Television Nigerian

By Toby Prince

The Imo State Police command has announced that a ban has been placed on protests and rallies in the state.

According to the police, the ban was necessary following the plan by some hoodlums to hide under the guise of protests and rallies to cause mayhem.

“It has come to the notice of the Imo State Police Command that some hoodlums are planning to hide under the protests/rallies as witnessed in the last few weeks to cause mayhem in the state.

“In view of the above, therefore, the command wishes to inform the general public that all protests/rallies of any kind are hereby banned forthwith especially as affects the Supreme Court ruling of 14th January 2020,” the statement, which is signed by the police spokesperson for the Commissioner of Police, Ikeokwu Orlando read.

It added that since the Supreme Court has acknowledged an application for the review of the judgment and as such fixed a date for the review, it is therefore pertinent that both parties should remain calm pending the outcome of the review.

“Furthermore, the command wishes to commend all the groups for the peaceful manner they conducted their protests in the past few weeks, but wish to advise all the groups to stop any further protests/rallies, either in support or against the said supreme court judgment.

“This is to ensure that such protest is not hijacked and used to cause chaos, anarchy or breach of the Public Peace,” Orlando added in the statement.

Residents of the state are therefore advised to go about their lawful business as the police are still in the business of protecting the lives and properties of all.

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By Toby Prince

Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Isa Pantami, has opted to remain mute on the threat issued by Abubakar Shekau, leader of the Boko Haram sect.

In a recent video, Shekau had asked his men to go after Pantami for threatening to block the communication lines of the sect members.

The insurgent leader said Pantami might be killed by his men the way a famous Kano cleric was killed in2007.

“This video message is specifically released because of one man, who thinks he is knowledgeable. I want him to archive this message and continue referring to it till his death comes. From today onward, you will continue to live in sorrow, because I, Shekau, say so,” Shekau had said in the video.

But after delivering a lecture on digital mentoring at the Government Secondary School, Garki, Abuja, on Monday, reporters sought his reaction to the threat and he responded: “No comments for now.”

Shekau had also threatened journalists with BBC, Radio German, Radio France International, Dandal Kura, and other national dailies, warning them to be mindful of what they write about the sect.

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Governor Douye Diri of Bayelsa State has urged the state House of Assembly to expedite passage of the 2020 Appropriation Bill he would soon present for consideration.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Mr Diri made the appeal when he met the 24-member state legislature on Monday in Yenagoa, the state capital.

Mr Diri was inaugurated on February 14.

His predecessor, Seriake Dickson, had declined to forward the Appropriation Bill since a new government was being expected to succeed him.

Mr Diri, however, said the meeting with the lawmakers was part of the process for the submission of the bill.

“There is no time at all. We want to hit the ground running, hence this meeting with you all.

“Let me assure you that the document will come in no distant time. This is the synergy we need to ensure the development of the state,” Mr Diri said.

The governor called for the cooperation and support of the lawmakers in the new order to meet the aspirations of the people.

“Let us join hands to build Bayelsa State. We must leave a legacy of development, love and hope for our people.

“Our state is in dire need of development in all facets. Education for instance is the bedrock and foundation of any society. We will invest more in critical infrastructure,” said Mr Diri.

He also said he would be the servant and not master to the people of the state.

Besides, Mr Diri called on the people to eschew violence and work for peace in the state.

“We cannot use our hands to destroy the state we all sought to have. All the feuding should stop and let us see ourselves as brothers and sisters, then focus on things that will bring us together. That is when we can experience development,” said the governor.

He called for genuine reconciliation, restating that he is governor to all Bayelsa people and not a PDP governor.

The Speaker of the State House of Assembly, Monday Obolo, said they were in Government House to formally congratulate the governor and his deputy, Lawrence Ewhrudjakpo, on the Supreme Court declaration and subsequent inauguration.

He said all members of the legislature, comprising both the ruling PDP and opposition APC, were ready to work closely with the executive arm for the development of the state.

The speaker said the 24 members have confidence in the governor and deputy governor to deliver on mandate.

Mr Obolo however reminded the governor of the urgent need to present the 2020 budget proposal to the lawmakers for consideration.

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Governor Nasir el-Rufai of Kaduna State has revealed that his most daring decision is the selection of a Muslim as his running mate in the 2019 election.

Speaking at the government house, Kaduna, during a programme put together in honour of his 60th birthday, el-Rufai said his choice of Hadiza Balarabe as his deputy, was made to take religion and ethnicity off the table in Kaduna.

He said he inherited a state deeply “religionised and ethnicised” and he needed to make a difference.

“A lot has been said about some the decisions I have taken over the years, what people call daring decisions, let me make a confession today, all the examples of the decisions that I have made that are supposed to be daring and courageous,” he said.

“The most daring one is that, last year, I took a decision to pick a woman, a Muslim as my running mate to contest election in Kaduna state. It was the most daring decision I have taken because in this state, everything is religionised.

“If you invite someone to a lunch, he would try to add religion connotation to it. We are trying to cure our state of that religionisation and ethnicisation and I thought the best way to do it is to take religion off the table of Kaduna state politics. That was why we finally settled for Dr. Hadiza Balarabe. She confessed to me months after we had won the election that, when I called to inform her I was nominating her to be my running mate, she thought, oh, this man is going to lose election because of me.

“But, we won. And I say we probably won because of her, not the other way round. So, I want to thank our team. We have a very hard-working team in Kaduna. I have been blessed to have hard-working, intelligent people around who do all the work, while I end up taking the credit that I don’t deserve.”

Among dignitaries who attended the event were Senate President Ahmad Lawan; Adams Oshiomhole, national chairman of APC; John Odigie-Oyegun, former national chairman of APC; Rotimi Amaechi, minister of transportation; and Zainab Ahmed, minister of finance

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Emir of Kano, Muhammadu Sanusi, has said that Nigerians from the northern region would destroy themselves if they fail to address their many challenges.

Sanusi spoke on Monday at the 60th birthday of Kaduna State Governor, Nasir El-Rufai, in Kaduna.

His concerns come amid worrying statistics released by the World Bank in a report that 87 per cent of the poor in the country resided in the North.

The World Bank also described the North-West as home to almost half of all the poor in the country.

Sanusi listed some of the challenges as poverty, millions of out-of-schoolchildren, malnutrition, drug abuse, Almajiri and the Boko Haram insurgency.

He said: “Now, because of the condition of Northern Nigeria, it is almost correct now to say that, if you are seen as normal, if you are a governor in the North or a leader in the North, and you are seen as normal in the sense that you continue to do what your predecessors have been doing, doing the same thing, which has been normalised, then, there is something wrong with you, you are part of the problem.

“The real change in the North will come from those who are considered mad people, because you look around and say if this is the way we have been doing things and this is where we have ended up, maybe we need to do things differently.”

Sanusi encouraged northern leaders to emulate El-Rufai, saying the region should not continue to rely on quota system and federal character to get jobs for its children.

He said: “And the truth is, if you look at what Nasir is doing in Kaduna, with 40 per cent of his budget in education, that is the only thing that is going to save the North. I know that, when we say these things, they don’t go down well.

“We have been saying this for 20 to 30 years. If the North does not change, the North will destroy itself. The country is moving on. The quota system that everybody talks about must have a sunset clause.”

Senate President Ahmad Lawan, at the event, likened the frightening number of out-of-school children in the North to a time bomb.

“Until we are able to reverse this kind of trend, no matter how much infrastructure you put, you will still have that social angle that will actually lead to serious insecurity, the kind that we experience or even worse, God forbid. So, we need to look at the people,” Lawan said.

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The acting chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Ibrahim Magu, has again asked the United Kingdom to extradite Diezani Alison-Madueke, former minister of petroleum resources.

The anti-graft agency has filed charges of alleged money laundering against the former minister who left the country for the UK shortly before the inception of the President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration.

The EFCC started a process to extradite the former minister in November 2018 but Magu later said the agency has been having challenges effecting the former minister’s extradition.

Speaking at a press conference in Kaduna on Monday, Magu alleged that Alison-Madueke stole not less than $2.5 billion.

“I was in London this year, we did investigation together with the UK team, and anywhere I go I always call for extradition of corrupt Nigerians to return back the money,” the EFCC boss said.

“This woman has stolen so much, not less than 2.5 billion dollars, but unfortunately she has generation of looters who are supporting her. This is not good.

“We are in touch with the international community, she is under protective custody, otherwise, we would have arrested her, return her to Nigeria.

“We will not allow corruption to work here in Nigeria because it is destructive and disastrous. We blocked several accounts.”

In 2017, a federal high court in Lagos ordered the forfeiture of N7.6 billion allegedly linked to her to the federal government.

A federal high court in Abuja had later threatened to strike out fraud charges brought against Alison-Madueke over the continued absence of the accused.

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