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Tanko Yakassai Berates Buhari Over Saraki, Obasanjo
Elder statesman, Alhaji Tanko Yakassai has given reasons some members of the National Assembly will backpedal in the reported plan to impeach President Muhammadu Buhari.
According to him, some of the lawmakers will need the help of the party and the support of their governors and the President in their bid to return for another term and so would not want to involve themselves in the impeachment processes.
Yakassai also spoke of the trial of the Senate President, Bukola Saraki, alleging that Buhari is aware of the actions of the police and is using the Inspector General of Police, IGP, Ibrahim Idris to trouble the Senate.
Speaking on the alarm raised by a former President Olusegun Obasanjo that President Buhari is trying to harm him, Yakassai said Obasanjo may go through the same trial as Saraki.
He said, “If the police can go and arrest a senator and put him in their wagon, isn’t that enough indication that a lot can come thereafter. Now, the Senate President is placed in a situation where he has been implicated by some suspects who are under pressure from the police.
On the impeachment threat by the legislature, Yakasai said, “Minority would have their say, but the majority would have their way. What is the position of the majority in the National Assembly? It’s what we should see.
“Everybody must not think alike, but then we have to look at the position of the majority. The joint meeting of the National Assembly has given us an idea of where the pendulum is tilting towards in the coming days.
“The problem with the National Assembly in this regard is this…the president, by Obasanjo’s declaration, is the leader of the party. And the governors in their respective states are the leaders of the party.
“Now, we are approaching the primaries of the parties where some of the members would like to be endorsed. So, I will not be surprised if some of them who are looking for support from either the president or the governors are unwilling to partake in any move to check some of these things.
Of Obasanjo and the allegation of pending harassment by the Buhari government, Yakasai said, “If his alarm was before the Senate President’s episode, I would have held some reservation regarding it. But you remember that the Senate President on the floor of the Senate indicated that armed robbers arrested in Kwara State were being transferred to Abuja.
“He also alerted the Senate that he learnt from the governor of Kwara that they were being forced to implicate him. And a few days afterwards, the Senate President was invited by the police and the police said that it was in connection with the armed robbery incident.
“Ordinarily, I doubt that a man in the person of the Senate President, with amount of privileges and resources at his disposal long even becoming the Senate president and also taking into consideration also the resources he must have inherited from his father, the reputation of his family and his own reputation as a former governor, that he would allow himself to get involved in armed robbery.
“In addition, you would recall that the Inspector General of Police had recently said that the Senate president did not like him. I read it in the papers.
“I am aware that Obasanjo is openly opposed to the second term of Buhari and some of the government functionaries, particularly those who are connected to the next election – the police, the security operatives, INEC – have blind loyalty to the person of President Buhari.
“I would not be surprised, therefore, if the alarm raised by Obasanjo becomes true. I now tend to believe him rather than disbelieve him in the light of what has just happened to the Senate President.”
The Nigeria Immigration Service has officially ended passport production at multiple centres, transitioning to a single, centralised system for the first time in 62 years.
Minister of Interior, Dr Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo, disclosed this yesterday while inspecting Nigeria’s new Centralised Passport Personalisation Centre at the NIS Headquarters in Abuja.
He stated that since the establishment of NIS in 1963, Nigeria had never operated a central passport production centre, until now, marking a major reform milestone.
“The project is 100 per cent ready. Nigeria can now be more productive and efficient in delivering passport services,” Tunji-Ojo said.
He explained that old machines could only produce 250 to 300 passports daily, but the new system had a capacity of 4,500 to 5,000 passports every day.
“With this, NIS can now meet daily demands within just four to five hours of operation,” he added, describing it as a game-changer for passport processing in Nigeria.
“We promised two-week delivery, and we’re now pushing for one week.
“Automation and optimisation are crucial for keeping this promise to Nigerians,” the minister said.
He noted that centralisation, in line with global standards, would improve uniformity and enhance the overall integrity of Nigerian travel documents worldwide.
Tunji-Ojo described the development as a step toward bringing services closer to Nigerians while driving a culture of efficiency and total passport system reform.
He said the centralised production system aligned with President Bola Tinubu’s reform agenda, boosting NIS capacity and changing the narrative for better service delivery.
The Federation Account Allocation Committee (FAAC) has disbursed N2.225 trillion as federation revenue for the month of August 2025, the highest ever allocation to the three tiers of government and other statutory recipients.
This marks the second consecutive month that FAAC disbursements have crossed the N2 trillion mark.
The revenue, shared at the August 2025 FAAC meeting in Abuja, was buoyed by increases in oil and gas royalty, value-added tax (VAT), and common external tariff (CET) levies, according to a communiqué issued at the end of the meeting.
Out of the N2.225 trillion total distributable revenue, FAAC said N1,478.593 trillion came from statutory revenue, N672.903 billion from VAT, N32.338 billion from the Electronic Money Transfer Levy (EMTL), and N41.284 billion from Exchange Difference.
The communiqué revealed that gross federation revenue for the month stood at N3.635 trillion. From this amount, N124.839 billion was deducted as cost of collection, while N1,285.845 trillion was set aside for transfers, interventions, refunds, and savings.
From the statutory revenue of N1.478 trillion, the Federal Government received N684.462 billion, State Governments received N347.168 billion, and Local Government Councils received N267.652 billion. A further N179.311 billion (13 per cent of mineral revenue) went to oil-producing states as derivation revenue.
From the distributable VAT revenue of N672.903 billion, the Federal Government received N100.935 billion, the states received N336.452 billion, while the local governments got N235.516 billion.
Of the N32.338 billion shared from EMTL, the Federal Government received N4.851 billion, the States received N16.169 billion, and the Local Governments received N11.318 billion.
From the N41.284 billion exchange difference, the Federal Government received N19.799 billion, the states received N10.042 billion, and the local governments received N7.742 billion, while N3.701 billion (13 per cent of mineral revenue) was shared to the oil-producing states as derivation.
The Governing Council of Kenule Beeson Saro-Wiwa Polytechnic, Bori, has decried the inadequate power supply and poor state of infrastructural facilities and equipment at the institution.
The Council also appealed to the government, including Non-Governmental Organisations, agencies, as well as well-meaning Rivers people to intervene to restore and sustain the laudable gesture, dreams and aspirations of the founding fathers of the polytechnic.
The Chairman of the newly inaugurated Council, Professor Friday B. Sigalo, made this appeal during a tour of facilities at the Polytechnic, recently.
Accompanied by members of the team, Prof Sigalo emphasised the position of technology, technical and vocational education in sustainable development.
He noted that with the prospects on ground, and the programmes and activities undertaken in the polytechnic, there is no doubt that the institution would add values to the educational system in our society and foster the desired development, if the existing challenges are jointly tackled.
This was contained in a statement signed by Deputy Registrar, Public Relations, Kenpoly, Innocent Ogbonda-Nwanwu, and made available to The Tide in Port Harcourt.
The chairman who restated the intention of his team of technocrats to ensure that KenPoly enjoys desirable face-lift, said the Council would deliver on its core mandates, accordingly.
Earlier, the Rector, KenPoly Engr. Dr. Ledum S. Gwarah, commended the appointment of Professor Friday B. Sigalo as Chairman of the KenPoly Governing Council.
He described him and his team as seasoned technocrats and expressed confidence in their ability to succeed.
The Rector pledged the management’s support to the Council to ensure that KenPoly resumes its rightful place in the comity of polytechnics in the country.
Facilities visited by the Governing Council include KenPoly workshops, laboratories, skills acquisition centre, library, hostels and medical centre.
Chinedu Wosu
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