The furore generated in the public domain by the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), that the recent attendance of President Muhammadu Buhari, to the 14th Summit of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), in Saudi Arabia, inferred a direct move to Islamise Nigeria, was nothing short of an absurdity, a mischief and myopic attempt to further widen the religious dichotomy between adherents of the two major FAITHS and incite them to "war, war" instead of dwelling together in harmony!

The body condemned the trip which it described as unconstitutional and queried if the President would attend the WORLD COUNCIL OF CHURCHES or send his Vice to represent him whenever the members met?
It warned government not to overheat the polity through lopsided appointments in which people of the same ethnic and religious group as the President's, dominated the others and added that, "The preponderance of the Fulani people at the corridors of power is what Chief Obasanjo referred to as Fulanisation agenda."

SHOULD (CAN) FAN THE EMBERS OF A RELIGIOUS WAR BECAUSE SOME MISGUIDED (CAN) DIRECTORS WERE DISAPPOINTED THAT BUHARI WON HIS SECOND TERM BID ELECTION?
We believe that God favoured Buhari to serve for two terms according to our prophecy of 2014 and turned a deaf Ear to CAN supplications, intercessions, chain prayers, white fastings and night vigils for the opposition candidates to prevail, at both elections in 2015 and 2019! CAN's sing-song about Islamisation of Nigeria has assumed the sound of a broken record because the group did the same in 1986, when Nigeria official joined the OIC in order to shore up the nation's dwindling economy.
AND IN THE PAST TWENTY YEARS, 1999-2019, OIC HAS RECORDED THE ATTENDANCE OF FOUR NIGERIAN PRESIDENTS TO ITS VARIOUS SUMMITS - TWO CHRISTIANS AND TWO MUSLIMS!!
For 58 years, consecutive Nigerian Governments (military and democratic), had guarded jealously, the freedom of its citizens to religious association and worship because the individuals of different FAITHS, cut across genders, tribes, traditions, cultures, castes, etc, in order to avoid volatile situations that could occur through any form of rivalry or the assumption of superiority of one religion over another!

The two major religious Faiths - Christianity and Islam - control large number of adherents across Nigeria; the North, predominantly of the Islamic stock, while the South is domicile with Christians. Although their are other smaller religious groups and beliefs across all sides of the Niger and Benue Rivers, the drafters of the Nigerian Constitutions, had in their wisdom avoided any alignment of State to any religion!
According to this very sacred documents, Nigeria is described as a SECULAR STATE - that is, a State that allows for freedom of worship and does not adhere to a particular religious ideology to govern the country because global history is replete with the disastrous/devastating nature of religious wars of the past, which turned out to be very gory and inhumane, because of intolerance and rivalries! In addition to this status quo, Nigeria's foreign policy is predicated on the NON-ALIGNMENT plank!


WHO IS A RELIGIOUS VIOLATOR - AREMU OBASANJO, CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION OF NIGERIA (CAN), OR MUHAMMADU BUHARI?
First it was ex-President, Aremu Obasanjo who, in his usual manner of seeking a lost political relevance, claimed that the incumbent President, Muhammadu Buhari, was executing an agenda to "Fulanise and Islamise" Nigeria!

Second, the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), condemned in strong terms, President Buhari's attendance of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation, formerly, Organisation of Islamic Conference (OIC), Summit, which held in Makkah, Saudi Arabia, from Thursday, 30th May, to Saturday, 1st June, 2019, and defended ex-President Obasanjo's allegation that the incumbent President was bent on "Fulanising and Islamising" Nigeria, or;

Third, President Buhari, who hit the ground running immediately on the second day of his swearing- in ceremony on 29th May, 2019 to attend the OIC's 14th Summit in Saudi Arabia, with a mission to solicit for more support to end Nigeria's insecurity situation and also to secure assurances that would attract more international investments to boost Nigeria's economy?

NIGERIA JOINED OIC SINCE 1986!
Nigeria became 46th of the 57-member countries of the organisation in 1986 during the military regime of General Ibrahim Babangida. OIC which had been in existence since 1969, is an organisation that advocates international economic cooperation through trade, science/technology, banking, environment, health, higher education, humanitarian, cultural, social and family affairs/women empowerment channels, that would enable member countries to grow rapidly, enjoy equal opportunities and be in better positions to cater for their citizens!

In 33 years of Nigeria's membership of OIC which has a population of 1.8 billion, FOUR Presidents of Nigeria, Aremu Obasanjo, late Umaru Ya'Ardua, Ebele Jonathan and the incumbent President Muhammadu Buhari, have attended past summits! In 2013, Jonathan and wife were delegate and guest respectively at that Summit! It is also on record that ex-Military Head of State, General Yakubu Gowon, a Christian, sent a Nigerian delegation led by Alhaji Abubakar Gumi, to represent Nigeria at the very first inaugural session of OIC in 1969! WHY SHOULD (CAN), NOW SPEARHEAD A PROPAGANDA OF CALUMNY AGAINST PRESIDENT BUHARI?
OIC's advocacy in about five decades of existence, no doubt has continued to prove that Islam was not a religion based on violence and that Muslims by nature were peaceful people because there had existed, a universal mis-conception that Jihadism (an act of holy war), which occurred in the 12th Century, was an act of terror against Islamic non-adherents; but this assumption has been denied severally by Islamic scholars who described ISLAM AS A RELIGION OF PEACE!



BUHARI PRAISED OIC FOR INTERVENTION IN FIGHT AGAINST TERRORISM IN NIGERIA & AFRICA!
The President who read the collective statement of African countries at the Summit, passed a vote of confidence on several intervention programmes of the member States all over Africa and especially in Nigeria in the areas of banking, industry, health, agriculture, trade, investment and most importantly, the fight against terrorism!
He said that the robust interventions of the various OIC Institutions and principally the Islamic Development Bank Group, had also been effective in rural development, food security, science, technology and innovation, poverty alleviation as well as women and youth empowerment. In the specific case of Nigeria, the President acknowledged the support of OIC Member States in countering the menace of terrorism and armed criminality in West Africa, the Lake Chad area and the Sahel Countries. He appreciated their contributions in the alleviation of the humanitarian crisis arising from the insurgency but urge them to do more.
He also highlighted the Inter-Water Basic transfer, aimed at re-charging, the Lake Chad, the National Food Security Programme, the Second Niger Bridge,, various Road/Schools rehabilitation projects, in Nigeria that have attracted the support of OIL Institutions adding that African members needed more support to overcome serious security problems of violent extremists and armed criminals, where they existed, etc, etc.


WEST AFRICAN COUNTRIES OF OIL!
It is very instructive to note that apart from Nigeria, the following countries in the West African sub-region are also members of OIL: Republics of Mali (1969), Guinea (1969), Niger (1969), Chad (1969), Senegal (1969), Sierra Leone (1972), Cameroun (1974), Gambia (1974), Gabon (1974), Burkina Faso, formerly, Upper Volta (1974), Togo (1997), Benin (1983), and Cote d' Voice (2001). The theme of the 2019 Summit was #Session of Hand in Hand Toward the Future.


ARAB COUNTRIES DO NOT SUPPORT TERRORISM!
SAUDI ARABIA FORCES in concert with other Arab countries and the United States of America between 2014-2017, dislodged Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), militants which took advantage of the Syrian war to carve out an illegal "State" from where they launched attacks on other Arab States, including Saudi people and also bombed their mosques. ISIS which is reputed for violence and brutality, including beheadings and floggings, met its match in the allied forces, were defeated, disgraced and driven out of their illegal occupation! ISIS like Boko Haram has been tactically defeated degraded and has such resulted to suicide attacks/hit-and-run tactics to remain relevant!


TERRORISTS ARE MERCENARIES!
Most terrorists groups across the world have proved to be MERCENARIES who have no particular ideologies nor personal political convictions/motivations other than the acquisition of illicit money and illegal power! They are no respecter of persons, governments or constituted authorities! Most times, We, as social critics and political commentators wonder why mosques, churches and other places of worship are bombed indiscriminately; or why soft targets of innocent people at motor parks/bus stations, market places, remote communities domicile by law-abiding and peaceful peasants were deliberately attacked by gunmen, bandits, militia men, marauders, who also kidnap lots of them for ransom, used them as human shields, the women as wives, sex slaves, and cooks?

Terrorism has become big business, big industry! Who sponsors the heinous crimes through supply of logistics: arms/ammunitions, information, communications, transportation, food, medicine, clothing’s, etc,! Why do governments negotiate with terrorists and pay huge sums of money for the release of kidnapped victims? Why do governments exchange terrorists commanders/prisoners of war (POW), in exchange for abducted citizens and the cycle of atrocities continue unabated because they (governments), indirectly or inadvertently, supply huge funds for them (terrorists), to purchase more arms to continue the "thriving business" with precious human lives!
MAN'S INHUMANITY AGAINST MAN HAS DESTROYED WHAT IS LEFT OF THE SANCTITY OF LIFE; BUT INCITEMENT FOR A RELIGIOUS WAR WILL BE MUCH DISASTROUS!

This unfolding vicious scenario has nothing to do with Muslims or Christians, Religion or Faith - it has to do with the bestiality that is inherent in an average man who has no fear of GOD in him! And the earlier, Christians and Muslims close ranks and pray fervently to the Creator of the Heaven and the Earth, for divine intervention, not much will be achieved with human wisdom or understanding because Satan, the evil archangel is bent on truncating the PEACE, which has been promised to the entire humanity by the Lord Jesus Christ, who says, "In me, you will find peace, but in the world, you will find tribulation: but be of good cheer; for I have conquered the world." (John. 16:33).
Tribal, ethnic, chieftaincy, land or border disputes/conflicts, can be tamed; but RELIGIOUS WAR IS WILD FIRE THAT CANNOT BE QUENCHED AND MUST BE AVOIDED AT ALL COSTS! LET US ALWAYS REMEMBER THAT ISHMAEL AND ISAAC CAME OUT FROM THE LOINS OF ABRAHAM! WE MUST BE OUR BROTHERS KEEPER!

THE WHOLE WORLD IS NAMED AFTER GOD!
‘’If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land’’(2 Chron 7:14)


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

Contrary to the trending outbursts on the social media that it was "anathema", for President Buhari to have failed to deliver a written speech at the second term low-key swearing-in ceremony at the Eagle Square, Abuja, on Wednesday, 29th May, 2019; the President actually spoke to Nigerians through the journalists who play the critical role of ensuring accountability from government as stipulated in Chapter II Section 22, Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999.

In a question and answer session with the “Watch Dogs” at the Eagle Square, shortly after he took his fresh oath of office, President Buhari made the following statement: “Today is for oath-taking. It has to take place today because it is the constitution. Every other thing including the inauguration speech is moved to June 12th."


THE PRESIDENT SAYS “I AM NO LONGER BABA GO SLOW”!
The uncomplimentary toga of "Baba Go Slow", has been cast away because the President is set to complete all campaign promises which are ongoing in respect of fool-proof security environment across Nigeria's 774 LGAs, an enviable position among the 20 top global economies by the year 2020, and an intensified war against institutional corruption, in martial "quick time"!

Unperturbed by the pressures generated through a frivolous litigation which sought to annul his second term swearing-in-ceremony because of the pending appeal against his victory at the Appeal Tribunal, the President unequivocally told Nigerians in a 24-minute interview on the NTA Network on 27th May, 2019, that he would initiate new directions, fast-track all government activities, and prod his new management team to keep on their toes for quick results! He equally promised to put up his best performances to justify the new mandate given to him by the electorate - majority of whom are the down-trodden in the political equation!


BUHARI ALSO SPOKE TO NIGERIANS IN A FRESH DECLARATION OF HIS ASSETS!
The President also declared and presented his sworn assets to the Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB), before the swearing-in ceremony, according to the law to signify the end of his first four-year term. The assets which showed no significant difference to that of 2015, communicated to Nigerians, no doubt, the lofty ideals of transparent, faithful and righteous leadership qualities of a man of integrity!

According to his Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, the number one frugal citizen did not build new houses, neither did he purchase new Shares nor operate new bank accounts at home or abroad. The 2015 declaration consisted of the following items which can still be verified by interested Nigerians according to the media aide: 270 cows, 25 sheep, five horses, birds and economic trees, five houses in Kaduna, Daura, Kano and Abuja, a mud house also in Daura, a plot of land each in Port Harcourt and Kano; an orchard, and some cars.

BUT FIFTH COLUMNISTS SAID THAT THE PRESIDENT FAILED TO DECLARE A NEW 2019 MERCEDES-BENZ S-CLASS S 560 (Maybach), purchased at a cost of USD $ 170 dollars, or N 61.2 million naira (at conversion rate of N 360.00, per dollar), and specially-designed for him, and which was unveiled as he drove into the Eagle Square venue on the 29th May 2019!
We are yet to confirm the veracity of the claim, but assuming that a new vehicle was added to the presidential fleet, did it make the vehicle the president's property?
Nigerians cannot be hoodwinked by the President's detractors who have refused to repent and follow the path of honour to build a brand new Nigeria devoid of the politics of calumny! When the President assumed office in 2015, he refused to purchase new vehicles contrary to requests by advisers but claimed that those he met on ground were still good to go and thereby saved billions of tax payers money which could have gone into corruption and deliberate wastage as was done by the consecutive 16 wasted years of PDP administrations!

THE OPPOSITION PEOPLES DEMOCRATIC PARTY (PDP), said that the President could not deliver a speech because the ruling All Progressives Party (APC), "was overburdened by the guilt of the rigged presidential election", though, government had earlier informed, not only Nigerians, but the entire global community through the erstwhile Minister of Information, that, 29th May, 2019, would be low key and for oath taking only in compliance with the Constitution; while all other inauguration activity - including the President's speech - for a fresh Four-year term would hold on June 12!

Following very wide consultations, President Buhari, announced last year, his decision to change the annual celebration of DEMOCRACY DAY from May 29, to June 12 in commemoration of the June 12,1993, Presidential Election, massively believed to have been won by a business icon,Chiel MKO Abiola, but annulled by the military junta of retired General Ibrahim Babangida and had promptly forwarded a bill to that effect to the National Assembly (NASS), for Constitutional amendment and passage into law!

BECAUSE BUHARI IS CARRYING THE ANOINTING, HIS ENEMIES SHALL BE DASHED INTO PIECES!
"Why do the heathen rage, and the people imagine a vain thing? The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the Lord, and against his anointed, saying, Let us break their bands asunder, and cast away their cords from us. He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh: the Lord shall have them in derision. Then shall he speak unto them in his wrath, and vex them in his sore displeasure. Yet have I set my king upon my holy hill of Zion. I will declare the decree: the Lord hath said unto me, Thou art my Son; this day have I begotten thee. Ask of me, and I shall give thee the heathen for thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession. Thou shalt break them with a rod of iron; thou shalt dash them in pieces like a potter's vessel. Be wise now therefore, O ye kings: be instructed, ye judges of the earth. Serve the Lord with fear, and rejoice with trembling. Kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and ye perish from the way, when his wrath is kindled but a little. Blessed are all they that put their trust in him. (Psalm 2:1-12). THE LORD HAS SPOKEN: LET NO MAN CONTEND WITH HIM!


THE PRESIDENT IS SWORN IN AGAINST ALL ODDS - HE SHOULD PUT HIS ALL INTO THE NEXT LEVEL!
The President who was sworn in by the Acting Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Tanko Muhammad, took the oath-of-office at a low-key ceremony at the Eagle Square, on the 29th May, 2019, shortly after his Vice, Professor ‘Yemi Osinbajo, SAN, had been sworn in, exuded good health, vigour and vitality, but however, did not give a prepared inaugural address at the ceremony, which according to presidential sources, has been reserved for JUNE 12, 2019, which is the new and constitutionally-enacted Democracy Day!

Expectations of better performances at this NEXT LEVEL as promised by the President himself, are very high, both at home and the Diaspora. President Buhari should emulate South Africa's President CYRIL RAMAPHOSA'S example by swearing in his NEW CABINET, without any delay. Mr. Ramaphosa was sworn in on Saturday 25th May, 2019, and swore in his cabinet ministers on Thursday, 30th May, 2019!

WE believe that President Buhari has already laid a very good foundation to build on without further waste of time and that his new team should hit the ground running to implement the party's three cardinal promises of adequate security, very buoyant economy, intensify the war against institutional corruption, focus more on unemployment and agriculture in order to eradicate poverty and by extension, insurgency, terrorism, banditry and all forms of crimes/violence for the economy to achieve the year 2020 target date of a place among the first 20 global economies!

In spite of the multi-farious challenges faced by APC Government in the last four years, the International Monetary Fund (IMF), said that Nigeria's economy grew by 1.98 % in 2018, which the body regarded as the nation's fastest pace since RECESSION! IMF also forecast a growth of 2.1 % in 2019, but we believe that the new economic team would perform better than the forecast!
Nigeria's POROUS BORDERS, which are wide open in more than 400 areas of the nation's land mass (and through which terrorists and bandits had infiltrated to kill our people and destroy our collective psyche), MUST be quickly addressed by the President and all measures, including the deployment high technology of CCTV CAMERAS and DRONES, to all States in border areas, to seal these enemies of our beloved nation off permanently!
There is no doubt that the nation's security outfits are seriously overwhelmed, overstretched and heavily overlaboured but they have been very faithful to discharge their onerous duties this far to the best of their abilities BUT they need greater encouragement in additional manpower, sophisticated weapons, more of authentic intelligence information gathering and better WELFARE packages, to build up new incentives and patriotism!


BUHARI SHOULD SIGN THE PEACE CORPS OF NIGERIA (PCN) BILL NOW!!!
DO WE STILL NEED TO REMIND PRESIDENT BUHARI TO SIGN THE PEACE CORPS OF NIGERIA (PCN), BILL WHICH WAS SUBMITTED BY NASS MONTHS BEFORE HIS FRESH ELECTION INTO LAW? IT IS ON RECORD THAT THE OVER THREE MILLION PATRIOTIC YOUTHS OF THAT NGO, VOTED OVERWHELMINGLY FOR HIS VICTORY!

NOW IS THE TIME TO FAVOUR THESE LEADERS OF TOMORROW BY GIVING THEM IMMEDIATE EMPLOYMENT THROUGH HIS SIGNATURE ON THE BILL AS HE RETURNS FROM OIC OFFICIAL ECONOMIC ASSIGNMENT IN SAUDI ARABIA! THE 8TH NATIONAL ASSEMBLY WILL REMAIN IN SESSION TILL 11TH/12TH JUNE, 2019.


The PCN, members will definitely augment the shortfalls in the strength of the overall security personnel and can be quickly deployed to all sensitive areas (especially, SOFT TARGETS), for information and intelligence gathering duties, including BORDER PATROLS! "A stitch in time saves nine"!


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

The acronym FEC, (Federal Executive Council), under which the regular weekly meetings between the President, his Vice and Ministers of Government is convened is an aberration - a misnomer, because the term neither exists nor conforms with any provision of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999!

Chapter VI, Section 148 (1) (2) (a) (b) (c), titled, "Executive responsibilities of Ministers" specifically charged that,” the President may, in his discretion, assign to the Vice President or any Minister. ...responsibility for any business of the Government of the Federation, including the administration of any department of government;.....HOLD REGULAR meetings with his Vice and all the Ministers. .... for the purposes of: .... DETERMINING the general direction of domestic and foreign policies of Government. ..... CO-ORDINATING the activities of the President, his Vice and Ministers of the Federation in the discharge of their executive responsibilities. ..... and ADVISING the President generally in the discharge of his executive functions ...... OTHER THAN. ...... those functions with respect to which he is required BY THE CONSTITUTION to SEEK the ADVICE or ACT on the RECOMMENDATION of any OTHER PERSON or BODY."

In view of the above Constitutional provisions, a change of nomenclature should be effected without further delay for the APC Administration to be Constitution compliant. The title, "PRESIDENT AND MINISTERS MEETING" (PMM), no doubt is a more appropriate appellation and not FEC; second, outside of constitutional budgets formulation and execution according to due process with Legislative oversight and approval, it was not stated that the President and his Ministers "in council", should approve weekly appropriation bills always solicited for by the ministers!

FEC, was introduced through an error of commission or omission or as a carry-over of the military mentality as the nation transited from martial to "civil" laws under a retired Army General! Although the aberration had been publicly criticised by the media, civil societies and various organisations, but the appointed professionals who should check the anomaly especially, in the Ministry of Information/National Orientation Agency, of the consecutive administrations since 1999, insist on correct procedure, did not bother to correct a glaring error which was at variance to the Federal Constitution! Approval of BILLION NAIRA CONTRACTS for Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs), including parastatals had been a weekly exercise in 20 years of the new democratic process, while less attention was given to more pressing demands of the nation's political, economic, and social programmes especially, the recalcitrant challenge of insecurity across board!
On our part, We had drawn the attention of President Muhammadu Buhari to this anomaly, and had pointed out that if the Constitution and the LAW had to prevail in the long run, all administrative and financial transactions of that body from 1999-2019, would be termed as VERY CORRUPT, NON-TRANSPARENT, IRREGULAR, UNLAWFUL, CRIMINALLY-MOTIVATED AND EXECUTED, would be declared NULL & VOID and should be punished appropriately!
The Presidents Management/Economic Teams, past and present, which were appointed on the basis of their professional capabilities/dexterity, (especially, the Ministers for Justice and Attorney Generals), who should have rightly interpreted the law, should first be held responsible while total blames rest on the executive presidents on whose tables," THE BUCK STOP!


WHERE WERE THE BILLIONS OF WEEKLY NAIRA CONTRACTS STACHED?
Until 2015, when some measure of sanity pervaded Nigeria's economic and fiscal responsibility space, through the advent of the Change APC Government, which was persistent on checks and balances through meticulous monitoring of budget execution and implementation, methods of budget approval on weekly basis, was an all-comers affair by PDP's consecutive PREDATOR Administrations which had no qualms about probity or the welfare/security of the citizens and most contract monies were embezzled with institutional impunity because the TREASURY was virtually empty at the exchange of guards!

We have no doubt that the guilty would someday answer to posterity and to God in respect of discrepancies which they deliberately condoned for their illicit gains but to the hurt of the Talakawas who still wallow in abject poverty in the 21st Century where digital information technology infrastructure holds sway globally and can proffer solutions to virtually any subject or challenge under the Sun!


FLURRY OF CONTRACT AWARD ACTIVITIES AT FEC MEETINGS AS APC'S FIRST TERM WINDS UP!
If the transition from 29th May 2019, would not be a continuity of the All Progressives Congress (APC's), administration, the rate at which FEC Meetings of the past two months had awarded contracts worth billions of naira to Ministers/Ministries, SHOULD BE SUSPECT! Our attention is especially drawn to the Ministry of Aviation which committed the nation to the loss of millions of US dollars, during an adventurous solo-venture into its pet-dream of the launch of a National Carrier, tagged, "Nigeria Air`", initiated and, or, commissioned (?), without the blessings of the Federal Government, at a London Air Fair in July, 2018!
According to its Minister, the anticipated "Carrier" would have begun operations before December 2018, with Federal Government Share put at 05%, while undisclosed Private Partners' Share was fixed at 95%, but the CONTRACT was rejected and aborted because Government said, "it was not carried along"!
Having failed in that venture, the Ministry had sought for and succeeded in getting the following contracts through FEC:
N 743 million for procurement of security and safety gadgets as well as incidences laboratory for Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA),
N391.8 million for procurement of pavement marking machines - visual aid for pilots for safe operations;
N1.187, 960,000 million Euros or N 414,543,760.23 million naira, excluding taxes!
Up till Wednesday, 16th, May, 2019, contracts were still approved to MDA's but to what purpose were these financial contract approvals intended? How many billions of naira approved to contractors at this dying days of APC's first term? Could the contracts still be executed before 29th May, 2019 or rolled over to the 2019 Budget Appropriation yet to receive Presidential assent; or would unspent monies be returned the Federation/Treasury Single Account, just like in the days of the late President Umaru Yar'Adua, of blessed memory?
ARE THE ALLEGED BAD EGGS AMONG PMB'S KITCHEN CABINET STILL HOLDING SWAY? If it were ("before, before", between 1999-2015, no one would have raised an eye brow, because the norm then was to deliberately delay contracts execution till the end of every budget year with a view to withdrawing lots of monies into private pockets of the awardees and their collaborators!


IF FEC IS THE PROCURER, WHAT IS THE DUTY OF THE BUREAU OF PUBLIC PROCUREMENT (BPP)?
We will not assume that our readers are accustomed to how annual budgets (itemized summary of intended expenditure), are formulated and executed, but will just break down the whole gamut in their proper perspectives according to the 1999 Federal Constitution: The Executive Arm is empowered to initiate proceedings of budget formulation being the Administrative Head of government by requesting all its Ministries, Departments and Agencies to forward to the Ministry of Finance, within a stipulated period, their sundry NEEDS, for a calendar year, for vetting, scrutiny and approval. [Chapter V, Section 81 (1) (2)].
THE National Assembly (NASS), has constitutional powers and control over public funds and also of oversight to subject the budget to rigorous scrutiny with the aim of sifting out discrepancies, according to Chapter V, Section 80 (1) (2) (3) (4), and also to conduct investigations, expose corruption, inefficiency or waste in the execution or administration of laws within its legislative competence and in the disbursement of administration of funds appropriated by it.
During the recent public hearing on the Medium Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF), held at the House of Representatives Joint Committee on Finance, Appropriation, Aids, Loans, and Debt Management, the following parameters for executing the 2019 Budget, were agreed on: (1) Oil Production of 2.3 million barrels per day (bpd); (2) Oil price benchmark of USD $ 60 dollars; (3) Foreign exchange rate of N305 naira to a dollar; (4) Inflation rate at single digit 9.98%; (5) Nominal consumption at N119.28 trillion; (6) Nominal Gross Domestic Product (GDP), N 139.65 trillion; and (7) GDP Growth Rate at 3.01%.
Once the budget received presidential assent as contained in the estimates, the Accountant General of the Federation will issue guidelines on public expenditure through: THE NATIONAL COUNCIL ON PUBLIC PROCUREMENT AND THE BUREAU OF PUBLIC PROCUREMENT WHICH ARE THE REGULATORY AUTHORITIES RESPONSIBLE FOR THE MONITORING AND OVERSIGHT OF: PUBLIC PROCUREMENT, HARMONIZING EXISTING GOVERNMENT POLICIES AND PRACTICES THROUGH REGULATIONS, SETTING STANDARDS, DEVELOPING LEGAL FRAMEWORK AND PROFESSIONAL CAPACITY FOR PUBLIC PROCUREMENT IN NIGERIA! "FEC" HAS NO BUSINESS IN CONTRACT APPROVALS!

Between the year 1999-2000, procurement assessment report exposed an on-going fraud that the sum of 60 kobo was always lost to under-hand practices out of every One naira spent by the Federal Government! A swift reaction by government in 2001, brought on board an intervention crack detectives of the "Budget monitoring and Price Intelligence Unit”, which quickly checkmated the national financial embarrassment! NIGERIANS MUST ALSO RISE IN UNISON TO MONITOR ALL THE RECENT FEC BILLION NAIRA ALLOCATIONS TO MDA's AND BLOW THE WHISTLE AGAINST ECONOMIC SABOTEURS IN BUHARI'S GOVERNMENT! FOLLOW THE MONEY - YOUNG HAMZA, NGOs, CSOs, ORGANISED LABOUR, STUDENT BODIES, NANS, SERAP!

“Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a reproach to all people.”(Proverbs. 14:34).

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

When Muhammadu Buhari won the 2015 Presidential Election against all odds, the opposition was shaken to their very marrows and reacted like bad losers through defiant grandstanding and a hostile attitude which delayed the unorthodox hand-over ceremony to barely two weeks to the president's investiture! His acceptance speech of the 29th May, 2015, at the Eagle Square, Abuja, which spelt out a-three-pronged approach to combat insecurity, strengthen the battered economy, and eliminate corruption at all costs, left no one in doubt that it took him three decades to prepare a come-back to complete that assignment which he embarked upon as a military Head of State between 1984-1985!

Although it took him six months to put his cabinet together then, he was painstaking and very meticulous in his choice of ministers who served without blemish and had faithfully given accounts of their stewardship which tallied with the President's Valedictory speech of Wednesday, 22nd May, 2019, in which he attributed the success of the first term to the winning team.

EXCERPTS FROM PMB'S VALEDICTORY SPEECH.
".....We inherited a broken economy which eventually went into a recession in the second quarter of the Fiscal Year 2016. .... further compounded by insecurity and massive corruption. ......we pushed forward to deliver our campaign promise to rescue our country from its parlous state.....through a common vision, heated debates...... differing views that produced national decisions. I retained my cabinet for the full term. ....each of you had a unique skill and strength, we are a diverse but tolerant nation where no one is silenced and where every opinion should be heard and considered."
The President encouraged his ministers to remain PROUD for the following reasons:
Having served to the best of their ability,
Part of a government that liberated the local governments previously under Boko Haram rule,
To have contributed to food security and economic diversification agenda which led to revival of rural agrarian economy,
To have been part of the team that developed the Economic Recovery and Growth Plan which led Nigeria exiting its worst recession in decades,
To have introduced the social investment programme that enhanced livelihoods of millions of Nigerians,
To have participated in setting outstanding pensions of many senior citizens abandoned by previous governments while supporting state governments to meet their salary arrears, and
To have overseen the most ambitious road, rail and airport rehabilitation programmes in the history of Nigeria. He also assured the ministers that their achievements of three-and-a-half-years had guaranteed their position in the history books of Nigeria, having built the foundation for an improved economy and a more purposeful government.

WE COULD NOT AGREE MORE with the President, because we monitored the team right from the onset and did a background check on each of the ministers and this was our submission in the 170th edition of the Zion B-BC Newsletter of 13th November, 2016, on completion of their first 12 months: "These Federal Ministers Are Truly Round Pegs In Rounds Holes, Hurray"! And below are some of the convictions that compelled that conclusion.


EXCERPTS OF OUR 13TH NOVEMBER, 2016, EDITION.
"Nigeria’s Change Administration Ministers of President Muhammadu Buhari had been the most criticised, intimidated, harassed, disrespected and most lambasted of political office holders around the globe in recent times! Before the eligible chosen citizens were unveiled, bitter members of the failed opposition party unleashed all manner of reckless accusations that the President's nomination of his "kitchen cabinet", (i.e. close and personal aides), was predicated on a Northern agenda since majority of the appointees, were mostly of northern origin, and advocated civil disapproval against the government without success!
But in spite of all efforts by the opposition to stampede government to act at their bidding, it took a period between 29th May, 2015; to 12th November, 2015, (134 days), for the President, his "Think Tank"/Consultants to prayerfully, carefully and painstakingly conclude the selection and investiture of the Federal Ministers who, (inclusive of the first two citizens), made up the Federal Executive Cabinet (FEC). With the capable assistance of Mr. Ibe Kachikwu, President Muhammadu Buhari oversights the Ministry of Petroleum Resources as substantive minister.
The cabinet had been dogged, consistent, focused and resilient in its commitment to ensuring that all strategic economic policies were executed to the letter with the tacit support of the Private Sector and the Stock Exchange to keep the economy on course as business partners in spite of all distractions by the detractors of government. At that meeting of Wednesday 10th November, 2016, at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, the President charged his ministers " to work harder to endear themselves to Nigerians" as he reviewed the progress, sundry challenges and social commitments of the cabinet to the people in one year." (End of excerpts).
It is on record that President Buhari never sacked any of the outgoing ministers - not even Aisha Alhassan (Mama Taraba), Minister of Women Affairs, who publicly pledged allegiance to Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, whom she described as her godfather and whom she would vote for, at the 2019, polls!
In the run-up to the 2019 General Elections when Aitiku "atikulously atikulated" himself to become the presidential flag bearer of the opposition PDP, Mama Taraba held on to her position as Minister and continued to collect, salaries, allowances, including perks like foreign journeys, because President Buhari ignored her antics, refused to sack her in spite of pressures from many powerful circles in the ruling party until it dawned on her to resign discreditably, "to pursue a higher political ambition in her state of origin!" Unfortunately, one death was recorded: - that of the Minister of State, Labour, Barrister James Enojo Ocholi, SAN, (Kogi), who lost his life in a ghastly motor accident, along with his wife and son, on the Kaduna-Abuja Highway, on 6th March, 2016, just four months into his appointment!


NIGERIA EXPECTS HIGHER AND BETTER PERFORMANCES IN THE NEXT LEVEL!
Unlike what happened in 2015, President Buhari will definitely not keep the list of appointment of ministers and his advisers to his chest for too long because the time is short! Nigerian masses have tasted true dividends of democracy for real and cannot wait even for ONE WEEK after his fresh inauguration on 29th May, 2019, to capitalize on the economic gains of his first term in office, Starting with the interest-free Market Women Credit Facilities, Market Money Programme, CBN's Anchors Borrowers Scheme for Farmers to attract more people into the economic diversification policy, N-Power Scheme for fresh University graduates, Small and Medium Scale Enterprises (SMSEs), for that all-important sector which represents the backbone of great world economies; not forgetting the urgent need to deregulate the MIDDLE & UPSTREAM PETROLEUM INDUSTRY, that will surely open new doors for technical and professional cadres of employments!
To quickly accomplish all of these in sequences, THIRTY SIX MINISTERS, + ONE for the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), MUST hit the ground running immediately after the inauguration of the 9TH National Assembly (NASS), on 10th June, 2019. The vetting and confirmation of these fresh ministers must take the front burner for the President to accomplish all of the tasks and challenges that also needed to be tackled in respect of total eradication of CORRUPTION AND RESTORATION OF ADEQUATE SECURITY for the ECONOMY to thrive!


WILL BUHARI BRING ON BOARD FRESH BLOOD OR FRESH BRAINS, OR A MERGER OF BOTH?
We suggest that Mr. President's new cabinet should be 100% BRAND NEW in all ramifications - and as the Commander-In-Chief of the Armed Forces of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, he should change all the pilots with the exception of the Nigerian Police Force, who was confirmed on Thursday 23rd May, 2019, after five months in acting capacity! As far as We are concerned, NO ONE IS INDISPENSIBLE! All ministers of the First Term should officially hand over to their permanent secretaries on Tuesday, 28th May, 2019, and go home to ROOST!
The Grapevine told us that during one of the last-minute meetings of the unconstitutional Federal Executive Council (FEC), (27th March, 2019), an Architectural Design of 12- Storey Complex for the Departments of Petroleum Resources (DPR), Head Office, was awarded for a whooping mouth-watering N1.4 billion naira, while actual the edifice would go for a staggering sum of about N35 billion naira on completion, and Minister of State, Ibe Kachikwu said that the contract sum was normal! How normal was this last-minute contract awarded to a Nigerian firm, Messers Arteck Practice Limited to design a proposed 12-floor on the plot in Abuja, at N 1.4 billion naira, which will seat new Head Office when moved from Lagos! DID PRESIDENT BUHARI ACTUALLY CHAIR THAT MEETING WHICH AWARDED N1.4 BILLION NAIRA FOR A 12-STOREY ARCHITECTURAL DESIGN?
OUR CANDID OPINION IS THAT AN INDEPENDENT FORENSIC AUDITING SHOULD BE CARRIED OUT ON EACH FEDERAL MINISTRY BEFORE NEW MINISTERS COME ON BOARD! Mr. President should remember that the 2017 Budget was barely half-way implemented and was rolled over into the 2018 Appropriation which is yet to accomplish 60%!
When the new 2019 Budget is signed into law by Mr. President, the figures of unspent monies must swell in the Treasury Single Account (TSA), for urgent execution of uncompleted projects and provide ample opportunity for Government to revert to the constitutional January to December Budget , with new hands of Cabinet Ministers and competent and patriotic Legislators.

THE URGENT ESTABLISHMENT OF STATE POLICE, INTRODUCTION OF "TRUE"FEDERALISM/RESTRUCTURING DEVOLUTION OF POWERS AND THE LOCAL GOVERNMENT AUTONOMY, ALL OF WHICH PRESIDENT BUHARI IS FAVOURABLY DISPOSED, SHOULD BE GIVEN TOPMOST PRIORITY AS SOON AS THE NEW MINISTERS ARE SWORN IN!
WE BELIEVE THAT FAULT-FINDERS OF THE OUT-GOING FEDERAL CABINET HAVE NOTHING TO PROVE AT ALL!
"He becometh poor that dealeth with a slack hand: but the hand of the diligent maketh rich." (Proverbs10:4).


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

The clamour for the restructuring of Nigeria's political system which in the recent past was a household demand, has gradually taken the back stage to pave way for a consensus public opinion that the surest way out of the nation's quagmire of national insecurity, was the emergence of divinely-endowed selfless leaders whose main pre-occupation would be cantered on a total welfare package for the citizens!

Political office holders since 1999 till date, were not oblivious to the demand of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of all organs Nigeria, Chapter II Section 13, 14 (1) (2) (a) (b) (c), (3) (4), which clearly spell out the responsibility of government to the citizens among which are the following: that sovereignty belongs to the people of Nigeria from whom government derives ALL ITS POWERS AND AUTHORITY; SECURITY AND WELFARE of the people shall be the PRIMARY PURPOSE of government etc. With this arrangement, the PEOPLE should be the Chief Executive Officers (CEOs), who hire and fire!

But majority of those opportunists (especially in the National Assembly ), who invaded the political terrain as desperate merchants since 1999, were determined to profit at all cost having identified all the loop holes in the military-crafted document which favoured mercenary transactions with so much impunity, had cleverly manipulated the system to cover up their tracks!

At the present time in the history of this nation, 469 Legislators and their cronies regularly collected N150 BILLION naira as salaries/emoluments, minus other perks of office, working allowances, and the controversial Constituency Projects (usually converted to cash), Allowances, from the annual federal budgets contrary to Revenue Mobilisation Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC), constitutional provisions; Chapter V, Sections 70 and 84 (1) (2) (3) (4), and imprudently referred to those illicit largesse as "mere pittance" of the total budget percentage!

Those were bad leadership traits that pervaded the turf for too long before the advent of the Change APC Government which from 2015 had frontally confronted all of the bequeathed fraudulent practices because those fingered to have committed economic/financial crimes by the EFCC had fought back viciously with the alleged looted funds to prove their "innocence"!

Government as a gift of the Holy Spirit, (I Corinthians.12, is synonymous with the word, leadership, in that it is the management or control of a system or people, and that was why it was possible for those who performed creditably and diligently in office, past or present, to be so endowed with the exemplary gift to work seamlessly without paying much attention to the lucre of office!

To lead means, to assume headship, show ability to guide others (presumably), in a right direction. Leadership position is not limited to the aged realm of society! Prophet Samuel was barely a teenager when God placed him as leader over Israel (1Sam 1, 2)! Emmanuel Macron, current President of France was only 39 years in, when he was elected to that exalted position by his people to serve!

NIGERIA'S BRITISH LEADERS!
Nigeria's colonial masters were national leaders in their own right! At least, they successfully, piloted the conglomerate of the entire mass of uncivilised 250 tribes, inundated with diverse opinions, languages, cultural beliefs, traditions, world views etc, for close to a century years at independence and handed over to compatriots selected/elected from among the indigenes!
Or, was the amalgamation of the Northern and Southern British protectorates, by Sir Frederick Lord Lugard, in 1914, a ploy to further consolidate their very prosperous economic empire that guaranteed regular supplies of raw materials to their emerging industries back home because history did not confirm whether natives from both sides of the divide were ever consulted!
It should be recalled that British explorers/missionaries first made incursions/inroads into Nigeria with merchandise to trade and simultaneously preached religion in a manner that would endear them to the indigenes but along the line surreptitiously imposed themselves as masters with the aid of greedy chiefdoms and of superior fire power of sophisticated arms and ammunition which gave them the mantle of leadership with less resistance!

Before the emergence of the first set of indigenous politicians who took over at independence from 1960, the scenario plotted by the British masters foisted the existence of the three major tribes of Hausa, Igbo and Yoruba, to the detriment of the other 247, who were completely interwoven and completely knitted to the prominent tribes in trade, business, social engagements/interactions, traditional rites, religious/inter/intra marriages, chiefdom/community matters etc.
Nonetheless the Founding Fathers played along and pretended all was well, with the intention to first grab independence with both hands on a platter of gold and latter settle the score of who took what or who shared what, when the dust would have settled! WERE THEY NOT GOOD LEADERS? Of course they were also good leaders who did creditable nation-building assignments in the three regional groups.

Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe was quoted to have said that he was happy that Nigeria would attain independence in 1960, and would not be bothered if either himself, Alhaji Tafawa Balewa, Chief Obafemi Awolowo, or the Sardauna of Sokoto, Ahmadu Bello, became the first Prime Minister; rather, he would be satisfied that the country from the shackles of colonial rule! Well said but how well did they manage the freedom?
Did the first coupist not accuse them of tribalism, nepotism, corruption, aggrandizement, looting of the national treasury, etc, - which were not qualities of good leadership?
IF THE BRITISH COLONIAL MASTERS PRETENDED THAT NIGERIA WAS POPULATED BY THREE MAJOR TRIBES, WERE THE INDEGENES UNAWARE OF HOW MANY CHIDREN BORN TO THEIR FATHERLAND?

Some excerpts of the Lyrics of Nigeria's Anthem at independence are as follows: .........’’though tribe and tongue may differ, in brotherhood we stand................. that TRUTH and justice reign.................TO HAND UNTO OUR CHILDREN A BANNER WITHOUT STAIN’’. Etc
WHAT WAS SWEPT UNDER THE TABLE IN 1960 REARED ITS UGLY HEAD WITHIN SIX YEARS THROUGH THE NIGERIAN ARMY WHICH SHOULD HAVE BEEN APOLITICAL!
Imagine if force was not introduced during the teething stage of the nation's political, economic and social development, the stake holders would have, through "trial and error", surmounted the early hurdles of nation-building and democratic principles and build up egalitarian societies! THAT ANOMALY PRECIPITATED BAD LEADERSHIP IN GOVERNANCE UP TO 2015 BUT THERE'S FRESH HOPE FOR RESTITUTION AND RESTORATION!

ROADMAP TO FUTURE SELFLESS LEADERSHIP BEGINS WITH NIGERIAN YOUTHS!
The Change Administration has now positioned Nigerian Youths like never before, to take over the mantle of leadership when PMB would have successfully completed his second term in the year 2023!
THE SIGNING OF THE "NOT-TOO-YOUNG-TO-RULE AND THE N30,000 NAIRA NATIONAL WAGE BILLS"" BY PRESIDENT MUHAMMADU BUHARI INTO LAW, WAS DELIBERATE, STRATEGIC, WELL INTENTIONED AND MOTIVATED TO PREPARE THEM FOR GOOD LEADERSHIP POSITIONS FROM THEN ON!
Now, Nigerian youths need to change the attitude of pursuing short-cuts to life successes as exhibited by the present generation of politicians who predate on the common patrimony with reckless abandon and impunity to brazenly exhibit such outrageous larger-than-life- illicit wealth that could mislead the very WEAK among the emerging/patriotic "not-too-young-to-rule", to follow their very bad leadership examples!

They also needed to stop identifying with or supporting the condemnable deeds of looters of the treasury who have continued to deploy such illicit funds to destabilize the polity through the sponsorship of crimes and criminalities of terrorism, kidnappings, murders, arson, assassinations, etc,
They should jointly condemn those social media rats and youths whose reasoning faculties have been damaged through drugs and who see nothing good in all the concerted efforts by the present administration to shore up the economy and put Nigeria in perspective among the comity of nations.
Nigerians Youths should interact by faith with God and request for wisdom, knowledge and understanding in spiritual and world affairs in order to be prepared for future leader positions through diligence in hard work and labour.

There is dignity in labour NOT in laziness and stealing. There is work for every serious and determined youth in Agriculture, small scale medium business enterprises, for starters. They must not despise the beginning of small things.
YES, we cannot change our topography as a nation, we cannot change our diversity of tribes and tongues, we cannot change our psyche as a people BUT, WE CAN CHANGE OUR ATTITUDE TO LIFE THROUGH THE FEAR OF GOD WHICH IS THE BEGINNING OF WISDOM! (PROVERBS. 9:10), WITH WHICH TO BUILD A UNITED, STRONG, ECONOMICALLY-VIABLE EGALITARIAN SOCIETY AND TOTALLY SHUN THEIR LOVE OF MONEY WHICH IS THE ROOT OF ALL EVIL! (1Tim 6:10). AMEN!

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

There can be no better time than now for all Nigerian compatriots to rise in unison as OMBUDSMAN, to protect the TSA common patrimony from desperate and vicious human predators who are bent on destroying the economic gains of the ruling APC Administration in its FIRST TERM
Since the PDP lost woefully at the last general elections, its wounded parliamentary political office holders had devised all available strategies to execute LAST MINUTE attacks on the TREASURY through both: (1) The 2019 Budget Padding and (2) Execution of Budget during Procurement Process; since the headships of both National Assembly (NASS), Chambers are still illegitimately and criminally held by Senator 'Bukola Saraki and Hon. Yakubu Dogara, who were the arrowheads of the infamous LEGISLATIVE COUP of 2015, which held the Executive by the jugular right from their kangaroo inauguration of 9th June, 2015!

Their latest plot was to tacitly delay the 2019 Budget as they did to the 2018 Document which was delayed for SEVEN months before the President was forced to sign it in order to avoid any delay in the implementation of the Economic Recovery Growth Plan (ERGP). On Wednesday 24th April, 2019, at plenary, the Senate again postponed the passage of the N 8.83 trillion 2019, Budget proposals to Tuesday, 30th April, 2019, when the 8th National Assembly would have just about 38 days to wind up!
The same prank was played by these opportunists in government in 2017, when the Budget Bill was signed into law on JUNE 12, by the Vice President, Professor 'Yemi Osinbajo, (SAN), who complained bitterly about the delay and the paddings through illegal insertions, re-writing, re-inventing, cutting of allocations to critical infrastructures in order to increase their fake Constituency Project Allowances and thereby making the original document very difficult to implement!


PRESIDENT BUHARI MADE THE FOLLOWING REMARKS AT THE DELAYED 2018 BUDGET SIGNING CEREMONY!

"The logic behind the Constitutional direction that budget should be proposed by the executive is that, it is the Executive that knows and defines its policies and projects. Unfortunately that has not been given much regard in what has been sent to me. The National Assembly made cuts amounting to 347 billion Naira in the allocations to 4,700 projects submitted to them for consideration and introduced 6,403 projects of their own amounting to 578 billion Naira.
"Many of the projects cut are critical and may be difficult, if not impossible to implement with the reduced allocation. Some of the new projects inserted by National Assembly have not been properly conceptualized, designed and costed and will therefore be difficult to execute.
"Furthermore many of these new projects introduced by the National Assembly have been added to the budgets of most MDAs with no consideration for institutional capacity to execute them or the incremental recurrent expenditure that may be required, etc."


IF THIS IS NOT PADDING, THEN WHAT IS IT?

The brazen legislators made cuts from masses-beneficial strategic infrastructure projects as follows: Counterpart-funding for the Manbilla Power Plant; Second Niger Bridge/ancillary roads; * The East-West Road, Bonny-Bodo Road; Lagos-Ibadan Express Way and; Itakpe-Ajaokuta Rail Project, were cut by an aggregate of N11.5 billion Naira. Others are, some ongoing critical infrastructure projects in the FCT, Abuja, especially major arterial roads and the mass transit rail project, cut by a total of N 7.5 billion Naira.
Cuts in the Health and Education Sectors amounted to N7.45 billion Naira and N 3 billion respectively. In the National Housing Sector, an amount of 8.7 billion Naira was cut, while 70 new road projects have been inserted into the budget of the Federal Ministry of Power, Works, and Housing by appropriating some of the additional funds expected from their upward review of the Oil price benchmark from USD $45 to $51 dollars and AN INCREASE IN NASS BUDGET OF 125 BILLION TO 139.5 BILLION NAIRA WITHOUT ANY DISCUSSION WITH THE EXECUTIVE! HABA, HABA, HABA!!!!!


ASIWAJU AHMED 'BOLA TINUBU'S ALLEGATIONS OF 2019 PADDINGS BY OUT-GOING NASS!

All Progressives Congress (APC), National Leader, Chief 'Bola Tinubu has publicly alleged that the out-going NASS members of hatching some plan to pad the 2019 Budget Estimates for illicit gains! According to him, Saraki and Dogara and their ilk, hijacked the national budget process in the past four years and repeatedly sought to pad them with pet projects to the detriment of the average person who should benefit from well-intended capital projects! He advocated that a repeat of their malign control of NASS must never be repeated
Expectedly, both men have denied: FIRST - SARAKI, who said through his spokesperson that Tinubu should withdraw the allegations which they consider as careless, irresponsible and callous and also requested him to substantiate the issue of regular budget padding by NASS. He also said that Tinubu who served as a Senator for 22 months - though under a military regime - should know how the legislature worked.
THEN - DOGARA , who said that Tinubu's assertions were in pursuit of fascist agenda to control all levels of power in Nigeria, because only an ignorant person with dubious academic certificates would conclude that the author of a document padded a document which he alone could constitutionally draft!


WHAT HON. JIBRIN ABDUL MUMINI (FORMER CHAIRMAN APPROPRIATION COMMITTEE), CONFESSED ABOUT BUDGET PADDING!

When Hon. Jibrin Mummini, in 2016, AS AN INSIDER, exposed how budgets were padded annually to suit the whims and caprices of the legislators, he was very detailed and specific in his allegations with facts and figures about how much accrued to 10 principal officers, including the Speaker, Yakubu Dogara, his Deputy 'Lasun Yusuf and himself! Though, he was maligned by the leadership which he accused and eventually suspended for 180 legislative days, he approached the court for redress, won, was recalled and paid all his salaries/allowances!


HOW CAN DOGARA AND SARAKI NOW DENY BUDGET PADDING? The responses of both men portray them as pathetic liars, who should neither represent the masses nor hold public offices at any level of government FOREVER!
OUTSIDE OF BUDGET PADDING, THESE INSATIABLE LEGISLATORS ALSO COLLECT HUMONGUS SALARIES/ALLOWANCES FOR NON-EXISTENT CONSTITUENCY PROJECTS!
SENATOR SHEHU SANNI EXPOSED ILLEGAL MONTHLY WORKING ALLOWANCE OF N3.5 MILLION APART FROM 15 OTHERS, WHICH HIS COLLEAGUES OF THE 8TH NASS COULD NOT DENY!
ALL CITIZENS - COMPATRIOTS, NGO'S & CSO'S - MUST RISE UP AS "WATCHMAN" OF THE TSA AND ALSO THE ILLEGAL SALARIES/ALLOWANCES OF ALL POLITICIANS/POLITICAL APPOINTEES - EXPOSE ILL-GOTTEN WEALTH AND BLOW THE WHISTLE!

CODE OF CONDCT BUREAU (CCB), MUST WAKE UP AND ENFORCE THE ASSETS DECLARATION LAW, INSPECT, VET & SCRUTINIZE ALL CLAIMS AND MAKE THEM PUBLIC TO BLOCK ANTICIPATED CLAIMS BY ROUGISH POLITICIANS/APPOINTEES AND ALL PUBLIC OFFICE HOLDERS!

In addition to all of these suggestions, A BRAND NEW CONSTITUTION MUST BE CRAFTED BY THE LEGITIMATE PEOPLE OF NIGERIA, EARLY IN THE SECOND TERM, BECAUSE ALL OF THE SO-CALLED AMMENDMENTS OF THE 1999 CONSTITUTION OF THE FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF NIGERIA, HAD FAILED AND HAVE COME TO NOTHING!
THE SENATE MUST BE SCRAPPED TO DESTROY ALL PRODIGALITY AND WASTAGES IN GOVERNMENT AND THIS 2019 SET OF SENATORS SHOULD BE THE LAST! Also the present number of 360 House of Representatives Members should be pruned to 74, should serve part-time and payed salaries according to the Revenue Mobilisation Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC), recommendations!

This is the set time to put Nigeria back on a sound economic footing and register it among the 20 most-economical viable global nations by the year 2020! IT IS OUT COLLECTIVE RESPONSIBILITY TO SALVAGE THIS PRECIOUS NATION FROM POLITICAL JOBBERS AND OPPORTUNISTS! A STITCH IN TIME SAVES NINE! "Righteousness exalts a nation, but SIN is a reproach to all people." (Proverbs 14:34).)


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

APC CANNOT AFFORD A FRESH LEGISLATIVE COUP THROUGH ALI NDUME!

"HURRICANE SARAKI," which crash-landed on Nigeria's topography since June, 2015, finally subsided in February 2019, after four years of stormy onslaught on the nation's political murky waters with devastating effects that almost grounded all socio-economic activities of the ruling government and the already traumatized citizens, but for a timely and appropriate divine intervention according to prophecy!

It is no longer news that OUT-GOING SENATOR 'BUKOLA SARAKI of Kwara State, defected from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), to the All Progressives Party (APC), in 2014, with the sole aim of becoming the 8th National Assembly Senate President through the precipitation of a civilian coup with the minority members of his former party!
AND THAT, the first term of the ruling APC Administration under the watch of the Change Agent, President Muhammadu Buhari, faced serious socio-economic and insecurity challenges because of the confrontational stance of Saraki and his NASS cohorts, who constituted a horrible clog in the wheel of the progress of a nation already stressed with the maladministration of 1999-2015, is also no longer news!
WHAT IS NEWS is that our prediction that SARAKI, and his notorious clique would FALL AT THE 2019 GENERAL ELECTIONS AND THEY FELL!
Saraki's political life was drowned in the monstrous hurricane of his creation and he has fulfilled the cliché which states that: "He who sows the wind would surely reap the whirlwind"! The proud and arrogant Saraki kissed the canvass at the feet of a better qualified, humble and adorable candidate of the Kwarans in an "O TO' GE' ", (enough is enough), campaign which mobilized the Electorate of the Kwara Central Senatorial District, to vote him out and break the several years of the Saraki Dynasty YOKE, on Kwara indigenes once and for all!
Would anyone shed tears for the demise of Saraki's inordinate ambition which spanned 2001 - 2019, through clandestine manoeuvres from administrative appointment to the prestigious governorship position of eight years and another two terms as a Senator of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, which has now come to an abrupt end?
IN Saraki's permutation, his political sagacity fetched him a second tenure Senate Presidency as the icing on the cake of his political laurels but, little did he suspect that, that move would back-fire! Perhaps, SENATOR DINO MELAYE OF KOGI STATE - his faithful protégée, who could not swap his re-election seat for his master would at least render him a "Nunc dimittis"!


HISTORY MUST NOT REPEAT ITSELF!
Senator Ali Ndume, representing Bornu South Senatorial District, at the National Assembly, needs no introduction for the obvious reason that he was part the notorious SARAKI COUP, of 9th June, 2015, which almost truncated the lofty ideals in the genuine manifesto of the Change Administration of the APC!
At the onset, they all pretended to be loyal members of the party, who only believed in the separation of powers and total independence of the Legislature from the Executive - an argument that still remained untenable and unreasonable because, they all rode into the Senate on the party's platform and must surely be subject to its supremacy, if truly they were representatives of the people and not TRAITORS, as they turned out to be!
At a particular period when the excesses of the Saraki group became so negatively manifest, Ali Ndume, repented and stood up to defend APC's position at a plenary discussion and that effrontery attracted the eerie of the chief coupist, Saraki, who wasted no time to whip him into line! Ndume was promptly suspended for SIX LEGISLATIVE MONTHS! (Below are excerpts from our previous publication: Vol. 8. No. 190. 2nd April, 2017, on Ali Ndume).
"THESE POMPOUS SENATORS OF THE 8TH NATIONAL ASSEMBLY ARE ENEMIES OF THE NIGERIAN MASSES!"
"Why would anyone lament over the SIX-MONTH suspension of Senator Ali Ndume, former majority leader representing Bornu, South, over unproven allegations against Senators Saraki and his godson, Dino Melaye?
Have people forgotten so easily that the TRIO were the ARROWHEADS of Senate coupists who defiantly rejected Party's internal democratic plan of fair contests between interested candidates, but covetously and vexatiously installed themselves as principal officers for the hallowed chamber in connivance with the opposition party on 9th June, 2015, by despising the ruling Party's supremacy?
"They believed then that their "victory" was the unfettered democratic CHANGE that the Electorate deserved, though Party's constitutional procedures and moral responsibility/decorum was shunned, rebuffed and thrown to the dogs for the inordinate ambition of a FEW senators!
On the day of the "COUP", only 57 out of the 109 - which did not fulfil TWO-THIRDS MAJORITY QUORUM of the whole house, voted Saraki and his accomplices to assume positions as principal officers in which the 45 PDP minority members formed the bulk of voters! Who does not know that a house that is divided against itself will definitely fall? The imbroglio being witnessed within the rank and file of the Red Chamber now, is just a tip of the iceberg - the beginning of the end of Saraki and all the Senators who conspired to anoint him as their president has just begun!
"Though the APC was predicated on democratic principles that stresses party supremacy and discipline, these ungrateful former PDP members who coasted to electoral victories on the platform of the APC, constituted themselves into the opposition with a view to truncate the Change mantra right from inception of the new government. They orchestrated a face-off with the Executive in the THIRD QUARTER of 2016 when they rejected the list of about 48 non-career ambassadorial nominees by President Muhammadu Buhari; rejected the Executive Mid-Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF), document which Ali Ndume, as the then Senate Leader described as an "EMPTY DOCUMENT"; rejected US$ 29.9 foreign loan request by Mr. President meant to cushion the biting effects of the economic recession; refused to confirm Mr. Ibrahim Magu as the substantive Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Chairman; accused Secretary to Federal Government, (SGF), of misappropriating Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs), funds and demanded for his immediate removal from office!" etc, etc.


ALI NDUME COULD BE A "DOG IN THE MANGER AGAIN"!
Ali served his punishment and returned to the Red Chambers, and luckily for him, he was re-elected for another four-year tenure and is very ambitious to become the new Senate President, come June 2019, is spite of his Party's preference for Senator Ahmed Lawan, whose candidature, the outward-bound Saraki subversively overthrew with the covert support of the opposition PDP Caucus in 2015! It should be recalled that in the 2015 Senate legislative insurrection in which Senator Ali Ndume, actively participated, he did not contend the presidency with Saraki, BUT, vigorously contested the deputy position with Senator Ike Ekeremadu, who was the consensus compensation for PDP's connivance!


OSHIOMOLE IS ANOTHER MAN TO WATCH!
Comrade Adams Oshiomole, Chairman of the ruling All Progressives Congress, has been very undiplomatic in his administration since his assumption of office! Sitting Governors of, Ogun, Oyo, Imo, accused him of imposition of candidates during party primaries that produced factionalized candidates from the same party, and demanded for his removal without success! Now that APC has won the elections with comfortable majority in the National Assembly (NASS), he has begun a campaign of "winner takes all" and the imposition of principal officers on both chambers; and if not quickly checked, would likely play into the hand of Ali Ndume, who could become an insurgent and replay a coup drama with the opposition, like he did with Saraki in 2015!
The General Elections have come and almost gone but APC's numerical advantage had been greatly compromised through acts of commission or omission, by the party's hierarchy, with Oshiomole as the arrow head!
Before the 2019 General Elections, APC was in control of 23 States and boasted of majority figures in the two NASS Chambers, in spite of the gale of defections which defied all constitutional provisions! But as at the dust settled over the outcome of elections, it was very glaring that the ruling party had suffered several defeats at the States and the National Assembly, although statistics at the time of this publication stated as follows: States controlled by APC - 19, PDP, 15; Legislative Seats: APC - Senate, 65; House of Representatives (HOR), 203; PDP, Senate, 41; HOR;102 and the ripple effects of faulty diplomacy would definitely manifest at State Assemblies when a new Change Administration reconvenes in continuity from 29th May, 2019, and from early June, 2019, respectively!
EVEN, APC's controlled States of Oyo, Imo, Bauchi, have now been won by the opposition PDP, due to defective diplomacy by the leadership because it is believed that Adams Oshiomole did not work in isolation from the party's National Executive Council (NEC)!


PMB MUST NOT STAND ALOOF THIS TIME AROUND!
Unlike his 2015 inauguration speech of; "I am for nobody but I am for everybody," which was twisted by the ilk of the Sarakis, who took advantage to manipulate the system in their inordinate favour, this time around, President Buhari, MUST have his feet on the ground to ensure a well-co-ordinated and smooth synergy between the two arms, in other to avoid the unpleasant pitfalls of the past FOUR years which almost truncated the nation's nascent democracy!
A WORD IS ENOUGH FOR THE WISE!


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

seborrhic:
In as much as we agree Buhari is a failure and this present INEC boss is perhaps the worst after Maurice Iwu,it's intellectually naive to compare an election conducted for a 15million population to that for about 170m people with about 80m registered voters.
I don't buy the comparison and there is no basis to compare Senegal's and Nigeria's

dear seborrhic, you probably did not read through before forming an opinion.

GO TO THE ANT THOU SLUGGARD, CONSIDER HER WAYS AND BE WISE!

The Presidential Election in the Republic of Senegal - a small French country of about 15 million people in the West African Sub-Region, was conducted on Sunday 24th February, 2019, and the incumbent, Mr. Macky Sall, (57), emerged re-elected for a second term of five years, with no gunshot fired, no act of thuggery reported, no ballot box snatched, no one hurt, no single death recorded nor any human blood shed anywhere across the nation!

According to reports, voting was calm, peaceful and international observer missions signalled no major security issues as he won with a clear margin of 58.27% of votes cast with his closest rival trailing behind at 21%! Mr. Sall who was first elected in 2012, was adjudged to be a moderniser who propelled the nations economy growth to more than 6% a year, a feat described as one of the highest rate in Africa and which endeared him to the Senegalese Electorate of more than 6.6 million people, with 66% turn-out, who cast their ballot to vote CONTINUITY!
In his first term, he was quick to focus on major people-friendly capital projects which enhanced the social life of all citizens. TWO popular opposition candidates, among the seven short- listed, a former Mayor of Dakar, Khalifa Sall (not related to the President), and Mr. Karim Wade, the son of a former President, were unable to contest having been found guilty of CORRUPTION! Senegal had maintained stable democracy since independence and always recorded a history of peaceful elections!

NIGERIA'S 2019 POLITICAL MODEL!
Unlike SENEGAL, the Republic of Nigeria, a large country with an unofficial population of about 200 million people, the conduct of the Presidential Election was a complete opposite of the Senegalese outing! Nigerian registered voters was put at 87%, of which at least 50% of that figure should turn out to vote during the Presidential-National Assembly/Governorship-State Assemblies/Local Council polls at the Federal Capital Territory (FCT),
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), registered a total of an unwieldy 91 political parties out of which 78, presented presidential candidates, while 23,000 candidates were to vie for 1,558 seats across board!
Although, Senegal also registered over 80 political parties, only SEVEN presidential candidates vied for the number one position!
SHOULD THOSE INTIMIDATING STATISTICS PROVOKE VIOLENCE? According to unofficial figures, at least 39 lives were lost in election-related issues because some thugs, ballot box snatchers, and gunmen reportedly disturbed electoral processes in Rivers, Bayelsa, Kaduna, while some politicians alleged that the entire process was MILITARISED! Ballot papers were openly seized in some polling units and publicly torched in the full glare of the electorate and global viewers while the sitting Governor of Rivers State and one of his Commissioners alleged threats to their lives and families by some soldiers!
In spite of all the electoral commotions, President Buhari was re-elected for a second term in office with a total of 15,191,847 votes as against his main opponent's figure of 11,262,978, although the loser, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar had already approached the Appeal Court to challenge the president's victory at the recently concluded polls which was postponed from 16th to 23rd February, 2019, due to logistics issues!

Like Mr. Sall, President Buhari was also endeared to the Nigerian electorate because his first term was dedicated to catering for the down-trodden who had been denied all dividends of democracy by past administrations, through execution of capital projects of national road networks, aggressive resuscitation of the ailing Power Sector to boost industrialization; financial support to Small and Medium Scale Industries, diversification to Agriculture and Solid Mineral exploration as new sources of internally generated revenues to support Crude Oil, which had been the nation's major foreign exchange earner product; Unconditional Monthly Cash Transfers to the poorest of the poor; Home grown School-feeding programme, University Graduates N-Power Employment Programme, which has absorbed over 500.000 applicants within a short period of three years; etc, etc. AND in spite of all of his achievements Buhari, in his 2019 New Year's broadcast before the elections, appealed to all citizens to ensure total peace adding that the exercise needed not be, "A-DO-OR-DIE-AFFAIR" but all of his entreaties fell on deaf ears because the Fifth Columnists who sponsored and perpetrated violence for selfish reasons did not factor God into the electoral process as canvassed by the President and so would face divine justice, if they escaped the long arms of the law on Earth!

AN EXCERPT FROM THE PRESIDENT'S ACCEPTANCE SPEECH!
"I am very sad at the grievous loss of lives during these elections. Security agencies will step up their efforts to protect voters in the forthcoming State elections," he added, but commended them that though they were overstretched, they were still able to secure the country in spite of the difficult task!

A COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS BETWEEN THE TWO COUNTRIES!
Senegal was peaceful before, during and after the presidential elections but Nigeria was rather volatile throughout its outings - not excluding, Supplementary Elections of Saturday, 23rd March, 2019, conducted in 17 States of the Federation! The same rowdiness/unruly behaviour greeted the polling units in some States; especially, Kano's Nasarawa Local Government Area and also in Benue! The conduct of elections should normally be peaceful if all stakeholders - especially if the voters had no ulterior motives other than to vote for candidates who offered superior ideas of good governance in their manifestos. Was Senegal peaceful at election because it was a small country and Nigeria was volatile because it was a large nation? NO! The size of a country should not be a yard stick for measuring the rate of crimes and criminalities committed in such clime, but the mien, civility, patriotism, socio-political indoctrination of the citizens and above all, individual character orientation/reformation! Has it not been globally established that all forms of insurgency, insurrection, civil disobedience, terrorism, etc, were always ignited by few people - a motley crowd?
Unstable minds needed just some promptings of wrong doctrines or warped ideologies to turn them into uncontrollable monsters within a very short period! The indoctrination of infamous terrorist groups of the ilk of Boko Haram, Al Qaeda, Hamas, Hisbola, Taliban, Islamic State terrorists (ISIS), etc, began in small cells by the master-minds through false religious indoctrination like Nigeria's Boko Haram, which had troubled the nation since 2009, until very recently when their ranks have been totally militarily devastated like never before, through the determination of President Buhari to end the recalcitrant war at all costs!

Senegal and Nigeria attained independence from France and Britain respectively in the year 1960; both countries derived their names from their major rivers, Senegal and Niger; they practice the presidential system of government but with a slight modification and insertion of a frugal parliamentary system by Senegal which ensures no wastages in administration by any tier! Also, the two Presidents ran for second terms in office and providentially won with clear margins! BUT that is where the similarities ended because while Senegal enjoyed peaceful elections, Nigeria's Security agencies are still struggling to maintain law and order across the nations following post election eruptions and violence and though the Courts are inundated with over 640 post-primary litigations more are expected at the Tribunals as soon as all elections are concluded!

LESSONS TO LEARN FROM SENEGAL?
Senegal may be small in size, political clout or stature, it is crystal that the nation's economical viability has been largely responsible for the constant peace it has enjoyed in 58 years of independence. Nigeria's cluster of 36 States could individually borrow a leaf from the Senegalese success story by starting economic frugality through which Internally Generated Revenues (IGRs), could be regularly actualized to boost the living standards of the Workforce and by extension their entire citizens! FOR each State to achieve sufficient and regular IGRs, more hands would be employed , able-bodied youths would be taken off the streets and the labour market simultaneously and in the event of such synergy among the 36 States of the Federation, including the FCT, evil politicians would not have opportunity to employ them as THUGS during electioneering seasons!
ANOTHER lesson to learn: Political offices in Nigeria MUST, as a matter of urgency and priority, be tailored to conform with Parliamentary norms, even under a Presidential system, in order to reduce fund wastages and create a spirit of general inclusiveness in all citizens, since there would be more funds to cater for all social amenities: education, health, power, transportation, housing, security etc. To achieve this feat, the SENATE must be scrapped during this 2019-2023, CHANGE Administration, through a BRAND NEW CONSTITUTION OR A REFERENDUM, as may be desired and a 74-member House of Representatives to work on part-time was established to serve the people who have suffered enough hardship, torture, pain and death for too long!
SINCE MONETISATION OF POLITICAL OFFICES in Nigeria is largely responsible for the mad rush and crave which always resulted in the loss of precious lives during elections as is being witnessed currently, a DELIBERATE AND DETERMINED EFFORT MUST BE MUSTERED BY THE BUHARI CONTINUITY GOVERNMENT TO TERMINATE THE ILLEGAL UNCONSTITUTIONAL HUMONGUS SALARIES & ALLOWANCES BEING PAID TO SENATORS, HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVE MEMBERS, GOVERNORS, STATE HOUSE OF ASSEMBLY MEMBERS AND ALL POLITICAL APPOINTEES, AND ENSURE THAT CONSTITUTIONAL PROVISIONS THROUGH REVENUE MOBILIZATION ALLOCATION AND FISCALCOMMISSION (RMFAC), IS STRICLY ADHERED TO!

BREAKING NEWS? BREAKING NEWS? BREAKING NEWS?
ON 19TH SEPTEMBER 2012, LAW MAKERS VOTED TO DO AWAY WITH THE SENATE TO SAVE AN ESTIMATED USD$ 15 MILLION DOLLARS UNDER THE WATCH OF PRESIDENT MACKY SALL! SINCE THEN, THE SENEGALESE SENATE REMAINED DEAD AND BURIED! PRESIDENT MUHAMMADU BUHARI WILL DO SAME AS WE MOVE INTO THE NEXT LEVEL!
"Go to the ant thou sluggard, observe her ways and be wise." (Proverbs. 6:6).


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

BUHARI 'S GOVERNMENT IS REEKING OF MOLES WHO MUST BE FLUSHED OUT NOW!


A MOLE in any organisation especially in government institutions is an enemy within; a very dangerous entity without scruples, a person who aligns with his/her organisation's competitors to reveal, top secret/blue prints or delicate intelligence information to betray their oath of allegiance for personal profits, a person without qualms, good character, integrity an internal spy or espionage with a clandestine attitude! Six months before the last presidential/National Assembly elections which eventually took place on Saturday 23rd February, 2019, the following conversation took place between six commuters on an inter-state journey between the north and southern parts of Nigeria:
Male voice: This year's flood has been very devastating considering the high figures of causalities across board.
Female voice: It's all the fault of Buhari's government, which could not provide jobs and houses for the masses.
Another male's voice: Why should you blame the president for every social or political challenge that are bound to occur, even through acts of nature on a diligent and righteous leader like Buhari who is working round the clock to fix all the derelictions of past administrations?
Voice of a uniformed and armed policeman in adulterated English: Which one be your own Buhari pikin? See, this election wey de come next year so, Atiku go floor the old man wey no know him left from him right! You wan bet? Give me your phone number make i for yeye you when Atiku go don win! The only positive voice among the six passengers kept quiet and allowed the others to castigate Buhari and his government in a free-for-all and unrestrained cacophony of costly jokes, reckless accusations, unsubstantiated accusations, libellous statements etc, but was emphatic that because the President was able to restore hope to the talakawas and was very prudent in the management of the very scarce resources of the nation through the introduction of the Treasury Single Account (TSA), which major thrust was on CAPITAL PROJECTS, and most importantly because he was the prophetic anointed servant who would rule for two terms, he would be re-elected!
Voice of the armed policeman again: I beggy, that one no go ever happen, no be we they govment? We know how e de happen!
The elections have come and gone! President Buhari was highly favoured according to the LONE VOICE among the agents of darkness whose only mission for existence was the love of money and would reap from any source of illicit associations! Although they have all been put to shame, that armed policeman who was the only government employee among the commuters on that journey is still earning his salaries from the talakawas sweat without any allegiance to the Commander-In-Chief of the Armed Forces! HE IS ONE OF THE MANY MOLES IN BUHARI'S GOVERNMENT SINCE HIS ASSUMPTION OF OFFICE IN 29TH MAY, 2015!
President Buhari and his intelligence team were fully aware of the existence of these elements but had to be very diplomatic in not "throwing away the baby with the dirty birth water"! These MOLES were everywhere! Within the APC Hierarchy, the Kitchen Cabinet, the Management Team, the Intelligence - gathering outfits, the mushroom Para-military outfits, the government-owned Security Forces, uniformed and un-uniformed, the Armed Forces and the POLICE, the CIVIL SERVANTS, even Buhari's CLOSEST ALLIES from the TRENCHES!

THE NEXT LEVEL AGENDA!
When the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), adopted the acronym, "NEXT LEVEL", the Party succintingly introduced an agenda of CONTINUITY, through the CONSOLIDATION of current socio-political achievements which MUST neither be disrupted nor compromised in its guided course of progression which had touched the grassroots within such a short period of only THREE-AND-A-HALF-YEARS! It is gratifying to note that the people are in consonance with President Buhari's style of governance which was well-organised, very poised and delivered at SET PERIODS for all and sundry to EVALUATE and to VOTE their conscience at the elections which were just decided in his favour!


AT THIS NEXT LEVEL: APC SHOULD NOT BE DISTRACTED BY THE RANTINGS OF THE LOSERS!
Alhaji Atiku Abubakar MUST be allowed to go to COURTS to spend the remaining dollars which he extorted from sweat and blood of the TALAKAWAS through the various stages of litigations that are not strange to LAWYERS whose harvest period was always RIPE at ELECTION TRIBUNALS. They also deserve to RIP HIM OFF JUST LIKE THE UNSCRUPULOUS POLITICIANS!
INTENSIFICATION OF THE THREE CARDINAL OBJECTIVES OF APC - ADEQUATE SECURITY, WAR AGAINST CORRUPTION AT ALL LEVELS, AND UPGRADING OF THE ECONOMY - AGRICULTURE, NATURAL MINERAL RESOURCES, MORE OF INTERNALLY-GENERATED INCOME - THROUGH THE MANUFACTURING, TOURISM, FILM AND ENTERTAINMENT INDUSTRIES! ETC .SENATE MUST BE SCRAPPED THROUGH A REFERRENDUM! CAPITALIST WASTAGES IN GOVERNMENT MUST GIVE WAY TO FRUGAL PARLIAMENTARY SYSTEM FROM 2023!


THE YOUTHS MUST BE ENCOURAGED TO TAKE OVER MANTLE OF LEADERSHIP AT THIS NEXT LEVEL!
Since Youth restiveness had been the bane of every military or democratic administration in Nigeria since Independence in 1960, Buhari should make serious efforts to encourage them through gainful employments, at all levels of their educational qualifications! Those who snatched ballot boxes, burnt ballot papers, attacked polling booths as THUGS, employed the use of dangerous weapons against defenceless civilian population, were all YOUTHS who control over 50% of the population! We believe that the NEXT LEVEL should incorporate them positively through lucrative employments in both CIVIL AND PRIVATE ENTERPRISES!
Civil responsibility awareness, CIVIC DUTIES & VOTER EDUCATION as EDUCATIONAL CURRICULLUM must be introduced at ALL LEVELS of education NOW!
NBS Statistics on joblessness: employable able-bodied youths, age 20-35; 35-60 & able-bodied retired civil, /military personnel is on the increase; the NEXL LEVEL must arrest the TREND IMMEDIATELY!
JOBS FOR ALL NIGERIANS IS POSSIBLE & DO-ABLE!
THE N30, 000 NAIRA MINIMUM WAGE MUST TAKE OFF WITHOUT FURTHER DELAY!
ALL UNIVERSITY GRADUATES MUST BE EMPLOYED AS CIVIL/PRIVATE SECTOR EMPLOYEES OR SUPPORTED WITH QUALITY INTEREST- FRIENDLY LOANS TO CREATE JOBS FOR THEM TO EMPLOY OTHERS!
DIVERSIFICATION TO AGRICULTURE MUST BE MADE COMPULSORY AND FUNDED!
EVERY ABLE- BODIED NIGERIAN OR FAMILY MUST BE GIVEN FREE FARMLAND FOR CULTIVATION BECAUSE NIGERIAN LANDS BELONG TO THE NIGERIAN PEOPLE!
RANCHES MUST BE MADE COMPULSORY FOR CATTLE BUSINESS IN ALL STATES OF THE FEDERATION!
UNITY IN DIVERSITY SHOULD NO LONGER BE A SING-SONG; BUT BE PATRIOTICALLY-MOTIVATED AMONG THE ENTIRE TRIBES/TONGUES TRADITIONS/CULTURES, CASTES ETC!
MORE CAPITAL/INTENSIVE PROGRAMMES IN MOTORABLE ROADS/BRIDGES, RAILWAYS, WATERWAYS, COMPLETION OF POWER PROJECTS - ESPECIALLY THE MAMBILLA DAM MUST PRIORTIZED!! Nigerians must not continue to pay for darkness!
HEALTH SECTORS - THERE SHOULD BE A PRIMARY HEALTH CARE CENTRE AT EVERY WARD LEVEL; AT LEAST A MODERN SECONDARY HOSPITAL IN EVERY LOCAL GOVERNMENT AREA & AND A UNIVERSITY TEACHING HOSPITAL IN EACH STATE OF EACH GEO-POLITICAL ZONE!
TAXES.... TAXES..... TAXES...YES, THE PEOPLE WILL PAY TAXES ONCE THEY ARE GAINFULLY EMPLOYED! AT THIS PRESENT TIME ALL NIGERIANS PAY VAUE ADDED TAX (VAT), WITHOUT PROTEST!


CHINA - YES, CHINA SHOULD BE NIGERIA'S GREAT MOTIVATOR!
China once faced economic strangulation in years past and successfully survived and also victoriously destroyed all facets of INSTITUTIONAL CORRUPTION TO BECOME THE SECOND ECONOMIC BLOC AFTER THE UNITED STATES! China's President who has congratulated President Buhari for a second term opportunity stated that his country had no territorial ambitions but that his desire would be to spread the GOSPEL OF ECONOMIC FREEDOM TO ALL DEVELOPING COUNTRIES OF THE WORLD!
ABOVE ALL OF THESE SUGGESTIONS: Not only MOLE APC GOVERNORS should be expelled but all the others that have been identified in the preceding paragraphs! TO WHOM MUCH IS GIVEN, MUCH IS EXPECTED! THE NEW SHERRIF, MUHAMADU BUHARI MUST WAKE UP TO THE CLARION CALL TO DESTROY CORRUPTION AS CHINA DID! PATRIOTIC NIGERIANS ARE READY TO SUPPORT YOU TO FLUSH OUT ALL THE MOLES IN YOUR GOVERNMENT; MR. COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF! “If God be for us, who can be against us? (Romans. 8:31b).


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

Contrary to negative predictions of presumptuous conflicts that could mar the impending 2019 General Elections in Nigeria, due to the unrelenting rivalry amongst the THREE ARMS OF GOVERNMENT, there can be no better time than now for the citizens to identify who is really faithful to the overall administration of the Nigerian nation!

Though the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria was unambiguous when it began on this patriotic note:
"We the People of the Federal Republic of Nigeria:
Having firmly and solemnly resolved:
TO LIVE in unity and harmony as one indivisible and indissoluble Sovereign Nation under God dedicated to the promotion of inter-African solidarity, world peace, international co-operation and understanding:
AND TO PROVIDE for a Constitution for the purpose of promoting the good government and welfare of all persons in our country on the principles of Freedom, Equality and Justice, and for the purpose of consolidating the Unity of our people :
DO HEREBY MAKE, ENACT AND GIVE TO OURSELVES the following Constitution: etc, etc.

QUESTION: Are the THREE ARMS, mentioned in our opening paragraph included among, "We the People of the Federal Republic of Nigeria: ", or are they from another PLANET?
The EXECUTIVE, LEGISLATURE, and JUDICIARY in Nigeria - especially of the 6th Republic, have been at each others' throat from 29th May, 2015, when President Muhamadu Buhari, in a part of his inaugural speech categorically stated as follows: "I AM FOR EVERYBODY AND I AM FOR NOBODY", without bothering about other groups of people in the equation - like the CITIZENS, and the ELECTORATE, - whom they claimed to represent in government!

WHAT ABOUT THE DIVINE PERSONALITY OF THE ALMIGHTY GOD TO WHOM THE DRAFTERS OF THE CONSTITUTION COMMITTED THE NATION'S WELFARE, - UNITY, HARMONY, INDIVISIBILITY, INDISSOLUBILITY AND SOVEREIGNTY UNTO? SHOULD HE NOT BE FACTORED INTO THE NATION'S LOCAL AND INTERNATIONAL ACTIVITIES?

In no time the President's statement was given diverse interpretations by the different folks of the conglomerate! The All Progressives Congress (APC), with majority seats in the Federal Legislature was the first to fire the salvo by sidelining Party Supremacy to choose its Principal Officers, in an unprecedented revolution that shook the ruling party to its very foundation from the very beginning!
From that time on, the Federal Government had suffered several set-backs in its various operational activities, ranging from appointments of key officers to man strategic agencies, to confirmation of ministerial appointees, board members, passage of government-initiated Bills - especially, the annual BUDGETS of each year consecutively since 2016, which has culminated into the loss of the budget execution cycle of January to December!
The arrow-heads of the rebellious National Assembly (NASS), Senator 'Bukola Saraki and Hon. Yakubu Dogara, respectively, succeeded in conniving with the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), minority members to craftily decamp to the group and still maintain their principal positions as Senate President and Speaker of the House of Representatives with a view to heating up the polity!!
The JUDICIARY on its part maintained conspitorial silence, though in most cases of litigation, gave ridiculous judgements in solidarity with the Legislature against the Executive, especially after a successful Directorate of Security Services (DSS), STING OPERATION of 2016, which destroyed their self-esteem and self-imposed/illicit IMMUNITY and exposed all the skeletons of their cupboards which included tons of United States dollars, British pound sterling, Euros, naira, which were excess of their legitimate earnings and also unlicensed guns!

The 1999 Constitution in its very Chapter titled General Provisions, Part I, specifically enumerated the binding force and SUPREMACY of the document over all citizens and warned that Nigeria would only be governed by the provisions of the Constitution and not by any person or group of persons - as flouted by the Military for about 30 years, and now by a group of civilian opportunists, who were bent on truncating the new democratic order!
President Buhari in his declaration of, " belonging to everybody and to nobody", which was mis-interpreted by roguish politicians was in conformity with his manifesto that he would not be a draconian military dictator but a TRUE DEMOCRAT in a growing democracy like Nigeria and would take the nation to greater economic heights in a politically assured and a water-tight secured environment! From the inception of his administration which re-introduced the Treasury Single Account (TSA), all avenues for stealing the common patrimony by unscrupulous politicians and their civil servant accomplices, were totally blocked and every kobo was prudently accounted for to ensure that the TALAKAWAS were not continuously short-changed!

WHERE LIES THE UNITY OF THE ARMS?
Provisions for separation of powers and the seeming equality of the three arms are clearly spelt out in the Constitution but is not one ARM more equal than the others? Although the sacred document was crafted to ensure the independent position of each Arm, it is very clear that their duties and functions dovetail into one another through: operational duties of the Executive which takes care of protection of lives/properties of citizens and defence of territorial integrity of the nation; the Legislature being in charge of formulating the laws for good governance and carrying out oversight functions on government Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs), while the Judiciary which serves as the arbiter/conflict resolution professional/expert between the other two, takes care of all litigations, civil/criminal, but most importantly, represents the LAST HOPE OF THE COMMON MAN where the quest for JUSTICE was concerned!
From the earlier narratives, it is crystal clear that there was no love lost between the Three Arms, neither existed any bond or UNITY because the Executive was equally disappointed that the Judiciary failed to support the WAR AGAINST CORRUPTION! Recently, when allegations of failure to declare assets was brought against the Chief Justice of Nigeria Walter Onnoghen, who heads the THIRD ARM, the Executive Arm did not stop investigations but suspended him from office on the strength of the Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT), to allow for the rule of law to play out during his trial at the Tribunal and consequently, the National Judicial Council (NJC), which is the constitutional administrative/disciplinary body for JUDICIAL OFFICERS, concurred in order not to further heat up the polity in spite of the hue and cries by a motley crowd of Senior Advocates of Nigeria, junior lawyers and some misguided youths!
Similarly, former Secretary to the Government, Babachir Lawal, former Director General (DG), Ayo Oke and Wife, who faced allegations of fraud/corruption/money laundering etc, were not shielded either, but allowed to answer to charges against them by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), at the Federal High Courts!


WAS GOD FACTORED INTO THE ADMINISTRATION OF NIGERIA ACCORDING TO THE CONSTITUTION?
Until when Muhammadu Buhari was divinely installed by GOD, as Nigeria's CHANGE AGENT, in 2015, the previous successive administrations of the PDP, encouraged corruption with impunity in all facets of life as the LOVE OF MONEY took the centre stage of governance! The Common Wealth of the people of Nigeria frittered into the hands of a favoured few which were awarded all manner of unexecuted contracts which ran into billions of naira which have not been accounted for till date - the most outrageous being the USD $16 billon dollars POWER SECTOR CONTRACT during ex-president Aremu Obasanjo's tenure!

During those dark period of Nigeria's history, dubious PETROLEUM PRODUCTS SUBSIDIES were paid to contractors who did not import a drop of refined product into the country! But today, when GOD has been factored into the life of the nation, the story has changed for the best because all uncompleted contracts of the past in the ECONOMY, SECURITY, POWER, ROAD, RAIL, AIRPORTS, SEA PORTS, HEALTH, EDUCATION, TRADERS SUPPORT, AGRICULTURE, ENTERTAINMENT, TOURISM,& SPORTS,SECTORS ETC, have received new directions through "righteous governance" by the UNDISPUTABLE MAN OF INTERGRITY, PRESIDENT BUHARI, WHOSE ANTECEDENT COULD NOT BE FAULTED BY HIS WORST DETRACTORS! TODAY, FEDERAL PRESENCE IN THE EXECUTION OF CAPITAL PROJECTS IS ONGOING IN ALL THE 36 STATES OF THE COUNTRY!


IS IT NOT TIME FOR THE PEOPLE TO FULLY SUPPORT THE RULING APC WHICH POSSESSES CLEAN CREDENTIALS?
Now is the time for fresh orientation of all citizens in respect of quality politicking and governance as the country moves into the 2019 General Elections in about two weeks so that the right candidates can be brought on board to WORK WITH PRESIDENT MUHAMMADU BUHARI IN HIS DIVINELY PREDICTED SECOND TERM FROM 29TH MAY, 2019, TO 29TH MAY, 2023!
This is the time to separate the CHAFF FROM THE WHEAT, the right time to show the TRAITORS OF THE NIGERIAN MASSES, the way out and send them to the labour market where they belong! It is also the time to KICK OUT APC ENEMIES IN ZAMFARA, IMO, RIVERS AND OGUN STATES who are bent to "have their cake and eat it too"!
The Augean Stable within the APC fold MUST be thoroughly cleansed in preparation for CONTINUITY from 29th May, 2019! Arm yourselves with your Permanent Voters Cards, (PVCs) and ensure their defeat on 16th February and 2nd March, 2019, days of elections! 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.

For the umpteenth time, the Presidential flag- bearer of the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, has told everyone who cared to listen that if he won the 2019 presidential election, he would not only sell the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), to satisfy his whim and caprice, but would also use the deal to ENRICH HIS FRIENDS, since his obsessive ideology is that, "government has no business in doing business"!

Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar was and still a businessman who before 1999, had made tons of money from the system through many sources, including government contracts etc, and on assumption of political office and by virtue of his position, automatically became Chairman of the National Economic Council (NEC), and also Chairman of the Privatization Committee on the sales of government Infrastructures set up by his principal, ex-President Olusegun Obasanjo, which virtually sold almost all critical assets of the nation to themselves and their cronies! Atiku and an Italian businessman, Gabriel Volpi, are co-owners of an outfit called, Integrated Logistics Services, (INTELS), which was strategically, positioned at the Lagos/Onne Sea Ports, since the year 1982, to collect revenues for Federal Government! Although Intels is supervised by the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), this oil and gas company also collects revenue on behalf of the nation in the South-South Rivers State.

Onne Port which accounts for about 70% of cargo export through Nigeria's waterways, is the melting pot for oil and gas free zone where Intels had for 17 years made billions of dollars for Atiku and his foreign partner in violation to Sections 80(1) and 162(1) and 10 of the Nigerian Constitution!

It is on record that in spite of the fact that he took advantage of his position as a Customs Officer in 1982, to covetously build a wealthy empire through Nigeria's common patrimony around himself and his cronies and true to character, HE IS NOW BOASTING THAT HE WOULD SELL NNPC IF HE BECAME PRESIDENT IN HIS WIDEST IMAGINATION! Federal Government is demanding unpaid revenue collections into the Treasury Single Accounts to the tune of USD $48million from Intels!

Atiku believes he could blaze the trail of American billionaire, Donald Trump who bulldozed his way into the WHITE HOUSE but he has forgotten one very important detail that the BLOOD OF THE NIGER DELTA INDEGENES WHO PERISHED IN THE CREEKS IN A BID TO ASSERT THEIR FUNDAMENTAL RIGHTS, WOULD HUNT HIM TO HIS GRAVE - UNLESS HE FIRST SOLD ALL HIS SHARES AND THAT OF HIS FOREIGN PARTNER TO THE RIGHTFUL OWNERS!

It is widely speculated that Atiku's major source of stupendous wealth accrued from Intels which he code named his "side hustle", while in paid government service. The company is into shipping and logistics services in several ports in the country and expanded to several African countries! Atiku claims that his company has been involved in several corporate social responsibility initiatives which included scholarships for technical studies and training of young Nigerian footballers and sponsoring local football leagues!

CAN A LEOPARD CHANGE ITS SPOTS?
Atiku Abubakar, has not hidden his intention to sell NNPC - the Nigerian GOOSE THAT LAYS THE GOLDEN EGGS - if he became president to ENRICH HIS FRIENDS! Those were his exact words on national television in the second week of January, 2019, before he travelled to the United States - the first in 12 years since the bribery allegations which involved him and Congressman Jefferson in 2006, to prove that he was not a fugitive and to consult with other foreign partners! The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation [NNPC], was established on April 1, 1977, as a merger of the Nigerian National Oil Corporation [NNOC] and Federal Ministry of Mines & Steel and by legislation NNPC, manages the joint venture between, the Federal Government of Nigeria and a number of foreign multi-national corporations which include, Royal Dutch Shell, AGIP, EXXON MOBIL, CHEVRON and TEXACO (now merged with CHEVRON).
Through collaboration with these foreign concerns, NNPC, conducts petroleum exploration and production as the department saddled with the sole responsibility for the upstream and downstream developments, regulation and supervision of the Oil and Gas Industry on behalf of the Nigerian Government.
This Sole Administrator status since 1988, when the Corporation, was commercialized into 11 strategic business units, covering the whole spectrum of operations, exploration and production, gas development, refining and distribution, petrochemicals, engineering and commercial investments, metamorphosed NNPC, into a massively petro dollar rich organisation. Without the NNPC petro dollar money, the Federal Government cannot prepare annual national budgets of appropriation to cater for the economic welfare of all Nigerians!
Atiku, who was touted by PDP to participate in the much-publicized National Presidential Debate, organized by the Broadcasting Organisation of Nigeria (BON), failed to show up to the shame of his propaganda handlers who later gave some spurious and untenable excuses for his inglorious absence!

The D-DAY - February 16th, 2019, is just around the bend and the Electorate would decide with their votes who should govern them as President - whether the business prodigal or the Crusader against CORRUPTION, who is determined to salvage the common patrimony and cater for the WELFARE of the generality of the downtrodden masses of the Nigerian nation! But one thing is certain in all of these matters - DIVINE FACTOR WILL BE SACROSANCT!

STEPPING DOWN 2019 BUDGET LEGISLATIVE DEBATE IS UNPROGRESSIVE!
At a time when the Nigerian Federal Executive worked feverishly not to be distracted by the up-coming General Elections through its concentration on completion of on-going CAPITAL PROJECTS and to increase the performance percentage of last year's budget from 54 to at least 80%, legislators of the lower house stepped down debate on the 2019 Budget Bill from Second Reading for one week to enable the honourables to study and digest the document in view of "late distribution" to members, who had the opportunity of vacation to have thoroughly digested the document!!
These legislators who had been on recess since the presentation of the Budget Estimate of N8.83 trillion, for the 2019 fiscal year by the President on 19th December, 2018, resumed second plenary on Wednesday 16th January, 2019, only to disrupt work on the very sensitive document on the following day for very untenable excuses! History will remember the 8th NASS as the most unprepared, unruly, insensitive and aggrandized group of lawmakers that ever sat to corruptly occupy to desecrate Nigeria's hallowed chambers for filthy lucre of office - with very few exceptions!

The lapses being witnessed now was the fall-out of their failure to listen with rapt attention to that well-articulated budget presentation but instead, washed their dirty laundry globally through primitive jeering, booing, colloquial castigations and outright condemnation of salient facts and figures reeled out from the document!
Since the life of the current 8th National Assembly (NASS), will expire before the 29th May, 2019, SWEARING-IN OF PRESIDENT MUHAMMADU BUHARI FOR HIS SECOND TERM IN OFFICE, which is less than four months away, and that passage of the new Budget was imperative, would it not tantamount to gross dereliction of constitutional duty for out-going legislators to handle the process with such levity? To these law makers, the only thing that matters is how they would ensure that their illegal, stupendous salaries, allowances and SEVERANCE GRATUITIES/PENSIONS, were packaged and paid before they disengaged!

Whereas, urgent attention/intervention was expected by the legislators on national issues in respect of the minimum wage, the over two months old industrial action by Universities/Polytechnic Lecturers, deliberate synergy with the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), to ensure free, fair, peaceful and credible 2019, General Elections - especially in respect of ease of distribution of Permanent Voters Cards (PVCs), to ensure no eligible electorate was disenfranchised, since they were the constitutional representatives of the citizens of Nigeria in government!

NO ONE IS ABOVE THE LAW, BUT MUST WE NOT SHOW SOME RESPECT?
Give honour to whom honour is due! Accord respect to rulers, dignitaries, elites, the honourables, distinguished people in position of authority - elected or appointed - on whose broad shoulders lay the burden of administration of the polity in order to ensure the smooth execution civil/criminal justice and by extension, establish global peaceful societies! Although most Nigerian politicians, legal practitioners and members of the BENCH (the judges), of the 6th Republic do not deserve any form of respect from any citizen because of their disgraceful penchant for ephemeral things of life at the expense of the lives of those they claimed to represent, whereas some of them, like CHIEF JUSTICE WALTER ONOGHEN, Head of the Legislature, Third Arm of Government, deserved quality respect, no matter, the allegations levelled against them!

Fast-tracked arraignment/prosecution by Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB)/Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT), request through COURT, via the Attorney-General /Minister of Justice, for Onoghen's accounts to be FROZEN were very unnecessary, considering his lofty position as number FIVE citizen and his pedigree as an eminent jurist of the Apex Supreme Court of the Federal Republic of Nigeria! Are we not towing the line of the opposition thoughts? But let us suppose that the President got wind of the move against his Chief Judge and intervened to stop the hasty trial at the Code of Conduct Tribunal, what would have been PDP's reaction? Did the Chief Judge really forget to UPDATE his assets declaration documents? It is not impossible! We remain convinced that his travail would pass away sooner than Nigerians could comprehend!
"Many are the afflictions of the righteous: but the Lord delivereth him out of them all.” (Psalm. 34:19).



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

Legal Drafters and Crafters of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999, envisaged that the IMMUNITY CLAUSE could be abused at any point in time if it were an all-comers entitlement and so, professionally restricted the revered privilege upstream, to Mr. President and his Vice and also the Governor and his Deputy in Section 308!
Legislators and other political office holders were deliberately cut off in order to avoid the kind of shameful/disgraceful scenarios that have been continuously displayed by unruly lawmakers of the 8th National Assembly, from inception on 9th August, 2015, till date within their green and red cubicles, where their utterances were immunized from prosecution! And because some of them had no reputable pedigree, they had displayed recklessness in speech/utterances against well-established institutions of government and respectable individuals and not sparing the exalted personality of the President and Commander-in-chief of the Armed Forces of Nigeria! And that is why no legislator was charged to any court of law in spite of the lawlessness exhibited to the whole world during the joint session of National Assembly, which the President addressed at the 2019 Budget presentation!
The Nigerian Senate tried in futility to sponsor a bill to grant legislators with the same immunity being enjoyed by topmost officers of the Executive without success! The deputy senate president, Ike Ekeremadu, who spearheaded the move pegged his reasons on the diversionary tendencies of court litigations against law-makers in the legitimate discharges of law-making and oversight duties!


HOW NOT TO BE A NIGERIAN LAW-MAKER!
Dino Daniel Melaye, is our case study of "How Not To Be a Nigerian Senator! Not much of a political career of Dino manifested until he surfaced at the House of Representatives in 2011, as the choice of KOGI WEST Constituency and exhibited some traits of a confused "rights activist", during a rowdy/combative session in which his cloth was reduced to shreds and in addition was suspended for his role as a ring leader of those whom condemned the government of ex-president Ebele Jonathan as the most corrupt in Nigeria!
Though found guilty by the House Committee on Ethics and Privileges, Dino (now 45 years old), played the victim to solicit for sympathy votes which took him to the red chambers ahead of Senator Smart Adeyemi who was a preferred choice to the charign of political watchers! During his period at the Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, from year 2000, he was said to have been seriously involved in students unionism activities which delayed his academic pursuit longer than usual. Having acquired the Kogi West Senatorial District seat on a platter of gold, Dino as one of the arrow heads of the NASS Coup of 9th December, 2015, idolized 'Bukola Saraki, whose nomination he seconded as candidate for the office of Senate President, and which was acquired by hook and crook on 9th June, 2015! He led a team of 80 Senators in solidarity to attend Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT), when his principal was charge for assets declaration/falsification! Before then, he also led some "distinguished senators" to keep vigil with Saraki's wife during her interrogation at the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission in 2015!

Dino Melaye stands out as the most controversial senator since the fresh attempt to establish a new democratic dispensation:
1) Though he rode to victory on the platform of the APC, having dumped his former party, PDP, which he alleged treated him very badly at the lower chambers, he did not waste time to become a leader of the Opposition within the ruling Party!
2) From the onset Dino serially condemned virtually all Executive activities, especially Bills and Presidential nominees for confirmation with the succinct support of his master, 'Bukola Saraki, who always gave him ample opportunities to desecrate the hallowed chambers with his despicable character, uncouth and foul languages not befitting such gathering of eminent personalities!
3) He recklessly uttered libelous vituperations in the chambers without being called to order by Saraki! During a debate he disrespected Senator (Mrs.) 'Remi Tinubu, whom he boasted he would beat up and impregnate on the floor of the house and got away with that statement because of "chambers immunity"!
4) He accused Adams Oshiomole during his tenure as Governor of Edo State, for importing his wife instead of marrying a Nigerian woman!
5) He was alleged to be operating a foreign bank account contrary to constitutional provisions and which he constantly denied, but it is believed that the EFCC is already investigating the allegations!
6) He is involved in certificate scandals as both Harvard University and London School of Economics and Political Science; but both institutions have denied his claims to have studied on their campuses!
7) Dino Melaye has also been on collision course with his State Governor, Yahaya Bello, whom he accused of spending over N1 billion naira over unproductive ventures instead of paying salaries and pensions to workers and described the attitude as "a wicked act"!
This controversial senator jumped out of a moving Police vehicle which was conveying to Kogi State to answer to some criminal charges, injured himself and eventually ended up in the hospital!
9) A RECALL process was made against Dino Melaye in June 2017, but the attempt was foiled by both Saraki and his deputy, who boasted that the move would fail and ensured that it did not wail through!
10) Melaye jumped ship with 13 other APC Senators back to PDP, with the aim of destabilizing the polity and give the opposition a majority edge over the ruling Party and create more grandstanding in the Parliament! Senator Saraki later joined the bandwagon of the traitors and shamelessly held on to the position of Senate President, even as the minority party in the equation!
11) The ubiquitous senator always shouted at the top of his voice that he was "a transparently honest Nigerian" and to prove that point, he published in May 2016, an anti-corruption book titled, "ANTIDOTES FOR CORRUPTION: THE NIGERIAN STORY" (instead of using the preposition "to", to read Antidotes To Corruption, which was launched by SARAKI and purchased for 469 legislators for N23, 450,000 @ N50.000 per hard cover! Dame Patience Jonathan, former first lady also graced the occasion which received back lashes from the social media!


IS SENATOR DINO MELAYE ABOVE THE LAW?
He alleged that the Police IG wanted to arrest him and inject him to death and that his life was not safe in the custody of the organization whereas, Dino and his group were accused of shooting at a police officer Sgt.Danjuma Saliu, attached to Kogi Police Command, while on duty on Aiyetoro Gbede, Mopa Road, Kogi, in July 2018, during a stop and search exercise! He was summoned to report to the Kogi Police Command to answer to the allegation of culpable homicide but refused to show up until his Abuja resident was seiged from the 29th December 2018, in order to effect his arrest with a court warrant!
Dino was accused of escaping from the scene and had refused to honour Police invitation of the Kogi Police Command to answer to the charges, in spite of the letter written to the Clerk of the National Assembly!
The Police siege on Dino, who holed up himself in his Abuja residence for seven days: 29th December, 2018 - 4th January, 2019, to avoid arrest, ended on Friday when the Police confirmed that Melaye who lied to the world in a tweet that he was out of Abuja, eventually opened the door of his Abuja residence, came out and fell down on in front of the waiting personnel of the Force he surrendered on 4th January, 2019, after a 7-day siege by the Police! The Senator had been transferred to the Police Hospital for medical treatment in order to be very fit for his impending trial in Kogi State. Imagine if Melaye had constitutional immunity!
Senator Melaye is a misnomer in high level politics, a very opposite of the distinguished, decent, prestigious and articulate senators of other climes! He had always given Nigerian Government detractors plausible reasons for deriding the nation as the worst in every comparative analysis of economic, political or social issues! All bad politicians MUST be voted out of office from 16th February - 2nd March, 2019! There is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death. (Prov 14:12).

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

If the General Abubakar Salami-led Committee on Abuja Peace Accord (APA), signed on 12th December, 2018, had the slightest indication that their good intention would turn out to be an effort in futility, they would not have embarked on the "national assignment" in the first instance! The working document, crafted by experts to guide all the 91 Political parties to stick to the rules of the game by ensuring a level playing field of issue/objective-based campaigns, avoidance of character assassination, hate speech/publications, campaigns of calumny etc, was dead on arrival because, candidate of the major opposition party, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, failed to show up on the august day to append his signature side by side with President Muhammadu Buhari of the ruling party!
Although, he reluctantly signed the paperwork on the following day, it was manifest to the whole world few days after the whole exercise was a ruse when his party and their cohorts exhibited their penchant for always reneging on covenants during the 2019 BUDGET PRESENTATION by the President to Nigerians and by extension to the whole world! The Opposition Legislators led by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), proved political analysts right on that fateful Wednesday, 19th December, 2018, during the presentation of the 2019 Appropriation Estimates to a joint session of the National Assembly, Abuja, when they revealed their true identity by employing derogatory languages (just like the negative daily internet invectives upon the person of President Muhammadu Buhari), and continuously punctuated his speech with boos, jeers, insults, synonymous with their on-line languages of the social network - twitter, instagram, facebook etc! We have it on good authority that the SHOW OF SHAME was an organized, orchestrated and hatched plan championed by PDP legislators whose Presidential candidate Atiku Abubakar, signed the toothless Abuja Peace Accord, which had NO BACKING OF THE LAW, and who neither listened nor understood the entire content of the 2019 Budget Document!
From that time to date Atiku's campaign team had consistently and persistently heated the polity with various unsubstantiated allegations of corruption against the incumbent President, members of his cabinet and close associates in order to gain relevance at all costs because of Atiku's "dented" social integrity and unmarketable political image! Atiku's handlers have totally forgotten that neither their dissemination of false/hate news on the social media, nor vicious libellous vituperations on the print/electronic media, could change the hand of the clock that is ticking towards victory for the ANOINTED CANDIDATE, Muhammadu Buhari, come 16th February, 2019! In spite of 16 years of consecutive woeful administrations by PDP and their advantageous power of incumbency up to the general elections of 2015, they fell YAKATA! They will fall again and again because they have not made full RESTITUTION for all the political, social, economic and security breaches committed through incompetence and corruption with impunity against innocent Nigerians in several years of violence and bloodshed!

HIGHLIGHTS OF THE 2019 N8.83 TRILION BUDGET ESTIMATES!
The budget proposal is based on the following assumptions: (1) Oil price bench mark of USD $60 dollars per barrel; (2) Crude Oil production estimate of 2.3 million barrels per day, including condensates; (3) Exchange rate of N305 to USD$1.00 dollar; (4) Real GDP growth of 3.01% and Inflation rate of 9.98%.
Total projected revenue is projected at N6.97 trillion (which is 3% lower than the 2018 estimate of N 7.17trillion), consisting of Oil revenue projected at N3.73 trillion while non-oil revenue is estimated at N 1.39 trillion. A total expenditure of N 8.83 trillion which included grants and donor funds of N209.92 billion is estimated for 2019. This provision is less than the 2018 appropriated expenditure of N9.12 trillion. However, it is higher than the N8.6 trillion originally proposed by the Executive WHICH WAS PADDED BY THE LEGISLSTORS OF NASS in 2018! This proposed N8.83 trillion of 2019 Aggregate Expenditure comprise the following: (1) Recurrent Costs, 4.04 trillion; (2) Debt Servicing of N2.14 trillion; (3) Statutory Transfers of about N492.36 billion; (4) Sinking Fund of N120 billion which will be used to retire maturing bonds to local contractors; (5) Recurrent Expenditure was N4.04 trillion or 50.31% and N2.03 trillion representing 22.98% earmarked for Capital Projects; (6) Debt Servicing, N2.14 trillion; (7) Most of Recurrent Expenditure will be disbursed as Sectoral Allocation for salaries/overheads of Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDA's)/Personnel Costs, etc, etc, as expatiated in the breakdown by the Minister for Budget and National Planning who believed that Budget circle of January to December could still be actualized by the end of the coming year.
The President disclosed that 53% of the current fiscal year of 2018 had been executed; out of a total appropriation of N 9.12 trillion, NN4.59 trillion had been spent as at 30th September, 2018, against the prorated expenditure target of N6.84 trillion which represents 67% performance with Capital Projects gulping N820.57 billon as at 14th December, 2018, and that government intended to roll over the balance to blend with the 2019 Budget which has made provisions for the NATIONAL MINIMUM WAGE, for comprehensive execution!

ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENTS OF THE APC GOVERNMENT IN THREE-AND-HALF-YEARS: MAY 2015- NOVEMBER 2018: In spite of the economic challenging scenarios (local/foreign), on prices of both oil and non-oil commodities, the unpredictable trends in security, trade, politics etc, Nigeria, according to the President's account of stewardship, was able to wade through recession, unstable oil production bench marks, devastating floods, and still marching into the future with optimism and great faith.
Other achievements are listed as follows: (1) Strenuous and successful efforts to overcome the insurgency in the North East and to resolve inter-communal misunderstandings elsewhere; (2) Collaboration between Federal Government and National Economic Council to amicably resolve the incessant rift between nomadic pastoralists and sedentary farmers; (3) Sustenance of efforts to fight grand corruption in order to improve public financial management through the implementation of the Treasury Single Account (TSA), Government Integrated Financial Management Information System (GIFMIS), and the (4) Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System (IPPIS);etc, etc.
Oil and Gas/Crude Oil production, including diversification to Agriculture received mention and it is refreshing to note that up to early 2015, Nigeria spent USD $5 million dollars per day on rice importation while in 2018, imports have virtually stopped as the nation progresses toward achieving food security in major staple foods in the not too distant future. In areas of infrastructure development, the completion of abandoned critical projects took the front burner instead of the introduction of new ones, according to president's account. One hundred and sixteen (116), abandoned or uncompleted irrigation, dams, drainage and water supply across the six geo-political zones were identified by the Change government and were fixed during the period under review, while abandoned Power supply, Railway and Road constructions projects were not left out in the on-going intervention. In 2018 an additional 1,531 km of roads have been constructed while 1,008 km, have been rehabilitated. Construction work on the Second Niger Bridge is ongoing while Federal Government's major road infrastructure is also ongoing in every State of the federation through the Presidential Infrastructure Development Fund and that Nigeria gained 24 places in the World Bank Ease of Doing Business rankings was clear indication that the economy was moving in the right direction!

OPPOSITION LEGISLATORS HAVE BETRAYED NIGERIANS!
Knowing full well that they were unfit, unprepared/unequipped educationally for the onerous legislative duties of making laws that would proffer positive impact on the security/social/economic lives of the masses, they opted to cover up for their lapses through constant confrontations with the Executive!
In respect of the ongoing Academic Staff Union of Universities/Polytechnics Lecturers Strike (ASUU/ASUP STRIKE), the current NASS legislators have played the ostrich to the agitations by lecturers of the tertiary institutions (universities/polytechnics), who have severally complained about decaying teaching and learning infrastructures through neglect of past administrations simply because their children were either studying abroad or in Nigerian private universities! Although the United Nations recommendation that 26% of the annual national budget of each country be appropriated to the Education Sector, had been reduced to a mere meddlesome counsel and nothing more because it was in the interest of the legislators if more money would accrue to them through less appropriation and as such would look the other way if the executive allotted an insignificant pittance of about 6% to the sector annually!

LABOUR UNIONS MUST NOT RESUME NATION-WIDE STRIKE ON 2ND JAN. 2019!
Legislators with fat bank accounts would care less whether the Executive presented a Bill for quick passage into law to support the N30, 000 national minimum wage concluded through a tripartite agreement for the least-worker in November 2018, because they seemed to have forgotten that without the sweat and labour of the diligent workers, they would not have been able to occupy their transient positions in the first instance! But, do they have any choice now than to co-operate and fast-track the minimum wage bill as soon as it was delivered to them by the Executive to avert any disruption of the up-coming 2019 electoral process? We also expect President Buhari to urgently forward the National Minimum Wage Bill to the legislators as he promised during the 2019 Budget presentation without the slightest delay and to also recall THE PEACE CORPS OF NIGERIA BILL FOR ASSENT! It is in the interest of boosting the security network through increase in workforce/strength and better assurance for protecting lives and properties of the TALKAWAS whom he had vouched to succour! Results of the 2019 General Elections would surely separate the WHEAT from the CHAFF! " A man's gift maketh room for him, and bringeth him before great men.’’ (Prove 18:16)


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

These are trying times for the great nation of Nigeria! Self-acclaimed international agencies have clamped down on the country without respect for its independent entity, sovereignty or territorial integrity and have taken the government and its citizens to the cleaners! There is no aspect of Nigeria's social, political and economic life that has not been maligned and torched by these agents of destabilization!


Another attack deliberately targeted at embarrassing and discrediting the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) government, very close to the 2019 General Elections, came recently (17th December, 2018), in the form of a damning report tagged "Harvest of Deaths", by AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL (AI) Nigeria Chapter. The report condemned and claimed that Nigeria's security architecture was the worst kind and that the Nigerian Army (NA), and APC must be held responsible for their assumptions which were totally based on uninvestigated, biased and baseless allegations gathered from disgruntled politicians and fifth columnists opposition elements of the society!
Amnesty also claimed that government's failures fuelled escalating conflict between farmers and herders in a three-year bloody clash as death toll got close to 4,000, in a state- by-state chart and that hundreds were still displaced in many parts of the country! This Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO), which claimed to champion and seek redress against human rights abuses, asserted that: "resources scarcity and not religion and or ethnicity, was at the heart of the crisis", and also sought for accountability/justice for victims and their families!
And dwelling on those half truths/fabricated foreign reports, the internet remained awash with all manner of hate publications/speeches by undemocratic citizens, especially the unrepentant members of the Opposition Peoples Democratic Party and their cohorts who should have been highlighted by AI and be held accountable for Nigeria's security challenges and lapses from 1999-2015, which ripple effects had proved very difficult to surmount in the past three-and-a-half -years by the incumbent administration under the watch of President Muhammadu Buhari!
With that kind of one-sided report, can this "non-profit organisation" prove its integrity, probity or righteousness as a truly neutral arbiter in this very delicate issue touching on the life and death of innocent citizens of Nigeria on both sides of the WAR? If the incessant human right abuses perpetrated by Boko Haram terrorists in NINE years against Nigeria metamorphosed from religion to a War of Attrition and that of the Killer Herdsmen onslaught progressed from ethnicity to successive brigandage, do the transformation of these heinous crimes that have resulted in 3,641 recorded deaths according to AI statistics, ERASE the initial motif of the perpetrators?
The people of Zamfara, Kaduna, Plateau, Taraba, Nasarawa, etc, have been divided along both religious/ethnic lines in all the years of these devastation and by extension the entire citizenry’s psyche had constantly been put on edge! Was it not high time that AI released its report on human abuses by Boko Haram terrorists and the killer herdsmen against the innocent citizens of Nigeria from 2009 to date with facts and figures?


ROLE OF THE NIGERIAN PRESS IN DISSEMINATION OF BIASED FOREIGN REPORTS!
There is no doubt that a sizable percentage of the Nigerian Press (print/electronic), are aversed to the new policies of the Change mantra which are masses focussed and people-oriented, having been very comfortable with the PDP corrupt governments that held sway for 16 consecutive years because they disseminate fake news, hate speech advertorials, negative commentaries - local/foreign - like they were normal way of life! Whenever Nigeria was painted black for unexplainable reasons by those who hated Nigeria and President Buhari with passion, the Nigerian Press goes wild with excitement to publish comments based on half truths only to retract them when threatened with court actions!
Gone are the days of vibrant, articulate, educative and investigative journalism pioneered by icons like Herbert Macaulay, Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe, and anchored by Alhaji Lateef Jakande, Alhaji Babatunde Jose, Peter Enahoro, Theresa Ogunbiyi, Adamu Ciroma, 'Dele Giwa, Dan Agbese; etc, etc, which produced the "first fruit" of Independence - A PARLIAMENTARY SYSTEM of government that birthed the rapid economic growth of Nigeria through the political class within a short span of SIX years before military incursions!
However, the same cannot be documented for the 21st Century "mercenary bread and butter" members of the Fourth Estate of the Realm, licensed by previous and current 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, to act as the government's "Watchdog", for accountability to the people, BUT WHO HAVE GOVE TO ROOST! The free-for-all and uncensored internet technology information had robbed the "modern journalist" of his endowed, innate/investigative prowess and rendered him stupefied, very lazy and unproductive!
PROGRESS MONITORING MUST CHANGE HANDS NOW!
Was it not high time that DEVELOPING NATIONS established NGO'S to monitor and evaluate on annual basis, all discrepancies of GOVERNANCE in the so-called developed nations and publish such for global consumption and comparisons? Was it an African or Asian NGO that indexed the annual unemployment ratio in both America and Britain at 4.4 per cent abreast? Greece was not adjudged as the poorest nation in spite of its ONE DECADE OF ECONOMIC DOWNTURN!


FEDERAL GOVERNMENT/NIGERIAN ARMY COUNTER AI REPORT!
Government says that AI's report was wrong, outdated and a misnomer! The Minister of Information and Culture was categorical that government did not look the other side while terrorists rampaged its territory, contrary to AI's assertion and revealed the following facts:
1. FG arrested 947 suspected terrorists, prosecuting 841, while 68 of them had been convicted; with the breakdown as follows; (a) Taraba State, 49 arrested and 42 being prosecuted; (b) Plateau State, 43 arrested and 31 being prosecuted; (c) Benue State, 120 were arrested, 81 being prosecuted and 68 convicted; (d) Niger State, 47 were arrested and 40 are being prosecuted; (e) Zamfara State, 172 were arrested and 162 are being prosecuted; (f) Nasarawa State, 43 are arrested and 40 are being prosecuted; (g) Adamawa State, 38 arrested and 34 being prosecuted; (h) Yobe State 42 arrested and 38 are being prosecuted; (i) Bornu State, 40 arrested and 36 being prosecuted; (j) Katsina State, 49 arrested and 46 are being prosecuted; Kogi State, 23 were arrested and 20 being prosecuted!
He further disclosed that Operation Absolute Sanity in the North East and North Central, arrested 158 suspected terrorists and 150 are being prosecuted while the Inspector General of Police Response Team had arrested 123 and is prosecuting 121, which clearly debunked AI's allegation of government's inaction! Amnesty International should update its report to reflect that perpetrators of those killings were being brought to justice, the minister concluded!
FOREIGN BRAGGARTS SHOULD FACTOR GOD INTO THEIR LIVES!
WHAT DOES GOD EXPECT FROM FOREIGN ASSESSORS - THAN FOR THEM TO DO THE NEEDFUL - LIFT THE FEEBLE HANDS OF DEVELOPING COUNTRIES UP AND TAKE THEM UP THE LADDER OF POLITICAL/SOCIAL / ECONOMIC GROWTH RATHER THAN CLASSIFY THEM AS UNDER-DEVELOPED/ THIRD WORLD, POOREST, ILLITERATE, BACKWARD ETC,!
NEITHER AMERICA NOR BRITAIN WOULD HAVE PROSPERED WITHOUT IMMIGRANT DOCTORS, NURSES, ENGINEERS, TECHNICIANS, BUILDERS, ROCKET/SPACE SCIENTISTS, ETC, FROM, AFRICA, ASIA, HISPANIC & INDIAN NATIONS!
WAS IT NOT HIGH TIME THE UNITED NATIONS HEADQUARTERS AND ALL ITS AGENCIES RE-LOCATE TO AFRICA TO CONTRIBUTE TO ITS POLITICAL, SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT? They should not forget that we have something in common - CLIMATE CHANGE AND ENVIROMENTAL DEGRADATION - conditions that are no RESPECTER OF NATIONS, CREED, CASTE, OR COLOUR!
"The earth is the LORD'S and the fullness thereof, the people and they that dwell therein." (Psalm 24:1).
Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall. (1 Cor 10:12).

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

Omeokachie:
Now they blame the U.N.

Please read before commenting!

12345baba:
Rubbish

Dear friend, read before you comment!

Some years before the 2015 General Elections that brought the All Progressive Congress and President Muhammadu Buhari to power, the United States represented the arrow head of some detractors who predicted that Nigeria would break up into smittens in that year and would be erased from the World Map! President Donald Trump's Government took off where Obama stopped and decided have his pound of flesh through stiff immigration policies and less security supports but plays the ostrich in relation to fictitious/negative global ratings about Nigeria and the gang-up by the United Nations and its agencies!

The intricate/diverse and cultural sentiments of about 250 identified tribes and over 500 tongues/dialects of topographical Nigeria would always play out and only those who are genuinely concerned about the challenges of uniting such multitude of 200 million people, would appreciate the enormous but gradual process of the transformation mantra of the new dispensation which is already taking effect in spite of the failed 2015 AMERICAN PROPHECY OF DOOM!
"Who is he that saith, and it cometh to pass, when the LORD commandeth it not’’(Lam 3:37).
How could any alien group of people in their right frames of mind annually condemn Nigeria as the country with the poorest citizens, with the most mal-nourished children, the worst in child/maternal mortality rate, most educationally backward, most corrupt, a country with the worst security outfit of soldiers/Police, the worst in human rights violation index, the worst in climate and environmental degradation record, etc? WHO MADE THEM JUDGE OVER NIGERIA AND WHY WOULD DISCREDITED POLITICIANS BELIEVE, HOOK, LINE AND SINKER THE ANNUAL HOGWASH INDEXING WHICH HAS NOW PLACED THE NATION AS THE 3RD MOST TERRORIZED NATION IN THE WORLD BELOW AMERICA, SYRIA, AFGHANISTAN, EGYPT, LIBYA, CONGO, SOMALIA ETC? THIS BLATANT LIE! IS UNACCEPTABLE!


AMERICA IS THE MOST TERRORIZED NATION IN THE WORLD!
America, where there are more guns that the population, stands out as the most terrorized nation of the world but has a massive diplomatic portfolio to cleverly hide its dirty laundries in the closets!
America takes penchant in poke-nosing, interfering and meddling in the internal affairs of other nations to prove its self-acclaimed position as a "super power" but we have it on record that USA could not succeed to put down VIETNAM, MYAMAR, NORTH KOREA etc, militarily and in international diplomatic assaults/provocations through their annual NOTORIOUS/RACIAL INDEXING!

It is not a hidden fact that all of America's major and remote cities harbour the worst criminals - murderers, assassins, killer gunmen, suicide bombers, hard drug/narcotic dealers, gun-runners, mafia drug lords, the hideous, deadly and racist "klu klux klan", psychopaths, paedophiles etc, who operate on per-second basis - with New York, Chicago, etc, leading the pack but government would posit that crime was on the decline!


UNREPENTANT PEOPLES DEMOCRATIC PARTY (PDP) WROTE FALSE/HATE LETTERS TO UN AND USA!
The SIXTEEN YEARS of negative PDP successive governments of massive corruption with impunity no doubt gave those international bodies the latitude to gaffe, but they MUST now have the moral burden to admit that all of the negative, uninvestigated/exaggerated and presumptuous social/political/economic anomalies INDEXED AGAINST NIGERIA ALSO EXIST IN THEIR BLOODY COUNTRIES WHERE AGGRAVATED POVERTY IS VERY GLARING!

Is not also very glaring to all Nigerian democrats that when all vindictive campaigns of calumny against the person and government of President Muhammadu Buhari - Nigeria's divinely-chosen Chief Crusader against CORRUPTION in all facets of the nation's public and private sectors of governance by the opposition woefully failed, that they resorted to series of pseudo letter-writing tactics to attract negative international assessments from the United Nations, European Union (EU) and other prominent world bodies?


BUT BUHARI HAS THE PEDIGREE TO TAKE NIGERIA TO THE PROMISED LAND!
"Some are born great, some achieve greatness and some have greatness thrust upon them!" This classic quote came from the bowels of the sage, William Shakespeare whose unequalled literary prowess of colossus dimension had traversed several generations but yet, still desired to be relished with gluttony by global scholars from all genres of academic disciplines!

President Muhammadu Buhari falls within the category of some whom greatness was THRUST upon and his antecedent speaks volumes in that direction! Here was a man whose main ambition from adolescence was to serve his nation with much passion, even at the peril of his youthful existence, when he decided to enrol in the Nigerian Army (NA)! As a commissioned officer, he fought on the side of the Federal Troops, throughout the 30-month-old Biafra Civil War and served the various military governments thereafter in the course of nation-building until he was appointed Head of State between December 1983-November 1985!
His administration was short but very purposeful because his focus was socialist and welfarist in nature which left no one in doubt that he was people-oriented! He was quick to instil the culture of discipline among the citizens through his pet programme code-named War Against Indiscipline (WAI), the inculcation of QUEUEING to access services at all public utilities and social infrastructures and most importantly WAR AGAINST CORRUPTION!
He tenaciously went after those who were accused of corruption and made them to defend all allegations through judicial processes!
Patriotic Nigerians thought he was making progress in the crusade for a better country but Ibrahim Babangida and his collaborators thought otherwise as so in yet another military coup, he was ousted and detained for over three years in the then Mid-West, now Edo State! But his dream to make Nigeria a better nation could not be killed and in his retirement days, he got himself prepared to rule Nigeria as a DEMOCRATIC PRESIDENT and actualize that dream with THREE FAILED ATTEMPTS from 2003-2011, until he eventually won in 2015, through DIVINE INTERVENTION!


WITH SPECIAL INTERVENTION PROGRAMMES (SIPs), NIGERIA IS WORKING!
Within the short period of less than four years and in spite of the self-induced RECESSION by previous PDP administration and the orchestrated negative international reports, Nigeria is definitely marching on in the right, social, political, and economic directions, because the over FOUR decades of Buhari's welfarist ideologies after retirement, have now metamorphosed into Special Intervention Programmes which include but not limited to
Road/Rail constructions,
Meaningful diversification to agriculture through the Central Bank of Nigeria's Farmers Anchors Borrowers Programme,
Graduate Employments through the N-POWER Programme,
Market Women Financial Support Scheme, through Bank of Industry and the African Development Bank,
Traders Money Scheme, for small scale traders across the 774 LGAs,
Rehabilitation and resettlement of over 35,000 citizens from IDP Camps in the NorthEast, and of
Thousands of Returnees from Libya,
Regular Funding of the Small and Medium Scale Enterprises (SMSEs),
School Feeding Programme, being executed in 26 States of the federation, (19) Monthly Five thousand naira stipend to identified poorest of the poor in Nigeria etc.
CHINA AND INDIA EXPERIENCED DEVELOPMENTAL CRISIS AND SURVIVED - NIGERIA WILL ALSO SURVIVE!


MUST BUHARI GO?
Atiku Abubakar's campaign slogan that "Buhari Must Go”, is now sounding like a broken record! Is history not repeating itself? In 2003, Atiku desired that, his former boss, Olusegun Obasanjo should vacate the presidency for him, but he failed and in later years begged for forgiveness, but Obasanjo bluntly refused until now when he reversed himself! In 2011, Atiku opposed the candidature of Late President Musa Yar 'Adua and failed; in 2007 he opposed Buhari at the APC primaries, but came a distance 3RD! He has begun a fresh campaign, without proffering ideas nor issues other than shouting, "Buhari must go", at rallies at Sokoto, Ilorin and Ibadan!
CAN ATIKU MAKE IT TO ASO VILLA IN 2019 OR IN HIS LIFE TIME even with the endorsement of Aremu Obasanjo and Coalition of 35 Political parties?
What is the population of all of them put together? Could he ever become Nigeria's president having spent 8 years as a "SECUNDUS" from 1999-2007?
Can he bribe his way through the 2019 polls with his popular AMERICAN DOLLARS?
THOSE MIXED MULTITUDE MUST NOT REACH PROMISED LAND! Nigerians should rise with one voice through their Permanent Voters Cards (PVCS), in 2019, and send all money-monger politicians now defecting round about for selfish interests, back to the labour market!


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

WHO WOULD HAVE SHED HIS BLOOD FOR JONATHAN'S AMBITION?


The erstwhile Nigerian President, Dr. Ebele Jonatahan should not have documented any book to justify his action or inaction while in office or during his "Transition Hours", but should have let posterity judge him because no amount of propaganda would erase the TRUTH in respect of his stewardship! He should have allowed the "sleeping dog lie!"

Beginning with his kinsmen, of the very small Bayelsa State of the South-South Geo-Political Zone whose Governor Seriake Dickson, once told Jonathan face to face that his tenure as the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria neither rubbed off nor benefitted his native land in any way in spite of his unusual/providential opportunity of rising from nothingness to power, prestige, honour and affluence!

If Dr. Ebele Jonathan did not "CONCEDE DEFEAT" to the incumbent President to whom he lost at the close of elections in 2015, with over 2.5 million votes, heavens would not have fallen and the failed candidate's sing-song as an AFRICAN HERO would not be gaining currency as some People’s Democratic Party (PDP), apologists and political jobbers want the world to hypocritically continue to believe!

With his lack-lustre five-year abysmal performance in office as Nigeria's providential President, political pundits/analysts/critics did not placate his ego at all, but also told him bluntly that he was "a clueless guy" in those opportuned years in office!
However on Wednesday 22nd November, 2018, the man in the centre of the storm claimed that his adversaries/protagonists were economic with the truth and that his tenure heralded phenomenon economic growth, the most prominent of which was the 2013 declaration of Nigeria as the largest economy in Africa; Election of Nigeria into the Security Council of the United Nations TWICE and also that a Nigerian, Dr. Akinwunmi Adesina, his former Minister of Agriculture, became the President of the African Development Bank (ADB), for the first time!


"MY TRANSITION HOURS" IS AN EXPOSE' OF HALF TRUTHS!
EBELE JONATHAN was no doubt inordinately ambitious because he reneged on his campaign promise not to contest in 2015 in order not to break the ZONING FORMULA of the North/South divide - having constitutionally taken over the mantle of office shortly after the unexpected demise of President Musa Yar' Ardua, of blessed memory in 2010, and also not to exceed ONE TERM IN OFFICE!

On 31st January, 2011, in answer to an electoral franchise request by Diaspora Nigerians in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, during the African Union (AU), Summit, the ex-president said: "I would have loved that Nigerians in Diaspora vote this year. But to be frank with you, that is going to be difficult now. "Nigerians in the Diaspora will not vote, but I will work towards it by 2015, even though I WILL NOT BE RUNNING FOR ELECTION!" But he denied making such pact with neither his Party nor the Nigerian Electorate!


CORRUPTION INDEX DURING JONATHAN'S TENURE!
In March 2018, Federal Government released a short list (described as a tip of the iceberg), of TREASURY LOOTERS during the 16 sordid years of PDP consecutive administrations from 1999-2015: Top on the list was current Chairman of the inglorious and unrepentant party, Uche Secondus, who on 19th February, 2015, took N 200 million only from the office of the then NSA!
Others who also took money from the Office of the National Security Adviser (NSA), are: Then Financial Secretary on 24th October, 2014, took N 600 million only; then National Publicity Secretary, Olisah Metuh, on trial for collecting N 1.4 billion; Dr. Raymond Dokpesi, Chairman of DAAR Communications, on trial for taking N 2.1 billion; former SSA to President Jonathan, Dudafa Waripamo-Owei, on trial over N 830 million kept in accounts of four different companies; former President Jonathan's Cousin Robert Azibaola, whom a Federal High Court has ruled has a case to answer for collecting $ 40 million from the Office of the NSA.
The official release further states that many of the cases were in court while some of the people are seeking plea bargain adding that "...... Nigeria was looted blind under the watch of the PDP, and the starting point in tendering an apology is for them to return the loot...... but PDP is a hypocrite.....They brought Nigeria to this sorry pass. We are now looking for loans to build infrastructure and they ask us not to talk about it. We will talk about it." Uche Secondus and Raymond Dokpesi challenged their accusation in court but returned with disgrace as the ruling favoured the Federal Government which described them as LOOTERS!
During Jonathan's tenure, the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Abuja Headquarters was stuck with a public appellation as FOUR TOWERS OF CORRUPTION and prove Nigerians right, the then Minister of Petroleum Resources, Mrs. Deziani Allison Madueke, was fingered in several dirty financial deals including the hiring of private jets for an outrageous and deafening sum of N 10 billion naira in ONE MONTH and which she justified with a wave of hand just as the then National Security Adviser (NSA), Colonel Sambo Dasuki (rtd), has claimed that he disbursed the sum of US $ 2.1billion dollars to the LOOTERS on the instructions of the ex-president who is yet to deny the allegation! He was the President who was quoted as saying that, "STEALING WAS NOT CORRUPTION"!

Already, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), has begun the extradition procedure with the British Government to bring back the former minister who escaped to London since the advent of the APC Change Administration of President Muhammadu Buhari, to Nigeria to face criminal charges! Though Jonathan was cautioned by Northern members of PDP and the Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF), of failure at the 2015 polls, he turned a deaf ear because of the POWER OF INCUBENCY, only to turn around after his defeat to publish a BOOK OF LAMENTATION, titled, "MY TRANSITION HOURS", launched at an elaborate occasion to celebrate his 61st birthday in Abuja on Tuesday 20th November, 2018, with past Nigerian and West African Presidents and Heads of Government, in attendance!


JONATHAN'S ACCUSATIONS AND PUBLIC COMMENTS ON HIS BOOK!
Jonathan in the 194-page book accused so many people, including, party members, the main opposition party All Progressives Congress (APC), of collusion in the plot that eventually culminated in his woeful defeat in 2015, EXCEPT HIMSELF! In the book, he exonerated the then Federal Government for its inability to rescue the abducted 257 CHIBOK GIRLS because APC was in control of BORNO STATE, accused former United States President, Barak OBAMA and his Secretary of State, John Kerry, of failing to support rescue operations launched by his security forces to rescue the girls; and restated that his resolve that his ambition was not worth the "BLOOD OF ANY NIGERIAN", culminated in his decision to throw in the towel even before the counting of ballots was over to concede defeat! And whereas, while in office the ex-president, said that he did not believe that any girl was abducted and that the allegation was a smoke screen by the opposition to discredit his administration!

Other lamentations included, "mass defection of some governors of his party to the opposition for personal ambitions and Northern leaders socio-political groups which sabotaged his ambition and clamoured for the presidency to be returned to their region! He denied all corruption allegations especially the missing USD $ 49.8 billion and was categorical that the accusation existed as a figment of the imagination of his accusers adding that the matter died a natural death!

KASHIM SHETTIMA'S COMMENTS!
In a swift re-action on Wednesday 21st November, 2018, Borno State Governor Kashim Shettima, described the book as “elementary in content, full of tales, containing fictions" and also described the former President as a LIAR who tried unsuccessfully to hide facts/truths in respect of the abducted Chibok Girls under the carpet!
He also alleged that Jonathan deliberately omitted details of the after-thought "fact-finding committee" belatedly constituted by him to investigate immediate or remote causes which led to the ugly incident adding that Jonathan's government mishandled the issue of the very embarrassing abduction! Shettima said he was very disappointed that the book fell short of the courage expected of a person of Jonathan's calibre to even publish findings of a panel set up by his government!


FEDERAL GOVERNMENT'S COMMENTS ON JONATHAN'S BOOK!
Although, out of sheer diplomatic courtesy, the Federal Government was represented at the Jonathan's Book launch by the Secretary to Government, Presidential Spokesperson Garba Shehu, later commented that the ex-president LIED by claiming that his administration's corruption global index and by extension, of PDP's 16 inglorious years of mindless looting of the common patrimony, was far better than the impunity now being witnessed in the nation!


ORIGINAL AND FAKE JONATHAN'S BOOK OF 194 AND 254 PAGES RESPECTIVELY!
Original author of "My Transition Hours", ex-President Jonathan has cried foul against the fake version of his new book describing it as the work of "a mischievous person with ulterior agenda" and expatriated that his book had 194 pages while the fake one was extended to 254! He condemned the release and circulation ONLINE of soft copies of the fake document which he said contained inaccurate information and solicited for interested buyers to get the original directly from him!
DID JONATHAN HAVE TO WRITE TALES BY MOONLIGHT? CAN A FAILED CONTESTANT CONCEDE DEFEAT OR CONCEDE VICTORY? DID HE MAKE COMMONSENSE OR UNCOMMON SENSE? EX-PRESIDENT OLUSEGUN OBASANJO WHO CHAIRED THE BOOK LAUNCH SHOULD BE BLAMED FOR DRAGGING HIS UNPREPARED GOD-SON OUT OF HIS NATIVE BAYELSA IN 2007 INTO THE MURKY WATERS OF THE PRESIDENCY POLITICS WHICH DROWNED HIM! Does Jonathan really need proceeds from this book strategically launched close to the 2019 general elections? "Thou shalt know the TRUTH and the TRUTH shall set you free! (John. 8:32).


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

GALE OF LEGISLATIVE IMPEACHMENTS WITHOUT DUE PROCESS!

Nigerian politicians are not gender-friendly when it comes to fighting dirty for positions of authority! The attitude of male chauvinism played out recently at the Anambra State House of Assembly when the female Speaker was almost edged out through a subtle but failed "coup attempt" by some disorganised honourables!

From all indications, the coupists were ignorant of the Fourth World Conference on Women in 1995 which produced the Beijing Affirmative Action Document which recommended 35% allocation of female representation in political positions in governments of all countries, to which Nigeria was a signatory, and so were bent on pursuing their ignominious assignment to a logical conclusion, even without forming a quorum! Hon. Rita Maduagwu, Speaker of the Anambra State Assembly, is believed to be the latest causality of the impeachment trend which has engulfed the entire political landscape of Nigeria since 2015!
Members, who according to reports could not secure tickets in the very disorganised and highly criticized Primaries of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), were the arrow heads of the purported impeachment!

She was alleged to have been impeached by 20 of the 30-member House on Tuesday, 13th November, 2018 while three other members of the House were also allegedly suspended!
Rita was accused of financial impropriety, gross misconduct, high-handedness and sundry allegations which were not served on her for defence! Hon. Ikem Uzozie, member representing Aguata II Constituency, who moved the motion for impeachment was said to have been subsequently substituted as the new Speaker!
According to trending news, there ensued a confusion as the Mace (symbol of authority), was hurriedly removed by the Clerk, who refused to swear in the purported new Speaker because, according to him, "due process was not followed and the recognized plenary was that conducted by Rita Maduagwu with twelve members"!
During an urgent intervention by the State Governor, Secretary to Government and the Chief of Staff, Speaker Maduagwu said that the foiled exercise was null and void, in futility and un-called for, as there was no crisis in APGA adding that two members among the purported 20, who claimed to form the quorum for her impeachment were absent from the Chambers!
The Anambra State Government and APGA leaders condemned the unlawful action of the legislators to ensure that status quo and peace was maintained though unconfirmed reports claimed at the weekend that Hon. Uzozie manoeuvred his way with 25 members to hold plenary while the female Speaker was inside her office within the State Assembly Complex!

While we advocate for an amicable solution to the disagreement, we will insist that the 35% Women representation in the next APC Government from 2019-2023, (which is less than FIVE per cent presently), MUST be fully actualized in the spirit and letter of the Beijing agreement! We also encourage the women and youths in general to participate with greater commitments in the coming elections to ensure that the looters of the consecutive governments of 1999-2015, were shamed out of the elections for the Nigerian Women dreams to materialize!

HAS UNLAWFUL IMPEACHMENTS BY LAWMAKERS BECOME THE NORM IN NIGERIA?
IMO STATE- Nineteen of twenty- seven lawmakers of the Imo State House of Assembly impeached Imo State Deputy Governor, Eze Madumere, over alleged misconduct and replaced him with the Head of Service, Callistus Ekenze, in the run towards the political primaries in defiance to a ruling by the State High Court which restrained them and the Chief Judge, from proceeding with the exercise!

BENUE - Eight members out of the 30 All Progressives Congress (APC), lawmakers who were on recess in July 2018, served impeachment notice on Benue Governor Samuel Ortom, because of an alleged misappropriation of N54 billion and also for defecting to the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), but he rejected it as an act of illegality, because it did not follow due process! The eight members, which did not form a quorum, also purportedly suspended the majority twenty-members!

KANO - In July 2018, the Kano State of Assembly, impeached its Speaker, Alhaji Abdulahi Ata along with two principal officers and re-elected the immediate past Speaker, Alhaji Kabiru Rurum, who was earlier impeached over allegations of corruption!

EKITI: There was also a move by Ekiti lawmakers to impeach Governor Ayodele Fayose in July 2018, but it did not pull through because the election which brought in a new governor, Kayode Fayemi, overtook the plan!
EDO and ONDO STATES were not left out of the impeachment saga between July and October 2018, as speakers and their deputies were kicked out at random!

IMPEACHMENT MOVES AGAINST SARAKI AND DOGARA!
Federal Legislators could not execute plans to impeach the two National Assembly (NASS) Principal Officers, 'Bukola Saraki and Yakubu Dogara, to avoid heating up the polity in view of the need for collective co-operation in the preparations by all arm of government for the approaching 2019 General Elections, but a cat and mouse game is playing out as the "majority" lawmakers are still looking for means to catch the duo unaware!

WHAT ARE THE CONSTITUTIONAL REQUIREMENTS FOR IMPEACHMENT OF A SITTING PRESIDENT?
The impeachment processes/procedures for removing a sitting President or his Vice, according to the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999, is tedious, intricate, cumbersome and almost impossible, that past efforts of the past in that direction ended in futility! For instance, about two attempts were made by legislators of the National Assembly (NASS), during his eight-year tenure to no avail! The 8th NASS also failed to embark on an impeachment move against President Muhammadu Buhari because he purchased some TUCANO Aircrafts "without legislative approval" in 2018!

To impeach a Nigerian President, several steps as enumerated in Section 143 (1) - (11) have to be taken, followed and religiously executed to conform with all the provisions that must ensure fundamental rights of the accused! In the following sequence, a notice of any allegation in WRITING and signed by not less than ONE THRID of the members of the NASS must be presented to Senate President but very explicit of the alleged wrong doings for the President to be SERVED within SEVEN days for comments and to all 469 members to be notified.
Within 14 days NASS should be able to determine whether the accusations should be investigated through the votes of not less than TWO THIRDS majority of each house and within SEVEN DAYS, the Chief Justice of Nigeria would be approached to constitute a PANEL OF SEVEN PROVEN CITIZENS who would invite the accused to DEFEND himself personally or through a lawyer if his own choice.
Within THREE MONTHS, the Panel must submit its report to each house of NASS either in favour or an indictment of the accused. If in favour, the matter dies a natural death and if proved, WITHIN 14 DAYS, NASS would consider it and if TWO THIRDS OF EACH HOUSE adopted, then, THE HOLDER OF THE OFFICE SHALL STAND REMOVED FROM OFFICE FROM THE DATE OF ADOPTION OF THE REPORT!
The end of all of the above according to the Constitution in Section143 (10), is that both decisions by the Panel and NASS or any matter relation thereto "shall be entertained or questioned in any court"! HE WHO COMES TO EQUITY MUST COME WITH CLEAN HANDS!

The same impeachment procedures also apply to Governors and their Deputies, but for Speakers and their Deputies, it is a different ball game. From all available reports, Speakers were often caught off-guard! Surreptitious signatures of their "assailants"' were clandestinely gathered without prior notices of complaints/accusations against their persons only for the coupists to spring surprises of immediate, ridiculous and unconstitutional impeachment at plenary without the due process of LAW!!

According to the flawed 1999 Constitution, both principal officers could be removed from office by a resolution of the House of Assembly by the votes of not less than TWO THIRDS majority of the members of the members of the House [ Section 92 - (2) (c) ], or by a SIMPLE MAJORITY [Section 98 (2) ]!

These gimmicks have always played out since 1999 to the "advantage" of unscrupulous political jobbers whose pastime lie in all manner of confusion and wranglings through which they could manipulate affected parties for pecuniary gains!

Gender inequality should be regarded as a national liability to Nigeria as a developing nation. It will amount to stark illiteracy and ignorance for any Nigerian male to relegate the position of women to the background when our Liberian West African neighbour could produce Mrs. Johnson Sirleaf, who ruled for 12 years as the first African woman to join the league of about 22 Women Presidents/ Head of Governments, across the globe between 2004-2016!
There are many brilliant, decent, well-educated, articulate, very honest, diligent and highly-conscientious Nigerian women who have held enviable positions in the public, private and global positions of authority who would match or even perform better than their male counterparts and who should be encouraged to come on board and prove their mettle! Women population which is believed to be over 98,326,118 or 49.4% should be an advantage in the 2019 General Elections!
‘’He that diligently seeketh good procureth favour: but he that seeketh mischief, it shall come unto him.’’ (Prove 11-27).


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

mrvitalis:

You are a PhD holder and you are talking this

Oga even if executive and legislators earn zero naira per year the total money that would be saved won't pay federal civil servants one month salaries at 30k minimum wage

At 30k minimum wage wage bill would be over 320 billion every month

The total budget of the national assembly is less than 150bn for a year and that of the executives is less than That


When educated people like you begin to talk like layman then we know that there is a problem

You stated Nigerian senators earn more than the president of the United States as if you know the total take home pay of the president... The president of the United States has over 36 trillion naira every year in classified budget

As an educated man you should produce facts to back your claim not this absolute rubbish you wrote

I'm very very dissapointed

Have a good life

I'm open to debate If you want one

Dear friend, you have failed to understand the message that this article conveys.
This article was written in response to the position held by the Government, that it lacks the capacity to pay the proposed new minimum wage of 30k.
You have requested for facts, is it a lie that Nigerian legislators earns way above the constitutional approved wages meant for them?
Is it also a lie that on leaving office many political office holders are payed outrageous severance allowances?

As you have seen in the article, we have suggested ways in which the Government would be able to pay the new wage demanded by the labour unions, one of which is curtailing illicit earnings received by political office holders, which will in turn pave way for government to have access to more funds to pay the new wage. We have not said as you claim, that the funds saved will be able to pay the new wage for the entire workforce.
You must also note that the suggestion made is just only one way in which more funds can be realised to pay Nigeria's workers their demanded new wage.
On how much a serving Nigeria senator earns compared to how much the US president earns; The US president earns 400 thousand dollars annualy, while a Nigerian senator earns 1.7 million dollars annually.
Thank you for reading and try to be more civil, when criticising. God bless you.

That the Nigerian Legislators are the richest politicians globally is an understatement! A Senator of the Federal Republic of Nigeria earns far more than the President of the United States of America! It is on record that at least FIVE PER CENT (5%), of every national annual budget goes for salaries, working/wardrobe/housing/vehicle/annual leave/domestic/ retirement benefits allowances and the few Civil Service Staff of those very selfish opportunists in government!

In the years before 29th May, 2015, when the most unexpected change of guards occurred, the National Assembly (NASS), legislators boasted of an annual deductions of N150 billion naira, outside of allegations of ridiculous, outrageous and illegitimate, constituency allowances/budget paddings, from which they have been unable to extricate themselves to date! Rowdy sessions over very trivial issues were always the order of the day at most plenary especially in the 8th Assembly, because the Treasury Single Account (TSA) had blocked all forms of malfeasance!

These desperate set of politicians have developed very thick skin to public outcry and all forms of accusations in respect of financial impropriety committed through their constitutional oversight functions and there seemed to be no reprieve in spite of the WAR AGAINST ALL MANNER OF CORRUPTION by the Muhammadu Buhari All Progressives Congress (APC), Administration! At one time, the late Chairman of the Revenue Mobilization Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC), Mr. Hamman Tukur, published the constitutionally approved emoluments of the law makers which was in line with the CIVIL SERVICE EMOLUMENTS, but government had no political will to go for their jugular!

Secondly, a former Chairman, House of Representatives Committee on Financial Matters, Jibril Abdulmumini, exposed the internal mechanisms of Budget Padding, among legislators but he was maligned castigated and eventually suspended for ONE LEGISLATIVE YEAR by YAKUBU DOGARA and his cohorts for impetuosity!
He challenged the matter in court and won the suit against his illegal suspension with costs and has been paid all of his salaries and allowances for that period in spite of the desperation of law makers to SILENCE THE TRUTH!

Must these present crop of legislators constitute themselves into a Secret Cult, whose condemnable deeds must remain secret especially in a new democratic dispensation that has vowed to destroy corruption in all forms and ramifications, no matter whose ox is gored?

Thirdly, sometime in 2017, a serving Senator, Shehu Sanni, representing Kaduna State Central District, confessed to Nigerians and by extension to the whole universe that each lawmaker's MONTHLY WORKING ALLOWANCE alone, was N13.5 MILLION, outside of the earlier mentioned inconsiderate/humongous and unconstitutional allowances! How and why did they arrive at that figure and who is their paymaster? Is there an arm of the Ministry of Finance in the National Assembly?
In spite of an Abuja High Court judgement of 2015 which compelled the NASS Clerk to release to The Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP), a Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO), the monthly/annual take-home payments of salaries, allowances and other emoluments of the law makers, the Clerk did not only disobey, he appealed the order and the outcome is yet to be made public!


NINETY-FIVE PER CENT OF STATES CANNOT PAY N30.000?
The Ebonyi State Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Governor David Umahi, on Wednesday, 7th November, 2018, made a sweeping statement on behalf of Nigerian Governors in respect of the recommended minimum wage of N30, 000.
According to a report credited to him, the opposition State Governor said: "The Federal Government collects 52% of the revenue from the Federation Account and when I tried to put the N30.000 figure to Local Government Areas (LGA), it means they will borrow N1 billion to add to their allocation in paying salaries." He also added that the proposed amount would cause inflation and would not solve civil servants basic needs adding that “leaders and labour are putting water in a basket and expecting the N30, 000, to hold it".
Umahi's argument also extended to the fact that a lot of money being paid as Petroleum Subsidy could be saved by the Federal Government but he failed to advocate for increase in States INTERNALLY GENERATED REVENUE (IGR), through the abundant God-given solid mineral, agricultural, entertainment, tourism, film industries/information/communication technology resources etc, instead of the monthly journeys to ABUJA for "Feeding Bottle" allowances! Governor Umahi may have succeeded in collecting USD $150 million dollars from the African Development Bank (ADB), to embark on the construction of a RING ROAD instead of building the State's IGR! Who will pay the loan when he departs office; the same Workforce which do not deserve N30, 000, per month?
Governor Umahi has displayed lack of leadership qualities through his unguarded statement and should just resign honourably! If all the FIVE South-East Geo-Political States (among the 95%), are not economically/financially viable to cater for their citizens and by extension - their WORKERS - would it make COMMONSENSE TO AGITATE FOR AN ADDITIONAL STATE FOR THE ZONE? How did Umahi become Chairman of the South East Governors Forum "self"? One-eyed man in the community of the blind?


NON-PAYMENT OF WORKERS SALARIES BEFORE 29TH MAY, 2015!
When President Muhammadu Buhari assumed office in 2015, he was inundated with large scale complaints of non-payment of arrears of salaries and pension allowances (some, for up to 12 months), by not less than 23 out of 36 States of the federation and out the very scarce resources left by the failed administration, he released tranches of BAIL-OUT FUNDS (twice), to all the affected States to succour the workers plight but it was alleged that some governors diverted the said funds to their personal projects other than the workers emoluments!

The PARIS CLUB REFUND also came the way of the States as another reprieve but till date many States have not met their financial obligations of the monthly pittance of N18,000 to the workers and Governor Umahi, being in the bandwagon could speak with such authority! (Please read our 189th Edition of 29th March, 2017, titled: "Governors Who Fail To Offset Outstanding Workers Salaries/Pensions With The Paris Club Refund Must Be Impeached", for greater details of what happened before and after 29th May, 2015).


GOVERNORS FINANCIAL PACKAGE!
Just like the LEGISLATORS, Governors salaries and allowances are shrouded in secrecy - especially, the SECURITY VOTE BULK PAYMENT - which expenditure was never accounted for by the recipients!
Grape Vine has it on record that the least paid governor received a whooping sum of N3 BILLION from the national coffers and retirement remunerations from their States as follows:
(1) Two magnificent fully-furnished mansions - one in the State Capital and the other in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).
(2) Annual severance salary of between N250-370 million naira for life.
(3) Full-paid overseas annual vacation for them and members of their families for life!
(4) Two state-of-art-vehicles - a Sport Utility Vehicle (SUV), and a Saloon car. (5) Numerous house servant and assistants who must also be remunerated by their STATES though these greedy so-called leaders never missed any entitlements while in office - whether there was INFLATION OR RECESSION!


SIGNING INTO LAW OF THE PEACE CORPS OF NIGERIA BILL AND ESTABLISHMENT OF STATE POLICE MUST BE PRIOTIZED BY PRESIDENT BUHARI NOW!
In spite of the perennial state of insecurity across the nation, due to the shortage of manpower in the nation's Security architecture, the All Progressives Congress (APC), Government under the watch of retired General Muhammadu Buhari as the Commander-In-Chief of the Armed Forces, still finds it difficult to believe that current security challenges would fizzle out through an urgent political will of the President's signature on the Peace Corps of Nigeria Bill and also the implementation of the Governor El Rufai's Committee On Restructuring of Nigeria, which suggested among other crucial issues: Resource Control and State Police!

WITHOUT ADEQUATE SECURITY (THROUGH PROFESSIONAL INTELLIGENCE-GATHERING), NIGERIA'S LOFTY DREAM OF ATTAINING GLOBAL RANKING AMONG 20 ECONOMICALLY-VIABLE COUNTRIES BY THE YEAR 2020, WILL REMAIN AN ILLUSION! President Buhari should fast-track action on these very CRITICAL AND STRATEGIC ISSUES OF SECURITY in order to forestall the plans of his detractors, who are bent on destroying our nascent democracy and threatened economy!


LET'S NAIL THE NIGERIAN WORKERS ENEMIES TOGETHER AT THE 2019 ELECTIONS!
Nigerian Citizens and Workers can be rest assured that President Muhammadu Buhari would forward to the National Assembly the recommended N30,000 national monthly minimum wage for its backing by the law, because the all-round success of his government's Social Intervention Programmes (SIPs), speak glowingly for him, to put all those who opposed the laudable exercise to absolute shame! THIS STIPEND WILL NEITHER CAUSE INFLATION NOR RECESSION AS UMAHI WANTS THE WORLD TO BELIEVE! OUR ECONOMY IS FLUID BECAUSE THE SPECIAL INTERVENTION PROGRAMME IS WORKING!! There is also a move to stop all illegal earnings by legislators/governors and a total stoppage to GOVERNMENT WASTAGES AT THE EXECUTIVE LEVEL, to create surplus funds to meet the workers demands without hassles!

Let us get our PVCs in place to nail the coffins of the enemies of Nigerian workers to the graves in the up-coming 2019 General Elections by sending them back to the labour market! "Once beaten, twice shy!" NO RETREAT, NO SURRENDER!


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

[A SPECIAL EDITION FOR THE EYES OF MR. PRESIDENT!]


PAY NEW WAGES AND SIGN THE PEACE CORPS BILL TO CONSOLIDATE VICTORY AT 2019 POLLS!


That the APC's Government is faithfully delivering on its cardinal three-pronged promise to entrench effective and adequate security within the geographical entity of Nigeria, destroy corruption in all facets of national life and prod the ailing economy which it inherited from 29th May, 2015 to an acceptable and enviable international standard, is no longer in contention because its laudable achievements in just three-and-a-half years of administration, have been highly-rated and commended at home by Nigerian democrats/patriots in the public/private Sectors and abroad by the African Union, United Nations, United States, European Union, Britain, several Third World Countries and the Islamic States!

However, what is in contention and inappropriate is a noticeable BREACH within the rank and file of the kitchen cabinet of Mr. President and APC's Party Structure which is about to rubbish the acclaimed, acknowledged, and laudable gains of the Change Administration if a fast and decisive PRESIDENTIAL ACTION was not taken immediately to nip the ugly trend in the bud with diplomacy, dexterity and political strategy, BEFORE IT IS TOO LATE!

The Minister of Labour and Productivity, Dr. Chris Ngige and the Presidential Advisers on Political and Legislative Matters are rocking the national boat of progress and MUST be sanctioned quickly before they caused irreparable damages that could rob the APC of some gains in the up-coming 2019 General Elections!

Also in that team of do-gooders is ex-Governor Adams Oshiomole, who has created more confusion in the Party since he assumed leadership as Chairman by behaving as a Labour leader!


AGITATION FOR NEW NATIONAL WAGE AND THE WARNING STRIKE!
Much as we do not have much confidence in the ability of the present crop of Labour and Union leaders to pilot Nigerian workers to the promised land, we also do not wish that government would walk into a LAND MINE OF THE RHETORIC "NO WORK NO PAY" SLOGAN OF THE TRADE DISPUTE ACT (2004), that is to be gazetted because it was ill-timed and inconspicuous! ILL-TIMED, because the FEC Meeting decision of Wednesday, 17th October, 2018, was a deliberate ruse to hamstrung LABOUR and will definitely back-fire to cause damages, especially at a time when APC needed more friends than foes! LABOUR has already reacted negatively and threatened to resist any such move!

INCONSPICUOUS because Minister Ngige displayed insincerity in handling the TRIPATITE MEETING without diplomacy but with some level of hidden agenda! He failed to acknowledge that Nigerian workers deserved even more than the initial request of N56, 000 by Labour, considering all economic indices, but deliberated more on the fact that though Federal Government was willing to negotiate the N30, 0000 figure, but that States were looking at N20, 000, which they might not even be able to afford! And the Chairman of the unconstitutional "APC Governors Forum", was so unempathetic when he said on Thursday, 18th October, 2018, after a National Economic Council (NEC), meeting in Abuja, that some States could not even afford to pay the approved N18, 000 national minimum wage approved in the year 2011, for several reasons of exigencies and would not even consider an upward review!
Nigerian Workers should not be treated as SLAVES in their own country; not by the undiplomatic Minister Ngige or by Zamfara's Governor Abdulazeez Yari who cared less whether THE LABOURER WAS WORTHY OF HIS WAGES OR NOT! Has Ngige and other political appointees ever missed their salaries and allowances since their appointments in 2015? IS THIS THE TIME FOR PROVOKING LABOUR AGITATIONS?

Is this the time TO IGNITE socio-economic/political disorder as APC LOOKS FORWARD TO WINNING THE 2019 PRESIDENTIAL, STATES AND LEGISLATIVE ELECTIONS?
Has the Party forgotten that the NIGERIAN WORKERS are its own tripartite of - HUMAN CAPITAL, WORKFORCE AND THE ELECTORATE - who would jointly give the Party a record LANDSLIDE VICTORY AT THE POLLS? The President should fast-track the Labour Tripartite Committee activities and ensure that an acceptable figure was agreed upon and retrospectively paid to the workers with effect from 1st October, 2018, to redeem APC's promise of enhanced salary packages for Nigerian workers!


PEACE CORPS OF NIGERIA (PCN) BILL MUST BE RECALLED AND SIGNED INTO LAW NOW!
Can the APC and President Muhammadu Buhari afford to lose THREE MILLION VOTES OF PEACE CORPS PVC-CARRYING YOUTHS TO NINETY (90), OPPOSITION PARTIES IN THE UP-COMING 2019 GENERAL ELECTIONS? The answer is NO, NO, NO! The President's Political and Legislative Aides misguided him to refuse assent to the BILL which had concurrent approval of the National Assembly (NASS), Legislators for very unacceptable and uneducated reasons that their addition to the SECURITY ARCHITECTURAL GRID, would tantamount to DUPLICATION OF DUTIES, while it is common knowledge that the entire numerical strength of the Armed Forces, Police and the Para-Military was grossly inadequate to provide adequate security for over 200 million Nigerians! They also told him that Nigeria was BROKE!
We published in our 264th Edition of 2nd September, 2018, that the President ERRED IN LAW ACCORDING TO PUBLIC OPINION POLLS for refusing assent to that strategic HUMAN CAPITAL ASSET BILL WHICH WILL COMPLEMENT THE WAR AGAINST BRIGANDAGE, INSURGENCY AND TERRORISM THROUGH CONSTANT AND REGULAR DISSEMINATION OF ADEQUATE INFORMATION AND INTELLIGENCE GATHERING, INCLUDING WHISTLE-BLOWING, TO COUNTER, EXPOSE AND CONFRONT ALL ECONOMIC SABOTEURS ACROSS THE NATION AND BRING THEM TO JUSTICE!
We have it on good authority that the Peace Corps of Nigeria (PCN), which had existed for over 20 years, which has movable and immovable national assets/structures acquired as an NGO in those two decades of existence, had proved its mettle as a well-organised, well-trained, well-disciplined and a highly-efficient organisation which had performed creditably as had become a HOUSE-HOLD-NAME IN NIGERIA!

IF GOVERNMENT CAN CONTINUE TO BORROW MONEY INTERNATIONALLY TO FUND SPECIAL INTERVENTION PROJECTS (SIPS), THEN, PCN MUST BE REGARDED AS A "STRATEGIC SECURITY INTERVENTION PROJECT" AND BE SO ACCORDED THAT STATUS AND BE SO EQUALLY FUNDED NOW!
The PCN, is a safety/security, people-oriented, people-friendly, PROJECT that should be strategically-positioned to serve as a double-edged SOLUTION that would quickly stem the current spate of insecurity/killings across the country, enhance the quality, fairness, credibility of the up- coming 2019 elections and also add immense VALUE TO THE VICTORY OF THE APC AT THE 2019 POLLS!


PEACE CORPS MEMBERS CAN STOP SMUGGLING AND FISH OUT ILLEGAL WEAPONS!
The National Security Council rose from a crucial meeting in Abuja on Wednesday 18th October, 2018, and expressed grave concern in respect of the stock-pilling of small arms by desperate politicians who were determined to remain relevant and in power at all cost! All security Chiefs have been put on "RED ALERT" to fish out and seize all illegal and contraband weapons to avoid further security challenges, catastrophes and blood-letting in the country!
SPECIAL UNITS OF THE 3-MILLION YOUTH-MANPOWER OF THE PEACE CORPS OF NIGERIA (PCN) CAN BE DEPLOYED FOR THE MUCH-NEEDED INTELLIGENCE-GATHERING NEEDED TO COUNTER ALL MANNER OF SMUGGLINGS THROUGH THE NATION'S POROUS BORDERS!
No further time should be wasted to bring the PCN on board as a Para-military organisation in order to boost the existing network of security forces poised to ensure PEACE in Nigeria, not only before during, and after the 2019, but 24 hours daily throughout the nooks and crannies of our vast nation and its borders!


WERE THE YOUTHS WHO ALLEGEDLY COMMITTED ELECTORAL OFFENCES DURING RECENT STATE ELECTIONS, NOT MEMBERS OF THE "NOT-TO-YOUNG-TO-RULE" CLUB?
If some Nigerian youths can still be manipulated by politicians to act as THUGS during elections, then the Not-Too-Young-To-Rule group still needed to go back to the drawing board to re-articulate their advocacy and strategies to creating avenues to guide those victims of manipulation to both educational and vocational engagements that would provide life opportunities for them to serve and not be servients!

MR. PRESIDENT, PLEASE PUT SMILES ON THE FACES OF NIGERIAN WORKERS THROUGH THE PAYMENT OF AT LEAST N 25,000 MINIMUM WAGE FOR NOW AND ALSO RECALL AND SIGN THE PEACE CORPS OF NIGERIA BILL TO IGNITE FRESH SPIRIT OF PATRIOTISM IN THE 3 MILLION YOUTHS, FIT AND READY TO SERVE THEIR FATHERLAND! YOU MUST GET RID OF BAD ADVISERS AND CONSOLIDATE ON YOUR SPECIAL INTERVENTION PROGRAMMES (SIP), GAINS TODAY! "A STITCH IN TIME SAVES NINE"!




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

ATIKU-OBASANJO'S COALITION SHOULD NOT BE "DO-OR-DIE" IN 2019!.


Contrary to the consensus of opinion, Nigeria does not lack good leaders but is inundated with a plethora of unprepared, selfish, greedy, unpatriotic and passionless leaders whose only reason for leadership positions is sheer aggrandizement to acquire inordinate wealth and power!

The gale of defections and anti-party activities that enveloped the polity before the National Assembly (NASS), recess of over two months which eventually terminated on Tuesday 8th October, 2018, when plenary sittings resumed, confirms the foregoing assertion of man's insatiable greed for lucrative positions of authority unceasingly because both Senate President, 'Bukola Saraki and Hon. Yakubu Dogara jumped ship to the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), but have vehemently refused to relinquish their exalted positions although PDP is in the minority in both chambers!

At the resumption of plenary, aggrieved APC Legislators were counselled to sheath their swords in respect of a-sworn impeachment move against the traitors but to conclude actions on pending legislatives bills which needed urgent presidential assent, for the sake of the masses of the down-trodden who would suffer the consequences of any wrong move considering the fact that the 2019 General Election was just about FOUR months away!


APC'S SCORECARD OF ACHIEVEMENTS IN THREE-AND-A-HALF-YEARS!
Political analysts have also opined that there could be no better time than this short window of opportunity before the elections for the ruling party to showcase its achievements to the Electorate who would cast the votes and gain their confidence in other to destroy the blackmails by all the defectors at both Federal and State levels!
Although the Change Government had to grapple with 16 years of a plundered economy which was on the way to recession and a virtually empty treasury on 29th May, 2015, the economic managers were able to fix most of the mess within the limited time and did not renege on its anti- corruption drive and the battle against the Boko Haram insurgency to ensure adequate security across all geo-political zones!

SIXTEEN Local Government Areas (LGAs), seized by Boko Haram terrorists between 2010-2015, were all recovered by the Federal Troops within one year of APC's Administration and as October 2018, the remnants of the renegade group were being mopped up!

Although another security challenge in the form of herdsmen/farmers clashes claimed lots of lives - especially in the Middle Belt Region from January 2018, government mustered all security apparatuses to fish out the killers and their sponsors in order to bring the brutality, which was a deliberate ploy by Buhari's detractors, to discredit all his achievements, to a permanent end!

The SPECIAL INTERVENTION PROGRAMMES (SIPs), of the ruling government was indiscriminatory from the onset as all States of the Federation have been affected positively in the very short time of the Change Administration. All uncompleted or abandoned projects of past governments from 1999-2015, were taken over and completed by the people-oriented APC Administration for faster developments in all sectors of the economy! Road and Rail networks have come alive in all geo-political zones as people, goods and services are discharged faster across the Federation in spite of the rainy season and floods!

Other achievements include, but not limited to:
(1) The introduction of the TREASURY SINGLE ACCOUNT (TSA);
(2) Whistle-blowing policy which exposed TAX EVADERS and fraudulent Civil Servants from whom at least over N 21billion naira and about USD $70 million, were recovered and the External Reserve Portfolio stood at USD$ 43.437,951,431 billion dollars as at 10th October. 2018, a commendable feat indeed!


THE EMERGENCE OF APC AND PDP PRESIDENTIAL FLAG BEARERS!
Although President Muhammadu Buhari emerged as the consensus candidate of the APC, the Party still held a national convention to ratify his candidacy on Saturday, 6th October, 2018 in conformity with the Party's Constitution!
Former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar, also emerged from among 13 Candidates as PDP's flag bearer but not without vehement allegations that USD-FILLED FAT ENVELOPES were distributed to all delegates by his agents!

BUHARI'S PROFILE: President Buhari is an accomplished statesman and democrat having cast the military garb of autocratic rule out of his system in order to fulfil his manifesto's promise that "he was for nobody and was for everybody!" This divinely anointed ambassador and crusader against corruption is a man of integrity both in the ARMY and as a civilian and even his worst detractor could not rail any accusation against him! He never enriched himself outside of his legitimate earnings and has no foreign bank accounts. The President has never amassed mobile or immobile properties in Nigeria or overseas for himself or relatives as some of his predecessors in office did! He does not possess an OIL WELL/BLOC and no one has been able to trace any act of corruption to him!


ATIKU'S PROFILE: Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar had Para-military experience in the Nigerian Customs where he served and retired as Deputy Director in 1989. He later went into business where he acquired much wealth which he diverted into partisan politics since 1999. He was indicted in office by the EFCC, a Ministerial Panel and Federal Executive Council (FEC), on charges of alleged conspiracy, fraudulent conversion of funds corrupt practices and money laundering!

He was also alleged to have received bribe money of USD $100,000 dollars from one Congressman Jefferson, to facilitate a certain contract from the Federal Government, and that he withdrew N20 million naira from the PDTF Account without due process in 2006! The rumour mill has it that ATIKU HAS BEEN BANNED FROM ENTERING THE UNITED STATES SINCE THE YEAR 2006!


DOES THE ATIKU-OBI TICKET POSE ANY THREAT TO BUHARI-OSINBAJO CONTINUITY AGENDA?
NO! Atiku Abubakar is no match for President Buhari, even if he ganged up with Satan himself other than with OBJ (aka, Ebora Owu, meaning, Owu's demon), his former boss for EIGHT YEARS in the State House, Abuja, because, from his profile, he might lack sufficient pedigree and integrity for the top job! During their fall out between 2006-2007, Obasanjo accused him of "embezzlement" of N20 million naira from the Petroleum Trust Development Fund (PTDF), under his watch and was also allegedly accused by the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), of involvement in the Congressman Jefferson's bribe scandal which was investigated by the Agency and Nigeria's EFCC!

Atiku's profile speaks volumes and for him to anoint Peter Obi, a former two-term Governor of South East's Anambra State, is another kettle of fish! Since Obi's exit as governor, he had defected from APGA's Party platform, through which he enjoyed eight years of governance, to Jonathan's defunct PDP Administration and lobbied vigorously for a political appointment but failed! Peter Obi will be Atiku's greatest undoing!

During the second term election bid of his anointed successor, Governor Willy Obioma, Mr. Peter Obi, dishonoured the incumbent, sided with the opposition PDP candidate but failed woefully as Obioma, who was staunchly supported with APGA's party structure coasted to victory seamlessly! Does Anambra State alone constitute the South East Geo-political Zone or the entire Ndi-Igbo Clan?
Of what profit is Peter Obi to Atiku Abubakar as a running-mate? The belief of some political pundits was that the entire Ndi-Igbo Clan would rush to the polls on 16th February, 2019, and put Atiku in Aso Villa where he spent EIGHT YEARS (1999-2007), and FORGET IGBOS AMBITION TO PRODUCE AN IGBO PRESIDENT THAT WOULD OCCUPY THE VILLA FROM 2023-2031! The Igbos massively voted for PDP en-mass in 2015, but Muhammadu Buhari won in a landslide! Would they be lured to commit the same "suicide" in 2019? Can the Igbo people afford to lose their sure presidency mandate in 2023 to Atiku, who is allegedly carrying several corruption excess baggages? APC has made incursions into other South East States outside of IMO and the likelihood of winning more IGBO States cannot be ruled out! NDI-IGBO KWENU!


WHERE WILL OBASANJO’S VOLTE-FACE LAND HIM?
Obasanjo tore his PDP membership card and disowned the group for good in 2014 - but he is now back in PDP! He swore that he would never forgive Atiku Abubakar, but in a swift "about-turn", he is now dinning with him like in the old times before the 2006 feud between both men!

The former President, having lost face amongst his so-called COALITION THIRD FORCE- which fell like a pack of cards, like a drowning man has only Atiku Abubakar to hang on as a "saving grace"? Atiku is very desperate politician who would stop at nothing to become the President of Nigeria in 2019. ..... BUT, CAN HE? ATIKU AND OBASANJO SHOULD ALLOW PEACE TO REIGN IN NIGERIA! NIGERIAN POLITICS SHOULD NOT BE "DO-OR-DIE-AFFAIR", LIKE OBJ DECLARED IN 2007!

When ATIKU challenged BUHARI in 2014 during the APC PRIMARIES, he was flogged and did not even come second! Atiku is the holder of the national record of political defectors and we will not be alarmed if he decided to RUN FOR THE PRESIDENCY IN 2023 UNDER THE PLATFORM OF THE APC WHEN PRESIDENT BUHARI WOULD HAVE CONCLUDED HIS SECOND TERM IN OFFICE! MAYBE IT WAS TIME THE "EBORA OWU" RETURNED TO ROOST IN HIS SHRINE AND ALLOW THE "NOT-TOO-YOUNG-TO-RULE YOUTHS" OF THE APC TO TAKE OVER THE MANTLE OF CONTINUITY OF GOOD LEADERSHIP FROM PRESIDENT MUHAMMADU BUHARI IN 2023!

"Righteousness exalts a nation, sin is a reproach to all people." (Proverbs. 14:34).


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

overseasnbeyond:

What knowledge are you talking about?
I don't need to gain anything from a self aggrandizement association.
All of you are product of corruption with no sincere opinion

Who friend? I think you have missed the point; just make a little effort to read through the article and study the points carefully before criticizing.

overseasnbeyond:

Good to express ypur grievances but making a decision a compulsion is wrong oga "ade".
I know some of you have collected both money and sex from your so called peace corp members in the name of passing the bill and others but tell me
What will be the duty of the peace corp apart from creating job to siphon money from the government account.
Are they going to stop insurgency or do more than civil defence?
My opinion is to go register with CAC as a security company and start posting your member to serve as private or public security.
Ire ooo

Friend, you cannot gain more knowledge by merely commenting on the headline, please read through before forming a sincere opinion.

gasparpisciotta:
Dr Olufon should put a gun to PMB's head so that he "must" sign the useless peace corps bill. A Bill duplicating all existing paramilitary set ups.

You have not read the article, yet you are commenting!

richeeyo:
And pay them from your father's account abi?

Dear friend, read before commenting!

PRESIDENT BUHARI MUST SIGN PEACE CORPS OF NIGERIA BILL IN THE INTEREST OF NIGERIAN YOUTHS!


The denial of assent to the Peace Corps of Nigeria (PCN), Bill by the President, has generated so much controversy within the polity in recent times that well-meaning Nigerians have began to wonder whether some diabolical interest groups were not actually benefiting in economic and financial terms, from the persistent imbroglio of internal security challenges which is consuming huge resources on personnel and logistics on daily basis!

Citizens of Nigeria, especially the downtrodden, do not need sooth-sayers to tell them that government's inadequate measures in dealing with insurgency, terrorism, and all manner of senseless killings - most especially in the past NINE years - had been due to lack of adequate manpower and authentic intelligence-gathering!

Who are the sponsors of the incalcitrant Boko Haram terrorism onslaught that is still degrading our collective psyche? Who provides arms, ammunitions, guns, machetes, suicide vests, logistics, hand grenades, land mine gadgets, smart phones, laptop computers, hide-out bunkers; who reveals top secret information on government troop’s movements, and supplies food and medicine, etc, to insurgents? They are the FIFTH COLUMNISTS - the mercenary contractors!

The entire personnel strength of NIGERIAN POLICE FORCE, plus those of the NIGERIAN ARMED FORCES, including the NIGERIAN SECURITY AND CIVIL DEFENCE CORPS, cannot muster TWO million able-bodied men and women to protect about 200 million Nigerians in spite of the regular annual recruitment drives to increase their population and yet some do-gooders thought that the addition of about THREE million PCN Para-military organisation would not make the required difference in the lopsided security architecture of the nation? They are wrong, very wrong to have misled President Muhammadu Buhari whom we know his antecedent as a lover of his people who should not be slaughtered like animals all over the land under his watch! He was always saddened and had wept bitterly each time he lost a single soul among his people - he would not have declined assent to the Bill knowing full well that intelligence gathering was the major antidote to crime prevention!

We are convinced that if the PEACE CORPS paramilitary personnel had received presidential approval long before 2018, those senseless killings would have been nipped in the bud through adequate logistics to counter the attackers!
And most unfortunately, the President was deceived to decline assent on the 25th January, 2018, to the consternation of the suffering masses while he hinged his reasons on
(1) "Scarcity of funds",
(2) "Duplication of duties ", and
(3) "Security concerns"!

Of all the reasons adduced, the most ridiculous was the issue of SECURITY CONCERNS as adduced and suggested to the President by the antagonists that the organisation could grow into an "uncontrollable monster" in the future!
This argument is laughable because the Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC), has complimented other security agencies especially in the troubled States of the Federation with much camaraderie!


ARE POLITICIANS FAT SALARIES AND ALLOWANCES WORTHIER THAN ONE TALAKAWA'S LIFE?
THOSE WHO ARE OPPOSED TO THE PEACE CORPS BILL ARE THE SAME PEOPLE WHO INSISTED THAT NIGERIA SHOULD NOT BUILD REFINERIES BUT SHOULD CONTINUE IMPORTATION OF PETROLEUM PRODUCTS INDEFINITELY THROUGH ILLEGAL GOVERNMENT SUBSIDY REGULARLY PAID TO THEM!

Before the National Assembly (NASS), went on annual recess in July, 2018, a whooping some of N348 billion naira was paid as outstanding SUBSIDY claims to 74 Oil Marketers, "to enable them update all outstanding liabilities and clear all debts, interest accrued and forex differential once and for all!" The subsidy according to government is classified under "inherited local debts!"


FEDERAL GOVERNMENT CAN FUND NPC IF IT CAN FUND CONTROVERSIAL PETROLEUM SUBSIDIES!
Over 8,000 Nigerians were killed in the Middle Belt alone between January and July 2018! HOW MUCH IS ONE LIFE WORTH TO THE CHANGE GOVERNMENT? CAN THE ECONOMY THRIVE IN AN ATMOSPHERE OF WAR, CONFLICTS, INSECURITY, AND INCESSANT/SENSELESS KILLINGS?
How much money would be appropriated to the Nigerian Peace Corps Organisation that would DENT THE PURSE OF THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT TO WARRANT THE TEMPORARY SET BACK OF THE WORTHY PARA-MILITARY ORGANISATION THAT IS POISED TO ADD VALUE TO NIGERIA'S SECURITY NETWORK? APART FROM GOVERNMENT SUBVENTIONS THIS TWO-DECADE OLD NGO COULD BE ALLOTED LARGE ACRES OF FARMLANDS FOR CULTIVATION DURING SPARE TIMES, IN THE 36 STATES OF THE FEDERATION TO AUGUMENT WHATEVER FUNDS WAS ALLOCATED TO THEM THROUGH AGRICULTURAL PRODUCE FOR BOTH CONSUMPTION AND COMMERCIAL PURPOSES!

A POLICY SOMERSAULT!
How can the President complain of FUNDS OR DUPLICATION OF DUTIES, when the Talakawas whom he vouched to protect and succour are being massacred everyday like sheep without shepherd? January 2018 began with unprovoked attacks on Benue State where about 80 innocent talakawas were snuffed out! The gory scenario moved to Taraba and Plateau States where greater number of casualties were recorded while that of Benue continued unabated! What kind of money would be too much to appropriate for the protection of the lives and properties of law-abiding citizens and the ELECTORATE in whose hands lie the sovereign power of the country according to the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999?

How can the President allow sycophants to deceive him with that kind of hogwash when the three-prong mission statement of the ruling party, the All Progressives Congress (APC), are: Eradication of Corruption, Re-invention of the Economy and War against Insecurity; ALL OF WHICH CANNOT BE ACHIEVED WITHOUT PEACE!

HOW MUCH WOULD IT TAKE TO FUND THE PEACE CORPS WHO HAD BEEN ON GROUND AS AN NGO SINCE 1998, AND FUNCTIONING IN ALMOST ALL STATES OF THE FEDERATION? CAN'T THE WASTAGES OF FUNDS IN GOVERNANCE BOTH AT EXECUTIVE AND LEGISLATURE BE CURTAILED TO FUND THIS PARA-MILITARY ORGANISATION? CAN'T THE SECURITY VOTES OF THE PRESIDENT AND GOVERNORS BE REDUCED AND DIVERTED TO FUND THEM? WHAT ABOUT THE GOVERNORS OUTRAGEOUS "PENSION BENEFITS" NOT SUPPORTED BY THE CONSTITUTION?

From all indications, the enemies of the talakawas would prefer that budget appropriations for the Nigerian Peace Corps Organisation, be diverted to irrelevant projects for party patronage because the poor masses, who always bore the brunt of all the ills and mis-governance of successive administrations MUST NEVER benefit from adequate security which is the TOP-MOST priority among the basic necessities of life! However, we are of the opinion that the need to compliment activities and bridge the gaps between existing security agencies in the maintenance of law and order, intelligence gathering, neighbourhood watch, community services, is now more expedient than ever before especially when a gory scenario of avoidable bloodshed greeted the new year 2018!
It is an open secret that the entire population of all Nigeria's security agencies - which is less than TWO MILLION - had not and cannot fulfil their collective mandate to maintain law and order, most especially, internal security matters posed by Boko Haram and now, the kidnappers and herdsmen killers, so what is the HULLABALLOO about?


THE PALIAMENTARIANS IMPUT!
Before the year November 2016, when the Bill for an Act to Establish Nigerian Peace Corps first got the attention of the legislators of the House of Representative and later the Senate, PCN had existed as an NGO and between December 2016 and July 2017, (in spite of Police declaration that the Peace Corps was an illegal outfit), the Bill received accelerated attention of the Committees of both Chambers and in December, 2017, it was passed by both chambers and forwarded to the President for the required assent of legal backing, as a government agency! The entire nation was assured by Senator Ita Enang, Special Assistant to the President on National Assembly matters that the Bill was a done deal only for the President to decline assent on 27th February 2018, and members of the House of Representatives also rejected the attempt to override the President's veto in spite of vehement protests by legislators who opined that the Bill had popular support!
PCN was registered as a Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO), in 1998, before the new attempt at democratic governance in the following year with the sole aim of complimenting the existing security of the nation through massive INTELLIGENCE GATHERING apart from other mandatory duties as follows: Empower youths in developing positive mindset in patriotism, creating genuine avenues for gainful employment for the youths, training their minds to embrace and facilitate peace in the communities, volunteerism attitude and community services, nation building, mediation and conflicts resolution, neighbourhood watch, capacity- building of the youths in areas of creativity, entrepreneurship, civic duties awareness, skills acquisition, involvement in crowd-control, security services as orderlies to traditional leaders, judicial officers, politicians and parliamentarians, to mention a few!
All of the preceding functions cannot be adequately covered by existing security agencies who are already over-burdened!

National Commandant Dr Dickson Akoh, who like other Nigerian patriots, rejected the set-back which he described as a CONSPIRACY against the YOUTHS whom the organisation sought to empower, also accused the Police of "bad blood and meddlesomeness" but promised to seek other legal options to see to the passage of the Bill!


THE BRITISH/GERMAN GOVERNMENTS FINANCIAL INTERVENTION!
Providence has finally brought respite to the Peace Corps of Nigeria Bill through British Prime Minister's and the German Chancellor's State visits to Nigeria on Wednesday 29th and Friday 31st August, 2018, respectively through bi-lateral agreements of financial support - especially earmarked for EMPLOYMENT FOR ABLE-BODIED YOUTHS! Government should take immediate advantage of these generous offers and also appropriate some part of the recovered Abacha Loots to fund the new organisation since funding was one of the reasons for its rejection in first instance!

There could be no better time than now for the President to hearken to popular opinion that his assent would provide great succour to the youths in view of the rate of unemployment, out of school adolescents, drug addiction and insecurity of lives and property in the country!

"Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it." (Prov 22:6).



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

ARE CORRUPT EX-PRESIDENTS AND POLITICIANS REALLY UNTOUCHABLE?

Since independence, past Military and Democratic Presidents in Nigeria who had been alleged to have corrupted themselves while in office, have been treated like SACRED COWS because none so far, has been interrogated, indicted nor taken before any court of competent jurisdiction for trial and in spite of the fact that one of them, General Sanni Abacha, suddenly died in office and all of his dirty deals of mass looting of the treasury were exposed, still, no visible effort has been made to subject others (before or after him), to give accounts of their stewardship while in office!
But if Abacha who committed several financial crimes while in office between 1993 and 1998, were still alive, would any law enforcement institution be bold enough to bring him to justice?

During the GULF WAR in the year 1991 when self-styled military President Ibrahim Badamosi Babangida, held sway, he was alleged to have converted the oil wind fall of $12.4 billion dollars which accrued for Nigeria, to personal use. He denied the charge and is still walking free!
Former Military Head of State/Democratically elected President, Olusegun Aremu Obasanjo, was also accused of corruption in some Power projects dubiously executed with about $16billion dollars, including PHCN contract between 1999 and 2007; Transcorp Shares, Presidential Library Fundraising, which realised N3.5 billion and US $ 250 dollars, in May 2007, shortly before his exit from office; NNPC contracts worth a total cost of US $300 dollars and disbursement of N500 billion naira, to about 200 contractors; Defence contracts valued at N 6.7 billion naira, $28 million, €26 million and DM6 million etc, etc., and the EFCC WHICH HE ESTABLISHED COULD NOT FIND SUFFICIENT EVIDENCE TO PROSECUTE HIM because he claimed no wrongdoing in all allegations through a piece of STATEMENT submitted to them! He is still engaged in LETTER WRITING as a free man!

Ex-President Ebele Jonathan was not spared of corruption allegations that were yet to be proved. He also is still walking free on the presumption of his innocence until the contrary was proven according to the Nigerian Constitution!
Have the Economic Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Independent Corrupt Practices and other related offences Commission (ICPC), crack detectives, investigators, prosecutors and lawyers who had been inundated with GENUINE PETITIONS - laden with facts, figures and authentic documents against these ex-leaders, become lily-livered or too docile and intimidated to invite any of them for interrogation and if necessary to detain them from tampering with evidences that could lead to their convictions?

All over the world, with the exception of Nigeria, past corrupt leaders, including ex-Prime Ministers, Presidents in Pakistan, Israel, Indonesia, Liberia etc, and most recently South Korea, have been successfully investigated, prosecuted, convicted and sentenced to spend several years in prison!


EXTENDED JAIL TERM FOR MISS PARK!
An Appeal Court was reported to have increased the prison sentence on former South Korea's female President, Park Geun-hye to 25 years and her earlier fine by 2 billion won (1.78m), to 20 million won ($17.8m). The 66-year-old First Lady was found culpable of official corruption (involving fronting through a friend with whom she siphoned tens of billions of wons from major conglomerates), by a Constitutional Court in 2017 and forced out of office as the first democratically-elected Korean leader, to be so disgraced! Her friend, Choi Soon-sil, got only 20 years for her ignominious role in the whole saga! The ex-president earlier bagged 24 years in prison and 18 million won fine ($16m US dollars), by a lower court in April 2018 after a prolonged trial of about two years, which the unsatisfied prosecution which sought 30 years, appealed.
Like all politicians, she denied all accusations of wrong-doing and probably described them as "political witch-hunt"! However, she detained for months and did not get preferential treatment! It was also reported that in July 2018, Miss Park was sentenced by another court to 8-year in prison in a separate case arising from the same corruption scandal and for interfering in a 2016 parliamentary election!


THE RECOVERED ABACHA LOOTS!
In the SWISS BANKS alone, Abacha stashed away N1.073 billion, which, Attorney General and Minister of Justice, said in June 2018, had been fully repatriated, going by the account of Mayoraz, the Swiss Ambassador to Nigeria as follows: Two tranches of $752 million and $321 million, already with the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN)! The ambassador also said that the Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty countries would no longer allow for stolen wealth to be kept in any place in the Switzerland! Abacha also stashed monies in many countries of the world in Europe and the USA!

The money from Switzerland is now being disbursed, with the support of the World Bank to succour the most under privileged as their common patrimony in the first instance, in a form of NATIONAL CASH TRANSFER SCHEME in order to benefit the entire populace. Already, 19 States and 270.000 households have been captured out of the estimated 302.000! Disbursement of $321 million dollars to beneficiaries began in JULY, 2018.
We advocate that other looters of the Nigerian Treasury past and present would make URGENT RESTITUTION before the long arms of the LAW catches up with them!


THE ADVOCACY FOR STRONG INSTITUTIONS IN NIGERIA CANNOT BE OVER-EMPHASIZED!
Political analysts find it very convenient to compare Nigeria's presidential form of government with that of the United States of America, in isolation to reality that America's system is deliberately supported with very Strong Institutions to afford continuous government policies to thrive, and no matter the personality involved, every act or decision must always be carried out "according to the law"! Incumbent President Donald Trump, has found it impossible to ride rough-shod over the Judiciary on legal policy decisions the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI), on criminal probes involving him and the Republican Party and also on Immigration matters because these very strong institutions would always insist on executing all directives according to the "Rule of Law", to the letter without affording preferential treatment to the President!
It was high time that the present crop of leaders in the ruling APC government began to follow the US policies of allowing strong institutions to evolve naturally through judicious and adequate policies in areas of personnel training/re-training/equipment, funding etc. in a gradual process of meticulous planning by devoted, patriotic, resilient and selfless leaders!

SHOULD DASUKI AND EL-ZAKZAKY REMAIN IN DETENTION?
Legal opinion is divided on the continuous detention of retired Colonel Sambo Dasuki who was alleged to have diverted US $ 2.1 dollars appropriated for the purchase of arms and ammunition to fight Boko Haram insurgency in 2014, and El-Zakzaky the Shiite Muslim leader in Nigeria whom government strongly believed was in the process of raising another religious militant group for foment and unleash further violence against the people of Nigeria! According to Section 293-296 of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act (ACJA), 2015, suspect should not be kept in custody/detention for more than a maximum time-frame of TWO WEEKS, and must be through an application and the expressed consent of a MAGISTRATE. Dasuki has been in detention for over TWO YEARS!
Although, Dasuki has been granted bail on FIVE different occasions, but on his release from KUJE PRISON on 29th December, 2015, he was re-arrested by the State Security Services (SSS), and has been kept in detention without fresh charges since then! According to Justices of the SUPREME COURT, in a unanimous decision read by Justice Ajembi Eko, said that the EFCC could not be held responsible for the continued detention of the ex-NSA since it was carried out by the SSS! The apex court dismissed an appeal filed by Dasuki against EFCC for lack of merit and for abuse of court process! And the case of El Zakzaky, government said, that the Muslim cleric and his wife were not in detention but PROTECTIVE CUSTODY in view of the danger to their lives for as long as the trial, which is on-going last! The couple dwell in a well-protected private apartment and have access to medical facilities.


IS THE LAW AN ASS?
In a recent interaction with a young barrister at law in respect of the continuous detention by government of both former National Security Adviser (NSA), in spite of about five court bails issued on his behalf and also El Zakzaky, the Shiite Muslim leader, I was persuaded to look at the whole scenario of incarceration of the duo from another legal perspective outside of the one vehemently held on to by the government! The Federal Government is holding on to a Supreme Court judgment which says that, "When the decision of bail in respect of a matter before a law court conflicts with STATE SECURITY, liberty of a suspect could be denied in spite of the grant of bail according to fundamental rights of the suspect.
The young legal practitioner believes that the Federal Government had erred in law by not APPEALING the BAIL JUDGEMENTS issued by those courts of competent jurisdiction in favour of Dasuki and El Zakzaky! According to his postulation, though the subsisting Supreme Court judgement was very valid, it was not BINDING on the LOWER COURTS to the extent that there was no pronouncement by the APEX COURT which restrained them from granting bail to the accused persons! That argument seemed plausible because, from the primary to tertiary levels, courts unite to execute justice but the rights and privileges of one court of competent jurisdiction was never usurped by the other!

HOW CAN FEDERAL GOVERNMENT RESOLVE CONSTANT CONFLICTS OF RULE OF LAW AND NATIONAL SECURITY? It should expedite lawful trial to avoid unlawful detention! “For rulers are not a terror to good works, but to the evil. Wilt thou then not be afraid of the power? do that which is good, and thou shalt have praise of the same: [Romans.13:3].

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

Nigerians are warming up to another general elections in less than SIX MONTHS and there is so much tension, anxiety, excitement and exhilaration in the polity!
Politicians who lost out in the 2015 race are determined to regain lost glory while those lucky winners would still canvass and push for another victory at all costs! And as the saying goes, this up-coming political elections - already slated for February/March, 2019, will produce, "different strokes for the different folks!"

To the ELECTORAL UMPIRE: INDEPENDENT NATIONAL ELECTORAL COMMISSION (INEC), (1) it would be time to faithfully conduct another free, fair, credible, crime/confusion-free elections that would ensure good governance. (2) To SIT-TIGHT POLITICIANS, - a time to re-new their mandate of "CONTINUITY" to amass illicit wealth at the expense and detriment of the downtrodden, even if they must contravene the CONSTITUTION with impunity. (3) To the VOTE SELLERS, it would afford another opportunity to merchandize their PERMANENT VOTERS CARDS (PVCS), and mortgage their conscience to the highest bidders. (4) To the MISCREANTS AND HIRED POLITICAL THUGS, - another field-day to disrupt the process, snatch ballots boxes, exhume and wield their illegal weapons against helpless and defenceless "fellow Nigerians", who were already traumatized by the 9-year Boko-Haram terrorism, incessant inter/intra States kidnappings and also the sporadic killings of rural dwellers by rampaging herdsmen, who did not spare the citizens with the audacity of constant terror!

Apart from the constitutional roles of INEC at elections as enumerated in the ELECTORAL ACT 2010 (as amended), all of the activities of crimes/criminalities, listed in the preceding paragraph, which are alien to electoral norms and punishable by extant laws! For instance, Section 23 (1) (a) (b) & (c) and 24 (1) (a) to (f) and (2) (a) and (b), deal extensively with the offences of buying and selling voters cards and offences of registration of voters respectively. Offences in Section 23 attract N500,000 naira or imprisonment not exceeding two years or both and those of Section 24 (1) (2), attract N100,000 naira or imprisonment not exceeding one year or both and a fine of N500,000 naira or imprisonment not exceeding 5 years respectively!

From 1999- 2015, Wards to Presidential elections had witnessed several electoral malpractices that led to loss of several precious lives, but hardly had any person been successfully prosecuted and brought to justice in order to serve as deterrent to future criminally-minded citizens, and this trend, had given vent to more criminalities at virtually all elections!


HOW DID NIGERIA GET INTO THE VICIOUS CIRCLE OF MONEY POLITICS?
Politics in Nigeria is synonymous to CURRENCY MINTING for private pockets! During the First Republic, (1960-1966), of the Parliamentary experiment, pilfering from government coffers was minimal but with the introduction of the expensive presidential system, consecutive administrations provided large but inexplicable remunerations for public holders while political appointments became the jackpot hit for lucky hustlers!
The salaries/allowances paperwork for Civil Servants of the Ministries Departments and Agencies (MDA's), as prepared by the Revenue Mobilization Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC), looks flawless but much loopholes for siphoning illicit monies (in billions of naira on annual basis), from the system, could be detected from some civil service manuals which gave room for raising monetary vouchers for dubious official purchases or activities at random! These same very smart civil servants are working for the three arms of government and have perfected the devious act of robbing the treasury through mutual agreement to favour all parties involved!
Why should budget padding through insertion of new projects by legislators still thrive up to the current 2018 document, which was reluctantly signed on 20th June by the President, SEVEN MONTHS after its submission in November, 2017?

As at Friday, 17th August, 2018, the INEC Chairman, Professor Mahmood Yakubu, was still on the HOT SEAT before the Joint National Assembly (NASS), Committee on INEC/Electoral Matters, being queried over a discrepancy in the figures presented by the President for virement (N189 billion), and that tabled by the Chairman (N143 billion), for consideration and approval by the National Assembly (NASS), at plenary when it re-convenes!

It is common knowledge that the legislators are irked and pained to be deprived of the illicit monies that would have accrued to them from the 2018 Budget which they still cleverly padded with INSERTED CONSTITUENCY PROJECTS which did not originate from the Executive, but now badly needed to execute the 2019 Elections!
There are too many financial attractions in Nigeria's political system that got everyone (including the toddlers - not-too-young-to-rule), interested in politicking for personal gains instead of exuding patriotic zeal to serve and build strong institutions that would strengthen the nations' economic base!
There could be no better time than NOW for all well-meaning Nigerians to rise in unison to advocate for ONE SINGLE PARLIAMENT OF 74 LEGISLATORS ON PART TIME THROUGH A REFERENDUM AS WE MARCH INTO 2019!
WE DON'T NEED A MADDENING CROWD SO MUCH INTOXICATED WITH LOOTED FUNDS! JUST A FEW WISE MEN, WOMEN & YOUTHS AT THE HELM OF AFFAIRS TO GET THE WORK DONE AND STOP WASTAGES IN GOVERNANCE!


IS IT REALLY POSSIBLE TO SELL ONE'S VOTE?
VOTE, is a voluntary but democratic act of making a formalized choice by submitting a ballot for a preferred candidate at an organized election in the process of choosing a leader.
To a discerning mind, this act is both - civic in nature and also a conscience-driven duty and responsibility that should be accorded the sacredness it deserves! However, that has not been the case in Nigeria's electoral and democratic processes since 1999!
Past reports of virtually all local and international observers, including INEC's monitoring teams, have confirmed that "vote buying on election days", was thriving business! How are votes sold since it is not a physical commodity?
According to some eye-witnesses, political party agents carry loads of money in their brief cases/hand bags to Polling Centres on election days under the pretext that such, were allowances with which to pay their officials on electoral duties; but in actual fact were used to bait gullible electorate to vote for their Political Parties! Once a "good bargain" was struck, the agents would position themselves at vantage points close to Polling Booths, where they could actually confirm thumb prints on ballot papers! In some cases, smart hand phones were used to capture the thumb prints as evidence which on presentation consummates the deal!


WHAT IS INEC'S RESPONSE TO VOTE BUYING/SELLING?
INEC has taken series of measures to checkmate the very shameful development first by ensuring that the polling booths in subsequent elections would be re-positioned in such a manner to provide complete privacy that could be monitored only by its officials so that voters would be prevented from employing smart phones while voting. Secondly, the Commission would work hand-in-hand with law-enforcement agencies to ensure compliance in the ban on smart phones while voting. We are of the opinion that those who are involved in such unpatriotic business have mortgaged their conscience to the devil because, they did not care about the ripple effects such negative attitude would have on the entire social contract between the government and the masses. Politicians who spent large amounts of money to get into office through vote buying would their entire tenure in fleecing and looting the common patrimony at every opportunity in order to re-coup such illicit expenditures!
Because of vote buying and selling at elections, Nigeria has become the laughing stock, not only of international community’s but among the comity of nations! We are discredited as the most corrupt nation, a people dwelling in the worst unsanitized and polluted environment, the poorest of the poor on the face of the earth, the most un-educated, etc, etc, - all because of BAD GOVERNANCE BY THE MONEY BAGS WHO HI-JACKED THE GOVERNMENT FOR 16 YEARS - 1999-2015 - THE SAME LOSERS WHO TRIED TO CONTINUE IN THE SADDLE WITH THEIR ILLICIT MONIES! But the story has change, the new SHERRIF will recover all the looted monies as the crusade will be intensified into the SECOND TERM of the APC Government from 2019-2023! AMEN!


TIME TABLE OF 2019 GENERAL ELECTIONS!
According to the INEC boss, Professor Yakubu Mahmood, the commission would conduct elections into 1558 constituencies comprising one federal, 29 gubernatorial, 109 senatorial, 360 federal and 991 state constituencies, as well as 68 chairmanship and councillorship constituencies of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), during the 2019 General Elections holding from February to March.
Say NO to vote buying/selling! Report suspicious agents to law-enforcement agents. Arm yourselves with your PVC's and vote for those who would not enslave you. Electioneering campaigns have been flag off by INEC for the now registered 91 Political Parties. Check out their manifestoes meticulously before elections and make informed choices. Take your destiny in your own hand and reject the status of being a SLAVE IN YOUR OWN COUNTRY! "Better is a dry morsel, and quietness therewith, than a house full of sacrifices with strife’’ (Prov 17:1).


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