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PDP Carpets Buhari On Comment In Morocco …Says Image-Laundering, A Mockery …As APC. PDP Reps Disagree On Obasanjo’s Frame-Up Alarm
The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has described a comment in Morocco in praise of Nigerian youth by President Muhammadu Buhari as a poorly packaged “deception.”
Mr Buhari made the statement last Monday when he was hosted by Moroccan Prime Minister, Saadeddine Othman, during his two-day visit to the North-African country.
In a statement yesterday by its National Publicity Secretary, Kola Ologbondiyan, PDP said Mr Buhari only uttered the praise “to sugarcoat his deep-seated disdain for Nigerian youth.”
It said the sudden praise-singing was not borne out of genuine regard for the youth but was “only a desperate afterthought aimed to reverse the public opprobrium he earned himself for his ‘lazy youths and lovers of freebies’ comment.”
Mr Buhari earlier this year at the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) in London said some Nigerian youth are lazy.
The comment provoked a backlash as many Nigerian youth trolled the president for days, with some going as far as sharing pictures and videos showing several efforts being made by youth in the country to earn decent living.
Reacting to the latest comment in Morocco in which he portrayed the youth in a positive light, PDP said the Nigerian youth now know better and can no longer fall for Mr Buhari’s tricks.
“Every Nigerian is aware of President Buhari’s disdain for our citizens and sees his reported comments in Morocco as inconsistent with his known beliefs and dispositions,” the party said.
It also recalled the president’s light-hearted comment after signing the Not Too Young To Run bill when he told the youth to feel free to contest for any position but should not run for president in 2019.
“Perhaps, the president’s handlers in an effort to get the president the support of the youth, they heavily edited his statement on the Morocco visit,” PDP said.
It urged Mr Buhari to note that the comment in Morocco “cannot wash away the disgraceful invectives he openly poured on the energetic and vivacious Nigerian youths. He would need another CHOGM in London to remove his lazy and lover of freebies stamp on our youths.
“President Buhari should therefore end his gimmicks and let go of straws.”
The party said the president should realise the only expectation Nigerians require of him is to tender a direct apology for his “abysmal” performance and be prepared to leave for “a more innovative, and people-oriented president which Nigerians will elect on the platform of the PDP in 2019.”
Meanwhile, members of the All Progressives Congress and the opposition Peoples Democratic Party in the House of Representatives have disagreed over the alarm raised by former President Olusegun Obasanjo that President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration planned to frame him up.
While the APC lawmakers dismissed Obasanjo’s allegation, their PDP counterparts said it should be taken seriously.
Doguwa, in an interview with newsmen, alleged that the former President was guilty, hence his fears.
He stated, “Indeed, the guilty are always afraid. Obasanjo’s claims are no more than a mere expression of guilt. Nigerians must not forget the huge financial scandals perpetrated under Obasanjo’s administration.
“The $16bn claimed to have been spent on power, the misappropriation involved in the so-called privatisation of government assets and the unprecedented abuse of our foreign reserves in his tenure to mention but a few, cannot be swept under the carpet.”
Speaking further, Ado-Doguwa, an APC member from Kano State, added, “It is only my hope that the Buhari anti-graft crusade will not be distracted by such a baseless outcry by Chief Obasanjo, trying to divert public attention.
“It’s my candid opinion that nobody is above the law. The government must, therefore, be ready to bring Obasanjo to book by compelling him to provide answers to some of the weighty allegations against him and his government.”
But a member of the PDP from Kogi State, Mr Karimi Sunday, asked the Buhari administration to come clean of fears being expressed by persons with opposition views that it planned to frame them up over crimes they did not commit.
He noted that Obasanjo, a former President, had access to privileged information and was not likely to be flippant.
Sunday spoke further, “The thing is that, could it be a coincidence that people with opposing views to the government’s are expressing these concerns?
“Recall that the President of the Senate, Bukola Saraki, raised a similar alarm shortly before the police linked him with the Offa robbery suspects.
“Now, it is Obasanjo, a former President, whom we can’t say is given to frivolity or can be presumed to speak without facts.
“It is even showing in the pattern the government is executing its anti-corruption war. All the major persons so far arraigned are the PDP members.
“Are we saying that there is no corrupt person in the APC? It is a serious issue that the government and especially, the President must address as we approach the 2019 polls.
Another member of the PDP from Ebonyi State, Mr Igariwey Iduma-Enwo, described the disagreement between Buhari and Obasanjo as “tragic”, considering that Obasanjo was instrumental to Buhari’s second return to power as a civilian President in 2015.
Iduma-Enwo, a lawyer, observed, “The face-off between the two generals is a tragic irony.
“Tragic in the sense that Chief Obasanjo and a good number of other prominent Nigerians who left the PDP and helped bring about this administration, are now being hounded by the same administration.”
But, an All Progressives Congress member from Lagos State, Mr James Faleke, dismissed Obasanjo’s fears, saying that he did not believe that Buhari would arrest him over trumped-up charges.
He argued that Buhari was a “due process” President, who would not abuse his powers to arrest Obasanjo simply because the former President had become his critic.
“Besides, Obasanjo has said that he is not one of the corrupt leaders.
“If he has no skeletons in his cupboard, it means that he has nothing to fear because he is clean.
“I do know that when Obasanjo was still in power, no one would have written him the letters he wrote Buhari and he would let him be. Yet, Buhari has not replied his letters,” Faleke added.
When contacted, the spokesman for the House, Mr Abdulrazak Namdas, told our correspondent that the House had “no comments” on the matter.
The Majority Leader of the House, Mr Femi Gbajabiamila, did not respond to inquiries by our correspondent.
On its part, the Senate said that it was watching the frame-up allegation by the ex-President. It, however, noted that the clampdown on dissenting voices could become a trend in the present administration.
Senator Ben Murray-Bruce, who stated this in a telephone interview with one of our correspondents, recalled that the President of the Senate, Bukola Saraki, had earlier raised the alarm over an alleged plot to implicate him by the police in their investigations into the bank robberies in Offa, Kwara State.
Saraki had raised the alarm that the Inspector-General of Police, Ibrahim Idris, was plotting to frame him in the investigation of the crime.
Murray-Bruce said, “The Senate President, at an open session claimed that he was to be framed (by the Nigeria Police) and that is exactly what Obasanjo has come out to say, that he was going to be framed. We are waiting to see what happens. If it happens, it is going to be a trend but if it does not, it is not a trend. Let us see what happens. Obasanjo, who was my boss and whom I love unconditionally, has said it. Let us see what happens.”
Also, the Deputy Minority Leader, Senator Emmanuel Bwacha (PDP, Taraba-South), described Obasanjo’s allegation as weighty. He charged the Federal Government to ensure adequate protection of the former president.
Bwacha said, “It is like a wake-up call. He said that it (the alleged plot) is to frame him up and possibly kill him. It is for the security agencies and all the arms of the government to keep watch and follow up on the event. It is not coming from just an ordinary Nigerian; it is coming from a former president.”
Asked if the alarm raised by Obasanjo was political as his critics had dismissed it, the lawmaker said, “Which politics? You don’t play politics with your life. Somebody said his life is in danger and you say it is politics, how would that be politics?”
He added, “I don’t think it is politics, the idea is for the appropriate agencies to sit up. We will also watch the events as they unfold, whether this allegation will be confirmed. And it not for us only, the international community is also watching. It is quite a weighty allegation.”
Vice President Kashim Shettima has arrived in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, for an official State visit at the invitation of the Prime Minister, Dr. Abiy Ahmed.
Upon arrival yesterday, Shettima was received at the airport by the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ethiopia, Dr. Gedion Timothewos, and other members of the Ethiopian and Nigerian diplomatic corps.
Senior Special Assistant to the Vice President on Media and Communication, Stanley Nkwocha, revealed this in a statement he signed yesterday, titled: “VP Shettima arrives in Ethiopia for official state visit.”
During the visit, Vice President Shettima will participate in the official launch of Ethiopia’s Green Legacy Programme, a flagship environmental initiative.
The programme designed to combat deforestation, enhance biodiversity, and mitigate the adverse effects of climate change targets the planting of 20 billion tree seedlings over a four-year period.
In line with strengthening bilateral ties in agriculture and industrial development, the Vice President will also embark on a strategic tour of key industrial zones and integrated agricultural facilities across selected regions of Ethiopia.
News
RSG Tasks Farmers On N4bn Agric Loan ….As RAAMP Takes Sensitization Campaign To Four LGs In Rivers
The Rivers State Government has called on the people of the state especially farmers to access the ?4billion agricultural loans made available by the State and domiciled in the Bank of Industry.
This is as the State Project Implementation Unit (SPIU) of Rural Access and Agricultural Marketing Project (RAAMP), a World Bank project, took its sensitization campaign to Opobo/Nkoro, Andoni, Port Harcourt City and Obio/Akpor local government areas.
The campaign was aimed at enlightening community dwellers and other stakeholders in the various local government areas on the RAAMP project implementation and programme activities.
The Permanent Secretary, Rivers State Ministry of Agriculture, Mr Maurice Ogolo, said this at Opobo town, Ngo, Port Harcourt City and Rumuodumanya, headquarters of the four local government areas respectively, during the sensitization campaign.
Ogolo said apart from the ?4billion, the government has also made available fertilizers and other farm inputs to farmers in the various local government areas.
The Permanent Secretary who is the Chairman, State Steering Committee for the project, said RAAMP will construct roads that will connect farms to markets to enable farmers and fishermen sell their farms produce and fishes.
He also said rural roads would be constructed to farms and fishing settlements, and warned against any act that will lead to the cancellation of the projects in the four local government areas.
According to him, the World Bank and Federal Government which are the financiers of the programme will not condone such acts like kidnapping, marching ground and other acts inimical to the successful implementation of the projects in their respective areas.
At PHALGA, Ogolo asserted that the city will benefit in the areas of roads and bridge construction.
He noted that RAAMP was thriving in both the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja; Lagos and other states in the country, stressing that the project should also be given the seriousness it deserves in Rivers State.
Speaking at Opobo town, the headquarters of Opobo/Nkoro Local Government Area, the project coordinator, RAAMP, Mr.Joshua Kpakol, said the programme would reduce poverty in the state.
According to him, both fishermen and farmers will maximally benefit from the programme.
At Ngo which is the headquarters of Andoni Local Government Area, Kpakol said roads will be constructed to all remote fishing settlements.
He said Rivers State is lucky to be among the states implementing the project, and stressed the need for the people to embrace it.
Meanwhile, Kpakol said at PHALGA that RAAMP is a project that will transform the lives of farmers, traders and other stakeholders in the area.
He urged the stakeholders to spread the information to their various communities.
However, some of the stakeholders at Opobo town complained about the destruction of their farms by bulls allegedly owed by traditional rulers in the area, as well as incessant stealing of their canoes at waterfronts.
At Ngo, Archbishop Elkanah Hanson, founder of El-Shaddai Church, commended the World Bank and the Federal Government for bringing the projects to Andoni.
He stressed the need for the construction of roads to fishing settlements in the area.
Also, a former Commissioner for Agriculture in the state and Okan Ama of Ekede, HRH King Gad Harry, noted that storage facilities have become necessary for a successful agricultural programme.
Harry also stressed the need for the programme to be made sustainable.
In their separate speeches, the administrators of Andoni and Opobo/Nkoro Local Government Areas, pledged their readiness to support the programme.
At Port Harcourt City, the Administrator, Dr Arthur Kalagbor, represented by the Head of Local Government Administration, Port Harcourt City, Mr Clifford Paul, said the city would support the implementation of the programme in the area.
Also, the administrator of Obio/Akpor Local Government Area, Dr Clifford Ndu Walter, represented by Mr Michael Elenwo, pledged to support the programme in his local government area.
Among dignitaries at the Obio/Akpor stakeholders engagement is the chairman, Rivers State Traditional Rulers Council and paramount ruler of Apara Kingdom, HRM Eze Chike Wodo, amongst others.
John Bibor
President Bola Tinubu has ordered the commencement of personnel audit and skill gap analysis across all cadres of federal civil servants.
The president gave this directive in Abuja, yesterday, while speaking at the International Civil Service Conference, reaffirming his resolve to achieve efficiency and professional service delivery in the civil service.
“I have authorized the comprehensive personnel audit and skill gap analysis across the federal civil service to deepen capacity. I urge all responsible stakeholders to prioritize timely completion of this critical exercise, to begin implementing targeted reforms, to realize the full benefit of a more agile, competent and responsive civil service,” the president announced.
Tinubu further directed all Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs), to prioritise data integrity and sovereignty in national interest.
He called for the capture, protection and strategic publication of public sector data in line with the Nigeria Data Protection Act of 2023.
“We must let our data speak for us. We must publish verified data assets within Nigeria and share them internationally recognized as fruitful. This will allow global benchmarking organisation to track our progress in real time and help us strengthen our position on the world stage. This will preserve privacy and uphold data sovereignty,” Tinubu added.
President Tinubu hailed the federal civil service as the “engine” driving his Renewed Hope Agenda, and the vehicle for delivering sustainable national development.
He submitted that the roles of civil servants remain indispensable in modern governance, declaring that in the face of a fast-evolving digital and economic landscape, the civil service must remain agile, future-ready, and results-driven.
“This maiden conference is a bold step toward redefining governance in an era of rapid transformation. An innovative Civil Service ensures we meet today’s needs and overcome tomorrow’s challenges.
“It captures our collective ambition to reimagine and reposition the civil service. In today’s rapid, evolving world of technology, innovation remains critical in ensuring that the civil service is dynamic, digital” the President said.
Head of the Civil Service of the Federation, Didi Walson-Jack in her welcome address told the President that his presence and strong words of commendation at the conference has renewed the morale and mandate of public servants across the country.
Walson-Jack described Tinubu as the backbone of driving transformation in the Nigerian civil service, and noted that the takeaways from past study tours undertaken to understudy the civil service in Singapore, the UK and US under her leadership, is already yielding multiplier effects.
Walson-Jack assured Tinubu that her office, in collaboration with reform-minded stakeholders, will not relent in accelerating the implementation of the Federal Civil Service Strategy and Implementation Plan, FCSSIP 25.
She affirmed that digitalisation, performance management, and continuous learning remain key pillars in strengthening accountability, transparency, and service delivery across MDAs.
Walson-Jack reaffirmed that the civil service is determined to exceed expectations by embedding a culture of innovation, ethical leadership, and citizen-centred governance in the heart of public administration.