Television Nigerian

Some well-meaning Nigerians, under the aegis of National Rebirth Movement (NRM), on Tuesday, held a ‘grand rally’ at the Unity Fountain, Abuja, in support of President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration. 

The group also pledged to defend the country’s unity amidst destabilisation attempts by “agents of darkness, coup plotters and foreign elements”.

In his address, National Coordinator, Augustine Richard Adie, said the rally is a strong message to those that do not wish Nigeria well in its quest for sustainable growth and development.

He noted that the grand plan is to discredit the giant strides of President Buhari before Nigerians and the international community.

According to Adie, the current challenges faced in the country is a manifestation of a high level of disdain for the president for standing on the side of truth and the teeming Nigerian population.

On behalf of the group, Adie expressed total support and absolute belief in the leadership style and strides of the president over the years .

The National Rebirth Movement, therefore, called on all Nigerians to extend their support to President Buhari, noting that the unity of Nigeria is sacrosanct.

It, however, assured that the evil plots against the nation and the president will fail if Nigerians come together.

Read the full speech below:

“Arise, O compatriots, Nigeria’s call obey To serve our fatherland With love and strength and faith The labour of our heroes past shall never be in vain to serve with heart and might one nation bound in freedom, peace and Unity.”

Nigeria is indeed a great nation with good people. That we are all gathered here for this grand rally is a testament of absolute patriotism and an unflinching belief in the potentials of Nigeria as a country of great economic and social advantage on the African continent and the world at large.

I can’t but warmly welcome you all in the spirit of one Nigeria where our hopes and aspirations are being translated into tangible realities under the leadership of President Muhammadu Buhari. The National Rebirth Movement convoked this rally for the simple reason that Nigeria is going through a most trying period with the activities of those that have elected to stand the truth on its head, and therefore there arises the need for the reawakening of our consciousness to the threat posed to peace and unity by these agents of darkness that have been ferociously attacking the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari.

Please permit me to use this medium to commiserate with President Muhammadu Buhari and the good people of Nigeria over the death of over 40 citizens in Zarbamari in Jere Local Government Area of Borno State. Our thoughts and prayers are with their families and relatives, and it is our prayers that God comforts them and grant them the fortitude to bear the irreplaceable loss.

This grand rally is meant to send a strong message to those that do not wish Nigeria well in its quest for sustainable growth and development. That we have congregated in our numbers is not for political purposes, but rather a coming together of patriotic Nigerians that are desirous of a Nigeria of our dreams where peace and unity shall reign supreme.

It is no longer a secret that these are indeed trying times in Nigeria because there is a well-orchestrated campaign of calumny against the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari in its efforts towards addressing the myriads of politically motivated challenges in the country.

We must understand that the happenings in the country are not a function of ineffective leadership as they want us to believe, but rather the manifestation of a high level of disdain for President Muhammadu Buhari for standing on the side of truth and the teeming Nigerian population.

Consequently, this grand rally is to show our support and absolute belief in the leadership style and strides of President Muhammadu Buhari over the years in his quest to make Nigeria a better and prosperous country that this generation and indeed the future generation of Nigerians would be proud of.

This rally is also against coup plotters, agents of destabilization and foreign elements conspiring against Nigeria and the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari, for we know that they desire that Nigeria disintegrates into chaos. But they won’t have their way for Nigerians are resolute to protect the country from these marauders.

We know their ultimate game plan is to discredit the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari before Nigerians and the international community. They want to paint a picture of incompetence as a justification for their evil desire for a change of government through unorthodox means such as the fuelling of violence across the country.

In all of these, we wondered what percentages of the Nigerian population are against President Muhammadu Buhari and what is the percentage that is in support of President Muhammadu Buhari. We realized that it was only a minute percentage that is against the leadership style of President Muhammadu Buhari and this disapproval is for selfish reasons and not in the overall interest of the country.

They are all out to rubbish the many gains of the Muhammadu Buhari led administration by instigating and promoting insecurity across the country. They are also out to ensure that the country remains ungovernable by all means necessary, not minding whose ox is gored.

The National Rebirth Movement is at the forefront of this grand rally to impress it upon those that are against the unity of Nigeria that indeed the country is behind President Muhammadu Buhari come rain and come shine. And our gathering here for the grand rally indeed buttresses it.

President Muhammadu Buhari has done excellently well in the past six years, and the only responsibility we owe him is to continue to extend our support to his administration as it weathers through the myriads of challenges in the country.

We must not sit and watch while some wicked and selfish individuals that parade themselves as democrats and with the active support of some external forces destroy our country. They have come under various nomenclatures in recent times. However, we are convinced that their plots against Nigeria will fail as usual.

The National Rebirth Movement calls on all Nigerians to extend their support to the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari for the unity of Nigeria is sacrosanct. As such, we must do all within our means to ensure that all those that have conspired and ganged up against the unity of the country are put to shame.

The time is indeed now because enough is enough for all of those that do not mean well for the country. For we are resolute in this demand to ensure that peace and unity shall be the lot of Nigeria for Nigeria is a nation bound in freedom peace and unity.

It is also our desire that the God of creation, should direct our noble cause, to guide our leader’s right and help our youth the truth to know in love and honesty to grow And living just and true great lofty heights attained to build a nation where peace and justice shall reign.

Therefore I say we must pledge to Nigeria our country to be faithful, loyal and honest. To serve Nigeria with all our strength to defend her unity and uphold her honour and glory so help us, God. Amen.

Thank you all, and God bless Nigeria.

THE House of Representatives has resolved to invite the British High Commissioner to Nigeria, Catriona Laing over the recent comment made by a British lawmaker against former Head of State, Yakubu Gowon.
According to the Reps, the invitation is to seek explanation from the British envoy why no apology or retraction has been made by the lawmaker after his comment has been debunked by Gowon.
On November 23, a member of the British parliament accused Gowon of taking half of the money in the Central Bank of Nigeria with him when he was ousted from office and went on exile.
But during plenary on Tuesday, the House of Reps mandated its committee on Foreign Affairs to interface with the Foreign Affairs Committee of the British parliament over the comments.
The Reps said the allegation of looting by a member of the British House of Commons against Gowon is capable of plunging the country into another round of crisis, weeks after the quashed #EndSARS protests.
The resolution of the House followed a motion from a lawmaker, Yusuf Gagdi, who is from the same constituency as the former head of state.
Gagdi maintained that no evidence was provided to back the claim.
Following Gagdi’s motion, the House resolved that the Speaker, Femi Gbajabiamila should write to Speaker of UK Parliament to express displeasure over the unfounded allegations.
The letter is also to demand that the Member of Parliament, who made the allegation, should offer a public apology to Gowon, as well as the people and government of Nigeria.
This comes a week after the UK Parliament criticised the Buhari admnistration for forcefully quashing the #EndSARS protests and afterwards harassing prominent participants in the agitation.
The UK parliament resolved to impose sanctions such as visa ban, freezing of assets and stopping of funding and training for the Nigeria Police Force.

Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, says Boko Haram has been badly degraded.

Mohammed made this known on Tuesday while denying reports quoting him to have said a day earlier that Nigeria was at the mercy of Boko Haram.

Mohammed was quoted to have said at an event in Benue State on Monday, “… Nigeria had made attempts to acquire better and more effective platforms to deal with terrorists and for one reason or the other we have been denied these platforms; these weapons and without adequate platforms, we will remain at the mercy of terrorists.”

However, addressing a press conference in Lagos on Tuesday December 1, the minister denied the statement.

“On the killing of farmers in Borno, I want to say it is an act of cowardice and savagery by a group of deranged terrorists, and it does not reflect the progress being made by the military against Boko Haram,” he said.

“The truth is that Boko Haram is badly degraded and can only carry out cowardly attacks like the one against defenceless farmers over the weekend.”

Making clarification on his alleged comment that Nigeria will remain at the mercy of Boko Haram, he said:

“This is sheer fabrication and an abuse of a platform. While in Makurdi, Benue State, on an official visit, I was asked by journalists to comment on the killing of farmers in Borno State over the weekend.

“I said terrorism is a global problem that requires the collaborative efforts among nations to combat. I said Nigeria needs the support of global partners, especially in the area of acquisition of effective platforms to deal with the terrorists.

“I recalled that some of the platforms ordered and paid for by Nigeria have yet to be supplied till date, thus weakening the war on terror.

“How these statements translate to Nigeria being at the mercy of Boko Haram is baffling, and could only have come from warped minds who are more interested in attracting traffic to their websites than upholding the truth. Is anyone still in doubt that something urgent needs to be done to rein in the abuse of social media?”

President Muhammadu Buhari Tuesday in Abuja appreciated Nigerians and Organized Labour for restraint, understanding and patience as the country tackles myriad economic challenges, assuring that the Federal Government is working hard to ameliorate the situation.

Speaking at a virtually held event at the State House to unveil National Gas Expansion Programme and National Autogas Roll-out Initiative, President Buhari said:

“Let me now express my deep appreciation to Nigerians for their patience, and Organized Labour for its maturity and patriotism as we collectively navigate these global economic and other challenges.’’

Mr Buhari urged Nigerians to embrace the use of gas as an alternative to fuel, noting that:

“It is no longer news that the vast Natural Gas resources, which Nigeria is endowed with, have hitherto been used sub-optimally as a result of a dearth of gas processing facilities and infrastructural connectivity for effective and optimal domestic utilization.

“As I mentioned above, with a proven reserve of about 203 Trillion Cubic Feet (TCF) and the additional upside of 600 TCF ranking Nigeria as the 9th in the world currently, the need for domestic gas expansion and utilization is apparent.’’

President Buhari said the deregulation of the downstream sector had exposed many to price volatilities in the global market, urging attention to more affordable alternative for energy, especially with Nigeria’s heavy reserve.

“Therefore, the roll-out of the National Gas Expansion Programme, Auto-gas initiative is coming at the right time, especially in light of global crude oil market fluctuations coupled with the full deregulation of the local PMS market.

“These developments have made it imperative to focus on gas as an alternative fuel to move Nigeria from the conventional dependence on white products for autos and prime-movers of industrial applications to cleaner, more available, accessible and affordable energy source.

The President said the auto-gas initiative will lead to increased domestic gas utilization and enrich the trajectory of national economic growth and development, adding: “I, therefore, encourage everyone to embrace gas in form of LPG, CNG and LNG as an alternative fuel for autos and other prime-movers.’’

“The Minister of State Petroleum Resources is hereby directed to commence the process of hand over of mass transit buses to Organized Labour as part of our government’s pledge to continue providing support that will ease the transportation challenges Nigerians are facing at this time.’’

In his remarks at the event, the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources Timipre Sylva said the Ministry is focusing on the development of skills, technology and manpower as well as growth in the utilisation of LPG, CNG and LNG.

He added that the National Gas Expansion programme which was initiated this year to boost the utilization of gas in the short and medium-term “is expected to create two million jobs per annum, promote skills acquisition and enhance technology transfer in addition to growing the nation’s GDP.”

The Group Managing Director of NNPC, Mele Kolo Kyari informed that from 2016 to 2019, the Federal Government had spent over three trillion Naira subsidizing the pump price of petroleum products particularly PMS, insisting that the subsidy regime did not benefit the masses that the President is passionate about.

He added that the economic effects of the COVID-19 pandemic have made it impossible to continue with the onerous subsidy regime.

Femi Adesina

Members of the House of Representatives were sharply divided today over the move to invite the President for briefing on the spate of killings rocking the country, particularly the recent slaughtering of rice farmers in Borno State.

The motion of urgent national importance sponsored by lawmakers from Borno State had one of its initial prayers as the invitation of the President.

But while presenting the motion, Lead sponsor, Ahmed Santomi excluded the prayer, but rather asked for the declaration of a state of emergency on security situation in the country.

However, coming under matters of privilege, one of the sponsors, Ahmed Haha expressed displeasure over the exclusion of prayer.

Haha noted that it was a collective decision of the sponsors of the motion to ask for the invitation of the President to come and brief the House

Efforts by the Speaker to make him withdraw the prayer which came in form of amendment failed as he insisted that all members from Borno State who are sponsors of the motion should agree on that first.

The Speaker said because of the nature of security issues, it will not be ideal to invite the President because security matters cannot be discussed in public, stressing, however, that the issue of declaring a state of emergency will allow for the use of extra measures in tackling the issue.

Tempers began to flare when the House Leader, Alhassan Ado Doguwa said security issues were too delicate to bring to the floor of the House, while Shehu Koko said the leadership of the House should interface with the President instead on the issue.

Both Doguwa and Shehu Koko were both shouted down by the members with shout of no, no, no.

However, Gbajabiamila expressed disappointment over the behaviour of his colleagues, saying “I am a little disappointed by these shouting down. So we are going to dissolve into executive session to resolve this issue”.

Executive sessions involve clearing the gallery of the media and other non-elected officials to allow for only members deliberate in private.