALAKAWAS FROM TOTAL ANNIHILATION BY POLITICAL PREDATORS!

Between the Nigerian Senate and its House of Representatives counterpart, N150 billion naira is consumed annually from the national budget with no visible or feasible impact on the downtrodden masses they claim to represent!
(PRAY & FAST EVERY WEDNESDAY TO STOP BLOODSHED IN NIGERIA!)

I am, yours sincerely, Dr. David B.A. Olufon, 08130669886, 08098194390. 08080243066. G-mail- dvdolufon@gmail.com.

IF TELEVISION footages, social media videos and newspapers reports of Tuesday, 2nd July, 2019, of the enormous damages inflicted by defiant Shi'ite adherents to the heavily-guarded gates of the National Assembly Complex, Abuja, were truly authentic, it is fresh proof that teeming street children have come off age and are ready to foment fresh security challenges if swift, adequate and professional measures were not quickly put in place to securely nip in the bud the violent agitations for the release of Sheikh Ibraheem el Zakzaki, leader of the Islamic Movement of Nigeria, from protective custody or detention!
Other protests by the same group in spite of the alleged fatal causalities of three dead persons, (two protesters and one policeman), continued elsewhere in Abuja on Wednesday, 3rd July, 2019, and Lagos, the commercial capital of Nigeria simultaneously, but were professionally dispersed with tear gas while unspecified number of protesters were arrested!
Their grouse was hinged on the same demand since 2015, that their leader whom they claimed was seriously ill should be released to seek medical attention abroad and were prepared to die if their demand was not met as they brazenly threw stones and several hard objects at armed security agents! It was reported that they also seized a policeman's pistol and shot sporadically at security agents! Videos posted on the internet revealed that protesters involved in the violent uproar were youths between the ages of 15-25 bracket and were adamant and unremorseful
Government asserts that Shiite Muslims have been brainwashed to disobey laws of the Federation of Nigeria by el Zakzaky, who had elevated himself into an institution above constituted authorities in view of his large followership and international support from the Islamic State of IRAN!


THESE UNFORTUNATE YOUTHS NEED GREATER SOCIAL INTERVENTION!
Recent national statistics on child education claim that out-of-school-children in Nigeria has risen from ten to thirteen million, in spite of the National Home-Grown School Feeding Programme, (NHGSFP), and other incentives introduced to check-mate the alarming figure of primary school drop-out rate, pegged at about 30%, during President Buhari's first term on office! In 2018, over USD$ 183million was invested in the cost-effective programme, according to official sources!

Over NINE MILLION pupils in 30 States presently benefit from the Federal Government's free feeding programme which has taken the children off the streets to actualize formal education from Primary I to at least Junior Secondary I, while the economic value-chain-benefits of government's Social Investment Programme, (SIP), flow to agriculture/poultry farmers and food contractors who supply food stuffs, chickens and eggs etc. to actualize the masses-oriented venture.
But more needed to be done outside of feeding to vocational interests in agriculture, theatre arts, building technology/masonry, aquaculture, movie industry etc, to save the rest of these children who are endangered due to the influence of the Almajiri System of Education which selfish and exploitative religious leaders explore to brainwash them with fanatical doctrines that were opposed to acceptable international norms!

The freedom of association and worship as stipulated in the Nigerian Constitution gives much latitude for manipulators in the system to abuse those privileges but, it is believed that the Federal Government is now poised to proscribe the Almajiri System of Education and opt for formal studies that would embrace both Islamic and Western Education as substitute!


PAST VIOLENT PROTESTS LINKED TO SHI'ITE MUSLIMS!
Although, the Islamic Movement of Nigeria (IMN), group claimed they were a peaceful Faith organisation, past events of violence linked to them proved the opposite. In December 2015, the group blocked the Zaria-Kano Highway in a massive procession of thousands of adherents and refused to give way for the Nigerian Army Chief of Staff entourage to pass through!
They resisted all entreaties but became very violent. And between 12-14th December days of the confrontation, the group alleged that at least 348 members died while the Army debunked the figure as highly exaggerated!

In another incident also, a lorry-load of hundreds of new cutlasses, camouflaged with leaves and straws were discovered by security agents during a protest march by the same group in Zaria in 2015!
On 30th October, 2018 the same group laid siege on the Federal Capital Territory from the satellite town of Nyanyan on the Nasarawa State axis forcefully marched into the city until they were halted by soldiers who mounted road blocks to repel the dangerous move to avoid another round of bloodshed!


DEMAND FOR EL ZAKZAKI 'S RELEASE!
Since the year 2015, when el Zazaki and his wife had been facing trial over allegations of culpable homicide, unlawful assembly among other charges, sustained pressures have been mounted by his followers for his release
This Islamic leader is educated and possesses a first degree of the Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, but majority of his followers are illiterates. He began to spread his religious ideologies on the city of Zaria, Kaduna State, since the early 1980s and over the years, was able to build a large population of followers who could not be said to have gainful employments but became unruly, unmanageable and disobedient to all social laws and lawful authorities/institutions - including the Police and Nigerian Army personnel!

It is no secret that ambitious religious leaders needed adherents to believe in their doctrines and propagate the messages/ideologies in order to have exposition that would eventually attract popularity, fame, power and fortune and el Zakzaky is not an exception!

SHI'ITE MUSLIMS ACTIVITIES IN NIGERIA!
Shi'ite Muslims in Nigeria are in minority to their SUNNI counterparts world-wide and while desperately craving for global recognition, they began to constitute themselves into an autonomous religious sect due to the secular state of the nation which allows for freedom of worship! Although affiliated to IRAN – the acclaimed Shiite Muslim country of the world - not much searchlight was beamed on them by Nigerian security agents until in recent years when they grew in population and became unruly in their mode of worship and procession in Zaria, North Central State!

During the Sect’s confrontation with the Nigerian Army Chief of Staff whom they allegedly planned to assassinate in 2015, the Islamic State of Iran tried to meddle in the internal affairs of Nigeria by summoning Nigeria’s Ambassador in Tehran for explanations on the detention of Shiite leader, Sheikh Zakzaky and deaths of several of his followers in Zaria, but was rebuffed by the Federal Authorities!


NOW THAT THEY ARE GETTING WILDER!
With recent developments which involve violence of high degree, possession of dangerous weapons, arms and ammunitions, confrontations against law enforcement agents in a suicidal bid to overheat the polity:
The Shi'ite Islamic Movement of Nigeria can no longer claim to be a peaceful organisation!
Its members can no longer play the victim by declaring that they were ready to die, if their leader was not released!
Handlers of the Movement must follow due process of the Law and advocate their members to shun every form of violence if they were truly a peaceful religious body and should not exaggerate a matter that borders on national security/interest.
Religious extremism is unacceptable, even in a SECULAR STATE as Nigeria, which in NINE years, is still grappling with Boko Haram insurgency which had claimed thousands of innocent lives and We advocate all law-abiding citizens should be spared of any other form of religious upheaval from being unleashed on this nation!
The sanctity of lives must now take the front-burner because too much bloodshed had also been recorded by the hands of murderers, bandits, assassins, cattle herdersmen/rustlers, militants, gunmen etc, on virtually daily basis and all Nigerians must rise in unison to condemn the very unacceptable situation once and for all by supply authentic information to all law enforcement agencies about the activities and movements of these enemies of the STATE, who are not GHOSTS but human!
Nigerians are tired of all forms of insurgency and violence and concerted efforts should be made by National Orientation Agency (NOA), in this regard, to avail the good citizens who are in the majority all necessary precautions to take in all given circumstances of national upheavals!

IT IS OUR CANDID OPINION IS THAT THE TRIAL OF SHEIHK el ZAKZAKI AND HIS WIFE SHOULD BE ACCELERATED AND JUSTICE BE METED TO THEM - WHICHEVER WAY IT TURNS - PRISON OR FREEDOM, SO THAT ANOTHER BOUT OF RELIGIOUS INSURRECTION CAN BE AVOIDED!

It is not good to accept the person of the wicked, to overthrow the righteous in judgment. (Prov 18:5)

I am, yours sincerely, Dr. David B.A. Olufon. 08130669886, 08098194390. 08080243066. G-mail- dvdolufon@gmail.com.

NIGERIANS can again enjoy a fresh breath of air following Federal Government's decision to suspend the controversial RUGA Settlement Plan which it proposed to alleviate the aggravated herders/farmers clashes but bungled by incompetent official marketers who failed to disseminate the document's well-intended content in a universally-acceptable language to all stakeholders!
The proposal was greeted with misconception/public outcry instead of applause and totally condemned by most Nigerians, except by some Coalition of Northern Groups (CNG) who have given 30 days ultimatum to the Federal Government to rescind its decision or SOUTHERN non-indigenes be faced with QUIT ORDERS from their territory as they did in August, 2017!
Although cattle rearing is big business and generates lots of revenue into the national coffers, it had attracted lots of security challenges which government could not afford to overlook and should not allow to rubbish all economic gains recorded by President Buhari's APC Change Administration in the past FOUR years through the mismanagement of a good idea that turned sour! Should the lives of Nigerian citizens be sacrificed to protect mere animals which only exist to satisfy human economic needs and consumption?
Will the Federal Government ever get its act right over this very sensitive issue which has thrown up tribal, religious, nepotic sentiments, connotations/interpretations because the President's public relations officers bungled the advocacy of the RUGA idea which came out of the blues to confuse Nigerians who neither understood the nomenclature nor the real purpose/intention of the administration?
Some said that RUGA, translated to mean "Fulani Settlement", was the President's hidden agenda to "fulanise" Nigeria, since such settlements were proposed to be established in all 36 States of the Federation, without similar provisions for the FARMERS whose lands were being destroyed by nomadic Fulani’s cattle, but government said that RUGA was for every Nigerian whose vocation is animal husbandry, irrespective of tribe, State or language!


NATIONAL ECONOMIC COUNCIL (NEC), PROPOSED NATIONAL LIVESTOCK TRANSFORMATION PLAN!

Following a meeting of the National Economic Council (NEC), of 18th January, 2019, chaired by the Vice President, Prof. 'Yemi Osinbajo, the establishment of a National Livestock Transformation Plan (NLTP), was proposed to encourage RANCHING and mitigate the escalating crisis between pastoralists and farmers. NLTP was open to all interested States without compulsion to Governors who have opted to enact the Anti-Open Grazing Law to solve the imbroglio.
But a statement on 2nd July, 2019, from the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, said the acronym of the proposed plan of government was "RUGA", and not "NLTP" adding that it was just a matter of semantics; a position that was diametrically opposed to the Vice President's statement! The NLTP which was backed by ECOWAS Heads of State and Governments since 2005, would have attracted at least N2 trillion naira to the economy if there had been consensus among all States in the implementation process!


MILITATING FACTOR OF THE LAND USE ACT OF NIGERIA!

The Constitution of the Federal Republic, 1999, confers on State Governors, the right to adjudicate over land matters but also allows the Federal Government to acquire land in any part of the country through due process according to the Land Use Act. Chapter 202 of the Laws of the Federation of Nigeria, 1990, of the Act is relevant in this respect; but it must be noted that the law emanated from an unfriendly Military Decree, signed into law on 27th March, 1978, during the tenure of retired General Aremu Obasanjo! Therefore Governors cannot be forced to part with State lands by the Federal Government, except by mutual agreement!


IN THESE TRYING TIMES, BEING A NIGERIAN FULANI PRESIDENT COULD BE VERY TASKING!

Of all Nigerian Heads of State, military or democratic, none had shown more patriotism and love for the downtrodden like President Muhammadu Buhari. His love for the under-privileged/poor masses, popularly called, "Talakawas", could only be rivalled by late NORTHERN ELEMENTS PROGRESSIVE UNION (NEPU). Leader, Mallam Aminu Kano, of blessed memory. When Buhari could not succeed to sanitize the socio-economic life of Nigerians as a military Head of State, he was elected after three failed attempts to eventually become the democratic president from 2015, through divine intervention!
When the Fulani herders/farmers clashes escalated on his assumption of office in the first term, the social media attributed the audacious/puff-headed attitude of Fulani’s to the fact that their kinsman became the numero uno citizen, of the country and would protect their selfish interests! Sandwiched between the Red Sea and the Pharaoh's Army, President Buhari brainstormed with his advisers, security/economic teams to first introduce COLONY Settlements in all States of the Federation to contain nomadic movements of the Fulani’s and their animals!
The Scheme was aborted because it was virtually opposed from the proposal stage by most Governors and their citizens except for some Northern States and the confrontations between the two camps escalated to murderous proportions which resulted in loss of several lives to further aggravate/compound security challenges of Boko Haram insurgency in the North East, and overstretch operational engagements of the security forces!
In his quest to finding a lasting solution to the compounded security challenges, the President and his team suggested the RUGA Settlement Plan, which also turned out to be unpopular, because government failed to employ massive articulate advocacy that would have convinced all and sundry of the sincerity of the administration in proffering permanent solution to the incessant clashes once and for all!


SHOULD IT NOT BE RANCHING INSTEAD OF RUGA? THE WAY FORWARD!

Global nations - including Nigeria's West African neighbours which are also into animal rearing do not record human casualties through herders/farmers constant clashes because their pastoralists and cattle are ranched - not nomadic! A RANCH is a large area of land equipped with multiple structural facilities needed to raise livestock - especially cattle - and is actually similar to RUGA or CATTLE COLONY and should be improvised through consensus between Federal and State governments to alleviate incessant bloodshed between the herdsmen and farmers, permanently!
The Nigerian experience which is a complete opposite of what obtains in other climes, needed to be quickly addressed now that President Buhari has been given a second chance by the electorate to turn the security/economic fortunes this great nation around for the citizens to dwell in peace together in spite of tribal diversity.
Before the controversial RUGA Plan, there was the CATTLE COLONIES Programme earlier mooted by the Federal Government as A ONE STOP SHOPPING MALL where all basic necessities/amenities of stakeholders ( provender, grass, water, health facilities, schools, markets) etc, which government believed would keep the offending animals off other people's farms and green pastures! BUT the people cried against RE-COLONIZATION of Nigeria by the FULANIS! Thereafter, some dissenting State Governors proclaimed the Anti- Open Grazing Law to solve the challenge in the best way suitable to them!


DID BENUE AND EKITI GET IT RIGHT?

It is on record that Benue State, farmers and citizens in North Central Nigeria were viciously attacked by Fulani herders when the Governor proclaimed the Anti-Open Grazing law inspite of the threat of non-compliance by the MIYETTI-ALLAH CATTLE BREEDERS ASSOCIATION OF NIGERIA (MACBAN) and their herders resident in the State, and scores of lives lost! Though they denied the attack, evidences were adduced by government to prove that they were culpable! In spite of the mayhem inflicted on innocent citizens, the association headed to the Court in 2017 to challenge the anti-grazing law, but in a judgement of Thursday, 4th July, 2019, lost the case with costs awarded against them!
Ekiti State, South West Nigeria, which also proclaimed a similar law, had close shave of atrocities from the branch of the Cattle Association, until several moves of conflict resolutions were organised to douse tension!
EL RUFAI'S PAYMENT TO FOREIGN FULANI HERDSMEN AND PMB'S CLAIM THAT HERDSMEN INVADERS WERE FOREIGNERS FROM LIBYA/NIGER: are confirmations that FOREIGN FULANI’S ARE CULPABLE FOR THE MAYHEM AND NOT THEIR NIGERIAN COUNTERPARTS! BUT WHO CONTRACTED THEM? BECAUSE THE CASUALTIES WERE MOSTLY FARMERS AND NOT FULANI’S!
NIGERIA'S POROUS BORDERS HAVE BEEN ORDERED TO BE SHUT AGAINST RAVAGING BANDITS BY THE PRESIDENT who instructed that modern technology be employed by security agencies to stop further illegal migration of foreigners into Nigeria!
THE SUREST WAY FORWARD IS - RANCHING AS WE HAD ALWAYS ADVOCATED!
Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity! (Psa 133:1)


I am, yours sincerely, Dr. David B.A. Olufon. 08130669886, 08098194390. 08080243066. G-mail- dvdolufon@gmail.com.

Royal thrones and ancestral stools in Nigeria are no longer the exclusive preserve of grassroot elders of the communities who from time immemorial had been custodians of culture, customs and tradition, bequeathed from one generation to another. In a deliberate and determined move to spread the gospel of civilization to the nooks and crannies of the nation, the academia, professors, technocrats, professionals, captains of industry, accomplished and articulate educationists etc, had invaded royal palaces of the six geo- political zones to effectively represent the voice of their subjects and ensure fair share of the socio-economic equation in the Nigerian project!
Standing shoulder high above the multitude of those traditional patriots is Muhammadu Sanusi II, (CON), the 14th Emir of Kano, who bluntly told President Buhari that Nigeria would become bankrupt if the outrageous payment of 70% of the total generated revenue on debt servicing persisted because no nation could survive in an economy where expenditure on basic social infrastructure depended on a paltry 30% of its total income! He made this assertion at the 3rd National Treasury Workshop organised by Office of the Accountant General of the Federation held on 25thJune, 2019 in Kano, North West Nigeria!
Although the Accountant General of the Federation believed that maintenance/servicing of the nation's debt profile which was put at N 24.4 trillion, a sharp rise of 12.5 % increase from the 2017 status, was sustainable, the Emir maintained that the country's balance sheet was already overstretched! He also said that if the President would keep his promise of June 12, 2019, to lead millions of Nigerians out of poverty, all of the common patrimony being appropriated as subsidies on petroleum and electricity should be diverted to education, health and other critical infrastructures! In his words, the nation could soon witness the worst case of insolvency unless the Federal Government eliminated the huge resources being spent on the subsidy of petroleum and other commodities!
The very outspoken Emir, who was the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria from 2009-2014, vehemently opposed the subsidy regime and opined that "subsidies must be totally removed”, for such monies to be diverted to education, health facilities, employment, and shelter for the masses!
THE EMIR'S STAND ON BOKO HARAM TERRORISM!
Being an Islamic scholar, Sanusi condemned the Boko Haram false indoctrinations and urged his followers to resist such! The terrorist reacted violently to the new Emir's advocacy and bombed the Kano Mosque (the seat of the Emirate), in which 150 faithfuls lost their lives in November 2014! The terrorist commander, Abubakar Shekau accused Sanusi of deviating from Islam and threatened the Emir's life but he was undaunted and told Shekau that he (Sanusi), was "safe with Allah" and likened Shekau's statement to those of heretical Islamic preacher, Maitatsine!
SHOULD TRADITIONAL LEADERS GET INVOLVED IN PARTISAN POLITICS?
There is a general consensus that traditional institutions headed by monarchs, should be completely insulated from partisan politics in view of the highly revered and influential positions over their subjects to whom they owed absolute neutrality in the dispensation of social administration, justice and equity consistently.
Although, there are no hard and fast rules nor specific constitutional clauses to check traditional rulers disposition to politics, State Governments in Nigeria have established, ministries for local government and chieftaincy affairs, to properly administer processes of choosing traditional heads from among the people according to their customs through orderly procedures that would ultimately enjoy the blessings of State Governors, who hands over "Staffs of Office", to successful candidates during official coronations!
State governments play pivotal roles in chieftaincy affairs through payment of regular salaries/allowances, provision of vehicles for smooth administration through the traditional rulers at the grassroots more! And in view of this intervention, most traditional rulers have been nothing else other than partisan to the one who pays the PIPER!
KANO STATE AS A CASE STUDY OF THE PIPER WHO DICTATES THE TUNE?
It is not in contention that the Kano Emirate is funded through taxes and subventions by the Kano state government who pays salaries, allowances, and other emoluments that were legitimate monthly/annual expenses of the monarch and his retinue of palace workers!
During his first tenure, APC Governor Umar Ganduje, tried unsuccessfully to DETHRONE, Emir Sanusi through some trumped up accusations that he wasted public funds through extravagant/opulence lifestyle; and through Federal Government's diplomatic interventions, all charges and inquisitions were dropped!
But, back in the saddle for a second tenure as governor, Ganduje took up the gauntlet again and on Wednesday, 8th May, 2019, he decided to whittle down the Emir's powers when he signed into law the creation of FOUR new Emirates: Gaya, Bichi, Karaye, and Rano. The new Bill stated that the Emir of Kano would henceforth preside over TEN Local Government Areas, instead of the former 44 LGAs!
But the Kano State Kingmakers who were aggrieved by Ganduje's high-handedness had filed a suit against the governor, Kano State House of Assembly, the Attorney General and four others over the creation of new Emirates, in Kano State. They claimed that action was aimed at decentralizing the main Kano Emirate led by Sanusi and condemned his decision to sign the Kano State Emirs Appointment and Deposition Amendment 2019 Bill into law. There had been public outrage against the action which the Kano State High Court ordered Ganduje to suspend. The case was adjourned till 16th July, 2019.
SANUSI 'S ROLE IN GOVERNANCE AND AS A TRADITIONAL LEADER!
His Royal Highness Muhammadu Sanusi II, (CON), the highly revered 14th Emir of Kano, North West, Nigeria, born Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, is blue blood; a noble aristocrat, a man of sterling, impeccable and untainted character, an outstanding personality with exemplary charisma and laudable traits that are traceable to his antecedent and pedigree! The 57-year-old was crowned on 8th June, 2014, following the death of his granduncle, Ado Bayero.
A very intelligent banker and brilliant economist who attended the prestigious Kings College, Lagos, where he graduated in 1977; proceeded to Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, 1978-1983 and obtained both Bachelors and Masters degrees; taught for two years in the school and later studied Islamic Law at the International University of Africa in Khartoum, Sanusi did not allow the silver spoon to becloud his ambition for relevance among the highly educated and in the course of time distinguished him as a worthy ambassador in his chosen discipline! Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, even as a prince, did not count himself better than his peers but worked assiduously to reach the pinnacle of his profession in the banking industry as he was first crowned Governor of the Central Bank, before he received the Kano Royal Crown as birth-right!
As Governor of Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), between 3rd June 2009 and 20th February2014, he was not just the Chancellor of the Exchequer, but also doubled as the official "Watchman/Whistle Blower" over the enormous funds that were dispensed on daily basis for smooth execution of the nation's foreign and local policies of the economy, like none before him had ever done! He had a blue print predicated on "enhancement of quality of banks, establishment of healthy/financial stability and the imperative contribution of the financial sector to the REAL SECTOR!" Sanusi has to his credit several local and international awards of distinction, which singled him out not only as a very outstanding scholar but also as a banking guru!
He did not waste time to sanitize the banking industry through radical anti-corruption strategy following Mrs. Cecilia Ibru's mismanagement of the OCEANIC BANK, in which billions of naira of public funds were fraudulently looted and could not be accounted for! During his tenure, several bank managers, including CEO, Mrs Ibru, were convicted by the law courts and sent to prison terms!
SANUSI ACCUSED JONATHAN'S GOVERNMENT OF $20 BILLION US DOLLAR FRAUD!
For the very first time in the history of Nigeria's financial transactions at the apex level of the Executive Arm, in 2014, Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, moved against the norm and the protocol, to blow the whistle over UNREMITTED/MISSING FUNDS from the vaults of the apex bank under his watch and that audacity, caused him his plum job, because ex-President Ebele Jonathan, did not waste time in relieving him of the exalted post without completing his five-year tenure!
HIS OFFENCE: He accused Jonathan's Government of a $ 20 billion US-dollar-fraud in the Oil Sector of the economy under the watch of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), in 2014. Sanusi had earlier disclosed in 2013 that, Nigeria lost one billion dollars on monthly basis due to diversion of funds under the ex-president's watch while American and British stakeholders in the oil industry were quoted to have disclosed that former petroleum minister, Diezani Allison Madueke, might have organized a diversion of $ 6 billion US dollars, an equivalent of N 1.2 trillion, from the NIGERIAN TREASURY! Allison-Madueke was arrested in London on 2nd October and still facing interrogation and prosecutions for sundry financial offences at the British courts, though the present Change APC Administration has put up pressure for her extradition to Nigeria to face several financial crime charges!
As an economist, Sanusi had always favoured removal of subsidies - citing the high level of corruption engendered by the practices, the inefficiency of subsidizing CONSUMPTION instead of CONSUMPTION, (leading to slower economic growth), and the fact that government borrows money to finance the SUBSIDY - thereby, taxing future generations so that present Nigerians can consume more fuel! Like other economists and development practitioners, Sanusi believes that SUBSIDY was biased in favour of the middle/upper classes who consume most of the fuel to personal advantages - including illicit commercialisation of the product in neighbouring West African States!
QUOTE FROM SANUSI: "IF YOU WILL NOT ALLOW ME TO SPEAK MY MIND, DON'T INVITE ME AGAIN!"
RIPPLE EFFECTS OF TOTAL REMOVAL OF PETROLEUM SUBSIDY - WITHOUT CREATING PALLIATIVES?
Poverty ratio would increase; the products will become out of reach (too exorbitant), for the masses to access; unemployment percentage will rise as employers lay off workers; labour sector would demand for more salaries and allowances for government employees and resist of any form of down-sizing or right-sizing by the administration!
Governments would come and go but the royal traditional thrones remain permanent because the traditional stools must not be polluted with any form of political partisanship. Military governments used to curry favours from traditional rulers for the purpose of reaching out to citizens at the grassroot to deepen socio-economic development - but politicians MUST not convert the sacred custodians of culture/tradition to politicians for any reasons! TRADITIONAL STOOLS MUST BE INSULATED FROM POLITICS FOR THEM TO EARN THE HONOUR AND RESPECT DUE TO THEM AT ALL TIMES! But being critical of government would not amount to political partisanship especially by monarchs who love their subjects and are determined to keep them abreast with the social amenities of the civilized world. We encourage more professional to mount the royal stools to make the difference! ‘’By me kings reign, and princes decree justice.’’ (Prov 8:15)


I am, yours sincerely, Dr. David B.A. Olufon. 08130669886, 08098194390. 08080243066. G-mail- dvdolufon@gmail.com.

porka:


Firstly, you seem to be using regionalism and parliamentary system of government interchangeably. They are not synonymous. The former is an administratIve division while the latter is a political system. This is one of the confusions in the narrative of the advocates of the parliamentary system. You have to clear the confusion before any meaning can be made of your position.

Secondly, it is fallacious to state that "majority of the problems that we witness in our country today, very much has to do with the presidential system of governance that has creataed a lot of wastages in government, which has also in turn allowed corruption to thrive on a very large scale in the system". It is not. Wastages and corruption have always been in Nigeria. It is in all the systems we have tried; parliamentary, presidential and military.

All you need to do is to look at the coup speech that heralded the collapse of the parliamentary system in 1966.

The young Major Chuckuma Kaduna Nzeogu stated emphatically in the speech that "The aim of the Revolutionary Council is to establish a strong united and prosperous nation, free from corruption and internal strife".

You can read the rest of the speech here: https://www.vanguardngr.com/2010/09/radio-broadcast-by-major-chukwuma-kaduna-nzeogwu-%25E2%2580%2593-announcing-nigeria%25E2%2580%2599s-first-military-coup-on-radio-nigeria-kaduna-on-january-15-1966/%3famp

If the republic was an Eldorado as it is being painted, why bother reestablishing it? Mind you, they had to wipe out a section of the first generation of political leaders to prove their point. They didn't just wake up to hijack the system. They were idealistic just like you. They were into all this parliamentary system presidential system thing too. More than that they were more aggressive in taking steps to "correct the systematic corruption" of the day.

By far the deepest cause of the so-called wastage is self interest which is a variation of self preservation in a country that has no one loyal to it. Self preservation manifests in primitive acquisition of material things and positioning the future for the individual, family members, clan and then ethnic group in that order.

What you see are people making money off the government for their children or preserving positions for their kins or filling up agencies, parastatals positions with their clan or outrightly establishing agencies for their tribe. These increase the cost of running the government beyond any other measure. No parliamentary system will ever curb that.

Thirdly, to make a "sincere comparison" of the economic performance during the parliamentary system and the presidential system to someone who has a prefix Dr. before his name is assumed to mean employing globally recognize, time tested economic indices, right? Ok.

Here we go - the population of Nigeria in 1963 was 48m, in 1966 it was 51m. In 1999 the population was 119.3m and by 2014, the projected population was 176.5m. The GDP in 1963 was $4.2b, $6.4b in 1966. In 1999 Nigeria's GDP was $35.87b and $569b in 2014.

Per capita GDP in 1963, 1966 and 2014 are $874, $804 and $3,221 respectively. Life expectancy was 39.45 years in 1963; 40.84 years in 1966. it was 53.30 years in 2014. Infant mortality was 196 death per thousand in the 1960s, it is 65 now.

There were 5 universities in the entire country, Ibadan, Nsuka, Zaria, Ife and Lagos until 1970. More universities were established by the federal and state governments between 1979-1983 than the whole 12 years of the first republic.

We currently have over 120 universities in the country, which means that Nigeria produced fewer university graduates to run its economy in the 1960s than now. There are more doctors and nurses per 1000 persons now. There were fewer primary school and secondary schools then than now.

Fewer villages, towns and cities had electric power in the 1960s. The hydro-electric plant in Kainji was built by the Europeans. Only government offices and few homea had telephones and few homes had television. The Lagos-Ibadan expressway was not constructed until 1978. Hospitals were mostly in the cities with little access to healthcare services by the majority rural people. Public healthcare delivery is better now than then; there are more University teaching hospitals now, over 26 federal medical centres running alongside state's and private facilities.

More dams were built in the four years of 2nd republic than 12 years of 1st republic. There was a massive spending on the Steel Plant in Ajaokuta to jumpstart the industrial economy in the 2nd republic. It was sadly abandoned by military governments thereafter. More Nigerians lived in mud houses in villages than cement block homes in the 1960s. From 2006-2015 more Nigerians owned their own homes (cement block, zinc roof) more than at any time in the history of Nigeria.

The 1960s economy was largely agragrian. Export was raw agricultural products. Foreign ownership characterized the industrial and retail sectors of the economy in the 1960s as against the current indigenous ownership structure. Government dominance in the first republic's economy is visible in the construction of monuments.

The financial institutions and markets were weak and rudimentary in the 1960s. Nigeria's banks and the capital markets are stronger, diversified and capitalized now than the 1960s.

Nigeria was already inching towards a private sector driven economy in 2014 with a GDP projection of $1trn in 2020 that would have made it an upper-middle income country before the sudden "change". It moved remarkably from agriculture led system to a service sector driven. Foreign capital inflow in form of FDI was top in Africa. The middle-class grew exponentially up to 2014.

But now, they said everyone should find his way back to the village to live in huts with thatched roof and gathering fruits.

Corruption will always thrive in government as long as the foundation of the country remains. If you like introduce "angelimentry" system of government.

There is nothing like less creation of pilitical offices. That was also the forceful but myopic argument supporting reduction/merging of government ministries in 2015. The socalled reduction of ministries has not impacted positively in any significant way on the cost of running government. It has changed nothing. There are even more brazen insertion of bogus expenditure in the budget of the socalled nimble ministries than at anytime before. Fewer ministries, more expenditure.

If you like change to emirate system or the Vatican model, what you think you saved in one section will go in another direction. If you don't give money to "clerics for prayers" in exchange for intelligence, you will release 10 times of it to armed groups in exchange for kidnapped victims. What you don't spend on education because your people don't go to school, you end up spending 5 times of it on RUGA Settlements or Cattle Colonies across.

For clarification purpose, reference to the days of the regional government in Nigeria,is a pointer to the parliamentry system of governance that was in play at that time.
Aside from that, this debate can go on and on, but the truth remains, our system of government is simply not just working to suit the urgent needs of our nation.
But if you assert that all the systems that Nigeria has pratice has failed, what system of government do you suggest that we should practice?

porka:
Dear Pastor Olufon,

What can you say about the kidnappings, rape and killings going on in the Christian part of the North and now in Yorubaland?

Meanwhile, the parliamentary system of government you are advocating was practiced in Nigeria from 1954 - 1966. The results were bitterness, acrimony, killings, arson, trump-up allegations, exclusion of minority tribes, wanton destruction of property and alleged corruption. So much was the ethnic suspicIon that the Mid-West voted for a separate region. It (the turn of events) eventually culminated in a brutal military coup and a civil war.

What do you think has changed? What is the level of national unity existing in Nigeria presently compared to the late 50s and early-mid 60s?

What is the level of Nigeria's organizational ability today to withstand such experiment at this time? Israel today does not have a government but the country is still functioning. Nigeria today is with a government (even in a presidential system) but the security has broken down completely, how do you reconcile that?

Have you considered the practice of calling election at the slightest inconvenience of the coalition in the parliamentary system? Where will we get the money to run elections at every disagreement between politicians? Where is the INEC impartiality and technical/logistical ability?

The cost effectiveness of the parliamentary system is the funniest part. Does it mean we would not budget for constituency offices and legislative aides and the tools to assist the lawmakers in their duties? Does it mean that the legislative oversights will automatically cease?

To just sit down in Europe and admire their system without consideration for the enormous challenges they are facing and the peculiarity of our situation is very cheap. Many of you are in perpetual trial and error mode as if the lives of human beings are not important, it seems.

Many were advocating for a military-like dictator to just WIPE OUT corruption and provide "good governance/leadership" and "everything will just fall into place". How is that panning out now with Buhari?

And when the error starred them in the face they will just move on to another rhetoric without any sign of remorse or the courtesy of an apology to the people whose lives have been affected negatively.

We practiced parliamentary system for 12 years when the ethnic, tribal and clannish tendencies were not that manifest but it didn't work out, it failed and eventually cost millions of lives. We have practiced the presidential system of government for 24 years (1979-1983 inclusive) and things are getting out of hand. Does it not suggest that it has nothing to do with any system of government? Does it not tell you that there's a fundamental issue that needs to be addressed?

Dear porka, majority of the problems that we witness in our country today, very much has to do with the presidential system of governance that has creataed a lot of wastages in government, which has also in turn allowed corruption to thrive on a very large scale in the system. Though, no system of government is perfect, lets make a sincere comparism between the days of regional government and this present day of presidential governance, what was the economy like then, What is it like now?
To "the funniest part " there surely will be appropriations for the government to function, but far less amount of funds is used to run a parliamentary system, because there is less creation of political offices, the fact that the military hijacked the system does not mean that the parliamentary system failed! if we are to stick to the facts, to eliminate wastages and massive corruption in Nigeria today, a parliamentary system is what Nigeria needs! however if you disagree, you are very much entitled to your opinion too. Thanks for commenting and God bless you.

jodeci:
What's Nigeria's destiny? Doom I guess.

I think that you should be more positive friend, if Nigeria's destiny is "Doom", will it benefit you positively or negatively?

porka:
Dear Pastor Olufon,

What is your opinion about the invasion of Yorubaland by Fulani jihadists who are currently kidnapping raping and killing Yoruba people?

What do you say about the invasion of the Yoruba forest reserves by Fulani gunmen? Is this existential threat against your people not more important than EU election observer mission report?

You have not done any lengthy thesis on the terrible situation up till now suggesting that you are not bothered about the existence of your own people. Is this how your mind functions? Or is there anything you know that the people don't know, which makes the situation a non-issue to you?

Dear friend, you did not read before making a comment, your comment bears no resemblance to the article in question, whenever you are ready to comment, direct it towards the EU Election Observation Mission (EUEOM), Final Report on the 2019 General Elections.

Arda1000:
I read everything... and dude u made no sense...

Perhaps you read; but still no justification for your assertion!

Arda1000:
to be sincere this is the most foolish write up I have ever read

State your reasons friend! Did you even read through, or are you just commenting on the headline?

The clamour for a return to the Parliamentary System of government by Nigerians at home and the Diaspora, has reached its crescendo and the newly sworn-in legislators - especially in the House of Representatives - should urgently take over this advocacy from the 71 members of the 8th Green Chambers, who could not complete the national assignment before the end of their tenure! REFERENDUM?

In December, 2018, those patriotic legislators, with one voice and in one accord, called for the re-introduction of parliamentary legislature in view of the discrepancies between the poor and the very rich politicians who pretend to represent the downtrodden in Nigeria. They argued that Nigeria could not have been rated as the POVERTY CAPITAL of the world if wastages were not entertained in governance!
Before these honourable gentlemen embarked on this noble mission, We of the Editorial Board of the Zion B-BC Newsletter had canvassed for the same CHANGE, in some of our past editions and encouraged the Buhari Administration to moot an Executive Bill for scrapping of the SENATE and divert all appropriations which would have otherwise accrued to the "distinguished Senators", to social intervention programmes in agriculture, education, health, job creation! etc.Check: "Go to the Ants & 74 legislators are sufficient. ....
Those 71 daring legislators, who moved against the several years of STATUS QUO of sharing illicit monies through dubious salaries, allowances, and annual budget paddings, rose in unison to debate the Bill and to amend the1999 Constitution of Nigeria to that effect. The Bill passed through First Reading and the 9th NASS legislators were urged to continue from where they stopped!

GAINS OF A PARLIAMENTARY SYSTEM OF GOVERNMENT.
First, it is not complicated; second, it is cost-effective; third, it bonds the government and its subjects for faster political, social and economic developments; fourth, it does not allow for incompetence among the executive and the legislature! A parliamentary system or parliamentary democracy is a system of democratic governance of a State where the executive derives its democratic legitimacy from its ability to command the confidence of the legislature. Under a parliamentary system of government, members of the Cabinet or the Executive Council are also members of the legislative arm of government who normally formed a unicameral parliament, having won elections in their various constituencies.

The Head of a parliamentary government who is addressed as Prime Minister, (Head of Government), must enjoy the confidence of his colleagues, to remain in authority and also consult with the Head of State, who is a ceremonial head. The British House of Commons which is perhaps the oldest parliamentary democracy in the world, serves as a case study in view of the trending challenges of BREXIT REFERENDUM of 23rd June, 2016.
Conservative Prime Minister, David Cameron honourably resigned for failing to stop United Kingdom (UK), from exiting after 43 years of membership and now his successor, Mrs. Theresa May, is on her way out also, without achieving her ambition to take the UK out of the European Union (EU), because she was unable to convince her colleagues with neither fool-proof nor superior arguments!
In a parliamentary system of government, the role of the Head of State, though ceremonial, is not completely redundant because he must always be consulted according to constitution, to assent to bills of parliament into law and call on elected prime ministers to form new governments as at when due.

9TH SENATE MUST PUT NATIONAL INTEREST ABOVE EGOTISM AND SUPPORT THE BILL!
As the new House of Representatives members resuscitate the debate on re-introduction of Parliamentary system, Senators should not stand aloof but create a committee to work with the lower house to ensure a quick passage of bill with their concurrence and thereby WRITE THEIR NAMES IN LETTERS OF GOLD for posterity to judge them as true representatives of the talakawas!
Delegates to the 2014 National Conference, recommended a return to parliamentary system of government; and now socio-cultural groups, consisting of Afenifere, Ohaneze N'digbo, prominent Nigerians and politicians, have all backed the move by the 71 legislators because of the general consensus that the Presidential system has turned out to be the albatross of the Nigerian economy!
The ball is squarely in the court of the House of Representative legislators who must realise that a unicameral legislature is the best option for the nation to surmount challenges of unemployment, human development opportunities as more funds would be made available to cater for the Labour Sector of the economy!
They should also be ready to make sacrifices as the 360-strong membership figure will also be pruned to 74 legislators who will be assisted by a professional secretariat and work on part-time! In this 21st century age of computer science and hi-tech information/communication facilities, what excuses would any developing economy give for being saddled with 469 law makers who were virtually interested in eating the "national cake", without contributing time and resources to grow the economy!

THE SENATE HAD OVERSTAYED ITS WELCOME - LET'S EASE IT OUT!
Patriotic Nigerians are fed up with the Presidential system of government which favours squadermania and wastages! They are also tired of the desperation of money-bag politicians who have invaded and turned the hallowed chambers of the National Assembly (NASS), into a den of robbers, where illicit deals unknown to good governance were hatched and executed with impunity for only 469 persons out of about 200 million citizens, to continue a life of opulence at the expense of the TALKAWAS - the poor masses!
Why was their so much frenzy, hustle and bustle, so much horsetrading and desperation at the just concluded inauguration of the 9th NASS, on Tuesday, 11th June, 2019, for principal offices by ranking officers of the ruling and opposition parties, for transient positions of life and the ephemeral gains of money? It has been established that Nigeria Legislators are the highest paid politicians in the world! Senators of the Federal Republic of Nigeria have not denied that they earn more money than their United States counterparts and even the Presidents of their country and that of America!

The year 2009 statistics of federal legislators emoluments revealed that they were the highest paid public servants in the world because a total of N102.8 billion, (5% of the country’s annual budget), comprising of N11.8billion as salaries and N90.96billion as allowances, was spent on 469 Nigerians; 109 Senators and 360 House of Representatives members! The largesse incredibly increased to N 150 billion naira from 2011 to date and those legislators continued to smile to the bank at the expense of the poor masses!

In the United States of America (USA), where minimum wage was USD$1.257, (N191.667), a US law maker earned USD$15,080 (N2.3million), per month while his Nigerian senator counterpart earned N29.472.749.00million totalling an annual haul of N182million, in a country where minimum wage is a paltry N18.000 and which many State Governments still owed up to seven months payment of arrears to workers!

It was revealed that Nigerian Senators got more money from their numerous allowances than from their annual basic salaries.
The allowances include but not limited to the following: Hardship allowance, 50% of basic salary, (BS); Constituency, 200% of BS; Furniture, 300% of BS; Newspapers, 50% of BS; Wardrobe, 25% of BS; Recess, 10% of BS; Accommodation, 200% of BS; Utilities, 30% of BS; Domestic Staff, 35% of BS; Entertainment, 30% of BS; Personal Assistant, 25% of BS; Vehicle maintenance, 75% of BS; Leave allowance, 10% of BS; Severance Gratuity, 300% of BS; paid once in four years and, Motor Vehicle allowance, 400% of BS, also paid once in four years!

The 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, bequeathed to the nation by the Military, is full of several flaws which give room to clever politicians to manipulate wealth to themselves and further impoverish the citizens instead of improving their lots!
Of the Three Arms of government, the Legislature is the citadel of greedy politicians who claim to represent the masses and who claim outrageous salaries and allowances they are illicit because those monies were neither processed nor appropriated by the Revenue Mobilisation Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC), the body that is constitutionally set up to fix salaries and allowances of all public officers, at the Federal and States levels! These politicians capitalize on Chapter V Section 80 (2) (3); 81(1) (2) (4) (a) (b); 82; 83 (1) (2) of the said faulty Constitution, which saddles them with oversight functions, including, scrutiny of the annual budgets which the document mandates the Executive to prepare and execute judiciously to ensure consistent economic growth! The RMAFC official salaries and allowances for legislators is less than TWO million naira per month, but these legislators appropriate a whooping N150 billion naira annually to themselves and their Administrative staff, and collect same in defiance to whatever figure was fixed by the Executive in the budget preparation.
Apart from this illegality which has been ongoing since 1999, annual BUDGET PADDING, which translates to, insertions of new amounts for Constituency Projects, re-writing, re-inventing and distortion of the entire document to accommodate their whims and caprices by arriving at a total figure completely different from the original!
The SENATE is also a recluse of some sort where Governors who had served the constitutional EIGHT years in office BUT would still smuggle themselves to spend the rest of their unproductive lives because of the LOVE OF MONEY! Apart from two former governors/senators, who were successfully prosecuted and eventually convicted to spend SEVEN YEARS in prison after several years of trial, majority of them who have been indicted by the EFCC still walk free, to contest and win elections!

THE NIGERIAN LEGISLATURE PAY PACKAGE IS SYNONYMOUS TO ROBBERY OF THE TREASURY!
Welcome and Severance Packages for Nigerian Legislators are not Christmas, Easter or Sallah Hampers, both terminologies were coined by National Assembly paymasters to identify tons of monies paid to Nigerian Legislators, at the points of entry and disengagement from their four-yearly bazaar/jamboree, at the "hallowed" chambers! They have begun to collect these largesse with impunity! IS RMAFC ON DUTY OR RECESS? APC MUST GET IT RIGHT FROM THE BEGINNING OF THIS 9TH NATIONAL ASSEMBLY! There MUST be no jumbo salaries nor humongous allowances this time around!

WASTAGES IN GOVERNMENT MUST BE BLOCKED AT THIS NEXT LEVEL! What values have legislators added to the lives of the overall masses of the population they claim to represent from 1999-2019 - a period of 20 years, when most negative global indexes, relating to backwardness were the lot of successive governments until the last four years when fresh foundations for economic growth were laid by the incumbent APC Administration!
In 58 years of independence, has the lot of the TALAKAWAS improved with the annual figure of 469 legislators in the areas of education, health, transportation, housing, employment, SECURITY etc? The answer is NO! Interestingly these legislators were always the first to condemn Nigeria in concurrence to all foreign negative indexes in respect of the national poverty level, illiteracy level, insecurity, economy, corruption etc, when they should be held responsible for all socio-economic decays recorded against Nigeria!

NIGERIA SHOULD FOLLOW SENEGAL'S FOOTSTEPS AND SCRAP THE SENATE TO IMPROVE THE LOT OF THE DOWNTRODDEN!
On 19th September 2012, Senegalese legislators voted to SCRAP its Senate and SAVED an estimated United State $ 15 million dollars under the watch of Macky Sall, who was re-elected in February, 2019, for a second term! President Buhari should do the same to create the necessary conducive atmosphere for the Parliamentary Democracy to take off from 2023! "A Stitch in time saves nine!"



I am, yours sincerely, Dr. David B.A. Olufon. 08130669886, 08098194390. 08080243066. G-mail- dvdolufon@gmail.com.

THERE was massive jubilation in the camp of Nigeria's major opposition party, PDP, when the EU Election Observation Mission (EUEOM), Final Report on the 2019 General Elections was released on Friday, 14th June, 2019, to coincide with the on-going appeal of their candidate, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, against his loss, at the Presidential Appeal Tribunal, Abuja. The People's Democratic Party strongly believes that the orchestrated report would vindicate their claims of election-rigging and thereby, reverse the victory of President Muhammadu Buhari, in their favour!

Since PDP lost the 2015 presidential elections to its charign, to the All Progressives Party (APC), it never failed at every opportunity to seek for foreign interventions that could "miraculously" sack the ruling party and overturn the tables in their favour to continue their unabated looting of Nigeria's treasury which persisted for a consecutive period of 16 years, 1999-2015!

It is instructive to note that this international observation mission of the European Union (EU), which monitored the 2019 General Elections on the invitation of the Independent Nigeria Electoral Commission (INEC), did not represent the EU as a body, and the report released by it on 14th June, 2019, was fragile and futile because prominent member countries of EU had congratulated the winner, President Buhari and Nigerians for a successful outing!

The EU Report was SUSPECT, considering its timing and the excited reception given to it by the major opposition party whose appeal against President Buhari's victory was being microscoped at the Electoral Tribunal! Was it not evident that the report was intended to influence or intimidate the Tribunal's Judges Adjudication over the appeal before them for the following cogent reasons:
It took this group almost three months to compile an indictment which portrayed the entire elections as totally marred by violence, malpractices, vote buying and biased intervention by security agents in favour of the ruling party! "We saw systemic failures in Nigeria's 2019 Elections", they asserted; and in another vein, the report also indicted the two major parties, APC and PDP in respect of perpetrating electoral violence in some States - especially Rivers - and made some recommendations to assuage future occurrences in 2023.
Was the report not SUBJUDICE? Was it not a plot against Buhari's overwhelming victory at the poll because PDP claimed that its content would vindicate it at the Appeal Tribunal? WAS IT NOT A CASE OF INTERNATIONAL CONSPIRACY? In tandem with EUEOM were the National Democratic Institute (NDI), and International Republican Institute (IRI), reports which claimed that the 2019 Elections were marred by irregularities such as intimidation of voters and electoral officials, vote-buying and election-related violence! WHY ARE THESE INTERNATIONAL INSTITUTIONS AFRAID TO CALL A SPADE BY ITS NAME? CAN THE MOTLEY CROWD OF ELECTION OBSERVERS INTIMIDATE THIS FOCUSSED CHANGE ADMINISTRATION LED BY THE INTERNATIONALLY-ACCLAIMED MAN OF INTEGRITY?
PDP MEMBERS ARE GLOBALLY IDENTIFIED AS THE DESPERATE POLITICIANS WHO WOULD GO TO ANY LENGTH TO "REGAIN POWER", BUT THE FOREIGN OBSERVERS FAILED TO SAY THE TRUTH!
Shortly before the elections when President Buhari warned Nigerians to resist the temptation of BALLOT BOX snatching or be prepared to do so at the risk of their lives, he was castigated and labelled as a leader without conscience; - BUT the opposition still went ahead to recruit thugs who snatched boxes and also perpetrated much violence which resulted in the loss of some lives!
Also before the 2019 General Elections, the Nigerian Customs Service (NCS), operatives seized several containers of military camouflage uniforms and also thousands of arms and ammunitions being smuggled into the country through the nation's numerous porous borders by desperate politicians who were bent on seizing power at the centre by force in a commando fashion!

PARTY COALITIONS AND POLITICS GANG-UPS AGAINST BUHARI!
It is on record, that ex-president Aremu Obasanjo, plotted with about 35 political parties, led by the PDP, in his bid to oust the incumbent deployed all manner of unholy strategies to heat up the polity - including the bare-faced demand that he should resign at the end of the first tenure! Obasanjo reconciled with his estranged Vice President, Atiku Abubakar whom he swore never to forgive for reasons of betrayal and tried effortlessly to discredit and malign the person of President Buhari, but to no avail and the rest is now relegated to history!

FOREIGN OBSERVERS SHOULD NEVER HAVE BLAMED APC FOR ANY ELECTORAL VIOLENCE!
Why would a Change Government which was faced with the challenges of crimes/criminalities of Boko Haram terrorism, farmers/herders incessant clashes, rampant incidences of kidnappings, banditry, militancy, etc, right from inception in May, 2015, decide to wage fresh wars of electoral violence upon its already traumatized citizens?
The famous Slogan of the major opposition party candidate, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar throughout the campaign period before the elections was: "BUHARI MUST GO. ..... BUHARI MUST GO........BUHARI MUST GO!" The African adage states that: "IF THE WITCH CRIED IN THE NIGHT AND THE BABY DIED IN THE MORNING; IT IS EVIDENT THAT THE WITCH HAD KILLED THE BABY!

WHO WILL BELIEVE OUR REPORT? PRESIDENCY INSISTS THAT ELECTIONS WERE FAIR!
INEC released a report that the 2019 General Elections was not only free, fair and credible, but was a great improvement over that of 2015! The body announced early on Wednesday, 27th February, 2019, that the incumbent, President Buhari, candidate of the governing APC party won the poll convincingly with 55.6% of the total valid votes in the presidential election while his closest candidate, Atiku Abubakar of the PDP, scored 42.2%! The body did not deny that there were some security lapses at some polling centres, but that the election generally witnessed reduced violence, ballot box snatching and announcement of fraudulent election results.
Chairman, YIAGA AFRICA, Samson Itodo, disclosed that its youth group, "Watching The Vote (WTV)"; electronically monitored the general elections in all States of the Federation and CONFIRMED that total FIGURES OF RESULTS COMPILED BY WTV AT THE CONCLUSION OF THE PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION COMPARATIVELY TALLIED WITH THOSE WHICH INEC RELEASED! The non-partisan Local Observer group published its assessments, successes, challenges during the conduct of the 2019 elections through Parallel Vote Tabulation (PVT), election observation deployment at the end of April 2019. The group conducted an extensive reflection sessions with its State Focal Points in charge of; election observation deployment in various States in Nigeria to assess the quality of its deployment for the 2019 Elections to which it deployed 3,906 Observers across ALL LOCAL GOVERNMENT AREAS IN Nigeria for the Presidential Election - using the Parallel Vote Tabulation methology, and took steps to assess the process in a bid to improve on the system ahead of the Bayelsa and Kogi Governorship Elections coming up in November, 2019.

These Ambassadors for credible elections who were spread throughout sampled polling units, used data and technology to enhance deployment in challenging terrains of the Riverine and especially, the insurgency affected areas of North East Nigeria, which monitoring recorded 100% coverage!

APC REACTS NEGATIVELY TO THE FOREIGN REPORTS!
The Deputy National Publicity Secretary to the All Progressives Congress (APC), Yekini Nabena, described reports on the 2019 General Elections by some international institutions as efforts to discredit the President Muhammadu Buhari-led Administration. He said it was an orchestrated international conspiracy to discredit Nigeria's successful diversification policy which has placed the nation as the number one commercial/industrial destination in Africa adding that Nigeria now enjoys food security which has reduced drastically previous large global importation!

ARE FOREIGN ELECTIONS PERFECT? Can perfect elections be conducted anywhere in the world as long as human factor prevailed? Can the United States, which is globally adjudged as the best universal democracy, vouch for conduct of flawless elections The Florida's year 2000 controversial presidential election figures still rings bell. Florida, a swing state, had a major recount dispute that took centre stage in the contest between Gorge W. Bush and Al Gore of that time. It is still in the public domain that President Donald Trump was rigged into the White House by Russian Server hackers while there were electoral flaws in several EU Countries; Spain, Turkey, to mention a few!
WORLD LEADERS sent goodwill messages to President Muhammadu Buhari, on his re-election for a second term in office: In Africa, President of Niger, Mahamadou Issoufou, was the first African leader; followed by Cyril Ramaphosa of South Africa; Cameroonian President, Paul Biya ; President, Xi JinPing, leader of the most populous nation and second largest economy after the US, led the pack among other leaders outside the shores of Africa to congratulate President Buhari. He promised a more robust cooperation with Nigeria. He was followed by the President Donald Trump; Mrs.Theresa May, United Kingdom (UK); Angela Marcel of Germany. ........... Etc, etc,
President Ramaphosa in his message paid particular focus on the strengthening of economic cooperation; his Ghanaian counterpart, Nana Akufo-Addo extended a warm congratulations while Zimbabwean Emmerson Mnangagwa also wished Buhari well in his efforts to steer the country towards further progress and development! Saudi Arabia, Quatar, Russia, were not left behind as they all congratulated Buhari as the winner of the 2019 Presidential Election and said they looked forward to cordial economic relationship. KENYA'S President, Uhuru Kenyatta congratulated President Buhari saying his victory was a clear demonstration of the trust and confidence, Nigerians have in him and his ability to lead the country to greater heights.

PATRIOTIC NIGERIANS HAVE REJECTED FOREIGN ELECTORAL REPORTS!
EUEOM, IRI, and their ilk cannot force biased election reports on Nigerians who believe in the results already declared by INEC and in the solid socio-economic achievements of President Buhari of the first term and are very willing to support the second term agenda programmes of the NEXT LEVEL! It very clear that those reports were their personal records which have neither legal binding nor could in any way influence the JUDICIARY in the discharge of their duties at both the Appeal Tribunal and Supreme Court, at the appointed period!

"When men say are cast down, then thou shall say, there is a LIFTING UP!..........."(Job 22: 29).


I am, yours sincerely, Dr. David B.A. Olufon, 08130669886, 08098194390. 08080243066. G-mail- dvdolufon@gmail.com.