Television Nigerian

Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso, the New Nigeria Peoples Party’s (NNPP) candidate for president on February 25, 2023, has refuted reports that he and President Bola Ahmed Tinubu had a prearranged agreement regarding the outcome of the Supreme Court ruling in the Kano State governorship election.

In an interview with BBC Hausa on Saturday, Kwankwaso made the denial.

Recall that a string of intensely contested court cases came to a conclusion on Friday when the Supreme Court upheld NNPP candidate Abba Kabir Yusuf as the legitimate governor of Kano State.

During the conversation, the former governor of Kano State also offered his opinions on the current political climate, highlighting the significance of the lessons discovered from the Supreme Court’s ruling.

Acknowledging his relationship with Tinubu, Kwankwaso described their shared political path, starting from their days in the Social Democratic Party (SDP) and concluding in the creation of the All Progressives Congress (APC).

He emphasised that he and Tinubu had actively engaged in political conflicts alongside one another, regardless of any apparent disagreements.

Kwankwaso said, “To the best of my knowledge, I have not reached an agreement with anybody,” dispelling speculations of prior deals.

He also talked about the fallout from the Supreme Court’s ruling, highlighting the necessity of cross-party cooperation when it is needed.

“We have our party; they have theirs,” he declared. When needed, we’ll collaborate. We shall see in due course regarding the matter of joining the government.

Kwankwaso stated that Kabir Yusuf, the governor, will play a consultative rather than an authoritative role.

“Kabir Yusuf is the governor. All we can do is offer advice. And even if he were my biological son, I could not govern over him. I advised him even before the government took over.

Regarding the judiciary’s function, Kwankwaso conceded that earlier rulings contained inaccuracies but applauded the Supreme Court for resolving these differences.

“Those who delivered the judgements in the lower courts would quit their jobs if it were in other climes,” he declared.

The Federal Government agreed for N800 to dollar exchange rate in the 2024 Appropriation Act on Thursday after assessing the naira’s average performance.

The 2024 budget’s foreign exchange benchmark was not based on a spot rate to prevent uncertainties.

The Minister of Budget and National Planning, Atiku Bagudu, told State House correspondents that the FG had chosen N750 to the dollar in the 2024 budget, which the National Assembly boosted to N800.

Bagudu stated, “You don’t use spot rates for budgeting. Today, oil prices could reach 120 due to a shortage or a ship collision that blocks a waterway.

“It would be foolish to use that as a reference price. I should observe this average behavior for six to twelve months—not spot prices. Even with the currency rate.”

He added, “We hope it will drop quickly, but when you prepare the budget, you will include average performance. We took it.

“We proposed a N750 executive average performance to the National Assembly.”

The minister said Tinubu approved of the National Assembly’s rate increase because he values democracy and institutions.

“He respected democracy that even though it was higher than what he submitted, but the institution that says so has the authority to say so, and even at the time they say 100 because it’s not an official rate it’s tidal because, with the deregulated market, you no longer have an official rate, it’s much lower than even the way the markets are bidding,” the

The minister stated that the FG is confident that its present efforts will boost foreign exchange supply quickly.

In 2024, the budget borrows significantly less to pay the deficit than last year, Bagudu said.

Nearly N14tn was expected to be borrowed in 2023. N9.1 trillion is this year’s budget. That seems significant.

In 2023, we borrowed 6.11 percent of our GDP. The percentage is 3.8%. So the quantity fell, Bagudu said.

In the new year, the former Kebbi State Governor said the FG will follow fiscal responsibility law, which allows the Central Bank of Nigeria to lend the government only 5% of the budget through its Ways and Means window.

We would not borrow from ways and means outside the law, he said. According to the fiscal responsibility statute, the central bank can lend the government up to 5% of its budget annually.

If you go beyond that, you’re outside the lawful limit, and the Finance Minister and Coordinating Minister of the Economy made it clear we won’t. We won’t borrow outside the law.

“Secondly, we will borrow from the central bank whenever possible because it is cheaper. The two elements are those. As the quantum has dropped, we shall follow the book.”

A new measure that would amend the part of the statute that created the position of the National Security Adviser (NSA) has been advised against by the Non-State Actors Consultative Forum (NOSACOF).

The forum warned President Bola Tinubu in an open letter that such a move would seriously jeopardize the security architecture of the country.

The letter begged Tinubu to forbid the realization of such a proposal and was signed by Abdulrazaq Alkali, the coordinator of NOSACOF.

The correspondence, dated January 9, 2024, is addressed to President Bola Ahmad Tinubu and says:

Let’s begin by wishing you a happy new year and praying to God for a peaceful and prosperous year for all Nigerians.
Honorable, We are deeply concerned about Nigeria, our dear country, and we write this message to you with great patriotism and dedication. Ever before your administration took office, Nigerians have understood that things would not continue as usual and that significant institutional and policy reforms would be necessary to save the nation. While he is at it, Mr. President must be aware of the efforts being made by certain individuals and politicians in the government to mislead him into authorizing certain structural and constitutional changes to certain government institutions, all the while hiding the fact that their true motivation is their own political and personal gain. Mr. President, Sir, the current effort by certain members of your administration to amend the National Assembly’s NSA establishment clause and enable the NSA to hire and establish its own staff in a manner akin to that of current government agencies and parastatals is misguided and could set a dangerous precedent.

First and foremost, adopting this law will require either a revision of the relevant section of the constitution to make room for the bill or a revamp of the NSA’s whole architecture to avoid conflicts with the provisions that established it. In addition, the bill’s final result is to reorganize the National Security Agency (NSA) into a parastatal or agency with unrestricted authority over other intelligence organizations that now exist, including the Department of State Service (DSS), the National Intelligence Agency (NIA), and the Military. The functions of these agencies may overlap significantly as a result, which will exacerbate the rivalry, discord, and lack of cooperation among the many security services. The NSA has been the center of attention for preserving and enforcing cooperation amongst the security agencies at the moment. A major factor in its success is that it draws personnel and cooperation from the various agencies, making the NSA office seem like a partner agency to the agencies.

Second, the NSA typically hires personnel with training and experience from security agencies (i.e., personnel with training and expertise to perform national security jobs). Consequently, turning the NSA office into an agency and letting it hire employees on its own will drastically cut down on how efficiently the office runs its business. The NSA office will have to spend years, if not decades, and billions of Naira training staff members to the required level of competency. The other security agencies will be reluctant to share staff members with the NSA because they will feel like they are no longer stakeholders in the NSA office. This is because the NSA office will not be able to fill the roles with candidates who have the desired expertise and speciality. Considering the nation’s current financial and security issues, this is undoubtedly the wrong action made at the wrong time.

Finally, Mr. President, let me say that the NSA office is renowned for being one of the few that employs highly qualified personnel who are chosen from among the many security agencies primarily on the basis of their qualifications, abilities, and merit. The risk of politicization through biased and unjustified recruitment, which has been observed in many government agencies (including some security agencies), exists if the NSA is permitted to follow the path taken by other agencies and parastatals. This will not be beneficial to our national security if it occurs in the NSA office.
The responsibility for choosing the best choices for our nation rests with you, Mr. President, and I have no doubt that you will refuse to allow a law of this nature to be passed with your name or endorsement.

On Thursday, the Akwa Ibom State Governor Umo Eno Bassey’s election was declared void due to purported certificate forgery, according to three different petitions filed with the Supreme Court by potential contenders for governor.

The petitions were submitted by the candidates for governor of Akwa Ibom on March 18, 2023, from the All Progressives Congress (APC), Young Progressive Party (YPP), and New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP).

Lead attorneys for each party withdrew their individual appeals when the Supreme Court’s panel of Justices hinted that they lacked substance.

When the APC and its candidate, Akanimo Udofia, withdrew, Justice Uwani Abba-Aji dismissed the petitions. The YPP and its candidate, Akpan Albert Bassey, and the NNPP and its candidate, John James Akpan Udoedehe, also withdrew.

The Supreme Court was persuaded by the attorneys in the case in vain that the governor had falsified his secondary school certificate and that “Emo Eno Bassey” and “Bassey Eno Emo” were not the same person.

Their arguments, particularly the forgery claims, did not sit well with the justices of the supreme court, who questioned the attorneys about whether the West African Examinations Council, or WAEC, had provided proof to support the criminal accusations.

The attorneys chose to individually withdraw the appeal because it was acknowledged that WAEC had not testified in the case.

Since there were no objections from attorneys representing the various respondents, Justice Abba-Aji dismissed them as a result.

The Supreme Court did not award cost against any of the lawyers to the appellants, having voluntarily withdrawn their suits on basis of want of merit.

The victory of Governor Umo Eno of Akwa Ibom State in the March 18, 2023, governorship election was upheld by the Court of Appeal in Lagos in November of last year

Three different appeals against the governor’s election were dismissed by the appellate court in its ruling.

The appeal filed by YPP governorship candidate Bassey Akpan and his party against the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, Eno, and the PDP was dismissed by the three-member panel of Justices of the appellate court, led by Festus Obande, even though they upheld the September 28, 2023 rulings of the election petition tribunal.

In addition, Justice Obande rendered rulings in support of the governor against the appeals of APC candidate Akanimo Udofia and NNPP candidate John Udoedehe.

All three of the appeals were found to be without merit by the appellate court in its unanimous rulings.