Daily political manners

The Federal Executive Council on Wednesday in Abuja approved the establishment of four new private universities in Kaduna, Oyo, Ogun and Osun States. The Minister of Education, Adamu Adamu, confirmed this when he briefed State House correspondents at the end of the first meeting of the council in 2019. The meeting was presided over by President Muhammadu Buhari. According to the minister, the new universities are Greenfield University Kaduna, Dominion University, Ibadan, Trinity University, Laloko in Ogun and Westland University in Iwo, Osun. “All the four have satisfied the criteria for the establishment of universities. “They have submitted their academic briefs, their master plans and evidence of facilities after visitation by the National Universities Commission; they have satisfied all those requirements and they are being granted licences,’’ he added. The Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola, who also addressed the correspondents, said the Council approve

By Emma Una CALABAR—PASTOR Usani Usani, Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, has restated his claim to the governorship ticket of All Progressives Congress, APC, in Cross River State, noting that no court invalidated his mandate. Usani, who spoke through the Director-General of his campaign organisation, Pastor Ene Cobham, dismissed insinuation that the judgment of December 13, 2018 by Justice O. A. Musa, had been set aside by another High Court in Abuja ruling on January 8, 2019. In a statement in Calabar yesterday, Cobham said only an Appeal Court can set aside the judgment of December 13, 2018, for which he said a Notice of Appeal was issued to his opponent. According to Cobham, “as we speak, Pastor Uguru Usani remains the authentic governorship candidate of APC in Cross River State despite the flag given in error to Senator John Owan Enoh.” The court judgments He said on December 13, 2018, an Abuja High Court presided over by Justice O. A. Musa, dissolved the State Working Committee

ABUJA—PRESIDENT Muhammadu Buhari said, yesterday, that the salaries of workers earning above the new minimum wage will be renegotiated. He also appointed Bismarck Rewane as head of newly inaugurated Technical Advisory Committee on the implementation of a national minimum wage. President Buhari, who stated this at the inauguration of the technical committee at the Council Chamber, Presidential Villa Abuja, said after the new minimum wage had been passed into law, government will go into negotiations for salary review for all the workers already earning above the new minimum wage. He said it was important to properly prepare the minds of those involved so that they will not be taken unawares when the time comes. Noting that the last time Nigeria’s national minimum wage was reviewed was in 2011, it was evident that a review was necessary, despite the prevailing fiscal challenges. He said: “This is why I constituted the Tripartite Committee of Government, Organized Private Sector and Labo

Imo State Governor, Rochas Okorocha, yesterday said the emergency of President Muhammadu as Nigeria’s President, saved the country from a far more heinous insurgency than the country is currently experiencing. Okorocha spoke in Owerri, through his Chief Press Secretary, Sam Onwuemeodo, during the 2019 launch of Armed Forces Remembrance Day Emblem, at Government House. The governor expressed fears that he “did not know what the situation could have been if Buhari, did not win” in 2015 presidential election. Okorocha thanked Buhari for his fight against insurgency in the country, adding that Nigerians should imbibe the culture of celebrating their leader when they are alive. “In this part of the world, people condemn their leaders while alive, but celebrate them when they are dead. Nigerians should see the need to celebrate the nation’s heroes, both those alive and those that have died since patriotism is not in the love of the law, but in the love of one’s country,” Okorocha was q

Atiku Abubakar, presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), says President Muhammadu Buhari has failed lift the morale of soldiers fighting Boko Haram insurgents. In a statement on Wednesday, Abubakar criticised Buhari over his absence at the funeral of five air force officers who died in a helicopter crash while providing support to troops in the north-east. They were buried at the national military cemetery in Abuja on Tuesday. The former vice-president said Buhari’s failure to attend the funeral is “part of a pattern of unpatriotic behaviour demonstrated” by him. “At a time when the morale of our soldiers should be lifted up as they face the difficult task of defeating the terrorists who are threatening our national security, I find it most regrettable that President Muhammadu Buhari, despite being in Abuja, chose not to attend the funeral of the five airforce officers who died in a helicopter crash while prosecuting the war on terror,” he said in the statement

PDP former national chairman, Alhaji Adamu Mu’azu, former deputy national chairman North, Alhaji Babayo Garba Gamawa, a former secretary to the federal government, Alhaji Ahmed Yayale, and Alhaji Kaulaha Aliyu, have all defected to the All Progressives Congress, APC. These defection and cross carpeting is always anticipated at the every of every election in Nigeria. Some do it to stay relevant while some do it just to pursue public office

By Johnbosco Agbakwuru ABUJA – PRESIDENT Muhammadu Buhari Wednesday in Abuja vowed that he will not authorise the use of any money from the treasury for his re-election campaign. Speaking at the close of the Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting, President Buhari directed cabinet ministers to take advantage of technology to reach out to voters on the need to return the All Progressives Congress (APC) led administration in next month’s general elections. He said, “As political parties spread their ideologies and views to every nook and corner of the country, the issue of cash payment to voters and its corrupting influence in electioneering has once again become a topical issue. “Try and use text and multi-media messages to seek votes for the party and government. ‘‘There is no money from the treasury for use in the campaigns. I will not authorize that,” he said. President Buhari in a statement by his Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Malam Garba Shehu, declared that t

Buhari receives PDP national deputy chair, BoT member back to APC By Johnbosco Agbakwuru ABUJA – PRESIDENT Muhammadu Buhari Tuesday night received the national deputy chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Senator Babayo Gamawa and a member of the party’s Board of Trustees, Kaulaha Aliyu, who defected to the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC Recall that the PDP has recently slammed Senator Gamawa with suspension order for alleged anti party activities. The defection of the PDP bigwigs from Bauchi State which is the home state of the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara, came barely 24 hours after the president received some members of the Peoples Democratic Party’s Support Groups from the North East, who defected to the ruling APC President Buhari and his guests held a strategic meeting that lasted over 30 minutes behind closed doors. Speaking to State House correspondents after the meeting with the president at the State Abuja, the Bauchi State governo

The Senate president, Dr Bukola Saraki yesterday said that there is no way for the national leader of All Progressives Congress (APC) Asiwaju Ahmed Bola Tinubu to annex Kwara state ,even as he begged the people of the state to forgive whoever among the PDP candidates that might have offended them previously one way or the other to forgive them and vote for all the candidates because of him, and the interest of the state. Saraki spoke at the flag off campaign ceremony of the gubernatorial candidate of the party ,Hon Abdulrazaq Atunwa, and other contestants of the party in Bode-Sadu ,Moro local government area of Kwara state. He said,”Whatever wrong any of our candidates had done you,please forgive them because of me,and the interest of kwara and vote for all of them in the coming elections.Don’t worry, whoever among them that failed to perform this time around, we will together send them away “” “We have known each other, don’t be deceived by their propaganda, they have failed us tot

The Peoples Dem ocratic Party Presidential Campaign Organization PDP-PPCO, has chided the co-chairman of the All Progressives Congress, APC Presidential Campaign Council, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu over what it described as his derogatory remarks against its Presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar. The PPCO reminded the former Lagos state governor not to forget that as the Asiwaju of Yoruba land, “he has the responsibility of tutoring the younger generation on the culture of the Yorubas, which holds that when a child is given the errand of a slave, he delivers it like a freeborn.” A statement issued late Tuesday night by PPCO Director of Media and Publicity, Kola Ologbondiyan read: “At Tinubu’s stature, he ought to be found in the class of respected senior citizens who are decorous, speak statesmanly and not resorting to the gutters whenever he speaks in public. “In politics, family ties and bonds as well as relationships are greater and stronger than political interests and it is the expec

A member of the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Board of Trustees, Kaulaha Aliyu, has also defected to the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) along with the Deputy National Chairman, North of PDP, Babayo Gamawa. The both, together with other defectors visited the President in Aso Rock. The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the defection of the PDP bigwigs from Bauchi State came barely 24 hours after the president received various members of the Peoples Democratic Party’s Support Groups from the North East, who defected to the ruling APC. Read More at: https://www.thenewsbook.net/pdp-board-of-trustees-member-decamps-to-apc

Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) have vowed to push on with its initial planned demonstration/protest which started yesterday in Lagos. You can also recall labor congress advocating for a change in leadership, especially those governors who protested and kicked against any form of increments in salaries. While some governors cited anticipated recession for declining any support for it, some blatantly said no to it without any rational.

Former governor of Nasarawa State and Senator representing Nasarawa West, Senator Abdullahi Adamu, has warned Nigerians against returning Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, to power at the centre, saying it will be disastrous for the country. He said Nigerians would be sitting on a keg of gunpowder “if PDP that brought Nigeria to its knees from 1999-2015, is brought back to power.” Adamu said this while addressing All Progressives Congress, APC, officials and supporters in Nasarawa State as part of the continuation of his campaigns in the area. The former governor explained that he was at the area to seek re-election into the Senate. According to him, “I am grateful to individuals and organisations that have contributed to my success in my two terms in the senate. “I want to assure Nigerians that if re-elected, President Buhari would deliver Nigerians from the shackles of the 16 years of PDP government and would continue to serve you to the best of his ability. “Let me appeal to part