#Buhari #Must #Get His #Act #Right In Three #Months

Former President Olusegun Obasanjo on Sunday said Nigerians have a ” new opportunity” in the in – coming administration of General Muhammadu Buhari to make the country work for the better again.

                         

He spoke at his Abeokuta private residence on Presidential Hilltop Estate, when women leaders in the Southwest visited him.

Obasanjo who noted that the new opportunity is God – given, said the “good things” about the next administration is that the man that would head it – Buhari, is neither “a green – horn nor a novice” in governance.

According to him, Buhari was once in the saddle before, even if it was under a ” different circumstance” and would use his experience to navigate the country to the path of right direction.
He noted that Nigerians are quite clever and advised Buhari to be honest and truthful with them, saying he should not do “cover up” or try to play “ostrich” on them.

He said that there is a very high expectations about the in-coming government to sort things out quickly for Nigerians, but also added that there is equally a high level of goodwill locally and internationally in its favour.

The former Chairmain, Board of Trustees of the Peoples Democratic Party(PDP) urged Buhari “not to be frightened” by the enormous expectations and the daunting challenges of the country.

According to him, Buhari should take the right steps within the next three months of being sworn – in when Nigerians are watching and counting to see what would be done to better their lots.
He prayed Nigeria and Nigerians would not miss this opportunity Good has provided to get the country out of a jam

Earlier, the Iyalode of Yorubaland, Alaba Lawson, who lauded Obasanjo for his fatherly role to Nigeria, appealed to him not to refrain from offering quality advice to the in – coming administration.

She said Nigerians are in agonies over fuel crisis, unemployment, insecurity among others and urged the former President not to abandon Buhari in the onerous task to make Nigerians proud again as two good heads are better than one.

#How A #Guy Was #Almost #Kidnapped This #Morning For #Rituals

It was a terrible experience this morning at my farm located at Odoyanta, Ijebu Ode. I just finished feeding the fish, so on my way back I heard a loud noise and the noise was coming from the father of the boy working for me although the man speaks in Igbo language. I had to ask the boy working for me to translate what his father said. He told me that his father said there are ritualist in the bush that they've taken someone from a fish farm nearby. That we should come out on time. 

It happened that the ritualist tried to kidnap a fish farmer. They have succeeded in beating and chaining him like a dog. It was while the incident was going on that someone in the bush saw them and quickly ran back to town to alert guys in the community. 

They were able to arrest two out of the three ritualist and the last one escape. The woman who is iyalode in the town was behind the operation

Here are the pictures: pic 1 and 2 are the kidnappers, pic 3 is the iyalode of the town and pic 4 is the guy they were trying to kidnap and use for rituals

They used different charm to beat him all in the bid to kidnap him. Attached also are the pictures

Here is the picture when police and vigilante were taken them away

Fuel Crisis Cripples Nigeria

                                   

The fuel scarcity situation in the country has taken a turn for the worse as reports on Saturday indicate.

Investigations by our correspondents all over the country showed that most filling stations in the land are not selling Premium Motor Spirit also known as petrol.

This, SUNDAY PUNCH learnt, escalated the already dire situation, forcing motorists and other consumers to the black market.

Investigations also showed that the pump price of the product in the few filling stations who had it ranged from N120 to as high as N400 per litre.

The high price of the product, according to our correspondents, has caused a hike in transport fare with the increase as high as 300 per cent in some places. Many commuters who were caught unawares by the development were seen trekking long distances to their destinations while others were forced to return home.

Most filling stations in the Federal Capital Territory have shut down following the non-availability of the commodity.

The few stations that were dispensing the product had long queues of vehicles with desperate motorists besieging their gates with the hope of getting fuel to pursue their economic and social activities.

However, black marketers were not short of supply as they chased after vehicles along the road selling fuel at N200 per litre to those who could afford it.

Some stations sold fuel at N140 per litre, but few motorists patronised them, preferring to stay in the queue for hours to buy at the official N87 per litre.

Checks showed that most filling stations in the satellite towns including Kubwa, Zuba, Nyanya, Kuje and others sold fuel for N140 per litre.

In Osun State, the situation became worse on Saturday with virtually all filling stations in Osogbo, the state capital remaining shut .

Our correspondent observed that the few filling stations which sold the product on Friday sold it for N150 per litre.

The fuel scarcity forced some residents of Osogbo and other towns including Ede to stay indoors except for those who had very important things to do.

A commercial bus driver, who identified himself as Taye, told our correspondent that the increment in the fare had forced commuters to resort to trekking.

He said, “We just pray that the situation will become normal next week. We are really suffering. There are no commuters on the road; it seems everybody is indoor.”

In Ondo State, a litre of petrol was sold for between N130 and 150 on Saturday. Some filling stations sold the product in Akure, the state capital, while some filling stations were closed.

The fuel scarcity has also forced commercial motorcyclists in the state to increase their fare and thus making many residents to complain.

The situation is not different in Benue where the product is currently sold for between N130 and N150 in Makurdi, the state capital, and major towns of Gboko, Kastina-Ala and Otukpo even as it is hard to come by.

In Taraba State, the situation was largely the same. The product which was sold for between N150 and N160.

In Rivers State, motorists faced a tough time as the commodity remained scarce within Port Harcourt, the state capital. Long queues were noticed in many filling stations that sold fuel. This was between N120 and N140.

In Calabar, petroleum depots were virtually dry. This put so much hardship on motorists and commuters as the price of a litre of petrol went up to between N150 and N250 at independent filing stations and the black market.

Filing stations owned by major marketers did not sell fuel. It was gathered that the major marketers are making brisk businesses by selling their products at the depots to independent marketers at a higher price.

Transport fare had also rose to more than 100 per cent within the Calabar metropolis.

The only NNPC Mega Station along the Murtala Mohammed Highway that was selling fuel had long queue stretching over three kilometres.


A motorist, Mr. Ben Amajo, who said he had spent more than five hours queuing up at the NNPC Mega Station, said he was completely fed up with the situation in the country.

Most of the active filling stations in Enugu State were selling petrol between N140 and N150, while the commodity sold mostly at the cost of N125 and N130 per litre in Abia and Ebonyi states.

The situation was the same in Imo and Anambra states.

Apparently, as a result of the cost of the commodity, there was no queue in most of the filling stations.

However, several filling stations had no fuel.

But there were long queues at the NNPC filling stations, which sold at the official N87 per litre fuel whenever they had the product.

In Jos, Plateau State, most of the independent marketers, though displayed pump prices ranging from N140 to N150, sold above that. Black marketers also had a field day as a four-litre jerry can went for between N800 and N900.

The situation was not different in Bauchi and Lafia where roadside sale of petrol had a big boom. Long queues were still noticeable in most major marketers, especially NNPC mega stations.

The fuel scarcity in Owerri was fierce. Filling stations fixed their pump price at 130 per litre. Most filling stations in the communities our correspondent visited sold the commodity for N140.

The development hampered economic activities in the state.

Motorists in Edo and Delta states were full of tales at the weekend.

Checks by our correspondent on Saturday showed that while most of the major filling stations on the busy Akpakpava and Sapele road in Benin, did not sell the product, some private fuel stations around Oluku sold at the price of N130 per litre.

Black marketers, who had taken advantage of scarcity, sold 10 litres of the product for N1450 and N1500, depending on the bargaining ability of the buyer.

The situation was also not different in major parts of Delta where the non-availability of the product resulted in an increase in the cost of public transport in major cities.

Petrol was sold for between N260 and N300 per litre in Sokoto and neighbouring Kebbi State. Most motorists in the two states relied on road side hawkers of petrol as most filling stations either did not have the product for sale or were selling to hawkers at a higher rate.

Mr. Mohammed Shehu, a resident of Mabera in Sokoto town, told SUNDAY PUNCH via telephone that motorists had always been at the mercy of hawkers of the products.

Petrol stations in Akwa Ibom State sold fuel between N140 to N150 per litre.

There were queues at few filling stations that sold the products at N130, those that could not risk the queues had to get the product at higher rates of N140 and N150 from other filling stations.

The trend affected vehicular movement.

Some residents of Nasarawa and Adamawa states on Saturday expressed displeasure over the endless fuel scarcity across the nation as pump prices rose to N160 per litre on Saturday.

The situation was a little different at both NNPC mega station in Nasarawa and Adamawa states, that sold fuel for N100 per litre.

In Niger state, the majority of petrol stations sold for N130 per litre. Our correspondent who went round Minna confirmed that it was only the NNPC that was selling for N87 per litre.

It was observed also that a lot of fuel stations were closed as a result of high price and a lot of people queued up for hours to get fuel.

One of the commuters, Isah Mohammed, who spoke to our correspondent said he had been at NNPC patrol station since 5.30am and it didn’t get to his turn.

In Kaduna the situation was the same, other petrol stations were selling for N130 per litre except NNPC.

However, there were no queues.

Most of the filling stations visited in Katsina metropolis had fuel, but while some sold at between the above said price, others along the outskirt sold above the price.

In Bayelsa a litre of petrol was sold for between N140 and N200.


The NNPC mega filling stations in the Yenagoa metropolis were selling the products at the regulated price of N87 per litre but the queues were extremely long.

The situation was not different in Kwara and Kogi states.

Investigations by our correspondent in Ilorin on Saturday showed petrol was sold for N150.

Also in Lokoja, the Kogi State capital, a litre of petrol was sold for N120 but between N170 and N200 in the hinterlands.

The high cost of fuel had also increased transport fare between 50 and 70 per cent in Kwara and Kogi states.

Motorists and passengers in Ogun State also bought the product at a high cost. From Sagamu, Ijebu Ode, Ilaro to the capital city of Abeokuta, the situation was the same.

Filling stations in the state, mostly owned by independent marketers, dispensed a litre of fuel between N150 and N300.

Transportation fares had increased by over 100 per cent on both intra-city and inter-state routes.

In Yobe and Borno states, petrol sold for N130 at filling stations.

In Bauchi and Gombe, it was for either N145 or N150 at very few filling stations, with resultant long queues. Many motorists were left with the option of buying at black market at the price of N200.

Major businesses in these states are beginning to close shop due to the scarcity of fuel and diesel.

On Saturday, one of Nigeria’s telecommunications firms, said the scarcity of diesel was jeopardising its operations. It said, “The management of MTN states that the current diesel scarcity in most parts of Nigeria is posing a significant threat to quality of service and the ability to optimally operate the network.

According to the Corporate Services Executive, Akinwale Goodluck “Most of our base stations and switches are powered round-the-clock by Diesel generators and the current fuel shortage has drastically reduced the availability of diesel supply to key locations.”

“MTN’s available reserves of diesel are running low and the company must source for a significant quantity of diesel in the very near future to prevent a shut down of services across Nigeria. If diesel supplies are not received within the next 24 hours the network will be seriously degraded and customers will feel the impact.

“MTN is working with all stakeholders to ensure services remain. MTN sincerely apologises for any outages and inconvenience that may occur and seeks the understanding of customers at this time.”

PDP Berates Buhari For Snubbing Handover Programme

Read the PDP press statement below...

                                    

The peoples Democratic Party (PDP) views with disappointment the apparent snub by the President-elect, Gen. Muhammadu Buhari of the handover programme lined up by the Federal Government to transmit power to him by Friday, May 29, 2015. The PDP said such behavior was a measure of lack of democratic discipline.

PDP National Publicity Secretary, Olisa Metuh in a statement on Sunday said the President-elect owes Nigerians explanations on why he snubbed the prayer sessions scheduled for Friday and Sunday for Muslims and Christians respectively to usher in four years of his in-coming administration as well as the embarrassing protocol gaffe and low-down treatment that characterized his visit to British Prime Minister David Cameron last Saturday.

The PDP said it was disgraceful that due to poor coordination and crass ineptitude in the handling of issues, the President-elect was left almost stranded while waiting for about thirty minutes before he was received by the British leader and wondered if such is a foretaste of the muddling to be experienced under the All Progressives Congress (APC)’s administration.

“Nigerians, as citizens of a sovereign nation were thoroughly embarrassed when they saw their President-elect cheapened and kept waiting at the door of 10 Downing Street to see the British Prime Minister due to shoddy arrangements by his handlers.

“Indeed, they are becoming increasingly worried about the frightening unpreparedness of the APC for governance and the huge embarrassments they have been attracting to our nation. We know that the APC has been lying over issues. We also know that the APC and the President-elect have been flip-flopping and reneging on their campaign promises; but to embarrass the nation by embarking on such a sensitive visit without adequate preparations is shameful and completely unacceptable.

“We share the fear of well-meaning Nigerians on how a party which cannot adequately handle a simple task of organizing a diplomatic outing will effectively administer a country as complex as Nigeria.

“The APC has continued to give signals that it lacks capacity to face the challenges of governance. Such has been evidenced in the uneasiness of the President-elect who in apparent loss of confidence in himself has started reneging on his promises of quick fixes while confessing in a meeting with APC governors-elect on May 5, 2015 that he has ‘started nervously to explain to people that Rome was not built in a day’.

“Instead of settling down for governance and working out how to fulfill its promises of making the naira the same in value with the dollar, paying N5, 000, 000 monthly to 25 million poor Nigerians, providing electricity on 24/7 basis, providing free meals for school children and allowances for discharged but unemployed youth corps members among others, the APC is busy inventing excuses for failure and blaming everyone else but themselves. We hope they will not blame the PDP for their Saturday’s embarrassing outing at 10 Downing Street.

"Furthermore, we find it curious and more than a co-incidence that the nation is experiencing an acute shortage of fuel and electricity supply at this point in time, when such has not been the case under the current PDP-led administration. We ask, are there some forces sabotaging the system to create an impression that the APC is inheriting poor infrastructure and complete system breakdown?

"Is this also part of the larger plot to embarrass and defame the PDP-led administration in an attempt to justify APC's excuses for failure", the PDP probed.

The party insisted that despite the challenges of insecurity and global economic recession that negatively affected many other nations, its administration had in the last 16 years worked very hard in repositioning critical sectors of the polity and laying strong infrastructure backbone that that any prepared and result oriented in-coming administration can comfortably leverage on.

It therefore asked the APC to get ready to apply its much-mouthed manifesto or be bold to apologize to Nigerians for presenting false messianic posture and making false promises to them.

Signed:

Olisa Metuh
National Publicity Secretary

Fayose lifts curfew on Ado-Ekiti

Ekiti State Governor, Ayodele Fayose

Governor Ayo Fayose of Ekiti on Sunday lifted the dusk-to-dawn curfew imposed on Ado-Ekiti on May 22, following a civil unrest.

The governor stated this in his broadcast to the people of the state in Ado-Ekiti.

He described the crisis between the Hausa community and commercial drivers in Ado-Ekiti that led to the imposition of the curfew as unfortunate.

He urged residents to be law abiding and conduct their activities in manner that would not cause further break down of law and order.

Fayose said the state government lifted the curfew after security agents had restored peace in the state.

He expressed regret for the inconveniences the curfew might have caused the residents of the town.

He said the state government had also placed N2 million reward for anybody that could provide information which could facilitate the arrest of those that kidnapped 11 people in different parts of the state recently.

He said that kidnapping was strange to the state warning that the state government would fight it.

Jonathan Given 30-day Deadline For Assets Declaration

President Goodluck Jonathan and his vice, Namadi Sambo, were directed by the Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB) to declare their assets.

Moreover, 29 governors, 42 ministers, 109 senators and 360 House or Representatives members were ordered to do the same, The Punch has obtained.

The officials were said to have been given a 30-day deadline to return the completed Assets Declaration Forms.

Kolade Omoyola, CCB acting secretary, last Tuesday noted that “political office holders to declare their assets on assumption and vacation of office in accordance with Paragraph II of the 5th Schedule of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of
Nigeria as amended”.

The Bureau representative also issued a warning that those who fail to declare their assets, as required by the law, “shall attract on conviction any or all of the following: (a) Removal from office (b)

Disqualification from holding any public office, (c) Forfeiture to the state any property acquired in abuse of office or dishonesty”.

It was gathered that only seven senators and 40 reps had submitted their forms so far. Tony Okocha, Rivers state official, said that Governor Rotimi Amaechi would soon submit the
completed form: “The Governor Rotimi Amaechi that I know will
submit his form to the Bureau very soon. He has no skeleton in his cupboard and has nothing to hide anywhere in Nigeria and anywhere in the world.”

Jacob Edi, the special adviser to Kogi state Governor Idris Wada, said that the governor, and all the other political appointees in the state subject to the law had submitted the forms. Edo state
governor Godswill Akpabio had submitted the form before he was sworn in, his aide provided.

A representative of Oyo state governor said that Abiola Ajimobi “certainly will” declare his assets.

It should be recalled that late Musa Yar’Adua is the only Nigerian president who has declared his assets.

Muhammadu Buhari, the president-elect, also vowed to to openly declare assets and liabilities after taking over office .

Meanwhile President Jonathan last year refused to make such a move. GEJ explained he had already done this while being deputy to Yar’Adua. 
He claimed in the course of the third presidential media chat:
“The issue of public assets declaration is a matter of personal principle. That is the way I see it, and I don’t give a damn about it, even if you criticise me from heaven. When I was the vice-president, that matter came up, and I told the former President
(late Musa Yar’Adua) that let’s not start something that would make us play into the hands of people and create an anomalous situation in the country.

“The law is clear. A public officer should declare his assets, and if there are issues, then the relevant agencies would have a basis to assess whether you have amassed wealth or not. When it is said that people should declare their assets in public, it is not
only the president or the vice-president; it includes everybody, including ministers.

“When I was a governor in Bayelsa State for about a year before becoming vice-president, I was investigated thoroughly. I have nothing to hide. 
But because I was under somebody and it was becoming an issue, because of the media, and because my boss had declared, it was said that the vice-president must. I declared, not because I
wanted to.

“Initially, I said they can talk about it from morning to night, I will not. It is not proper. If one amends the law to say that only the president and the vice- president should declare assets publicly, fine. But, presently, everybody who is holding political office is expected to and I say it is not right.”

In another development General Theophilus Danjuma (retd.), the former defence minister, yesterday advised Muhammadu Buhari to probe President Jonathan’s administration over the $60 billion debt the new administration will inherit.

According to Daily Trust, Danjuma lamented: “It is disheartening to know that the incoming government of Buhari will have to contend with a debt of over $60billion and there is nothing to show for this huge debt.

“Well, we would know what happened to these monies, because I believe that the Buhari administration has to, and should, in national interest, investigate the administration so that we
would know what happened.”

Armed Robbery Suspect Arrested On Wedding Day.

Oyo State Police Command arrested a suspected member of a robbery gang on his wedding day.
Olumide Asiyanbi, 42, told newsmen that nemesis caught up with him when he was at the registry to sign the dotted lines.

The police alleged he was a member of a six-man-robbery gang who had terrorised residents of Challenge area of Ibadan, the state capital.
The state Commissioner of Police, Muhammed Katsina, said the suspects included a 62-year-old Ghanaian.

Asiyanbi confessed that he had been involved in 10 different robbery attacks before he was arrested.
He said, “I was arrested on my wedding day. I met the gang leader, James Agba, last year. He told me he knew how we could be getting regular money. He then initiated me into the gang. I have taken part in at least 10 operations since I joined them.
“We used gun but I don’t know where James was buying them. Sulaimon and Alhaji, who are also in the gang, knew how the guns were bought for our operations. I have fired shots at our targets but nobody was killed.