News
Buhari’s single biggest capital project cited in South East — Kalu
The Senate Chief Whip, Chief Orji Kalu, has said that President Muhammadu Buhari’s single biggest capital project in the country is cited in the South East.
Kalu said this on Thursday in his Camp Neya country home in Igbere, Abia State during a political meeting he convened.
The meeting was for the executive committee members of his political structures: OUK Movement and Reality Organisation.
They were from the 17 local government areas and 295 wards in Abia State.
Kalu described the N369 billion Second Niger Bridge as the Federal Government’s single biggest capital project to be cited in any geopolitical zone in the country.
He, therefore, urged the people of the South East to have faith in the President and support his administration.
“The President still has 17 months in office and has a role to play in 2023. He may surprise the South East zone,” Kalu said.
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He described Buhari as a “highly disciplined leader”, adding that his administration’s commitment to the 100 per cent budget implementation in 2020 and 2021 has been unprecedented since 1999.
“No past president or governor in the country has been able to achieve full implementation of the budget since the present democratic dispensation,” he said.
Kalu charged the committees to see themselves as fishers of men, saying they should go round the state to win more members.
He also admonished them to arm themselves with voter cards in order to use their votes to determine who would become the next governor of Abia State.
He said: “I urge you to be serious and committed to the 2023 governorship project.
“It is our duty to install the next governor that would be able to deliver the dividends of democracy to the people.”
Kalu said he had provided effective representation to his Abia North Senatorial District constituency, adding that he had also attracted some road projects to Aba, the commercial hub of Abia State.
He said: “I have brought cross-constituency projects, including roads in Ariaria, Industrial and Shoemaker Markets, all in Aba, Isialangwa North and South.”
In separate speeches, Ndukwe Orji and Peter Ndukwe, Chairmen of OUK Movement and Reality Organisation, respectively, pledged their continued loyalty to Kalu.
They also promised that they would work assiduously to recruit more members, adding that they are determined to use their votes to elect a grassroot-oriented leadership in 2023.
The President of Reality Organisation Worlwide and Kalu’s mother, Eunice, urged the two groups to remain committed and steadfast to the 2023 project.
The News Agency of Nigeria reports that the meeting was attended by members of Reality Organisation in diaspora: Chief Daniel Eke and Chief Ese N. Ese.
Other guests were chieftains of the All Progressives Congress, including the Spokesman of the House of Representatives, Rep. Ben Kalu, representing Bende Federal Constituency, and Dr Chidia Maduekwe, the Managing Director, Nigerian Film Corporation, amongst others.
The Eagle
News
Under-pressure AIG Okolo says state police comment personal opinion, not IGP’s
Under-pressure AIG Okolo says state police comment personal opinion, not IGP’s
Inspector-General of Police in charge of Information, Communications and Technology (ICT) at the Force Headquarters, Benjamin Okolo, may have been under pressure for saying Nigeria is not ripe for state police.
Since he represented the Inspector General of Police, Kayode Egbetokun, at a forum on Monday with former Nigeria’s presidents and leaders of thoughts, the statement was simply attributed to the IGP.
It was at a national dialogue on state police organised by the House of Representatives in Abuja.
Okolo however on Tuesday retracted the comment, saying he was not directed by IGP Egbetokun to disagree with the position of former Head of State, Gen. Abdulsalam Abubakar, and the former President, Goodluck Jonathan, on the issue of state police at the forum.
Okolo had also proposed that the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) and the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) be merged to become a department under the police.
Newstrends had quoted Okolo as saying at the Monday forum, “It is the submission of the leadership of the Nigeria police force that Nigeria is yet to mature and ready for the establishment of state-controlled police.
“In view of this, the police leadership rather is recommending the following instead of creating state police.
“First, the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps, Federal Road Safety to form a department under the Nigeria police.”
But in a U-turn, Okolo, at a press briefing at the Force Headquarters, Abuja on Tuesday, said he only made the comment in his personal capacity to stimulate the discourse, and not the official position of the IGP and the police force.
He said, “My expressions on state police at the session held at Abuja Continental Hotel on 22nd April, 2024 are my personal opinion to stimulate the discourse.
“They are not the views of the Inspector-General of Police or the Nigeria Police Force.”
News
Shun politicking, FG tells new 17 Chargé D’affaires, Consuls General
Shun politicking, FG tells new 17 Chargé D’affaires, Consuls General
The Federal Government has advised newly appointed five new Chargé D’affaires and 12 Consuls General to the nation’s mission in other countries to shun politicking and focus strictly on their job.
Minister of Foreign Affairs, Ambassador Yusuf Tuggar, gave the charge while unveiling the new appointees on Tuesday.
He also charged them to be good ambassadors of Nigeria.
A statement by Alkasim Abdulkadir, the minister’s Special Assistant on Media and Communications Strategy, gave these details.
While asserting that they were pivotal to the economic drive of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, Tuggar further stressed that as seasoned career diplomats, they should recommit themselves to their calling of diplomacy for the collective interest and development of Nigeria.
Reacting on behalf of the new appointees, the just appointed Consul General for the Consulate in New York, Ambassador Abubakar Jidda, reiterated the commitment of his colleagues to uphold the ethos of the profession and pledged to bring the much-needed investments to the country.
He thanked President Bola Tinubu and the leadership of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for the confidence reposed in them.
The new appointees are to resume immediately, the statement added.
FULL LIST:
Chargé D’affaires
Amb. Saidu Mohammed DODO, Damascus, Syria
Amb. Patrick Imoudu, IMOLOGHOME Pyongyang, Democratic Peoples’ Republic of Korea
Amb. Francisca Kemi OMAYULI
Singapore, Singapore
Amb. Babagana AHMADU
Bangui, Central African Republic
Amb. Mohammed MOHAMMED
Tripoli, Libya.
Consul General Conuslate
Amb. Auwalu Jega NAMADINA
Atlanta, USA
Amb. Nnamdi Okechukwu NZE
Bata, Equatorial Guinea
Amb. Francis Ntui ENYA
Douala, Cameroon
Amb. Gbadebo AFOLABI
Shanghai, China
Amb. Oludare Ezekiel FOLOWOSELE
Hong Kong, China
Amb. Abubakar JIDDA
New York, USA
Amb. Yakubu Audu DADU
Frankfurt, Germany
Amb. Taofik Obasanjo Coker
Buea, Cameroon
Amb. George Collins ONWUEKWE
Guangzhou, China
Amb. Umar Ibrahim BASHIR
Johannesburg, South Africa
Amb. Zayyan IBRAHIM
Dubai, UAE
Amb. Muazam Ibrahim Jibrin NAYAYA
Jeddah, Saudi Arabia
News
Produce copy of invitation to me, Bello challenges EFCC
Produce copy of invitation to me, Bello challenges EFCC
The former governor of Kogi State, Yahaya Bello, refuted allegations that he disregarded an invitation from the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
According to the EFCC, Bello was summoned for interrogation on January 27 this year but failed to appear, leading to a declaration of him as a fugitive after an unsuccessful attempt to apprehend him at his Abuja residence.
In response to this claim, Bello’s media office issued a statement on Tuesday, challenging the accusations and urging the anti-graft agency to produce a copy of the invitation letter.
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The statement read, “Our attention has been drawn to a publication/press statement with the above title, issued by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) on Monday, 22nd April, 2024, and signed by Wilson Uwujaren, its Acting Director of Public Affairs.
“In the said statement, which the Commission carefully circulated widely as usual, Mr. Uwujaren, who we have to believe is not a lawyer, continues the EFCC’s ongoing unconscionable lies against the former Governor of Kogi State, His Excellency, Yahaya Bello, CON, by labelling him as a fugitive from justice in order to disingenuously justify their established and willful pattern of defying lawful court orders.
“Contrary to Mr. Uwujaren’s claims, official records and court documents relating to their hounding of Alhaji Yahaya Bello establish a clear timeline of events. These documents are endorsed with dates and times of filing and payments, which are endorsed on court processes – all of which testify to the true sequence of events.”
The statement, signed by Ohiare Michael from Bello’s media office, dismissed the EFCC’s assertions and accused the agency of resorting to intimidation and harassment. It emphasized that while Bello respects the rule of law, he is not afraid of the EFCC.
Produce copy of invitation to me, Bello challenges EFCC
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