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All My Appointments Based On Merit – Buhari

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Arrest Northern Terrorists As You've Arrested Nnamdi Kanu - HURIWA Tells Govt

… Says He’ll Talk To IPOB The Language They’ll Understand

 

President Muhammadu Buhari on Thursday defended the appointments he has made since he came into office.

The president condemned a notion that his appointments were influenced by ethnic considerations, insisting that they were based on merit.

Buhari spoke during an interview with Arise TV.

The president has been criticized for allegedly appointing more northerners in strategic positions. In the interview, the Nigerian leader said he could not jettison seniority and merit for balance and federal character.

The Nigerian Constitution states that major appointments and other privileges should be shared in such a way that it reflects Federal Character, that is balance across the 36 states.

In his submission, the president also said he could not favour those who have spent shorter years in service over those that have stayed longer.

“People who have been there for 18 years or even for 10 years, they trained in Zaria or in Abeokuta, they come through the ranks.

“And because they served under all the circumstances, the crises and everything and they gradually rise to that status and you think you just pick somebody just to balance up? These positions have to be earned,” he said.

But the recent appointment of the Chief of Army Staff, Yahaya Faruk, contradicts the claim by the president.

Yahaya was appointed over many of his seniors who have more years in service and are now to be forced into retirement. Yahaya is a Northerner like President Buhari.

Buhari also described the Indigenous Peoples Of Biafra (IPOB) as “a dot in a circle,” saying the group is isolated in its call for secession.

According to Buhari, he has been assured by “the elderly people” and “the youths” from the south-south part of the country that the region has no intention of seceding.

He said IPOB would not have “access to anywhere” even if they eventually secede from the country.

The president then reiterated his statement that IPOB members would be treated in the “language that they understand”.

“I was encouraged by what I heard, nobody told me. Two statements from the south-south: one by the elderly people, they said this time around there would be no (secession). And again the youth made the same statement; such encouragement,” Buhari said.

“So that IPOB is just like a dot in a circle. Even if they want to exit, they’ll have no access to anywhere. And the way they are spread all over the country, having businesses and property, I don’t think IPOB knows what they are talking about.”

“In any case, we say we’ll talk to them in the language that they understand. We’ll organise the police and the military to pursue them.”

 

 

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LG Election: Opposition Parties On Holiday, APC Remains Party to Beat – Abiodun

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My Dad Asked Me To Prioritise Civil Servants, Pensioners, Teachers - Abiodun
Ogun State Governor Dapo Abiodun

Ogun State Governor, Prince Dapo Abiodun has declared that based on the performance of his administration in the last five years, opposition parties are clearly unpopular and invisible in the forthcoming local government election.

The governor added that the quality of candidates the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) is presenting in the election would make it the party to beat with landslide victory in all the 20 Local Government Areas of the State.

Speaking through his Special Adviser on Media and Communications, Hon. Kayode Akinmade, over the weekend, Prince Abiodun explained that his administration has changed the hitherto volatile political environment in the state and made it conducive for opposition parties to operate without hindrance or intimidation.

According to him, instead of the primordial machinery of intimidation, his administration has dwarfed the opposition parties in the state through sterling performance and creative ideas for development.

Governor Abiodun, therefore, urged members of APC in the state to show more commitment and work in harmony to sustain the feats already attained in the past years and ensure resounding victory during the November 16 local government poll.

“With the quality of candidates our party is presenting in the forthcoming local government election in the State, APC remains a part to beat; we have assiduously and consistently made remarkable impacts in the life of our people and this is indeed our selling point.

“Without going through the primordial route of physical intimidation of opposition parties, our administration has obviously silenced them by our intimidating projects, creative ideas and prudence, which have earned us a leading status among other federating units.

“It is now incumbent on every APC member across the 20 Local Government Areas to sustain the enviable feats our party has recorded in the last five years by showing more commitment and work in unison for the victory of our party come November 16,” Abiodun said.

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LP Chieftain, Kenneth Okonkwo Disagrees With Peter Obi

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LP Chieftain, Kenneth Okonkwo Disagrees With Peter Obi

By John Michael Ojo

Kenneth Okonkwo, a chieftain of the Labour Party who doubled as the party’s spokesman during the 2023 general elections has accused the party’s chairman, Julius Abure of corruption and mismanagement of the party’s fund.

Okonkwo, a Nollywood Actor turned politician disclosed this on Tuesday via microblogging platform X, formerly known as Twitter.

He also alleged that the LP’s national convention organised by the Abure-led National Working Committee lacked merit in its entirety.

While distancing himself from the embattled party’s chairman, he wrote: “I am suspending my relationship in all ramifications with the purported Abure-led National Working Committee of Labour Party.“

For me, it’s either a new Nigeria or nothing. I prefer to lose doing the right thing to winning doing the wrong thing.

“Nothing can wash out the criminality, corruption, and incompetence with which the purported Natokoional Convention was purportedly organised by Abure.

“I did not leave the comfort of a ruling party, APC, because I believe that they are incompetent and dishonest, only to come and join another incompetent and corrupt association, which is the current Abure-led National Working Committee of Labour Party.”

Okonkwo’s claim is coming barely days after the presidential candidate of party, Peter Obi drummed support for the Abure-led NWC.

Obi who was viewed as a favourite in the build-up of the presidential election came a distant third behind former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar.

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Abiodun Commends Ogun Assembly For Seamless Transition As Elemide Is Elected Speaker

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L-R: Hon. Adegoke Adeyanju; Minority Leader, Lukman Adeleye; Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice, Oluwasina Ogungbade; Deputy Speaker, Hon. Bolanle Lateefat Ajayi; new Speaker, Oludaisi Elemide; Deputy Governor, Engr. Noimot Salako-Oyedele; SSG, Mr. Tokunbo Talabi; Deputy Chief of Staff, Toyin Taiwo; Commissioner for Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs, Hon. Ganiu Hamzat; Majority Leader, Yusuf Sheriff and Hon. Waliu Owode.

Ogun State Governor Prince Dapo Abiodun has congratulated the new Speaker of the State House of Assembly, Rt. Hon. Oludaisi Elemide and other lawmakers for ensuring a rancour-free process.

The governor, who was represented by the Deputy Governor, Engr. (Mrs.) Noimot Salako-Oyedele spoke when he received 19 members of the House who accompanied the new speaker on a courtesy call on him on Tuesday in his office at Oke-Mosan, Abeokuta.

He commended the seamless manner in which they elected the new speaker, reaffirming that the lawmakers have the right to decide who would lead them in a democracy.

He said: “It is worthy of note that the executive has not interfered in the process to make sure that you are comfortable in what you want to do, that led you to making your decision. And we support you in the decision that you make.

“You have gone through the process in a way that is exemplary. This is not the first time in this country that members of a particular legislature have decided to change their leader.”

He emphasized that the executive arm would continue to adhere strictly to the concept of Separation of Power and the rule of law in its relationship with the House of Assembly.

The governor pledged that his administration would support and work closely with the legislature to maintain the harmonious relationship that has existed in the last four and a half years.

In his remarks, the new speaker, Rt. Hon. Elemide said the House would continue to complement the executive and avoid the unnecessary mudslinging that may hinder the progress of the state.

“We are not going to fight, and neither are we going to compromise the executive. In the legislature, there is room for lobbying. We will lobby where we need to lobby, we will assert where we need to assert, and we will let the whole people of the State know that we are there for them.

“To my colleagues, I would not want to betray their confidence that they have in me. It is going to be we and not I. I am just the first among equals, and we were voted in from our various constituencies. I will take cognisant that we are equal.

“I will be there to speak for them, and I will speak whatever they put in my mouth,” Elemide concluded.

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