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Obasanjo worries about depreciating economy, govt appointments based on favouritism
Former President Olusegun Obasanjo has expressed concern about the current state of affairs in the country, especially the continued drop in living standard.
He lamented that government’s appointments were based on “favouritism” and not merit or competence.
The former president said this in a statement while felicitating the Federal Government College, Kaduna, on its 50th anniversary.
He said the economic situation in the country had increased hardship, insecurity, and affected the quality of leadership.
According to him, leaders are more concerned about their selfish interests than the country’s survival, adding that the religious tensions in the country have been intentionally instigated by politicians.
“Once again, our nation is dancing on the precipice and some of us are truly worried about the state of affairs today. I expressed that worry in my open letter to Nigerians and Nigerian youths on New Year’s Day,” he said.
“As I stated in the letter; ‘If we fall prey again, we will have ourselves to blame and no one can say how many more knocks Nigeria can take before it tips over. To be forewarned is to be fore-armed.’ Of course, I pray that Nigeria will never tip over. We must constantly work at it and pray.
“My worry is premised on a number of issues. First, I am concerned that the current state of our nation’s economy has widened the gulf of inequality and left many people in despair. Inflation is on the rise; poverty and hardship have returned to many households. The last decade has reversed many of the economic gains that were made in the first decade of the century. There is a general sense of hopelessness across the nation with seemingly uncontrollable insecurity.
“In addition to the economic hardship is political mischief. Never have we been so politically divided along religious, ethnic and other fault lines and deliberately so. Appointments in government are skewed and lopsided on basis of nepotism and mediocrity and disregard of merit and competence.
“Elections are here and may compound the problem. Political parties and politicians have now been emboldened to discard some of the things that were put in place to give all groups a sense of belonging. Exclusion is being taken as normal. Disunity stares us in the face and many of our leaders are more concerned about their selfish interests than the survival and health of our nation.”
Speaking further, Obasanjo urged Nigerians to change the political course of the country by participating actively in the forthcoming elections.
The former president said the concerns raised about the presidential candidates are real, adding that Nigerians would have themselves to blame if they do nothing about the situation.
The statement read, “Let me reiterate that the concerns being raised about the nature of the options before us in the presidential elections for instance are real and should not be trifled with.
“Nigeria belongs to us all and no part of the country should be left in doubt about their place in this union on any basis whatsoever; ethnic, religious, language, region, culture or social standing.
“The beauty of democracy is that the options before us cannot be imposed on us if we all do what we need to do to send a message to those who have had the audacity to present those options to us with little or no interest for the 225 million Nigerians.
“If we choose to do nothing, we will only have ourselves to blame. If we choose to do the right thing, we will by so doing return this country on the right track; one which gives all our people a sense of belonging and a sense of unity of purpose and a stake in the project Nigeria; a project that will give all of us peace, security, stability, shared prosperity, hope and progress and a place within the comity of nations.”
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Place arms embargo on Nigeria, IPOB tells Italy
Place arms embargo on Nigeria, IPOB tells Italy
The separatist group, IPOB, has called upon the Italian government to halt the sale of air force jets to Nigeria due to ongoing human rights violations against indigenous people and communities in the country
IPOB’s Media and Publicity Secretary, Emma Powerful, emphasized the need for all civilized nations to refrain from further supplying military hardware and software to Nigeria.
Powerful said, “The Nigerian government has created the terrorist groups that they are pretending to have been fighting in order to displace indigenous nations and allow individuals in power to loot the country’s funds.
“Therefore, we appeal to the Italian government to stop the military aircraft purchase deal they entered into with the Nigerian government.
“We also ask other countries considering selling arms to Nigeria to stop because Nigeria is not using the arms for their intended purposes.”
He stated that “IPOB has no intention to interfere with the Italian Government’s business but wants to inform them that the Nigeria military has not used the previously acquired arms and ammunition including fighter jets to fight terrorists who operate in the open in Northern Nigeria but have targeted innocent and peaceful people”.
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“Unarmed IPOB members have also been the victims of Nigerian military’s brutality,” Powerful said. “Some of the Internally Displaced People’s (IDP) Camps in Nigeria have been intentionally bombed by the Nigeria military to prevent the displaced persons from returning to their communities already ceded to the terrorists as their own.”
He said, “Recently, an Okuama Community in Delta State, Nigeria, was invaded, bombed, and the entire community displaced by the Nigerian military. The Nigerian government and her military are known for human rights violations and genocide against her civilians.”
The IPOB spokesperson further stated: “In 2021, the Nigerian Air Force bought “12” A-29 Super Tucano Jets from the United States of America to fight terrorism in Nigeria.
“After the delivery of those fighter jets, they were deployed in the Eastern region of the country and were used in bombing of Igbo villages and their people mostly in Orlu Local Government Area of Imo State.
“From the day the Tucano jets arrived in Nigeria in 2021 till late 2023, they were never used against terrorists but were consistently used in the bombing of innocent people in Imo State in the Eastern part of the country that is Biafra land and also in the bombing of IDP camps in the North who are victims of Boko Haram terrorist attacks.”
IPOB urged the Italian government to “halt the sale of jets to the Nigerian government because their fight against terrorism is a hoax”.
“The Italian government should not fall into the Nigerian government’s deception,” he said.
The Italian government should not fall into the Nigerian government’s deception,” he said.
“Any supply of arms and ammunition to the Nigerian government is a tacit support to human rights abuse and violations. The Italian government and her citizens are civilized and should not support any government that is violating the fundamental human rights of her citizens.
“We are calling on the Italian Prime Minister, Ms. Giorgia Meloni, to place an arms embargo on the Nigerian government for their history of bombing civilian populations and for human rights violations,” he added.
Place arms embargo on Nigeria, IPOB tells Italy
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Netizens mock prophet who prophesied world will end today
Netizens mock prophet who prophesied world will end today
Social media users have reacted to a self-proclaimed preacher named Prophet Metuh, who has declared that the world will come to an end on Thursday, April 25.
According to him, he received a ‘clear message’ from God, indicating that April 25, 2024, marks the final day for humanity.
In a video that has since gone viral on X, Metuh said: “By the 25th of April, the world is going to end. If you like take this seriously, if you don’t like don’t take it seriously.
“But this is real, rapture is coming, on the 25th of April 2024, I saw it very clear, do you understand? I saw the date very clear and the lord ministered to me. He mentioned it twice, it has happened twice.”
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He also chastised social media users who were criticising him for his claim of rapture.
“This is not a joke, this is a reality. Rapture is coming, prepare yourself. The message was very clear and the date is also very clear, 25th of April 2024. Rapture is coming. The world has come to an end and that is just the reality.”
“I have seen a lot of reactions and comments on social media but it doesn’t really matter. What matters is that you have to prepare yourself. The message was very clear, it is not for me to finetune for you to be happy or for you to like it. It is to pass the message as I got it and that is what I have done.
Netizens mock prophet who prophesied world will end today
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Bullying: Tacha accuses Nigerians of ‘selective outrage’
Bullying: Tacha accuses Nigerians of ‘selective outrage’
Reality star Tacha has tackled Nigerians on what she described as ‘selective outrage’ following the trending internet topic, bullying.
Her criticism followed a video capturing the bullying of a student by her classmates at Lead British International School in Abuja circulated online.
Angered by the outrage that followed the video, Tacha lambasted Nigerians for being hypocrites.
On her platform X, she uploaded a video where she criticized social media users, emphasizing that many of those advocating for justice in the prominent bullying incident were also prone to swift criticism and may have exhibited bullying behaviour during their own secondary school days.
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She said: “This thing with Nigerians and selective outrage is something that I would never understand. All of a sudden everyone is acting brand new screaming ‘justice for…’ since yesterday and today, as if you guys were not bullies back in secondary school. Or as if you guys did not watch your friend bully junior students for doing absolutely nothing or seizing their food.
“You people wake up and bully celebrities unprovoked and insult them and nobody says anything. Is that not bullying? Are you not bullies yourselves? Justice for you! Justice for Tacha too that you people would insult unprovoked. Even if the person that they are owing over a million naira, no outrage because it’s someone that you don’t like. Hypocrites! Don’t come and be disturbing this timeline with justice for…’”
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