[dropcap]F[/dropcap]ormer Governor of Abia State and chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Orji Uzor Kalu, at the weekend in Nsukka, Enugu State declared that President Muhammadu Buhari would not only contest the 2019 election but will also win “convincingly”.

Kalu who spoke to journalists after receiving an Honorary Doctorate in Public Administration from the University of Nigeria, Nsukka said the president would use his second term to rewrite injustices and fight for the oneness of Nigeria. The former governor also expressed optimism that the people of the South east will support the president’s second term massively, until they did during the 2015 presidential election.

“The mass movement you are witnessing today will translate to vote for President Muhammadu Buhari in 2019, a man whose administration and second term project I support. “I’m not God but you know I’m a supporter of anything Buhari, so it’s going to translate to vote to President Buhari , that’s what it means.

“The president will run, I have said this time without number, I was the first Nigerian in June 2nd who told you people that he will come back on June 11 and he did not come. And I was the first Nigeria on the same programme on AIT who said he will and he is going to run.

“I didn’t join APC to go and look at the rocks in Abuja, I joined APC to use it for the benefit of Igbo people and Nigeria people, so I joined for him to run and we will use his regime to rewrite injustice and also fight for oneness of Nigeria of the country.

“As you are aware, the marginalisation of Ndigbo did not start today, marginalisation has been something that has been there immediately after the civil war, so Buhari is not going take four years to correct. So we were not on board in 2015, we are going to be board in 2019 and we will address the issue.

“I want to be involved when I have given the vote, because when you give vote you can ask question, if I don’t give vote I can’t ask question. I cannot come to paradise with 0.5 per cent vote for the president, I want to give president 75 per cent vote and I will ask question; that I’m sent by our people,” he said.

He said his award from UNN “represents recognition by Igbo intellectuals in Eastern Nigeria and I’m very excited. I’m very excited to say that Igbo intellectuals have just recognised me on their own; as I was told, they were 70 senate members and almost 60 something voted for me. So I’m excited about it.”

Other party leaders who spoke to mewsmen including Chief Maduka Onyishi, owner of Peace Mass Transit and Hon. Hyacinth Ngwu, South East Zonal Publicity Secretary of APC congratulated Kalu for the award.“He is a good Igbo man and believe that he deserves this honour,” Onyishi said.

On his part, Ngwu noted that the shortest route to the presidency for Ndigbo would be President Buhari’s second term. “We witnessed a movement, It is truly a movement from other parties and non-politicians into APC. Like our leader, Kalu said, this is just the beginning, the Igbos have realised that the shortest route to the presidency is the APC and that is in 2023.

“So this movement you witnessed today is the beginning of the good things that will accrue to Igbos particularly in 2023. And it will start in 2019 when the Igbos would have given APC massive support,
“I’m looking at more than 70 per cent of votes from the South-east that will go to Mr. President Buhari in 2019 and that will be the beginning of full integration of the Igbos into the mainstream of Nigeria politics.

[dropcap]T[/dropcap]he Delta State House Assembly on Thursday, November 30, 2017 passed into law, the 2018 Budget of N308,888,558,898bn for the State, reflecting an increase from the proposed N298.078bn presented by Governor Ifeanyi Okowa to the House on October 29, 2017.

The House which was determined to pass the budget into law before December, suspended it rules to enable members sit beyond 1pm and the budget was passed at about 5pm.

Moving the motion for the passage of the 2018 Appropriation Law, the Majority Leader Hon. Tim Kome Owhefere, moved that the House should resolve itself into a committee of supply. At the Committee of Supply, the Appropriation Bill with the annexures was considered clause by clause and sector by sector.

Presenting a report on the 2018 Budget, Acting Chairman, House Committee on Finance and Appropriation, Hon. Emeka Nwaobi stated that the 2018 budget was prepared with the current and prevailing International Public Sector Accounting (IPSA) specification and standard. Nwaobi also noted that the preparation of the budget took into consideration important micro economic framework among which are: national inflation, oil production benchmark, USD exchange rate, etc, and finally the budget was tied to well defined and specific projects which the State government intends to execute.

Speaker, Rt. Hon. Sheriff Oborevwori afterwards thanked members for working assiduously towards the passage of the appropriation bill and for once again putting the State at the fore front of being the first State in the country to pass its budget in record time.

[dropcap]T[/dropcap]he All Progressives Congress (APC) has rejected the result of the December 2 Local Government election in Akwa Ibom as declared by the State Independent Electoral Commission (AKISIEC). AKISIEC had in a statement on Sunday declared that PDP won all the 31 chairmanship seats and 329 councillorship positions in the poll.

The statement was signed by APC Chairman, Secretary and Chairman of the State Caucus in Akwa Ibom, Dr Amadu Attai, Dr Efiong Etuk and Atuekong Don Etiebet respectively. The party alleged that AKISIEC did not conduct the elections in line with the laws establishing it.

It called on its members in the state to reject any result declared or announced “without compliance with the procedures stipulated by the electoral act.’’ The party said: “to this end, All Progressives Congress (APC) wishes to inform the general public that there was no election at all according to the provision of Electoral Act 2010 (as amended). “Moreover, in their quest to rig and announce spurious results, all sensitive materials including result sheet were nowhere to be found.

“The party wishes to inform the security agencies, Government of Akwa Ibom State, the Federal Government and the public that it rejects in its entirety any concocted result that AKISIEC may wish to announce.”

[dropcap]G[/dropcap]OV. BEN Ayade of Cross River has presented a budget of N1.3 trillion for the 2018 fiscal year to the Cross River House of Assembly for deliberation and passage, the News Agency of Nigeria reports.
The budget is the largest for a single state in Nigeria’s history.
Lagos state held the record with its N812 billion budget for 2017. The state has indicated its 2018 budget may also hit N1 trillion.  Most states in Nigeria propose budgets at average N150 billion to N300 billion.
The biggest annual spenders are Lagos, Rivers and Akwa Ibom. The entire federal budget for 2018 is a little above N8 trillion.
Gov. Ayade, who presented the budget on yesterday in Calabar, said the proposal was designed to add value to the socio-economic development and well being of the people of the state. Mr. Ayade, who tagged the budget as “Budget of Kinetic Crystallisation’’, said it was meant to “crystallise” what the state had achieved in the past two years of his administration.
He said the priority of the budget was to develop the state’s deep sea port and the super highway which he said were his two marked projects. The governor said 70  per cent of the budget was for capital expenditure and 30 per cent,re-current expenditure. According to him, the size of the budget is expected to create room for potential investors, now that the annual construction of the state deep sea port and superhighway has commenced.
He added that the budget was for actualisation and implementation of the state deep sea port, super highway and other laudable projects earmarked for completion.
“The 2018 budget of N1.3 trillion, tagged `Kinetic Crystallisations’, is meant to drive the economy of the state to an enviable height. “The sum of N126 billion was budgeted for the Ministry of Infrastructure. This is to help us develop critical assets in the state. “N7 billion was also budgeted for the state job centre with a view to helping us train our unemployed youths with marketable job skills. “Also, we have budgeted N2 billion for our school  feeding programme. In addition to that, we also budgeted N52 billion for social welfare to care for the aged.
“My administration is human friendly and my desire is to ensure that every family has what to eat before going to bed,’’ he said. The governor further said that the garment factory, with 1,000 workers, would be increased to
3,000 in 2018 as part of his administration’s drive to engage the unemployed in the state.
NAN reports that the 2018 budget is far higher than the 2017 budget of N301 billion. Responding, the Speaker
of the Assembly, John Gaul- Lebo, commended the governor for commencing work on the deep sea port and the super highway. Mr. Gaul-Lebo said that the two projects, when completed, would attract more investors to the state
and improve its revenue profile.

[dropcap]P[/dropcap]resident Muhammadu Buhari has launched his bid for re-election in 2018 in far-away Abidjan, Cote d’Ivoire when he solicited for votes from the Nigerian community during an interactive session late Tuesday night. The president is currently attending a two-day European Union-African Union (EU-AU) Summit in the West African country.

After apologising for coming late to the session, President Buhari told the gathering that he had to wait for the two governors on his entourage to accompany him to the meeting so that they will convince their people to vote for him in the future.“First I want to apologise for keeping you for too long sitting, this is because I insisted on the governors attending this meeting.

“This is why I came along with them so that when we are going to meet you, when you are going to meet the rest of Nigerians, if you tell them that their governors were in the company of the president, I think that will be another vote for me in the future. I’m very pleased that they were able to turn up,” Buhari stated. The president also reiterated a line in his inaugural speech on May 29, 2015 when he stated he will be for everybody and not for nobody.

He said this was the reason for supporting Akinwumi Adesina to emerge as the President of the African Development Bank, AfDB, despite serving as a minister in a PDP-led administration. Buhari was reacting to Adesina’s remark earlier expressing gratitude to the president for the support he received in his bid to emerge as the AfDB president.

“The President of the African Development Bank (AfDB), who forgot to mention that he was serving in the PDP government as minister but all the same I picked him and recommended him for AfDB. “I think it emphasised what I said during my swearing in that I am for everybody and I am for nobody. As long as you are a Nigerian, be prepared to be on the receiving end from me,” Buhari said.

President Buhari also told the gathering that he just received “a beautiful piece of information” from the National Leader of the All Progressives Congress (APC) Asiwaju Bola Tinubu which he was never aware of. He thanked Tinubu for the information which he did not disclosed.

“I also thank our leader, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu. He has brought me a very beautiful piece of information, which I was not aware of it until I sat down and read it this evening (Tuesday night). Thank you very much for your hard work and I will discuss that paper with you,” he said.

The AfDB president in his speech revealed that the the Nigerian economy picked up soon after Buhari’s health challenges appeared over, adding that “so it seems there is a correlation between the President’s health and the improved economy.”

“I want to thank you immensely. I want to thank God for your health because I must say that for all of us that has been a big concern. But seeing you fit as a fiddle and seeing you back in action, we thank God for that and may God continue to give you great strength.

“Mr. President as you must have noticed, there is a very strong correlation between your health and the economy and when you came back the economy picked up after that. So we wish you great health so that the the economy can continue to pick. “I also want to congratulate you for the economic growth and recovery plan that you have put in place and the incredible plan that you have put in place to bring the economy out of recession and also in terms of the fact that Nigeria has moved up in the World Bank ease of doing business index.

“It is to your leadership, vision and commitment that we want to from the African Development Bank commend you, Mr. President, and to assure you of our strong support behind you and your government for the efforts to try and move Nigeria forward. We are solidly behind you, you can count on that.

“I also want to thank you for your leadership on the Boko Haram issue because to draw investments into Nigeria, you absolutely have to have security.

“I think that securing our borders is very very important, thanks to your leadership for that. I also thank you for all the efforts you have made in the Lake Chad Basin Area.

“I was with you in Paris where you led the efforts in reviving the Lake Chad Basin. As you know Mr. President, the bank is very strongly behind that. We put in $250 million to support the North-east of Nigeria rebuilding. I know you were criticized for rebuilding but I don’t see anything wrong, if things get destroyed they have to be rebuilt and the African Development Bank has contributed $250 million towards that,” Adesina disclosed.