[dropcap]M[/dropcap]anchester United manager Jose Mourinho vowed his side would “fight until the last match” after they moved back to within 11 points of Premier League leaders Manchester City by holding on to beat West Brom. Romelu Lukaku opened the scoring with a header – his second goal in as many games – against the team he played for during the 2012-13 season, BBC reports.
Jesse Lingard doubled United’s lead before the break with a shot that deflected off Albion’s Ahmed Hegazi. The Red Devils appeared to be heading for a comfortable win until Albion substitute Gareth Barry poked home from close range with 13 minutes left.
Baggies boss Alan Pardew’s two other substitutes almost combined for an equaliser – Jay Rodriguez shooting wide from a Chris Brunt cross.
But, despite finishing strongly, the Baggies could not add to their first goal in four games under Pardew, remain second from bottom and are on a club record run of 17 games without a win.
“Every match we try to win,” said Mourinho. “I know the questions are always coming in the same direction and I keep saying the same.
“Last match in the Premier League, Watford at Old Trafford, mid-May… until then, every match we go.”
Mourinho said on Wednesday he would be on holiday if he felt the chance of catching City had gone, and his team must keep grinding out the wins while hoping their local rivals falter.
“We don’t want to go on holidays,” he added. “We want to play until the last match.”
[dropcap]T[/dropcap]he Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN) has suspended its nationwide strike.The strike was suspended on Monday following the intervention of the Minister of Labour and Productivity, Dr. Chris Ngige and the Department of State Security, DSS in Abuja.
PENGASSAN, in a statement issued by its Spokesperson, Comrade Fortune Obi, said NECONDE management, the company accused of maltreatment of staff has offered a letter of recalled to the sacked employees and also agreed to allow union to exist in the company.
Obi said that the Minister of Labour and the union therefore, agreed to endeavour to resolve anti-union posture by other indigenous companies and marginal field operators while a meeting was fixed for second week of January 2018 to look at the issues.
PENGASSAN had embarked on a nationwide strike on Monday to protest against alleged maltreatment of its members by an oil company, NECONDE.
President Muhammadu Buhari. For he is a jolly good fellow…
[dropcap]P[/dropcap]resident Muhammadu Buhari on Sunday celebrated on a low key his 75th birthday at the Presidential Villa Abuja. The president also cut a birthday cake. Present at the occasion were his wife, Aisha; Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, governors of Kebbi, Kano, Jigawa, Osun, Imo, Sokoto, Oyo, Zamfara Ogun and others.
Wishing the president many more years to come in strength and wisdom and God’s continued guidance.
[dropcap]F[/dropcap]our armed robbery suspects parading themselves as operatives of the dreaded Special Anti-Robbery Squad, SARS, were on Sunday shot dead by the police in Rivers State. The killing of the four suspects is coming on the heels of allegations in some quarters in Rivers state that some criminals were now impersonating operatives of SARS in order to give the unit a bad name to justify its scrapping.
An eye witness, Chris Okah who lives in Port Harcourt posted a story in his facebook page that:‘Four man robbery gang parading as F-SARS operatives met their end today in Ogbogoro community in Obio/Akpor LGA, Rivers State’’. The state government had through the Obio-Akpor local government issued quit notice to SARS to vacate its command base by November 30, 2017.
The Commander of SARS in Rivers state, CSP Akin Fakorede, replied that the unit would not vacate the command base because the unit was not within the premises of Obio-Akpor local government area.
The state Attorney-General and commissioner for Justice, Emmanuel Aguma, SAN, had defended the quit notice asserting that the land rightfully belonged to the council and at the appropriate time, SARS will vacate the area.
[dropcap]L[/dropcap]et me begin by telling a story. On June 1, 2015, the day I resumed work as adviser on media to President Muhammadu Buhari, he had admonished me: “Adesina, always tell me the truth. That is what I want from you. In this type of position I have found myself, it is very easy not to be told the truth. People will just tell you what they think you want to hear. But from you, I want the truth. As a General, I may argue, but please argue with me. Tell me the truth always.”
Based on that blank cheque I’d been given, I went to the residence one evening last year to see the President. That was the time there was deafening talk of hunger from different parts of the country. I wanted to be sure that the talk was not being filtered from the President. Of course, I know him as somebody who reads newspapers religiously, and wherever we are in the face of the world, he asks for media highlights from Nigeria. So, he would not be unaware of what Nigerians were going through. But I still wanted to raise it with him.
“Mr President, there is hunger in the land, and people are complaining. I know government is doing its best, but I just want you to be aware,” I said.
Mr President responded: “I know, I know. I am aware of what people are going through. I have people in my own constituency back home, and I know the messages they send to me. But it is a passing phase. Our country was vandalized, and we found ourselves in this problem. But now that we are here, we will do our best. We will bring change to this country, and we are already seeing it in agriculture. This period of hunger will pass.”
It was prophetic. The season of hunger will pass, and is indeed passing. Anyone that is honest will admit that things are looking up in Nigeria. The ravening clouds shall no longer be victorious. They shall not long possess the sky.
I went away with one conviction from that night’s meeting: the poor matter very much to this President. He is not the type that people would tell they had no bread to eat, and he would tell them to eat cake instead. This is a friend of the talakawas, a man who loves ordinary people, and who wants their station in life to be improved. And those people know it. That is why they gravitate towards him, and repose so much confidence in him. He is their hero. Our hero.
President Buhari turns 75 years today. But some six months back, how many could confidently say this day would come for the ramrod straight man from Daura? How many believed the President would come out of the severe medical challenge that had confronted him? It all began as a routine vacation cum medical check up in January, and few days after, the rumour mill was on overdrive. The challenge lasted till August, before the President returned home finally, and since then, he has been looking better by the day. Each time you now see him, there is a fresher glow, and you cannot but give glory to God on his behalf.
Femi Adesina
But why was President Buhari kept alive, so much so that he is turning 75 today? Why did he pass through the sea of infirmity, and he was not swept away? Why did he pass through inferno, and the fire did not kindle against him? Big question. I don’t have the answer, but I can hazard some guesses, based on divine principles.
Rigobert Song. Remember him? Song was the Cameroonian defender who played many years for the Indomitable Lions. He appeared at eight African Nations Cup tournaments, five as captain, and stood between Nigeria and victory many times. He became an idol, venerated by his countrymen and women. He retired to become a coach.
Then late last year, Song was not on song again on the soccer pitch. He had a near death experience on October 20. He went down with brain aneurysm, and was in coma for two days. Doctors battled to save his life, and he was eventually evacuated to France.
While the travails lasted, the social media was abuzz with news of Song’s passage. As someone who had followed his career over the years, I felt very sad. But this is the season of fake news. Song was not dead, he miraculously rallied back. He narrated his experience, which I found instructive, considering what our President also passed through:
“I did not know what was happening to me…I did not even know I was fighting between life and death…All these people, they put God in trouble. Because everyone in this situation, they were praying-this is what I keep in my mind-God would have been in trouble. Everyone was praying, asking, ‘God, please don’t do that, don’t take Rigobert.’ I say thank you everybody for making me come back.”
What song was Song singing? One of thanksgiving. Cameroonians who loved him bombarded God with prayers, ‘Please, don’t take Rigobert now.’ And God heard. He showed mercy.
That is the same reason President Buhari is alive today. Nigerians bombarded Heaven with prayers. With supplications, intercessions, pleas for mercy. Muslims prayed in mosques. Christians prayed in churches. President Alpha Conde of Guinea declared 24 hours prayer for his Nigerian counterpart. Prayers were going on everywhere, both at home, and in the Diaspora. I can imagine God telling Himself: ‘I must answer these prayers. These petitions are too many. I must answer.’
And God had mercy, a fact attested to by President Buhari himself. He said his return was a miracle, which only God could have done.
Why did God keep our President alive? The Holy Books answer:
“Blessed is he that considers the poor;
God will deliver him in the day of evil.
God will preserve him, and keep him alive,
And he will be blessed upon the earth;
And deliver him not unto the will of his enemies,
And raise him up from sickness.” (Psalm 41:1-3).
And this one in Surah At-Tawbah 9:128:
“There has certainly come to you a Messenger from among yourselves. Grievous to him is what you suffer, for he is concerned over you and to the believers he is kind and merciful.”
President Buhari is concerned about Nigerians, particularly the helpless, the ordinary people, and he has dedicated his life to serving them. And when he was near unto death, those ordinary people besieged Heaven with prayers. That Christian hymn says “dearer to God are the prayers of the poor.” And God truly answered.
There is power in goodwill, we have seen it work. It worked for Rigobert Song, and it has worked for our President. Have a heart for men, particularly for the poor, the lowly, and the downtrodden. And see God rise on your behalf.
Consider Tabitha (Dorcas in Greek), who lived at Joppa. She was full of good works, always doing good, and helping the poor. One day, she took ill, and died. Peter, one of the apostles of Jesus, was invited. He came, prayed, and said: “Tabitha, arise!” And the woman came back to life. That is what is possible, when you have a heart for the poor.
In his New Year message last year, President Buhari told the country: “Living in the State House has not alienated me from your daily sufferings. These challenges are only temporary, we are working to make things better.”
When news came a couple of months ago that Nigeria had exited from recession, what did the President say? “Until coming out of recession translates into meaningful improvement in peoples’ lives, our work cannot be said to be done.”
In another broadcast, the President had stated: “All my adult life, I have always earned a salary and I know what it is like when your salary is simply not enough.”
That is the man we follow, and serve. Millions would today follow him into battle blindfolded. Millions upon millions would vote him again and again, if he throws his hat into the ring. Happy birthday, Mr President. You have shown us how to care for the lowly and the poor, how to bear them in our hearts at all times, and how such pleases God, and brings mercy our way. Thank you for coming this way, thank you for offering yourself for service.
.Adesina is Special Adviser on Media and Publicity to President Muhammadu Buhari
Photo:(L-R) Member of the NAGAFF NECOM, Elder Ephraim Ofoma, NAGAFF Chairman Tincan, Chief Azubuike Ekweozor, NAGAFF President, Chief Increase Uche, NECOM Chairman, Bro. Okey Nerus Uchegbu and Mrs. Uju, a member of NECOM during the collection of Nomination Form by Ekweozor at NAGAFF Headquarters Wednesday.
[dropcap]T[/dropcap]he Chairman of the National Association of Government Approved Freight Forwarders (NAGAFF), Tincan Island chapter, Chief Azubuike Ekweozor has scored himself high in the delivery of people oriented programmes in the chapter in his first term in office.
Speaking shortly after collecting his nomination form for a second term in office as Chairman at the NAGAFF headquarters in Apapa, Lagos Wednesday, Ekweozor popularly known as Nwanayoeze said he had achieved more for the chapter during his time first as interim Chairman and as a substantive Chairman.
He said,”The whole world knows that in my regime, when I came onboard on rescue mission, I have redeemed the image of NAGAFF in Tincan. A lot of things went wrong before I was called upon and the headquarters called it a rescue mission. So, I was begged and pleaded with to come and rescue NAGAFF Tincan and of course, I did it and today, NAGAFF wear a new face in Tincan”.
On his inability to secure a permanent secretariat for NAGAFF in the chapter in his first term, Ekweozor disagreed with those accusing him of failure in that regard saying that everybody knew that he had tried as much as he could to secure a larger apartment at Nationale since the NAGAFF headquarters said they won’t approve any office for NAGAFF in the chapter outside Nationale.
“We have gone to Seaview Properties severally, demanding for space but up till now, they have not given us a space. The logistics to acquire a bigger office is not a problem but if today a space is found, I am ready to do the needful”, he said.
He maintained that he has improved on the welfare of people working with him adding that nobody would say that he had not done well in that regard or that he had been witch hunting him or stop him or her from doing what he or she was supposed to do for NAGAFF.
“I have been a fair Chairman as far as Tincan is concerned”, he stressed.
On his priority if elected for second term, the Chairman enthused,”In my second tenure, I am expected to co-opt more members because association is all about population. It is true that we are being densely populated but in my second tenure, I will make sure that I add more because according to the headquarters standard, association is all about members and I am ready to do so in my second tenure”.
He however described those accusing him of not being on ground in Tincan as a Chairman as the handiwork of blackmailers saying,”I don’t have any business to do in Apapa, anybody that knows me knows that where I resume my business is in Tincan. So, I don’t know anything about what they are talking”.
Earlier, the National President of NAGAFF, Chief Increase Uche wished that every Chairmanship aspirant would toe the same peaceful process to obtain their forms having paid their mandatory N500,000 for Chairmanship.
Uche confessed that he was completely in tune with what was going on adding,”I want to wish the Chairmanship aspirant of Tincan well, that by the special grace of God, everything will go well, the best candidate will emerge at the end of the day”.
On his part, the Chairman of the NAGAFF Electoral Commission (NECOM), Bro. Okey Nerus Uchegbu stated that just as they had advised all others that had came to pick forms to make their campaigns issue based, they were advising the Tincan Chairmanship aspirant advising that he don’t try to malign anybody.
“If there are such reports from your own end, NECOM will have to wield the big stick. But we don’t pray that it gets to that. We will only wish you well and pray that the good lord will guide you. Like the President has said our prayer is that at the end of the day, let the best candidate win”.
[dropcap]W[/dropcap]orried by the declining standard of education in public schools across the country, particularly in the rural areas, the Grassroots Newspaper Publishers Network(GNPN) has disclosed plans to organize an “Inter Collegiate Quiz & Debate Competition” for public schools in Calabar come 2018.
President of GNPN, Dr Dan Awana made the disclosure Thursday December 7 in an exclusive chat with newsmen shortly after he led other key executives of the association to present Cheque to Mrs. Joy Okon , Principal of one of the beneficiary schools of GNPN end of the year 2017 conference .
The Cheque is for the May/June 2018 WAEC/SSCE enrolment of seventy indigent students of Cross River state.
Grassroots Publishers online learned that a total of 250 indigent students of cutting across secondary schools in southern states have been selected for the GNPN 2018 WAEC/ SSCE enrolment.
In a remark at Cross River, Comrade Ike Abiagom noted that the educational support programme for the underprivileged students is the beginning of a process to encourage the indigent students with a view to boosting the standard of education and he appealed to Nigerians to do the same to our underprivileged students.
[dropcap]P[/dropcap]articipants at a Workshop on War against Abuse in Nigeria, today condemned the rampant cases of abuse and violence against women, children and other vulnerable members of the society. This position was contained in the communique of the workshop, which was organized by Wife of the President, Mrs. Aisha Muhammadu Buhari through the Future Assured programme. The Workshop held in collaboration with United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), on Saturday, 16th December, 2017.
The workshop, also observed that the abuses are usually perpetrated by people who are close to or trusted by the victims, and urged a united front to fight the scourge. The workshop called for appropriate rehabilitative measures to victims for proper integration and empowerment.
Participants also agreed on the need to encourage victims and whistleblowers to speak up and not succumb to intimidation and bribery from perpetrators, while law enforcement agencies were encouraged to go after abusers no matter how highly placed.
Laws having to do with abuse were also brought to the spotlight by the participants as the need to strengthen and fine-tune them was raised. This, it is believed, will cater for contemporary forms of abuse not captured by existing laws. States were also encouraged to domesticate such laws.
The workshop was convened by Wife of the President, Mrs. Aisha Muhammadu Buhari and declared open by the Vice President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo. It was graced by the Wife of the President of the Republic of Niger, Dr. Lalla Malika Issoufou, Wife of the Vice President, Mrs. Dolapo Osinbajo and many other dignitaries.
Suleiman Haruna
Director of Information
to Wife of the President
State House
Abuja
[dropcap]F[/dropcap]urther withdrawals from the Paris Club refund by the states government has been stalled as a consultant has dragged the 36 state governors and the Federal Government to court. A highly placed source at the Presidency, told NAN on Friday night that the consultant in question is suing the state governors for reneging on the payment of the five per cent consultancy fees due to him for services rendered in relation to the sharing of the fund.
According to the source, state governors may not be able to pay their workers from the Paris Club refund before Christmas as they had originally planned. The source said that the case has been filed at the Federal High Court Abuja. The source said before this new court case, efforts were in top gear to release the balance of the Paris Club refunds to states to pay workers salaries all over the country before Christmas.
“The payment of the Paris Club refunds is at the final stages. It will be paid to enable the workers enjoy the Christmas and New Year festive seasons,” the source said. Meanwhile, the Federation Account Allocation Committee (FAAC) meeting scheduled for Friday was put off till Saturday because stakeholders had not received the component statement from NNPC.
One of the state Commissioners for Finance, who pleaded anonymity, told NAN that for the second time, the NNPC was late in remitting funds into the Federation Account.“NNPC is the major cause of all these things. It has not brought in money just like last month. “Last month, the state governors insisted that the NNPC must bring in money before it later brought out N30 billion from Excess Crude Account (ECA) before the last FAAC could hold.
”Again this month, the CBN and Revenue Mobilization Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC) said they have not received component statement from NNPC. ”’This indicates that NNPC had not paid money into the Federation Account. Without that money we have to wait till tomorrow for FAAC meeting to hold.
“If the component statement is sent from NNPC, it will take about six hours before the stakeholders can go through it” the commissioner said. President Muhammadu Buhari last month urged all state governors to utilise the balance of 50 per cent Paris Club refund to settle unpaid salaries owed workers before Christmas. To remove any hitches, he directed the CBN, Ministry of Finance, and the Budget Office of the Federation to work out how the outstanding fund would be paid before 2017 ends.
The payment began in December 2016 with the release of about N522.74 billion to all 36 states in the first tranche of the Paris Club refund. The federal government later in July 2017, released N243.8 billion as second tranche. The funds were released following protests by states against over deductions for external debt service between 1995 and 2002..
[dropcap]T[/dropcap]he Federal Government last night justified the approval by the National Economic Council of $1 billion from the Excess Crude Account for the fight against insecurity even as it, for the first time gave reasons for its assertion that the Boko Haram insurgency has been defeated.
The Federal Government’s claims conveyed by the minister of information and culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed during an exclusive interview came as the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP and some other political stakeholders faulted the resolution of the NEC on the drawing of the money. The PDP in its reaction had alleged that it was unnecessary for the Federal Government to get $1 billion to fight a war the government had in the past claimed to have won.
The PDP in its reaction articulated by its National Publicity Secretary, Mr. Kola Ologbondiyan had also alleged that the funds were some surreptitious purposes claiming that the era of lies and propaganda were over. The claims of the PDP were further articulated by leading human rights lawyer, Barrister Mike Ozekhome who said that lies have an expiry date and also by Senator Mao Ohabunwa, PDP Abia North who faulted the decision by NEC saying that only the National Assembly could release money for the Federal Government. The All Progressives Congress, APC National Publicity Secretary could not be reached as he did not pick calls to his registered phone line. Mohammed in his reaction blamed the PDP alleging that the PDP is now rebranding itself with the stolen money that was originally meant to fight Boko Haram noting that in one day, “the PDP under Jonathan in one day distributed $269 million cash and N100 billion which was supposed to be money meant to fight Boko Haram.” Saying that the PDP does not know when to keep quiet, he said: “the sad thing about PDP is that they do not know when not to talk. If they were smart they would know when not to talk,” Mohammed said. Continuing, he said: “If not for their rapacious corruption Boko Haram would not have metamorphosed into the monster that it became before we came in. If only they had approached governance with honesty transparency, and sense of purpose Boko Haram would not have raged between 2009 and 2015, it was their inept handling of Boko Haram and their corruption that put us in this mess.
“They seem not to understand that the biggest challenge to any government and the primary responsibility of any government is law and order and security. It is because of the fact that we have been able to contain Boko Haram that they were able to hold their national convention in Abuja. “During their time they were not able to celebrate the National Day openly. Under their watch, Boko Haram not only occupied 27 local governments in Borno State, but was also active in almost ten states. Not that alone, they used to stroll to the federal capital, and three times they went to bomb the United Nations, the Police headquarters and under their watch, the Thisday newspaper was bombed and under their watch, about 200 Chibok girls were abducted.” Defending the December 2015 declaration by the Federal Government that Boko Haram had been defeated, Mohammed said:
“Why do we say that we have decimated Boko Haram? It is not propaganda. Since we came in 30 months, there has been no single bomb explosion in the Federal Capital, and that is not a mean feat! It is because they don’t understand what security means, they don’t even understand what terrorism means,” he added. “It does not lie in the mouth of the PDP to even criticise the government, and it was their corruption that led us to where we are today. They are spending the same money which they stole, and they are using the money to rebrand themselves, they have no moral justification whatsoever,” the minister fumed yesterday.
The PDP in a statement by its National Publicity Secretary, Mr. Ologbondiyan, said the party was alarmed by the subtle plot by the ruling APC administration to secure approvals without recourse to due process, and for purposes of fighting the same insurgents, it earlier claimed to have defeated. “The PDP wondered why the APC-led federal government had to recourse to the National Economic Council (NEC) while avoiding the direct constitutional appropriation channel of the National Assembly for funding of items already provided for in the federal budget if it actually has nothing to hide. “The PDP supports the fight against insurgency.
We hold our officers and men confronting the terrorists and securing our territorial integrity in high esteem, but we are concerned about the manipulative tendencies connected with the approvals as well as the veracity of claimed purpose of the fund,” the statement read in part. While urging the APC-led government to avail Nigerians more information about the intended use of the funds, the party said “Nigerians would recall that the federal government had claimed that it has since defeated the insurgents. If it would take a billion dollar from a nation’s savings to kill what they long claimed dead, then we challenge the APC government to come clean and tell Nigerians the whole truth. “The era of lies and propaganda is long gone, and Nigerians now know the truth.
The federal government must be held accountable and stopped from any move to fritter away our national savings,” even as it called on “The National Assembly to interrogate this proposed disbursement and subject it to a thorough but rapid interrogation.” The party further enjoined the Buhari administration to tender an unreserved apology to Nigerians, saying “By accepting the $1bn for fighting insurgency, the APC-led federal government has admitted that it lied when it announced that it had defeated the insurgents. They should, therefore, apologize to Nigerians for giving them a false sense of security, resulting in their vulnerability to attacks by terrorists.” The party vowed to inflict heavy defeat on the ruling party come 2019, noting that Nigerians are waiting earnestly for the next general election to make their decision. Chief Ozekhome on his part said: “My take on this is that lies have expiry date, and when that date comes, the truth will overtake lies. This government demonised the government of Goodluck Jonathan as having failed to degrade Boko Haram, whereas Boko Haram was so degraded that elections held peacefully in the entire six States of the North East.
The height of this alleged non- defeat of the Boko Haram is one of the major planks on which they won the elections. “Now, the same government is suddenly asking for $1 billion which is about N365 billion, enough for one of the States in Nigeria, to fight the same Boko Haram. “There are two scenarios here: One, the government has been lying that Boko Haram has been degraded because we have all seen in the last one and half year that Boko Haram has become more vicious, more potent, more daring and more courageous. “Secondly, money is being quietly taken to prepare for 2019 elections using Boko Haram as an alibi.” Senator Ohabunwa on his part flayed the NEC saying the action was illegal. He said, “Only the National Assembly can appropriate funds for the Federal government.
The National Executive Council NEC has no such powers; any money that is not appropriated as prescribed by the act of the National Assembly is illegal.” On his part, Senator Suleiman Hunkuyi, APC, Kaduna North who noted that no amount to fight would be too much said: “Insurgency in Nigeria is a national calamity. It has cost the nation time, lives and unquantifiable resources. Any amount to be voted to fight it and remedy our polity of that insecurity is justified. Senator Hunkuyi, however, took issues with the denomination of the currency used in the withdrawal. “The method of funding or sources of funding is yet another issue. It must be stated that the official currency of budget and expenditure in Nigeria is and remains the Nigerian currency which is the Naira. “While I am not yet in full picture of the source of the funds or areas of expenditure for the funds to cover, I await to be better informed on the sources of funding before making further comments.”
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