Extra Reporters

BUHARI IS A LEADER WITH POLITICAL WILL AND THE USE OF DEMOCRATIC SYSTEM FOR SHARING UNIVERSAL VALUES BY ABBATI BAKO,psc The reader should take note once again (I have said it several times) that political democracy has three principles.  1. has competing values  2. interest  3. ambition.  Any politician around the globe is acting on the above/said mentioned three principles. But it (all) depend upon his will on how his citizens and nation's values be protected. That is maintainin g the law and order, human right, fundamental freedom of nation's citizens, equality and justice, freedom of association, protection of integrity and sovereignty of the nation; security of want, security of foods, employment, education, health, religious values, environment, social security and generally security of the people of the nation. On the other hand, the nation's interest especially on economy is paramount (not self interest or self enrichment) being ...

A week after controversial endorsement of Abdulrashid Maina by youths and elders from Biu emirate council who met in Abuja, a retired customs Comptroller, Madu Mohammed Biu (Bako) has also been tipped for the position. Madu Mohammed Biu has, therefore, joined the list of many contenders jostling for the position of the Deputy Governor which became vacant, following the death of Alhaji Zanna Umar Mustapha. Apart from being preferred by elders of the emirate, the ex-customs boss is also said to have the backing of the Biu Emirate Development Association (BEDA). A statement from BEDA signed by its spokesperson Mr Dauda Bako described Mohammed Biu as an illustrious son of the emirate who made them proud while serving in the Nigerian Customs service. “Biu was an honest customs officers who worked at the Borno/Yobe Command, Federal Operations zone ‘C’, command, Owerri, Port Harcourt Area II Command at Onne, Oyo/Osun Area command, all as Area Comptroller, and retired as Com...

No fewer than 15 key members of the boko haram sect were arrested across Nigeria by the operatives of the DSS. According to a statement by a DSS official, Tony Opuiyo, said the infiltration of the terrorists into other states was a fallout of the pressure being put on the terrorists in their core areas of strength in the North-east. The statement by the DSS ; In line with the Department of State Services’, DSS, re-strategised Counter Terrorism measures to combat the menace of the Boko Haram insurgency in Nigeria, the Service has continued to make significant breakthroughs in this direction. This followed the rounding up of notable commanders and frontline members of the notorious group from different parts of the country. It should be noted that the group’s new pattern of movement and spread is necessitated by the pressure being put on them in their core areas of strength in the North East. 2. Consequently, a number of them have been arrested in Lagos, Kano, Pla...

By Jaafar Jaafar From all indications, Prince Abubakar Audu, a former governor standing trial for corruption, stands in a pole position to clinch the APC governorship primaries ticket in Kogi State. With immunity (or is it impunity?), Audu's corruption case, which tarried for 12 years without conviction or acquittal, will likely add four years feeding on the lactose of immunity. By 2019, Audu will celebrate the Sweet 16 party of the case. And life goes on. Sad, so sad for the country. It is irking that in this era of placing high premium on "competence" and puritanism, morally deficient characters like Abubakar Audu are allowed to take the governorship ticket of APC.  A key staff of the EFCC once told us how they traced $5 million Audu loot in a remote island of Bermuda. But due to lack of cooperation from the country, Audu went away with it. Forget the towering buildings in choice locations of Abuja and Lagos, and just focus on the quantum...

Bishop Emmanuel Jatau is the presiding head of Faith Hill Prophetic Assembly in Abuja and is known for his fiery but precise prophetic utterances. Former President Olusegun Obasanjo once described him as a prophet of doom because of his style of prophecy. He spoke to  SUNNY IDACHABA  about the new Nigeria project As a servant of God with a prophetic eye, how do you view the state of Nigeria at this time? First of all, I want to congratulate Nigerians over the emergence of the new leadership that God has given us. It was not man that brought President Muhammadu Buhari, the invisible hand of the Almighty brought him after 30 years. There is something very spectacular about the number of years it took him to return as the president of Nigeria. If you recall, he was overthrown in 1985. That was 30 years ago. There is something very significant about the number. Remember, we are in 2015. If you read the scripture in Numbers 4: 37, it explains the significance of that...

By  Yomi Okusanya Scott   When you're big , you're large is a popular saying in Nigeria. Fashola can be accused of killing 10,000 infants and using their blood to water his garden for all his admirers care but he cleared Oshodi of miscreants , built a bridge , etc ..so he gets a pass from them , come rain , come sun That's what years of misrule subconsciously does to one's psyche ...I feel his defenders on that note ... To Fashola's 'detractors'.... I got news for you ...Quit trying ... Nothing is going to stick .  To Fashola ...Don't say a word, they got your back . I care less about what the motivation behind these revelations are . The fundamental question is this , Are these allegations true or not .. Making Nigerians go thorough a 'punishing' tax regime is the best thing any government can do for Nigerians ..40% income tax , 30% on goods and services . That should help rewire our brains ..where public funds management is con...

WHO WANT TRUNCATE CORRUPTION, LOOTING, PROVES AND PUNISHMENT OF THOSE COMMITTED ATROCITIES AGAINST THE NATION's ECONOMY? WHY NOT FORMER RULING PARTY AND ITS MEMBERS FOUND GUILTY BE ANATHEMATIZED PARTICIPATING FUTURE GOVERNANCE? BY ABBATI BAKO,psc YOUR EXCELLENCY SIR, There is no iota of doubt that democratic system is about accountability, freedom of participation of all the citizens to have a say in the governance of the nation. Democracy is about leaders to be honest, trustworthy, accountable, patriotic, ready to lead for the welfare and benefit of the led, not for the benefit of the leadership. Leadership is a sacrifice---pure and simple. Sir, it's now or never! If at this crucial time that the solutions to corruption, looting, embezzlement, mismanagement, misappropriation, theft and misuse of power has not being tackled; the future and hope of Nigerians cannot be ascertain by any analyst. Experts asserted that predicting the future as far as social and po...

BY ABBATI BAKO,psc,bsis,Kent,UK SIR, NO! TO ELEVATION OF 4 COLLEGES OF EDUCATION TO UNIVERSITY STATUS---FCE Kano, FCE ZARIA AND 2 OTHERS IN SOUTHERN NIGERIA With due respect, I am delighted, confident and hopeful the way His Excellency is steering the Nigerian nation today. Nigeria is (now) on the right path to the promised land of development, progress, integration, unity, peace and economic prosperity free from corruption. Your Excellency Sir, as I have said in my letter to H/E some weeks ago that education is priority-A not B or C. Education is the leading light in development of social and economic prosperity in any human society. Therefore, emphasis must be given in the educational sector to ensure qualitative and a world class education for Nigerians; especially the current generation and the generation unborn. Sir, UNESCO is one of the 28 United Nations agencies and among the initiators or formulators of (some) policies that contributes to what we called the ...

By Ibrahim Garba Wala (IG Wala): Presidential Order or Directive, must translate into action. When President Muhammadu Buhari came out to announce the bail out package for states, we (the country) applauds such development. But, the news coming from BBC Hausa today reveals that no state has seen a single One Naira in the name of bailout. The Bauchi State Governor explained that there was/is no such money coming into the account of any state but, the FG directed CB N to take action. It is on this note that the CBN also contacted the states and demanded that the states should submit the names of their banks which can be directed to issue them soft loans. MY QUESTION HERE: is this the Presidential instruction given to CBN or this is what CBN resolved to do in her own capacity? On a related development, a Soldier in the war front also lamented over the poor arms and non payment of allowances, even though the Military spokesperson clearly had doubt that the complainer may not be a soldier ...

Going by the remuneration approved for them by the Revenue Mobilisation, Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC), the annual take-home (excluding estacode, Duty Tour Allowance (DTA) and some sundry allowances which they are paid as necessary), of each of the 360 members of the House of Representatives is estimated at N18.26 million. Each of the 109 senators earns a bit higher, pocketing N19.66 million each a year, PREMIUM TIMES analyses have shown. Additionally, each senator collects N1.01 million a year for his or her domestic staff, while each member of the House of Representatives collects N1million for the same purpose. Each lawmaker gets N202, 640 as Newspapers/Periodicals allowance per annum. Based on the approved pay schedule, N1.4billion is spent on the 469 lawmakers as furniture allowance annually, while their car loan stands at N2.34billion per annum. These figures taken together, the 360 members of the House of Representatives gulp N6.58 billion from the nation’s treasury...

   By Jaafar Jaafar Ponder over this Hausa proverb: “sawun keke ba’a gane gabanka”, which roughly translates to “a bicycle’s contact patch does not tell where it comes from or where it heads to”, and see how it aptly describes Nigeria’s president, Muhammadu Buhari. Bearing in mind the current realities in our polity, how would you, in your wildest dream, think the Secretary to the Government of the Federation will come from the North? The very North that has a President, a Senate President, a Speaker, a Head of Service, a Chief of Staff, a Chief Justice, and what not? While Mr. President is likened to the proverbial “sawun keke”, the pigmentation of his appointments may be likened to “birgimar hankaka”, literally meaning the wallow of a pied crow. When a pied crow wallows, the Hausa say, you will see both the white patch on its gullet and the black plumage that covers most of the bird’s body. In the appointment of the GMD of NNPC, President Buhari showed Nigeria...

The growing mentality of Nigerians that government can do everything for us is becoming worrisome. It has reach a level where people will just relax and wait for the government to do everything for them. Some of us cannot even keep our houses clean, not to talk of the community, yet we are at the forefront of criticizing govt and those in position of authority. Its important to note that govt has the responsibility of providing basic necessity of life to the people, but even in the advance countries their govt have not solve all their problems, that's why you see them engage in community service.  It is unfortunate that some of us that do criticise govt have the drainage systems in front of our houses blocked, in fact some us dump refuse inside the water way or the drainage, yet shamelessly we are on the social media making noise about others. Some of us have never impacted anything in our communities, even to advice the younger generation on how to live a better life we don't ...

President Muhammadu Buhari has approved the following appointments: Engr. Babachir David Lawal – Secretary to the Government of the Federation Alhaji Abba Kyari – Chief of Staff to the President Col. Hameed Ibrahim Ali (rtd.) – Comptroller-General, Nigerian Customs Service Mr. Kure Martin Abeshi – Comptroller-General, Nigerian Immigration Service Senator Ita S.J. Enang – SSA to the President on National Assembly Matters (Senate) Hon. Suleiman A. Kawu – SSA to the President on National Assembly Matters (House of Representatives) The appointments are with effect from today, August 27, 2015. Engr. Lawal, the new Secretary to the Government of the Federation hails from Hong Local Government Area, Adamawa State. He graduated from the Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria in 1979 with a Bachelor of Engineering Degree and worked with the Delta Steel Company, Aladja, Nigerian External Telecommunications Limited and Data Sciences Limited before establishing his own ICT and Telecommunications co...

The 13-man investigative committee set up to probe the procurement of hardware and ammunition in the Armed Forces has started its sitting, albeit in camera. The committee has been meeting in the office of the National Security Adviser, Maj. Gen. Babagana Monguno (retd.), a source in the Presidency confided in The PUNCH on Wednesday. The source said, “I can confirm to you that the committee members have started meeting. They even started meeting before their appointments were announced. This is because they do not need any confirmation or any formal inauguration. “Available information showed that members are getting the needed assistance and support from interested parties. “It is the government’s belief that a lot of ground would be covered by the committee in its desire to ascertain what went wrong in the past as far as the procurement of arms is concerned.” Presidential spokesman, Mr. Femi Adesina, had on Monday announced the composition of the committee, which is...

Governor Adams Oshiomhole of Edo State on Wednesday said former Minister of the Niger Delta, Godsday Orubebe is afraid of President Muhammadu Buhari’s planned probe of several billions of naira squandered on the East-West road and on the Amnesty programme under his watch as Minister of the Niger Delta Affairs. The governor said that fear of an impending probe was what triggered Mr. Orubebe’s latest outburst in the media. Mr. Orubebe had on Tuesday described the Edo Governor as a “villa sycophant”. The former minister, who had a chat with some journalists in Abuja, described Mr. Oshiomhole as someone who is willing to switch allegiance to whoever is in power at any point in time. He chastised the Edo governor for speaking against former President Goodluck Jonathan who he called a great leader. “Oshiomhole is an ingrate and a popular villa sycophant who is quick to switch allegiance to whomever is in power,” Mr. Orubebe said. Mr. Oshiomhole, in a statement by his spokesperson...

The former Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria and Emir of Kano, Mallam Muhammad Sanusi, on Thursday urged President Muhammadu Buhari to plug revenue leakages in the country if he must make headway in its anti-corruption crusade. Sanusi, who maintained that the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation had been a drain pipe to the Nigerian economy for a long time, spoke in Lagos at ‘the Federal Government Budget Symposium’ organised by the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria. The emir was the royal father of the day at the event titled “Come Nigeria – The nation’s fiscal challenges and way forward for the new administration.’ He said, “No matter how good your budget is, if you cannot do simple things like track your oil revenue, you cannot meet the basic government’s obligations to the citizens” “Before the government goes borrowing, they need to find out why revenue is so low, given that our GDP is supposed to be high”. he said. He also faulted the NN...