Sixteen senators quit Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari’s ruling party on Tuesday and the country’s third most senior politician said he might follow suit, in a blow to the leader who seeks re-election next year.

Fourteen of the 16 lawmakers left the All Progressives Congress (APC) to join the opposition People’s Democratic Party (PDP), a letter read on the Senate floor stated. Another two senators later left the ruling party while parliament was in session.

Senate President Bukola Saraki, the No. 3 political leader in Africa’s biggest economy, told Reuters in an interview a few hours later that the chances of him also leaving the APC were “very, very high.”

In a statement, a Buhari spokesman said no harm would be done to the party by the departures and the APC had “done its utmost to stop the defections,” without providing details.

Buhari expressed “total willingness to work with all members of the National Assembly, irrespective of their political party, for the benefit of the nation,” the statement said.

The fissures threaten to split support for Buhari within powerful patronage networks and among voters ahead of the presidential poll scheduled for February 2019 that will decide who runs Africa’s top oil producer.

The defections, and the suggestion that there may be more to come, have taken place just weeks after a faction within the party said it no longer backed Buhari.

Fighting within the APC coalition, which united to unseat Buhari’s predecessor rather than because of ideological unity, has mounted for years in a struggle for power and influence between those loyal to the head of state and others who say they have been targeted in a witch-hunt by the presidency.

Divisions emerged publicly in the weeks following the APC’s conference in June where new party leaders were elected. Others saw their hopes of greater powers within the party dashed just months before the presidential and legislative elections.

Agenda

The PDP, which was in power from the start of civilian rule in 1999 until Buhari took office in 2015, said in a tweet that 32 lawmakers in the lower House of Representatives had also joined from the APC.

The defections may also make it harder for Buhari to enact his legislative agenda for the remainder of his first term.

Saraki, speaking to Reuters, said he was considering his next move. “I will spend the next few days consulting with my colleagues who have defected and also my other colleagues from my state and make my announcement very soon,” he said.

He ran unopposed for the post of Senate president, mainly with the support of the opposition even though he is an APC member. He was not his party’s preferred candidate and the manner of his elevation to the office in 2015 led to strains in his relationship with Buhari.

Since then he has been dogged by accusations of misconduct and investigations since becoming Senate president, though none has led to convictions.

Asked about the raft of defections, Saraki said: “I must commend them for their courage because it took a lot for them to be able to do that in the face of this level of intimidation and harassment.”

The Senate president and his supporters say he has been targeted by political opponents, most recently on Tuesday morning when he said his movements, and those of his deputy, were halted by police. Images of the alleged incident were circulated on social media.

Police denied taking that action.

“The force wishes to categorically state that there was no authorized deployment of police personnel to besiege the residence of the Senate president or his deputy as reported in the media,” a police spokesman said.

He said the allegations would be investigated.

Harassment accusations

Amid an increasingly febrile political backdrop, lawmakers in June issued a series of demands to Buhari including a call for an end to the “systematic harassment and humiliation by the executive of perceived political opponents.”

The president’s supporters have previously rejected the accusations leveled against the former military ruler.

“I am committed to listening to very legitimate grievances and engaging all those who are aggrieved that we can see through their grievances,” Adams Oshiomhole, the APC’s national chairman, told reporters in Abuja after Tuesday’s defections.

However, he said it was best for those motivated solely by personal interest to “return to where they belong.”

Buhari said in April that he would seek another term. His candidacy depends on party approval, though that is usually considered to be a formality for the incumbent.

Nigeria’s main opposition parties earlier this month agreed to form an alliance to field a joint candidate to contest the election.

Source: VOA

Nigeria’s ruling party has split after a faction declared that it no longer supports the government of President Muhammadu Buhari, threatening his hopes of a securing a second term in an election due early next year.

A group of politicians who were part of the All Progressives Congress (APC) told a news conference in Abuja late on Wednesday they had formed a new faction, led by former Buhari ally Buba Galadima and called Reformed-All Progressives Congress (R-APC).

“The APC has run a rudderless, inept and incompetent government that has failed to deliver good governance to the Nigerian people,” R-APC national chairman Galadima said.

He said the faction, described as the authentic voice of the APC, has representatives in all Nigeria’s local government wards and states.

Coalition politics

Rifts within the APC could split support for Buhari within powerful patronage networks and among voters ahead of an election expected to be held in February.

Buhari, a 75-year-old former military ruler, said in April that he would seek another term. His candidacy depends on party approval, though that is usually seen as a formality for the incumbent.

Nigeria’s political parties must select their candidates for the election between Aug. 18 and Oct. 7.

Nigeria is Africa’s top oil producer and richest economy. It plays a key role in the regional fight against Islamist militants.

Galadima, who was a prominent figure in Buhari’s former CPC party and a founding member of the APC, said the R-APC would “work with like-minded political parties and groups to offer Nigeria qualitative good governance in 2019”.

Fissures within the APC, a broad coalition formed to oust Buhari’s predecessor Goodluck Jonathan rather than pursue a political ideology, have come to the fore in recent months.

Atiku Abubakar, a former Nigerian vice president, has been the most high profile figure to leave the party. Abubakar told Reuters in May that he hopes to be the main opposition party’s presidential candidate.

The split comes just over a week after the APC held its convention during which party executives were appointed, including a new national chairman, Adams Oshiomhole.

“For us, everybody is important, everybody matters. We want to run an inclusive party,” said Oshiomhole in an emailed statement on Thursday.

Antony Goldman, of Nigeria-focused PM Consulting, said Buhari had been able to defeat Jonathan in the 2015 election by drawing on sentiment among the former president’s opponents.

“There are various groups trying to do the same now, but they have yet to produce a candidate around whom that sentiment can coalesce and present a genuine challenge,” he said.

Source: Reuters

Nigeria’s President Muhammadu Buhari, 75, has approved a law to reduce age limits to serve in political office, making it easier for younger candidates to run in next year’s election.

The Not-Too-Young-To-Run Bill says a 35-year-old can serve as president – the previous threshold was 40.

Anyone who is 25 or above can be state and federal representatives. Previously it was 30.

Youth groups had waged a strong campaign to reduce the age limit, saying it would encourage youth participation in politics.

Mr Buhari is running for a second term in elections due next year.

Source: BBC

The Catholic Bishops Conference of Nigeria has asked president Muhammadu Buhari to resign, in the wake of the killing of two priests and their parishioners in the wee hours of Tuesday morning.

Buhari has also been summoned by the country’s legislators to discuss the security situation in Benue state. The lawmakers also passed a vote of no confidence in the country’s security chiefs on Wednesday.

The Catholic Bishops accuse the president of ignoring repeated calls to bring his attention to the skewed and ineffective security apparatus and strategy employed to contain clashes between the mainly Christian farmers and Muslim herdsmen.

‘‘Since the president who appoints the security chiefs has refused to call them to order, we can only conclude that they are acting out a script he approves of,’‘ the bishops said in their statement.

The statement goes ahead to say the president has lost the trust of the citizenry, since he has failed in his duty to keep the country safe.

‘‘Whether this failure is due to inability to perform or lack of political will, it is time for him to choose the path of honour and consider stepping aside to save the nation from total collapse.’‘

Buhari has been accused of leniency in this matter, with many pointing to the fact that he shares ethnicity with the Fulani semi – nomadic herdsmen. Both the herdsmen and the settled farmers have however carried out attacks that have left hundreds dead.

President Muhammadu Buhari, who took office in 2015 vowing to end the insurgency, warned citizens against playing into the hands of the agents of disunity, while condolingwith the victims of the latest attack.

The issue of securing Africa’s most populous country has become politically charged in the run-up to an election next year which Buhari said he wants to contest.

The Middle Belt region includes a number of swing states that could play a significant role in determining Buhari’s electoral prospects.

Source: Africa News

Nigeria’s President Muhammadu Buhari confirmed on Monday he will seek another term in elections next year, ending months of speculation about his future after bouts of ill health.

The 75-year-old said he would seek his party’s presidential ticket to contest elections in February 2019 during a closed door meeting of the national executive committee of his All Progressives Congress (APC) party.

The announcement by Buhari, a northern Muslim who became the first opposition candidate to defeat an incumbent at the ballot box, was widely expected although stocks on the Nigerian market fell 1.01 percent on Monday to a three-month low.

“It takes away the concern of an open race which would have fueled uncertainty,” said a Lagos-based equity sales analyst.

Buhari took office in May 2015 after vowing to improve security and crackdown on endemic corruption, but Africa’s top oil producer fell into its first recession in 25 years in 2016, largely caused by low crude prices and militant attacks in the Niger Delta, and its recovery remains fragile.

After spending five months in Britain last year being treated for an undisclosed ailment, opposition groups in Africa’s most populous nation and other critics said he was unfit for office and his administration was beset by inertia.

If Buhari is selected to contest the presidential election, it is not clear who he would face as the PDP, which prior to the former general’s 2015 victory had held power since Nigeria adopted civilian rule in 1999, has yet to select a candidate.

Incumbency factor

“The president said he was responding to the clamor by Nigerians to recontest in 2019, adding that he wanted to give NEC the honor of notifying them first,” Buhari’s spokesman Garba Shehu said in an emailed statement.

Antony Goldman, of Nigeria-focused PM Consulting, said although Buhari’s party – a broad coalition of groups which largely united to oust the PDP – was riven by divisions, it was nevertheless likely that he would become the APC candidate.

“With the PDP weak and still discredited, incumbency is still a powerful factor,” said Goldman. “It would be a huge surprise if he was not the APC’s candidate and the candidate to beat in 2019,” Goldman added.

Buhari led a short-lived military regime that was overthrown in a coup in 1985. His election victory three years ago was in large part due to his military credentials and his vow to end the extremist militant Boko Haram militancy.

The militants have lost most of the territory the size of Belgium that they held in northeast Nigeria in late 2014 but continue bomb attacks and kidnappings in the northeast.

Other security challenges – militant attacks in the Niger Delta oil production heartland as well as communal violence between nomadic herdsmen and settled farmers, plus a resurgence of separatist sentiments, have flared up during his tenure.

(Source: Reuters)

Alleging gross incompetence in the face of challenges of state, former President Olusegun Obasanjo, yesterday, charged President Muhammadu Buhari to sidestep calls for a second term and join him and other former leaders in the rank of statesmen. President Obasanjo in a scorching 3,564 word statement, lamented that his hope that Buhari would help birth change when he supported him in 2015 had been grossly derailed in the face of what he said was the President’s failure to rise above his deficiencies. While affirming that he was not unaware of Buhari’s shortcomings in the areas of the economy and foreign affairs, areas he said he expected him to have sought help, President Obasanjo, however, blasted him for promoting clannishness in governance which had led to increased divisions in the polity and a culture of buck passing.

Obasanjo said his disappointments with Buhari, however, did not mean that the political opposition in the shape of his former party, the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, was any better. While noting the appropriation of the opposition party by some forces he said would not offer any change, the former Nigerian leader called on patriots to join him in a third force which he said should birth the change that would take Nigeria to its place of glory.

The Obasanjo Statement President Obasanjo in his special press statement, entitled THE WAY OUT: A CLARION CALL FOR COALITION FOR NIGERIA MOVEMENT, said: “Since we are still in the month of January, it is appropriate to wish all Nigerians Happy 2018.  I am constrained to issue this special statement at this time considering the situation of the country. “Some of you may be asking, ‘What has brought about this special occasion of Obasanjo issuing a special statement?’ You will be right to ask such a question.  But there is a Yoruba saying that ‘when lice abound in your clothes, your fingernails will never be dried of blood’. “When I was in the village, to make sure that lice die, you put them between two fingernails and press hard to ensure they die and they always leave blood stains on the fingernails.

To ensure you do not have blood on your fingernails, you have to ensure that lice are not harboured anywhere within your vicinity. “The lice of poor performance in government – poverty, insecurity, poor economic management, nepotism, gross dereliction of duty, condonation of misdeed – if not outright encouragement of it, lack of progress and hope for the future, lack of national cohesion and poor management of internal political dynamics and widening inequality – are very much with us today. With such lice of general and specific poor performance and crying poverty with us, our fingers will not be dry of ‘blood’. ‘’Four years ago when my PDP card was torn, I made it abundantly clear that I quit partisan politics but my concern and interest in Nigeria, Africa and, indeed, in humanity would not wane. “Ever since, I have adhered strictly to that position.  Since that time, I have devoted quality time to the issue of zero hunger as contained in Goal No. 2 of the Sustainable Development Goals of the UN. “We have set the target that Nigeria with the participating states in the Zero Hunger Forum should reach Zero Hunger goal by 2025 – five years earlier than the UN target date.  I’m involved “I am involved in the issue of education in some states and generally in the issue of youth empowerment and employment.  I am involved in all these domestically and altruistically to give hope and future to the seemingly hopeless and those in despair.  I believe strongly that God has endowed Nigeria so adequately that no Nigerian should be either in want or in despair. “I believe in team work and collaborative efforts. At the international level, we have worked with other world leaders to domicile the apparatus for monitoring and encouraging socio-economic progress in Africa in our Presidential Library. “The purpose of Africa Progress Group, which is the new name assumed by Africa Progress Panel (APP), is to point out where, when and what works need to be done for the progress of Africa separately and collectively by African leaders and their development partners. “I have also gladly accepted the invitation of the UN Secretary-General to be a member of his eighteen-member High-Level Board of Advisers on Mediation.  There are other assignments I take up in other fora for Africa and for the international community.

“For Africa to move forward, Nigeria must be one of the anchor countries, if not the leading anchor country.  It means that Nigeria must be good at home to be good outside. “No doubt, our situation in the last decade or so had shown that we are not good enough at home; hence we are invariably absent at the table that we should be abroad. “All these led me to take the unusual step of going against my own political Party, PDP, in the last general election to support the opposite side.  I saw that action as the best option for Nigeria. “As it has been revealed in the last three years or so, that decision and the subsequent collective decision of Nigerians to vote for a change was the right decision for the nation. The horse rider has realised his mistakes “For me, there was nothing personal, it was all in the best interest of Nigeria and, indeed, in the best interest of Africa and humanity at large.  Even the horse rider then, with whom I maintain very cordial, happy and social relationship today has come to realise his mistakes and regretted it publicly and I admire his courage and forthrightness in this regard. “He has a role to play on the sideline for the good of Nigeria, Africa and humanity and I will see him as a partner in playing such a role nationally and internationally, but not as a horse rider in Nigeria again. “The situation that made Nigerians to vote massively to get my brother Jonathan off the horse is playing itself out again.

First, I thought I knew the point where President Buhari is weak and I spoke and wrote about it, even before Nigerians voted for him and I also did vote for him because at that time, it was a matter of “any option but Jonathan (aobj). “But my letter to President Jonathan, titled ‘Before It Is Too Late’ was meant for him to act before it was too late.  He ignored it and it was too late for him and those who goaded him into ignoring the voice of caution. “I know that praise-singers and hired attackers may be raised up against me for verbal or even physical attack but if I can withstand undeserved imprisonment and was ready to shed my blood by standing for Nigeria, I will consider no sacrifice too great to make for the good of Nigeria at any time. No human leader is expected to be personally strong or self-sufficient in all aspects of governance.

Buhari’s weakness: “I knew President Buhari before he became President and said that he is weak in the knowledge and understanding of the economy but I thought that he could make use of good Nigerians in that area that could help. “Although, I know that you cannot give what you don’t have and that economy does not obey military order. You have to give it what it takes in the short-, medium- and long-term. “Then, it would move. I know his weakness in understanding and playing in the foreign affairs sector and again, there are many Nigerians that could be used in that area as well. “They have knowledge and experience that could be deployed for the good of Nigeria.  There were serious allegations of round-tripping against some inner caucus of the Presidency which would seem to have been condoned. “I wonder if such actions do not amount to corruption and financial crime, then what is it?  Culture of condonation and turning blind eye will cover up rather than clean up.  And going to justice must be with clean hands. “I thought President Buhari would fight corruption and insurgency and he must be given some credit for his achievement so far in these two areas although it is not yet uhuru!

On herdsmen/farmers clash: ‘’The herdsmen/crop farmers issue is being wittingly or unwittingly allowed to turn sour and messy.  It is no credit to the Federal Government that the herdsmen rampage continues with careless abandon and without finding an effective solution to it. ‘’It is a sad symptom of insensitivity and callousness that some governors, a day after 73 victims were being buried in a mass grave in Benue State without condolence, were jubilantly endorsing President Buhari for a second term!  The timing was most unfortunate. ‘’The issue of herdsmen/crop farmers dichotomy should not be left on the political platform of blame game; the Federal Government must take the lead in bringing about solution that protects life and properties of herdsmen and crop farmers alike and for them to live amicably in the same community.

‘’But there are three other areas where President Buhari has come out more glaringly than most of us thought we knew about him.  One is nepotic deployment bordering on clannishness and inability to bring discipline to bear on errant members of his nepotic court. ‘’This has grave consequences on performance of his government to the detriment of the nation.  It would appear that national interest was being sacrificed on the altar of nepotic interest. ‘’What does one make of a case like that of Maina: collusion, condonation, ineptitude, incompetence, dereliction of responsibility or kinship and friendship on the part of those who should have taken visible and deterrent disciplinary action? ‘’How many similar cases are buried, ignored or covered up and not yet in the glare of the media and the public? The second is his poor understanding of the dynamics of internal politics.  This has led to wittingly or unwittingly making the nation more divided and inequality has widened and become more pronounced. ‘’It also has effect on general national security.  The third is passing the buck.  For instance, blaming the governor of the Central Bank for devaluation of the naira by 70% or so and blaming past governments for it, is to say the least, not accepting one’s own responsibility.

Let nobody deceive us ‘’Let nobody deceive us, economy feeds on politics and because our politics is depressing, our economy is even more depressing today.  If things were good, President Buhari would not need to come in.  He was voted to fix things that were bad and not engage in the blame game. ‘’Our Constitution is very clear, one of the cardinal responsibilities of the President is the management of the economy of which the value of the naira forms an integral part. ‘’Kinship and friendship that place responsibility for governance in the hands of the unelected can only be deleterious to good government and to the nation. President Buhari’s illness called for the sympathy, understanding, prayer and patience from every sane Nigerian. ‘’It is part of our culture.  Most Nigerians prayed for him while he was away, sick in London for over hundred days and he gave his deputy sufficient leeway to carry on in his absence. “We all thanked God for President Buhari for coming back reasonably hale and hearty and progressing well in his recovery. But whatever may be the state of President Buhari’s health today, he should neither over-push his luck nor over-tax the patience and tolerance of Nigerians for him, no matter what his self-serving, so-called advisers, who would claim that they love him more than God loves him and that without him, there would be no Nigeria say.

Buhari should dismount from the horse ‘’President Buhari needs a dignified and honourable dismount from the horse. He needs to have time to reflect, refurbish physically and recoup and after appropriate rest, once again, join the stock of Nigerian leaders whose experience, influence, wisdom and outreach can be deployed on the sideline for the good of the country. ‘’His place in history is already assured.  Without impaired health and strain of age, running the affairs of Nigeria is a 25/7 affair, not 24/7. “I only appeal to brother Buhari to consider a deserved rest at this point in time and at this age.  I continue to wish him robust health to enjoy his retirement from active public service. ‘’President Buhari does not necessarily need to heed my advice.  But whether or not he heeds it, Nigeria needs to move on and move forward. ‘’I have had occasions in the past to say that the two main political parties – APC and PDP – were wobbling.  I must reiterate that nothing has happened to convince me otherwise. Neither APC nor PDP can save Nigeria ‘’If anything, I am reinforced in my conviction.  The recent show of PDP must give grave and great concern to lovers of Nigeria.  To claim, as has been credited to the chief kingmaker of PDP, that for procuring the Supreme Court judgement for his faction of the party, he must dictate the tune all the way and this is, indeed, fraught with danger.

‘’If neither APC nor PDP is a worthy horse to ride to lead Nigeria at this crucial and critical time, what then do we do?  Remember Farooq Kperogi, an Associate Professor at the Kennesaw State University, Georgia, United States, calls it “a cruel Hobson’s choice. “It’s like a choice between six and half a dozen, between evil and evil. Any selection or deflection would be a distinction without a difference.  We cannot just sit down lamenting and wringing our hands desperately and hopelessly. ‘’I believe the situation we are in today is akin to what and where we were in at the beginning of this democratic dispensation in 1999.  The nation was tottering.  People became hopeless and saw no bright future in the horizon. ‘’It was all a dark cloud politically, economically and socially.  The price of oil at that time was nine dollars per barrel and we had a debt overhang of about $35 billion.

Most people were confused with lack of direction in the country. ‘’One of the factors that saved the situation was a near government of national unity that was put in place to navigate us through the dark cloud.  We had almost all hands on deck.  We used people at home and from the diaspora and we navigated through the dark cloud of those days. ‘’At that time, most people were hopelessly groping in the dark.  They saw no choice, neither in the left nor in the right, and yet we were not bereft of people at home and from the diaspora that could come  together to make Nigeria truly a land flowing with milk and honey. ‘’Where we are is a matter of choice but we can choose differently to make a necessary and desirable change, once again. Anguish, anger everywhere ‘’Wherever I go, I hear Nigerians complaining, murmuring in anguish and anger.  But our anger should not be like the anger of the cripple.  We can collectively save ourselves from the position we find ourselves. ‘’It will not come through self-pity, fruitless complaint or protest but through constructive and positive engagement and collective action for the good of our nation and ourselves and our children and their children. ‘’We need moral re-armament and engaging togetherness of people of like-mind and goodwill to come solidly together to lift Nigeria up.  This is no time for trading blames or embarking on futile argument and neither should we accept untenable excuses for non-performance. ‘’Let us accept that the present administration has done what it can do to the limit of its ability, aptitude and understanding. Let the administration and its political party platform agree with the rest of us that what they have done and what they are capable of doing is not good enough for us. ‘’They have given as best as they have and as best as they can give.  Nigeria deserves and urgently needs better than what they have given or what we know they are capable of giving.

Nigeria can’t be imprisoned for another 4 years ‘’To ask them to give more will be unrealistic and will only sentence Nigeria to a prison term of four years if not destroy it beyond the possibility of an early recovery and substantial growth. ‘’Einstein made it clear to us that doing the same thing and expecting a different result is the height of folly. Already, Nigerians are committing suicide for the unbearable socio-economic situation they find themselves in.  And yet Nigerians love life. ‘’We must not continue to reinforce failure and hope that all will be well.  It is self-deceit and self-defeat and another aspect of folly. ‘’What has emerged from the opposition has shown no better promise from their antecedents.  As the leader of that party for eight years as President of Nigeria, I can categorically say there is nothing to write home about in their new team. ‘’We have only one choice left to take us out of Egypt to the promised land.  And that is the coalition of the concerned and the willing – ready for positive and drastic change, progress and involvement.  Change that will give hope and future to all our youth and dignity and full participation to all our women. ‘’Our youth should be empowered to deploy their ability to learn, innovate and work energetically at ideas and concepts in which they can make their own original inputs. ‘’Youth must be part of the action today and not relegated to leadership of tomorrow which may never come.  Change that will mean enhancement of living standard and progress for all.  A situation where the elected will accountably govern and every Nigerian will have equal opportunity not based on kinship and friendship but based on free citizenship.

‘’Democracy is sustained and measured not by leaders doing extra-ordinary things, (invariably, leaders fail to do ordinary things very well), but by citizens rising up to do ordinary things extra-ordinarily well. ‘’Our democracy, development and progress at this juncture require ordinary citizens of Nigeria to do the extra-ordinary things of changing the course and direction of our lacklustre performance and development. ‘’If leadership fails, citizens must not fail and there lies the beauty and importance of democracy.  We are challenged by the current situation; we must neither adopt spirit of cowardice nor timidity let alone impotence but must be sustained by courage, determination and commitment to say and do and to persist until we achieve upliftment for Nigeria. Nothing ventured, nothing gained ‘’Nothing ventured, nothing gained and we believe that our venturing will not be in vain.  God of Nigeria has endowed this country adequately and our non-performance cannot be blamed on God but on leadership. ‘’God, who has given us what we need and which is potentially there, will give us leadership enablement to actualize our potentiality. ‘’The development and modernization of our country and society must be anchored and sustained on dynamic Nigerian culture, enduring values and an enchanting Nigerian dream. ‘’We must have abiding faith in our country and its role and place within the comity of nations. Today, Nigeria needs all hands on deck.  All hands of men and women of goodwill must be on deck.  We need all hands to move our country forward.

A coalition for Nigeria ‘’We need a Coalition for Nigeria, CN. Such a Movement  at this juncture needs not be a political party but one to which all well-meaning Nigerians can belong.  That Movement must be a coalition for democracy, good governance, social and economic well-being and progress.  Coalition to salvage and redeem our country.  You can count me with such a Movement. ‘’Last time, we asked, prayed and worked for change and God granted our request.  This time, we must ask, pray and work for change with unity, security and progress. And God will again grant us. ‘’Of course, nothing should stop such a movement from satisfying conditions for fielding candidates for elections.  But if at any stage the movement wishes to metamorphose into candidate-sponsoring movement for elections, I will bow out of the Movement because I will continue to maintain my non-partisan position.

Coalition for Nigeria must have its headquarters in Abuja. ‘’This Coalition for Nigeria will be a movement that will drive Nigeria up and forward.  It must have a pride of place for all Nigerians, particularly for our youth and our women. ‘’It is a coalition of hope for all Nigerians for speedy, quality and equal development, security, unity, prosperity and progress.  It is a coalition to banish poverty, insecurity and despair. ‘’Our country must not be oblivious to concomitant danger around, outside and ahead.  Coalition for Nigeria must be a movement to break new ground in building a united country, a socially-cohesive and moderately prosperous society with equity, equality of opportunity, justice and a dynamic and progressive economy that is self-reliant and takes active part in global division of labour and international decision-making. ‘’The movement must work out the path of development and the trajectory of development in speed, quality and equality in the short- medium- and long-term for Nigeria on the basis of sustainability, stability, predictability, credibility, security, cooperation and prosperity with diminishing inequality. ‘’What is called for is love, commitment and interest in our country, not in self, friends and kinship alone but particularly love, compassion and interest in the poor, underprivileged and downtrodden.  It is our human duty and responsibility so to do.  Failure to do this will amount to a sin against God and a crime against humanity.

What does Obasanjo want again? “Some may ask, Obasanjo wants nothing other than the best for Nigeria and Nigerians and he will continue to want nothing less.  And if we have the best, we will be contented, whether where we live is described as palaces or huts by others and we will always give thanks to God. ‘’I, therefore, will gladly join such a movement when one is established as Coalition for Nigeria, CN, taking Nigeria to the height God has created it to be.  From now on, the Nigeria eagle must continue to soar and fly high. ‘’CN, as a movement, will be new, green, transparent and must remain clean and always active, selflessly so.  Members must be ready to make sacrifice for the nation and pay the price of being pioneers and good Nigerians for our country to play the God-assigned role for itself, for its neighbours, for its sub-region of West Africa, for its continent and for humanity in general. ‘’For me, the strength and sustainable success of CN will derive largely from the strong commitment of a population that is constantly mobilized to the rallying platform of the fact that going forward together is our best option for building a nation that will occupy its deserved place in the global community.  May God continue to lead, guide and protect us. Amen.’

Meanwhile, kudos, knocks, yesterday, trailed former President Olusegun Obasanjo’s advice to the President. Elder statesmen and stakeholders who quickly reacted to the advice included First Republic politicians, Chiefs Mbazulike Amechi and Ayo Adebanjo; Afenifere spokesman, Mr. Yinka Odumakin; Second Republic lawmaker, Alhaji Junaid Mohammed;  former Secretary General of Ohanaeze Ndigbo, Chief Nduka Eya; Arewa Consultative Forum, ACF, National Chairman of the United Progressive Party, UPP, Chief Chekwas Okorie; Human rights lawyer, Chief Mike Ozekhome, SAN; National President of Arewa Youths Forum, Alhaji Gambo Gujungu; The Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, and the  Dr Olisa Agbakoba-led Nigeria Intervention Movement, NIM among others. They spoke as the Presidency kept sealed lips on the issue while President Buhari; APC National Leader, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu; APC Interim Chairman, Alhaji Bisi Akande; and the party’s National Working Committee were locked in crucial meetings with the APC, saying that it was studying the letter.

No comment yet —Presidency Contacted, Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Malam Garba Shehu, said that the Presidency would not comment, stressing that  “we will not comment now. That is the position.” A few hours after Obasanjo’s letter was made public, Tinubu and Akande, had a closed-door meeting with President Buhari. Both men arrived just about 4pm and headed to the president’s official residence within the Presidential Villa. On their way, Tinubu was approached for comments by waiting State House correspondents but he declined to speak and only said: “Journalists, please go back to where you are coming from. I will not talk to you. Don’t turn me into a talkative.” Their meeting with the president ended about an hour later, with both men using different exit routes perhaps to avoid the media. We’re studying the letter – APC Contacted, the ruling APC said it was still studying the 13-page letter.  APC National Publicity Secretary, Bolaji Abdullahi, simply said: “The APC has asked to be given the opportunity to study the statement. We shall respond appropriately afterwards.”

www.vanguardngr.com

Paul Biya, Cameroon’s president received on December 7, 2017 Lawan Abba Gashagar, high commissioner of the Federal Republic of Nigeria to Cameroon and special envoy of the Nigerian president Muhammadu Buhari, According to the Cameroonian presidency, Lawan Abba Gashagar delivered a message, from the Nigerian president, related to the two countries’ cooperation to Paul Biya.

The Nigerian diplomat denied any implication of his country in the climate of violence that has been reigning for over a year now in the North West and South West regions of Cameroon which forms the country’s English-speaking regions. He explained that Nigeria supports in no way the secessionists which demand the independence of those regions they baptized “Ambazonia”. Quite the opposite actually, the Nigerian government wishes a rapid return of peace in Cameroon and the preservation of its territorial integrity.

The Nigerian emissary also explained the presence of some secessionists’ leaders in Nigeria. Indeed, he said that the Cameroonians residing in Nigeria are actually favored by some clauses of the bilateral accord between the two parties which allow citizens of the two countries to stay in the other country for three months without a visa. This regulation compels the visitor to scrupulously respect the laws and regulations of the host country. The law also prohibits activities which can destabilize the visitor’s home country.

Source: Business in Cameroon

Nigeria President Muhammadu Buhari said the country “cannot afford to go back to dark days of insecurity” in the oil-producing Niger Delta region. In a speech to present the 2018 budget, Buhari called on all sides to maintain dialogue.

Last week, the militant group Niger Delta Avengers threatened a “brutal and bloody” return to the violence that last year slashed oil output. Oil minister Emmanuel Ibe Kachikwu will visit the region this week in an attempt to maintain the ceasefire.

Buhari also said the country’s exemption from production cuts organised by the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) was a significant help to the country during its “most challenging time.”

Source: Reuters

Nigerian protesters have demanded that President Muhammadu Buhari, receiving treatment in London for an undisclosed ailment for more than three months, either return or resign. Buhari left for the British capital on May 7 on what is his latest medical trip, appointing Vice President Yemi Osinbajo to act on his behalf.

Dozens of protesters marched in heavy rain to the presidential villa in Abuja with banners urging that the 74-year-old retired general, who headed a military regime in the 1980s, return.

“Resume or resign, Nigerians say enough is enough,” one said, with others stating: “If president Buhari cannot return to Nigeria after 90 days, then he should resign and go home”, and “Buhari, where are you? Nigerians want full disclosure. What is wrong with our president?”

The peaceful march was organized by a coalition of civil society groups under the supervision of security agents. “We are here today because the president of Nigeria has absconded from duty,” said Deji Adeyanju, one of the organizers.

“He has not only absconded, he has continued to lie to us. This year alone the president has been away for 144 days. “He was away for 52 days in January and he has been away again today for 92 consecutive days. This cannot continue.”

Buhari has been dogged by speculation about his health since June last year when he first went to London for treatment of what the presidency said was a persistent ear infection. He then spent nearly two months in London in January and February and said on his return in early March that he had “never been so ill”.

Last month, members of the ruling party and the opposition went to see him in London and even took pictures in an attempt to douse public anxiety. The health of Nigeria’s leader has been a sensitive issue since the death in office of President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua in 2010 after months of treatment abroad.

Buhari’s main opponents in the 2015 election that brought him to power claimed he had prostate cancer. He denied the claim.

(Source: AFP)