Blame 1999 Constitution for lack of savings, not past regimes – Akinyemi

Nigeria’s constitution does not make a provision for government savings and lawyers yesterday failed to agree on whether it was enough reason for the country’s failure to save for its future.
Going by Section 162 of the 1999 Constitution as amended, reckless government expenditures cannot be adequately blamed on former leaders, Bolaji Akinyemi, a professor of political science and Nigeria’s former external affairs minister said in a statement.
“It is thoroughly misleading to isolate and demonise past regimes for the situation where Nigeria has no savings; the fault is in the 1999 Constitution (Section 162), which makes it mandatory for all monies collected by the Federal Government — with a few exceptions — to be deposited into a central account and to be distributed, among the Federal, State and Local Governments.”
A group, Lower Niger Congress, in agreeing with Akinyemi’s position, said the sentence in the preamble of the 1999 Constitution “falsely asserts and presupposes a meeting and an agreement among the peoples of Nigeria. It is this false claim that is at the core of the fraudulence of that constitution of 1999 and all it contains and creates, including the very Nigeria itself as one political union, the 36 states, 774 local councils, the federal Exclusive List, the quota system and all other shenanigans therein,” said Mr. Tony Nnadi, a lawyer and Secretary General of the Lower

Forget Biafra – Masari tells Ohanaeze

Governor Aminu Bello Masari of Katsina State has advised the leadership of Ohanaeze Ndigbo in the North to shun agitations for Biafran republic to be carved out of Nigeria nation.
The governor gave the advice when the leadership of the pan-Ndigbo body in the 19 northern states and FCT led by Eze Pampas Nahiwe paid him a courtesy visit in Katsina.
Governor Masari, who stressed the need for the Igbo communities in the northern states to distance themselves from any pro-Biafra movement and ensure peaceful co-existence of all in their host communities for their different endeavours to flourish, appealed to agitators for Biafra to consider the aspiration of a large percentage of Ndigbo who prefer to earn their livelihood as bonafide Nigerians in every part of the country.
Masari said there is no village in katsina state that one would not find an Igbo trader, adding that the right of Nigerians of Igbo extraction to live freely in any part of the country with any encumbrance should be respected by all.
On the internal crises preventing Igbo communities in Katsina and several northern states from

El-Rufai urges support for policies on recession

Kaduna State Governor Nasir el-Rufai has said that robust economic policies and decisions would be undertaken by the present administration soon to end the economic recession.
He, therefore, called on Nigerians to support government all levels to put into effect the tough steps needed to end the recession.In his 2016 independence day message entitled, “Let us maintain peace and cherish harmony,” he said that though Nigerians were marking this year’s anniversary in difficult economic circumstances, however assured that the nation would overcome the present recession.
He said: “I salute you all on the occasion of our country’s 56th Independence anniversary. We have been bequeathed a country of diverse peoples, faiths and tongues and we have a collective duty to make it work. We face many challenges, but it is not beyond us to build a system that moves our peoples into the 21st Century with functioning governance systems, equality of all persons before the law and the right to security and happiness.

PDP crisis: Makarfi, Sheriff agree on 24-man negotiating committee

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Rivers State has said the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) decided to put-off the July 30, 2016, legislative rerun election in the state to enable members of the All Progressives Congress (APC) perfect their new system of rigging.
The party described the outcome of the just concluded governorship election in Edo State as a day-light robbery, saying that has evidently exposed the new election rigging strategy of the APC, which appears to be working out for them but will definitely fail in Rivers State.
Chairman of PDP in the state, Chief Felix Obuah, in a statement issued in Port Harcourt yesterday by his media aide, Jerry Needam, alleged that the new system of rigging of the opposition political party, is consolidated at the final collation centre through compromised INEC officials and security agents.
Obuah stated that the party is fully aware of the plot between INEC and APC and has consistently raised alarm over frequent visits and too close relationship between APC chieftains, Rt. Hon. Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi, and Senator Magnus Abe, and the INEC leaders in Abuja as well as various security high commands of the Police, the Army and Department of State Services (DSS).

PDP crisis: Makarfi, Sheriff agree on 24-man negotiating committee

The factional National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party, Senator Ali Modu Sheriff, and the Chairman of its National Caretaker Committee, Senator Ahmed Makarfi, have agreed to set up a 24-man committee to handle negotiation between the two warring factions.
The committee, which will consist of 12 members each from the two factions, is expected to be unfolded this week, according to investigations.
It was gathered that the two leaders of the committee had agreed that the names should be submitted to each faction for scrutiny before making them public.
It was also learnt that each faction had been mandated to list terms of reference to be covered by the committee.
A prominent member of one of the factions, who confirmed this development in Abuja on Sunday, said that the names of the nominees should get to each of the factions either by Tuesday or Wednesday.
He said, “As I speak with you, I’m working on the terms of reference for the committee. We have agreed that each of us (factions) should nominate 12 persons that would be in the reconciliation committee.
“The names should be made known this week. However, we are giving each group the