News
Bayelsa State Governor Diri Tasks Army On Agge, Oluasiri Bases …Seeks Cooperation On Arrests In Communities
Bayelsa State Governor, Senator Douye Diri, has urged the Nigerian Army to ensure that the Forward Operating Base,FOB, at Agge in Ekeremor local government area of the state becomes operational to beef up security in the area and in the entire state.
Senator Diri represented by his deputy, Senator Lawrence Ewhrudjakpo, made the appeal on Tuesday when the General Officer Commanding, 6th Division, Major General Felix Agugo, and other senior officers paid him a courtesy visit in Government House, Yenagoa.
A press release by his Acting Chief Press Secretary, Mr. Daniel Alabrah, quoted the governor as having noted that his predecessor has built an FOB, which had reached an advanced level of completion, towards assisting the Nigerian Army in reducing crime in the locality.
While commending officers and men of the Nigerian Army for their vital contributions and sacrifices in sustaining peace and stability across the country, Senator Diri equally appealed that its base at the Oluasiri axis in Nembe local government area be made fully operational to check the movement of light arms and other criminal activities.
“I want the Nigerian Army to activate that Forward Operating Base because your presence there will go a long way to ward off criminal activities”, he said.
“We also want to make the same appeal at the Oluasiri end where we have a lot of incursions in that area, especially the movement of light arms in that area”, he added.
Senator Diri expressed his administration’s commitment to continually support the Nigerian Army towards promoting peace and attracting investments for development.
The governor also appealed to the military to exercise restraint while effecting arrests in Bayelsa communities.
He noted that there was usually an outcry from community folks whenever soldiers enter communities, urging the army to carry along the state government if the need arises for such action.
“Our administration would always collaborate with security agencies to stamp out crime in the state. I therefore appeal that the army liaise with the state government towards ensuring that fishing out perpetrators of crime from communities are effectively planned to minimise
collateral damage in such operations.”
Earlier in his remarks, the General Officer Commanding 6th Division, Major General Felix Agugo, expressed gratitude to the state government for its support over the years.
Maj-Gen Agugo said under the leadership of the present Chief of Army Staff, Lt. General Tukur Buratai, the Nigerian Army has the capacity to effectively play its constitutional role of safeguarding lives and property.
News
Police Arrest Two Lagos Traffic Robbery Suspects Disguising As Beggars
Police have arrested two robbery suspects who pose as alms beggars in Lagos traffic gridlocks.
The duo approached a motorist in a gridlock at Agungi area in Lekki on Friday, soliciting for alms, but forcefully took his telephone handset and jewellery and took to their heels.
Police spokesman in Lagos State, SP Benjamin Hundeyin, told The Tide’s source, yesterday, that the motorist quickly alerted a nearby police patrol team that arrested the robbers.
“The stolen items were recovered from them.
“The two suspects will be arraigned accordingly’’ Hundeyin said.
He told the source that police also arrested a woman, who attempted to transact a N90,000 business with a Point of Sale (PoS) machine operator, using fake N1,000 notes.
Hundeyin said the vigilant PoS operator raised an alarm leading to the arrest of the woman.
He said the suspect had been detained for investigation.
News
Middle Belt Warns Govs Against Grazing Land
A group known as the Middle Belt Patriots has urged state governors not to succumb to pressure from the Federal Government to cede lands to herders for grazing.
The group said yielding to such demands would worsen the security situation in the Middle Belt region and other parts of the country.
President Bola Tinubu had, while speaking at the flag-off of the agricultural mechanisation revolution for food security in Minna, Niger State capital, last Monday, called on governors to give parts of the land in their states to Fulani herders for RUGA or ranching purposes.
In a statement issued on Saturday and signed by its Director of Media and Strategic Communications, Steven Kefas, the Middle Belt Patriots wondered how the Federal Government constantly panders to the interests of the pastoralists at the detriment and displacement of the indigenous populations whose lands and lives are being overrun by the armed ethnic militias affiliated with the herders.
The statement read in part, “We of the Middle Belt Patriots vehemently condemn and reject the recent directive from the Federal Government asking state governors to make land available for grazing by Fulani herdsmen.
“This provocative and ill-advised order shows a shocking disregard for the already tenuous security situation in the Middle Belt region that has been under sustained violent attack by armed Fulani ethnic militias.
“We sternly warn the political leaders, monarchs, and youth/community leaders of the Middle Belt region – Benue, Plateau, Nasarawa, Niger, Kwara, Kogi, and sections of Taraba, Adamawa, Bauchi, Southern Kaduna, and Gombe – to outright disregard and defy this reckless federal directive.
“Capitulating to these demands and ceding more land for grazers will only fan the flames of the ethnic clashes, further the genocidal massacres, escalate the violent displacement of indigenes from their ancestral lands, and jeopardise the fragile peace in a region that has already suffered immensely.”
News
Ex-Deputy Governors Identify Causes Of Friction Between Governors, Deputies
Ambition, mischief and activities of tale-bearers are partly blameable for frictions between governors and their deputies, three former deputy governors in Lagos State told The Tide’s source, yesterday.
They were fielding questions on possible reasons for squabbles between governors and their deputies with the current case in Edo in view.
On March 6, Edo State House of Assembly passed a motion to serve an impeachment notice on the Deputy Governor, Mr Philip Shaibu.
Majority leader of the house, Mr Charity Aiguobarueghian (PDP Ovia North-East 1), said it received a petition signed by 21 members out of 24 members of the assembly against Shaibu on March 5.
He said the petition was anchored on two grounds of perjury and revealing government’s secrets
There had been a prolonged rift between Shaibu and his principal, Gov. Godwin Obaseki.
Speaking with The Tide’s source, Mr Femi Pedro, who served as deputy governor in Lagos State from 2003 to 2007, blamed ambition as the Number One culprit that triggers clashes between governors and their deputies.
“Oftentimes when the deputy’s and his principal’s visions do not align, it could cause friction.
“Being a deputy governor or a vice-president is so tricky because you smell power and you seem close to it. This can trigger people wrongly.
“A governor knows the ability of his deputy to a great extent; so if he says you are not fit to be governor, then you are probably not fit to be governor in the real sense of it.
“Also, loyalists of governors and their deputies often peddle fake and absurd news and unfathomable lies setting the two against each other.
“Being in the corridor of power takes a lot of level headedness and deep understanding of protocol,’’ Pedro said.
He noted that a deputy governor could continue to face adversaries even after his principal had died and he had taken over government.
He cited the example of Gov. Lucky Aiyedatiwa of Ondo State who was the deputy governor to deceased Gov. Rotimi Akeredolu.
In her view, Mrs Sarah Sosan, deputy governor to Mr Babatunde Fashola in Lagos State in 2007, said as long as deputy governors abided by the rules and regulations guiding their office, there should not be frictions.
“There are rules and regulations in the Constitution. Deputy Governors should familiarise themselves with the rules and relate with their principals properly when issues arise.
“In most cases, ambition is to be blamed; but there is nothing wrong in being ambitious.
“When ambition overrides loyalty, there will always be trouble. Our loyalists also cause a lot of friction, but things depend on how maturely one handles situations.
“I advise deputy governors to relate with their principals well. They should settle whatever issue that arises amicably between them without going public,’’ she said.
Also speaking with The Tide source, Mrs Adejoke Orelope-Adefulire, deputy governor in Lagos State from 2011 to 2015, blamed frictions between governors and their deputies on conflict of interests.
“The relationship between a governor and the deputy should be cordial to ensure the development of the state and to ensure that social contracts between the government and the people are kept.
“That supersedes ambition; they should deliver the good governance they promised to the people during the electioneering campaign; to do that they must have good relationships.
“Ambition remains the number one problem. It is followed by lack of transparency. The last one is the issue of loyalists of both camps who carry tales.
“If the deputy governor is ambitious of taking over from the principal and the principal has another plan, there would be frictions,’’ Orelope-Adefulire said.
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