Buhari' Son Being Treated In Abuja, Says Presidency

Buhari’Son Being Treated In Abuja, Says Presidency

President Muhammadu Buhari’s son, Yusuf,  is still undergoing treatment in Abuja’s Cedarrest Hospital, the Presidency said yesterday.

This is contrary to the report in some online media that he had been flown overseas.
Yusuf had a head injury and broke a limb in a bike accident on Tuesday in Abuja.

Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity Garba Shehu, in a text message, said Yusuf was still being treated in Abuja.

The Presidential Villa staff yesterday prayed for Yusuf’s quick recovery.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the prayer, which was held immediately after the afternoon ( Zuhr ) prayer, was led by the Chief Imam of Aso Rock Mosque, Sheikh Abdulwahid Suleiman.
Suleiman prayed God to continue to guide and protect the first family and all Nigerians.

He also prayed for peace, tranquillity and progress to reign in the country.

At the prayer were the President’s Aide-De-Camp (ADC), Col. Lawal Abubakar; Malam Shehu; the President’s Chief Personal Security Officer, DCP Abdulkarim Dauda, and other presidential aides and staff of the Villa.

Senate President Bukola Saraki visited Yusuf at the hospital.

Security personnel were guarding the hospital to keep unwanted persons away.

Yusuf;s mother, the President’s wife Aisha, returned to Abuja on Wednesday and has been at the hospital, according to sources.

The All Progressives Congress (APC), in a statement, said it wished Yusuf “a speedy and full recovery”, adding that “the APC family is relieved that the accident was not fatal”.

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) also prayed for Yusuf’s speedy recovery.

 ”The PDP as a family received with shock the sad news of the involvement of Yusuf Buhari in a power-bike accident.

‘The PDP as a family prays for Yusuf’s speedy recovery to enable him return to his normal life.

”We also commend the prompt intervention by medics even as we value the concern of all well-meaning Nigerians for their prayers for Yusuf and the first family.”

ABOUT ATIKU'S RESCUE MISSION

ABOUT ATIKU'S RESCUE MISSION:
       ATIKU'S Rescue Mission was originally an idea of supporters of former Vice President Atiku Abubakar in Ondo State but recognising the need to drum up support and in view of his sterling accomplishments for Nigeria- under the leaderships of Comrd Vincent Adoyi and Hon. Shola Olumola came together to formally launch a group of vibrant and articulate citizens as named ATIKU'S RESCUE MISSION.

      But then, the task of working towards the 2019 Presidential election could not be confined to a state alone, hence a subsequent repositioning as inevitable to imbue it with a national character and orientation.

           Today, ATIKU'S Rescue Mission (ARM) in vision for a formidable structure in all the 8,810 Wards, 774 Local Government Areas and 36 States of the Federation as well as Federal Capital Territory to the specific purpose of advancing Atiku Abubakar's Presidential bid in 2019. We are ready to move round into every corners of the world towards actualisation of our mandate.

        Our core mandate is to mobilised "One Million Citizens" with permanent Voters' Card, who also have the capacity to mobilised at least one friend or relative with PVC to Vote for Atiku ABUBAKAR in the 2019 Presidential elections.

     Therefore, we invite you to the maiden but official meeting of ATIKU'S Rescue Mission as follows;
      DATE - Saturday 20 January, 2018
       VENUE:- Best Western Plus MYDAS Hotel, Owo, Ondo State, Nigeria
       TIME:- 9:00am Prompt
   
         During coming months in 2018, ARM intend to campaign vigorously on behalf of Atiku ABUBAKAR to ensuring his victory at the polls. 
   
       Again, we welcome you.

NATIONAL EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE, ATIKU'S RESCUE MISSION 2019

STOP BEGGING FOR CHRISTMAS RICE

STOP BEGGING FOR CHRISTMAS RICE OR NEW YEAR GIFT FROM POLITICIANS AND TAKE UP THE LEADERSHIP REALITIES BY JOINING YOUR PEARS ACROSS THE  WORLD, TO RULE YOUR WORLD NOW.

Our Youths should learn to live by what they have,thereby working hard towards future challenges of Leadership Realities. Instead of  begging for Xmas and New year gift, that will make you to continually being a political slave to slave masters, be satisfied with the little u have and work hard to enlarge it.

Ndokwa Youths should wake up from their slumber and take up the responsibility  of leadership,like our pears in Foreign lands.                              

Youths across the world are taking over the mantle of Leadership because they are the future leaders and the future is now.

Stop complaining of being jobless,take up a trade or venture into Agro business as future Entrepreneur that will be an employer of Labour in the nearest future. For me am going back to my  trade,as a World Class Trained Welder certified by American Welding Society (AWS) Because I want to be an employer of labour.

"Ndokwa Youths should rule their world now" I mean,now is  the best time to rule your world. Check the years you have wasted running after heartless politicians who never meant well for you, neither do they want you to grow but to continue to serve them  and their children.

 NNU Youth Wing under my leadership,will  continue to support and encourage Ndokwa Youths who are bold and ready to  take over the political space come 2019 no matter party affiliations .

While our pears are taking over the mantle of leadership in their various countries and emerging world Leaders today, we are here busy reducing ourselves by begging peanuts from political slave masters,thereby continued to enslave  ourselves.

OUR YOUTHS SHOULD WAKE UP FROM THEIR SLUMBER.

Amb.Comr. Lucky Ebuzome Onyia. 

President Ndokwa Neku Union (NNU) Youth  Wing.

Chief Osadebe Worked For The People, I Will Do Same... Comrade Uche Osadebe

Okonta Emeka Okelum, Asaba

Comrade Uche Osadebe, Oshimili South LGA flag bearer for the People's Democratic Party (PDP) in the forthcoming January 6th 2018 council polls, today, Wensday, unveiled his political role model.

Speaking to party faithfuls during the PDP Ward 4 campaign rally, Comrade Osadebe mentioned that Chief Dennis Osadebe, the Ojiba of Asaba and formal Premier of the defunct Mid-Western Region is his political role model.

Chief Osadebe is really a political icon every progressive politician should identify and learn from.

I share same surname with the Ojiba and because he greatly delivered democratic dividend to our people, I too believe that his political legacies will guide my actions and help me also deliver quality democracy dividends to our people.

With my arrival here in ward four and stepping my feet at the ancestral home of Chief Dennis Osadebe, I feel at home and rest assured that victory is ours come January 6th 2018 elections.

Jindu  onuorah, ward 4 chairman, assured party elders and leaders in his opening speech that he is confident that the ward will deliver 100 per cent in the forth coming council polls.

One of the party leaders Ogbueshi Adizue Eluaka, affirmed his confidence that the ward councillor and chairman in his ward will be returned unopposed.

In his bid to correct the wrong impressions making round in the council area, Ogbueshi Eluaka maintained that Asaba is in no where struggling anything with Oko Community.

He re-emphasized the cultural similarities both lands share and advocated that both towns do not pursue same demands, hence, no basis for any competition.

The Oko Community seek for road, so they can transport their farm produce to Asaba, while we here in Asaba seek for an upgraded international standard air port.

We seek for world class university teaching hospital, they seek for health care center, We seek for university, they seek for secondary schools, where my people is the basis for the much touted complaints of competitions, Ogbueshi Eluaka asked rhetorically.

The more we help our neighbours get what they want, the more we can sleep comfortable

Those who are our flag bearers did not emerge because they have money but because of evident party loyalty and to stamp the assurance in the minds of our party members that within PDP there is political future for all our committed members, Ogbueshi Adizue Eluaka assured.

Rt Hon Peter onwusanya, member representing Oshimili South State constituency at the state assembly reminded ward members that since 1999 that the party has never lost any elections in the ward.

He charged all to put their acts together to ensure that the party secures victory in the forthcoming LGA election.

Now is time to commence house to house campaign and win back to the party all aggrieved party members, Rt Hon Peter Onwusanya emphasized.

Ogbueshi Dada Okonji, PDP Oshimili South LGA party chairman, obviously elated over the large turn out of party members at his home ward, could not hide his gratitude.

Over many weeks now, we have being moving from one ward to the other campaigning, we are doing so because we are confident about victory come 6th January 2018

We only see posters, no campaigns, we are using this campaigns to propergate the good works of the governor.

I urge any here who does not have voters card, to take advantage of the on-going continuous voters registration  exercise, to own voters card and get ready to vote for PDP.

We will always appealing for your votes because we know that you will always trust our political partnership, Ogbueshi Dada Okonji assured ward 4 party members.

SOURCE: ASABA POST NEWS WIRE (ONLINE)

Below are forty-one promises contained in the APC Manifesto

Below are forty-one promises contained in the APC Manifesto as published by the party prior to the Presidential election.

The promises below are extracted from the two official documents released by APC as their Manifesto titled ‘Securing Nigeria’s Future’ and ‘Roadmap to a New Nigeria’, all published by the APC and signed by the then Presidential aspirant, now President Muhammadu Buhari. Please note that some of the promises that do not require funds to be implemented are even yet to even be initiated.

Securing Nigeria’s Future’

1.      Initiate action to amend the Nigerian Constitution with a view to devolving powers, duties, and responsibilities to states in order to entrench true Federalism and the Federal spirit. (This simply means that the APC actually promised to restructure Nigeria and entrench true federalism if voted into power). Page 6

2.      Amend the Constitution to remove immunity from prosecution for elected officers in criminal cases. Page 6.

3.      Require full disclosure in media outlets, of all government contracts over N100m prior to award and during implementation at regular intervals. Page 6

4.      Amend the Constitution to require Local Governments to publish their meeting minutes, service performance data, and items of spending over N10M. Page 6.

5.      Consult and amend the Constitution to enable States and Local Governments to create city, Local Government and State Policing systems. Page 7

6.      Bring permanent peace and solutions to the insurgency issues in the North-East; the Niger Delta; and other conflict prone states and areas such as Plateau, Benue, Bauchi, Borno, Abia, Taraba, Yobe, and Kaduna. Page 8

7.      Initiate policies to ensure that Nigerians are free to live and work in any part of the country by removing state of origin, tribe, ethnic and religious affiliations from documentation requirements in our identification of citizens and replace these with State of Residence and fashion out the appropriate minimal qualification for obtaining such a state of residency, nation-wide. Page 8.

8.      Make our economy one of the fastest growing emerging economies in the world with a real GDP growth averaging at least 10-12% annually. Page 9.

9.      5 million new jobs by 2019. Page 9.

10.  Put in place a N300bn Regional Growth Fund with an average of N50bn in each geo political region… to encourage private sector enterprise and to support places currently reliant on only on the public sector, to migrate to a private sector reality. Page 10.

           11.  Amend the Constitution and the Land Use Act. Page 10.

12.  Create an additional middleclass of at least 4 million new home owners by 2019. Page 10.

13.  Create a Social Welfare Program of at least Five Thousand Naira (N5000) that will cater for the 25 million poorest and most vulnerable citizens upon the demonstration of children’s enrolment in school and evidence of immunisation to help promote family stability. Page 10.

14.  Provide allowances to the discharged but unemployed Youth Corps members for Twelve (12) months while in the skills and entrepreneurial development programmes. Page 10.

15.  Construct a 5,000km of Superhighway including service trunks and (b) building of up to 6,800km of modern railway completed by 2019; Page 11.

16.  Embark on PPP schemes that will ensure every one of the 36 states has one functional airport. Page 11

17.  Speedily pass the much delayed Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB) and ensure that local content issues are fully addressed. Page 12

18.  Make Nigeria the world’s leading exporter of LNG through the creation of strategic partnerships. Page 12

19.  Targeting up to 20% of our annual budget for Education. Page 13.

20.  Provide One Meal a day for all Primary school pupils. That will create jobs in Agriculture, Catering, and Delivery Services. Page 14.

21.  Establish at least six new universities of Science and Technology with satellite campuses in various states. Page 14.

22.  Establish technical colleges and vocational centres in each state of the federation. Page 14

23.  Increase the quality of all federal government owned hospitals to world class standard by 2019. Page 15.

24.  Provide free antenatal care for pregnant women; free health care for babies and children up to school going age and for the aged; and free treatment for those afflicted with infectious diseases such as tuberculosis and HIV/AIDS. Page 15

25.  Create an Insurance Policy for our Journalists as the nation faces hard times and our Journalists face more dangers. Page 15

26.  Establish Zonal world class sports academies and training institutes and ensure that Nigeria occupies a place of pride in global sports and athletics; Page 16.

27.  Assist Nollywood to fully develop into world class movie industry that can compete effectively with Hollywood and Bollywood in due course. Page 16.

28.  Guarantee that women are adequately represented in government appointments and provide greater opportunities in education, job creation, and economic empowerment. Page 16

29.  Use the Party structures to promote the concept of reserving a minimum number of seats in the States and National Assembly, for women. Page 16.

30.  Create shelter belts in states bordering the Sahara Desert to mitigate and reverse the effects of the expanding desert. Page 17.

On the second document titled ‘Roadmap to a New Nigeria’

11.  Create 20,000 jobs per state immediately for those with a minimum qualification of secondary        school leaving certificate and who participate in technology and vocational training. Page 4

32.  Place the burden of proving innocence in corruption cases on persons with inexplicable wealth. Page 7.

33.  Pursue legislation expanding forfeiture and seizure of assets laws and procedure with respect to inexplicable wealth, regardless of whether there is a conviction for criminal conduct or not. Page 7.

34.  Provide free tertiary education to students pursuing Science and Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM). Page 9.

35.  Provide free tertiary education to education majors and stipends prior to their employment as teachers. Page 9.

36.   Create incentives and dedicate special attention to the education of girls. Page 9

37.  Ensure every child attending primary school is properly nourished and ready to learn by providing a Free Meal a Day. Page 9.

38.  Achieve the construction of one million low-cost houses within four years for the poor. Page 11

39.  Stop all travel abroad at government expense for the purpose of medical treatment. Page 13.

40.  Provide incentives for Nigerian doctors and health practitioners working abroad to return home, to strengthen the health care industry in Nigeria and provide quality care to those who need it. Page 14.

41.  Make sure people at a local level benefit from mining and mineral wealth by vesting all mineral rights in land to states. Page 17.

Please note that these documents were officially released by the All Progressive Congress (APC) as its official manifesto, thereby making the documents legally binding now that it is in charge of the central government.

As contained in the document, the then Presidential aspirant of the APC (now President) said 'This document sets out our side of the bargain: the things I as your future president, want to do to change Nigeria for the better'

Will these promises ever be fulfilled?

4 Lessons from the Mad Emperor of Central Africa

By the end of Bokassa's regime, he spent more time brutalizing his enemies than actually working on his agenda.

Barely four years after independence from France in 1960, the Central African Republic (CAR) was in deep crisis; the economy was failing and poverty rampaging. In an effort to reform without the help of its colonial masters, President David Dacko turned to China’s Mao Zedong for help.

Mao supported him with aid in return for communist reforms. But within two years of the collectivist experiment, things grew from bad to worse. Resolved to save the country from a total breakdown, army commander and Dacko’s distant cousin, Colonel Jean-Bédel Bokassa seized power in 1966. What followed was a decade of dictatorship, poverty, and brutal abuse of power. Here are four ways he reminds us that absolute power was meant for no man.

1. Precursor to Tyranny
Like many radicals, Bokassa earnestly promised reforms against poverty and a return to democracy. Meanwhile, after experiencing the might of power, he soon realized that delegating authority would not allow him sufficient control to implement his will. Instead, he gradually augmented authority in all organs of the state.

To justify the change in intent, Bokassa affirmed that the assimilation of power was necessary for development. He rejected all policy alternatives and formed his own Revolutionary Council, which abolished the legislature and constitution.

In the absence of institutional criticism, he reshuffled the government at will. And within his 13-year reign, he would proclaim himself as President, Prime Minister, Party Chairman, Commander-in-Chief, and Emperor. No cabinet member would dare question his choice of office, else he risked death by crocodiles or firing squad.

2. Indiscriminate Brutality

Bokassa was severely overwhelmed by power such that by the end of his regime, he spent more time brutalizing his enemies than actually working on his development agenda. He had peasants massacred for protesting a hike in food prices and brutalized people for drunkenness. He was an absolute tyrant. Nobody was spared from his wrath, not even his cabinet members.

In a notorious case, he had one of his closest allies, Captain Alexander Banza, who was his Minister of State, brutally executed on grounds of treason. Banza attempted to overthrow Bokassa in a failed coup, motivated by the dictator’s maltreatment of him after he helped the dictator secure power as a co-conspirator in the 1966 coup. Bokassa severely mutilated him before having him dragged through the street and then fatally shot.

Innocent children were equally victimized by the mad emperor. He once had a baby injected with poison after he killed the infant’s father, a palace guard, for attempted assassination. More horrific was the massacre of roughly 100 innocent elementary school children in April of 1979.

Bokassa had earlier imposed an expensive school uniform mandate on pupils and their parents, with the costly uniforms manufactured by his wife’s company. During one of the subsequent protests, pupils hurled stones at his Rolls Royce, infuriating the Emperor. He ordered his guards to shoot the children. Many died from the onslaught while Bokassa and his guards beat others to death in jail.

3. Financial Recklessness.

After declaring an empire in December 1976 with himself as the Imperial Majesty, Bokassa lavished one-third of the country’s budget on his coronation. In imitation of his idol Napoléon Bonaparte, he spent today’s equivalent of $80 million on the ceremony. His diamond crown alone cost $20 million. He even ordered a gold-plated eagle throne, a gold crown, and over 60,000 bottles of champagne for his guests. For a country that was already fiscally weak, this course of action easily bankrupted it.

At no point did he genuinely express concern for the fiscal health of the country. Bokassa preferred to go on vacation and spend lavishly on fancy cars. He also allowed many of his 17 wives and 50 children direct access to government coffers, grossly enriching themselves and their cronies.


The absence of transparency gave Bokassa the freedom to plunder the country’s mineral resources for selfish returns. For example, he supplied uranium to France during the Cold War in exchange for military support and later admitted to sending diamonds worth millions of dollars to his associates and foreign allies.

4. Legacy of Poverty.

Prior to assuming power, his economic plan was simple: rid the country of communism and eradicate poverty. However, what he did was the direct opposite; he nationalized all public entities and established personal monopolies over them.

With the private sector drastically reduced, people either worked for the government which struggled to pay salaries or retired to their farms. In the mines, the working conditions were extremely poor. People had very few gains from labor while Bokassa plundered an overwhelming percentage of the returns.

On the farms, rewards for production failed to justify the resources people invested and, soon, the Central African Republic was languishing in extreme poverty. To this date, the CAR is ranked as one of the poorest countries on earth. The country’s GDP didn’t recover until 9 years after France ousted Bokassa in 1979.

Nonetheless, it has been 21 years since Bokassa died a freeman in the comfort of his home in the capital Bangui, but for the millions affected by his greed and terror, his evil cannot be undone. His horrific legacy is proof that absolute power can be a virus, and as Barry Goldwater aptly remarked, “Those who seek absolute power, even though they seek it to do what they regard as good, are simply demanding the right to enforce their own version of heaven on earth. …and [they] must be opposed.”

Fuel Crisis or Leadership Crisis?

By Dr. Ahmed Adamu

A leader is someone who looks into the future, and anticipates what challenges and promises the future holds, and prepares and leads people to it. A leader should not have to wait until problem arrives, he should prepare defensive mechanisms to avoid it in the beginning. It is easier to avoid problem than to fix it. Making reference to the ongoing fuel crisis in Nigeria, I would like to pay tribute to Late President Umaru Musa Yar’adua for being a role model leader. When he was on power, he anticipated fuel crisis ahead before anyone realises it, and he created defence mechanisms, he leased filling stations from private owners to ensure adequate outlets, he increased petroleum supply, and reduced the price of petroleum products. President Yar’adua reduced petrol price to N65 per litre, and at that time, international crude oil price was $65 per barrel, and as I write this article today, the international crude oil price is also $65 per barrel, but now petrol price is N145 and above per litre. There has to be a magic done by President Yar’adua to keep petrol price at N65 when crude oil price was equally $65 per barrel.

I felt disheartened with what is happening today. Seeing long queues on filling stations at this demand peak period is sympathetic and disappointing. What is more disappointing is the exploited price charged on poor consumers. At a time when real poverty is pervasive, and life is becoming more expensive, petrol price keep increasing as a result inflation and poor price control. Someone reported on Facebook buying petrol at a price more than N170 per litre, and this continues without adequate check. People now postpone economic activities and travels due to fuel crisis, which ruins the economy more. The torture and suffering people undergo is just beyond illustration, the depression lingers.

Nigerians deserve fuel subsidy; the way fuel subsidy was blackmailed and rashly executed gave no room to look at it from holistic point of view, rather than from narrowed and sentimental lens. A forensic petroleum consumption study was supposed to be conducted to identify actual consumption by Nigerians, and then identify the actual consumption by social classes, so that a targeted petroleum subsidy can be implemented. Targeted subsidy is the subsidy that targets the vulnerable, where a poor man can enjoy subsidy as a social investment. Instead of giving cash or food incentives to the poor, creating easy and cheap life for them is more important. Giving a poor person N5000 in an economy where inflation is 15.90% and fuel price is at least 49% higher is just like a single drop of water in a desert. Though social investment is good, but it can only be impactful given a conducive economic atmosphere.

Another option is subsidy quota, where every private petroleum consumer will be licensed and given a unique identification number (let us say like the BVN) with which every consumer can claim up to 70 litres (for car users) per month as subsidy, but the subsidised consumption can only be claimed on the registered vehicle and after biometric identification. For motorcycle users, a maximum of 20 litres per motorcycle can be allocated per month. Any consumption on those vehicles above these quotas will not be subsidised. Any other unnecessary demand will be at the consumer’s costs. What if someone used the other person’s allocation, for example, if I give someone my own subsidy allocation? Someone might ask. That is fine, as long as you agreed to a term to give someone your own subsidised product, and if that happened, two economic benefits have taken place. This subsidy quota will give authorities an idea how much to spend every month constantly for subsidy. The rate of subsidy can also fluctuate based on the government economic condition.

In leadership, a leader cannot use challenges as excuse not to fix issues. A leader is meant to face challenges and fix it. A leader is supposed to give hope to his followers by his actions, not by words. When disaster befalls, it is already too late to seek sympathy with words. Being proactive to avoid a disaster is what will earn a leader trust and confidence, but being proactive only after a disaster has already consumed people is little too late to get sympathy. Work speaks louder than words.
It is good for a leader to trust other’s abilities and seek constructive feedbacks no matter how much it pains. No one is perfect, but deliberately seeking constructive criticism is what will make one a better leader. A blind, confused and ignorant follower is the one that sees constructive criticism as hatred, constructive criticism is love. A360 degree feedback should give a leader all round and sincere feedback on his performance.

A leader must surround himself with competence not acquaintance, and the easiest way to lose control and influence is loose competency for loyalty. Leadership is a serious business, more important than any other, and it is the business that requires competence more than anywhere. A leader must then draw himself closer to different opinions and experience. A leader must come down and see by himself what is going on at grassroots level, he should not rely on reports or friends’ reports. A leader must be energetic and active to follow things as they evolve especially critical issues that affect welfare and wellbeing of the people.

Finally, a political victory for followers is not just to have their candidates emerged, and wait for another election. Political victory is when you feel the impact and see a better change in your lives, if you can have a better life, it doesn’t matter whose candidate emerged. You may have a winning candidate, but if you are not making any progress, you have lost a political victory. It is a mere mislead to believe every rich person is corrupt and to think a political victory is when a well-to-do is made poor, a political victory is when poor is made to do well too.

Dr. Ahmed Adamu
Petroleum Economist and Development Expert,
First-Ever Global President of Commonwealth Youth Council,
University Lecturer (Economics),