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Mum abandons her 8 year old son at petrol station with note saying ‘take care of yourself’ because he was ‘too naughty’

A  mum abandoned her eight-year-old son at a petrol station after claiming he was ‘too naughty’ to look after.

According to reports in Indonesia, the boy was found at the roadside in Pelalawan, Indonesia, clutching a note which said he was dumped because he was “causing problems” at home.

Passersby found the boy sitting at the petrol station late at night and took him to the next village before police were called to the crime  scene, Gridstar reports.

A post on Twitter showed the boy wearing a red jacket, with a cut on his cheek and marks around his mouth.  

Reports say his dad had been violent towards him because he was “naughty and often steals”, which forced his mum to abandon him.


According to Indonesian newspaper Kompas, the child’s parents have been called in by police for questioning to establish the circumstances behind the alleged abuse and abandonment.

The farewell letter said: “Child, forgive me. I am forced to leave you on the street as I’m no longer willing to see you suffer or tortured because of your mischief, every day you are causing problems.

“Forgive me, child. Take good care of yourself.”

Mum abandons her 8 year old son at petrol station with note saying ?take care of yourself? because he was ?too naughty?

Edy Haryanto, a Pangkalan Kuras Police spokesman, said: “Indeed, there are indications of violence against the child.


But we need to understand more about what happened.”

“We will gather all parties to find out the truth of this case.”  

The police spokesman said the investigation into the incident is ongoing.

lindaikejisblog

Pregnant woman loses unborn baby after being shot in the stomach by unknown gunmen a week to delivery

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A 26-year-old expectant mother, Denize Kabugho,  lost her unborn baby after she was shot at by unknown assailants in Kirembe Cell, Kirembe Ward in Kasese Municipality, Uganda.

Mr Geoffrey Mumbere, Kabugho’s husband, who confirmed the incident on Saturday, October 3, said his wife was shot in the stomach by the gunmen on a motorcycle at around 8.30 pm on Tuesday when she had stepped out of the house to buy sugar from a nearby shop

According to Mr Mumbere, his wife was due to give birth in a week’s time but unfortunately lost the baby in the attack.

Linda Ikeji

Tinubu, El-Rufai, Ganduje, others attend Atiku and Ribadu’s children’s wedding (photos)

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Tinubu, El-Rufai, Ganduje, others attend Atiku and Ribadu

The wedding of Aliyu, son of ex-vice president Atiku Abubakar, and Fatima, daughter of former EFCC chairman, Nuhu Ribadu, is currently taking place in Asokoro, Abuja.

Guests at the wedding include Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, Governor Nasir El-Rufai, Governor Abdullahi Ganduje, Governor Aminu Tambuwal and many others.

See more photos below

Tinubu, El-Rufai, Ganduje, others attend Atiku and Ribadu
Tinubu, El-Rufai, Ganduje, others attend Atiku and Ribadu
Tinubu, El-Rufai, Ganduje, others attend Atiku and Ribadu
Tinubu, El-Rufai, Ganduje, others attend Atiku and Ribadu
Tinubu, El-Rufai, Ganduje, others attend Atiku and Ribadu
Tinubu, El-Rufai, Ganduje, others attend Atiku and Ribadu
Tinubu, El-Rufai, Ganduje, others attend Atiku and Ribadu
Tinubu, El-Rufai, Ganduje, others attend Atiku and Ribadu
Tinubu, El-Rufai, Ganduje, others attend Atiku and Ribadu
Tinubu, El-Rufai, Ganduje, others attend Atiku and Ribadu
Tinubu, El-Rufai, Ganduje, others attend Atiku and Ribadu
Tinubu, El-Rufai, Ganduje, others attend Atiku and Ribadu
Tinubu, El-Rufai, Ganduje, others attend Atiku and Ribadu
Tinubu, El-Rufai, Ganduje, others attend Atiku and Ribadu
Tinubu, El-Rufai, Ganduje, others attend Atiku and Ribadu
Tinubu, El-Rufai, Ganduje, others attend Atiku and Ribadu
Tinubu, El-Rufai, Ganduje, others attend Atiku and Ribadu
Tinubu, El-Rufai, Ganduje, others attend Atiku and Ribadu
Tinubu, El-Rufai, Ganduje, others attend Atiku and Ribadu
Tinubu, El-Rufai, Ganduje, others attend Atiku and Ribadu
Tinubu, El-Rufai, Ganduje, others attend Atiku and Ribadu
Tinubu, El-Rufai, Ganduje, others attend Atiku and Ribadu

Linda Ikeji

Nigeria now sleeping giant of Africa, says TMG

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*Adds: Nigeria is far from being the flying eagle of our dream

By Joseph Erunke

AS Nigeria celebrates her 60th Independence anniversary, the Transition Monitoring Group, TMG,has regretted that the country had failed to live up to expectations of its founding fathers. The organisation, in a statement by its chairperson, Dr Abiola Akiyode – Afolabi,regretted that 60 years after independence, the country was still “far from being the flying eagle of our dream that we aspired to be.” “We have now become sleeping giants to multiplicity of societal vices. The root cause which are traceable to inept and corrupt leadership as well as our wasteful and flamboyant life styles,” TMG added in the statement it released marking the country’s freedom 60 years ago. It advised that:”As we bask in the euphoria of diamond independence celebrations, TMG calls for sober reflection and urges the government to go back to the drawing board to chart good modality that will bring home much anticipated profits of democracy to her citizens”,adding:”Nigerians deserve smiles on their faces again.” The statement read in full:”The Chairperson, Board and entire management of the Transition Monitoring Group, TMG heartily felicitate with Nigeria on the occasion of her diamond jubilee. “As Nigeria set to mark her diamond jubilee as a political entity on Thursday, October 1, 2020, the fact is not lost on anyone the rebirth of tribalism which is rife presently in the country. Our country is pitiably polarized, and disunited along ethnicity cleavages and primordial sentiments – drips with deep mutual suspicion, aggression, hatred and animosity. “Though not the image expected of once an acclaimed giant of Africa, At 60, Nigeria cuts the image of an enfeeble nation deeply divided with deplorable state of infrastructure in almost every sector across the country. ALSO READ: NASS Committee on Constitution Review – A journey to nowhere “Nigeria is far from being the flying eagle of our dream that we aspired to be, we have now become sleeping giants to multiplicity of societal vices. The root cause which are traceable to inept and corrupt leadership as well as our wasteful and flamboyant life styles. “As we bask in the euphoria of diamond independence celebrations, TMG calls for sober reflection and urges the government to go back to the drawing board to chart good modality that will bring home much anticipated profits of democracy to her citizens. Nigerians deserve smiles on their faces again. “Honoring the bond signed with the people, no stone should be left unturned by the government in ensuring entrenchment of good governance, particularly the sanctity of our electoral system must be guaranteed through responsible leadership. “Having fought endlessly for the cause of Nigerians and against forms of oppression that have afflicted the country, TMG will continue to intervene by providing strategical direction especially in these current times of national situation by pushing for sustainable policies and legislation that will guarantee security of lives and property and economic prosperity of Nigerians. “As a diamond jubilee gift to all Nigerians, TMG therefore in its bid to the entrenchment of democracy in the country, demands an urgent need for an electoral reform that takes cognizance of and proffer solutions to several of the old challenges that featured in previous electoral process as witnessed. “We hereby restate the need for the un-bundling of the present election management body in Nigeria by creating agencies such as Political Party Registration and Regulatory Commission and Electoral Offence Commission with a mobile court for immediate trial of electoral offenders on Election Day amongst other recommendations. “TMG is beholden to none in its bid to ensuring that the election management body and other stakeholders carry out their responsibilities in accordance with the Law and internationally recognized standards for free, fair and credible elections.”

VANGUARD

The truth they won’t tell President Buhari, By Dele Momodu

Pendulum

Fellow Nigerians, I was one of those who celebrated Nigeria’s 60th Independence anniversary in the grandiloquent Ovation International style. Many had queried me on social media asking what was there to celebrate? My response was easy and straightforward. LIFE. One word that encapsulates the whole essence of our existence. I will never take LIFE for granted. This is more so when we consider the corona virus pandemic now ravaging the world. The latest person to fall victim to this insidious, but utterly dangerous and dreaded ailment is the omnipotent President of the United States, Donald Trump, who like the  Brazilian President, had pooh poohed the corona virus not knowing he would suddenly contract the disease and be laid low by it I pray that COVID-19 does not consume him. My Column today, is dedicated to Nigeria’s Diamond Independence Jubilee and another powerful President, Muhammadu Buhari.

I was born on May 16, 1960, just before Nigeria gained Independence. So, I’m months older than our dear beloved country. I have since found time to read many accounts of what transpired before and after we assumed we were free from colonial bondage. I could imagine the giddiness that accompanied that much sought-after illusory freedom, at the time. But sadly, though we were free from colonial rule, events have shown that our emancipation was instantly replaced and replicated by home grown colonial masters, those many literary artists have described as neo-colonialists. That’s a story for another day.

For now, I’m more interested in how we celebrated our 60th birthday two days ago. To be quite honest, I had expected to witness a more serious sign of soul searching and moment of sober reflections, in the light of a terribly horrible year for our country, the world and, indeed, civilisation. I expected our dear President and his speechwriters to craft a magnum opus of sorts. It is a rare privilege for any President to superintendent such a milestone and landmark event. Something that would reverberate and resonate for decades in the annals of Nigerian, nay African and world history. But the day came and went poof, just like that. It was like a charade, a real anti-climax. There were no monumental decisions and changes. No forceful, emphatic and inspirational declaration of policy or direction from a government that has been apparently rudderless and clueless for the most part of its five years in office. Instead what we got was just the same lacklustre and lethargic performance of the last five years that we have now been made accustomed to, by fire by force.

The speech by the President gave no solid tone or re-assurance. It was littered with platitudes and vague, watery promises, not the solemn, earnest proclamations of how to heal the nations wounds and progress the dreams of its teeming populace. I couldn’t believe that a government that has burnt five years already, would still frivolously promise heaven and earth in ten years, forgetting it has spent more than half of its two terms of four years each. Truth is, the least discerning of Nigerians will agree with me that there is no prospect that anything much would be achieved by this government, even if allocated a 20-year term. It is not because it cannot find the brightest Nigerians to work with, it is because of the Messianic attitude of the titular head of government. I’m shocked that this government still has the temerity to blame previous governments for its own glaring failures. Wake up smell the coffee, Sir! The reason you were voted into power was to fix the rot and the mess that the nation had been plunged into by the very same previous governments that you are blaming. We knew that they had brought us to our knees. You promised to bring us to our feet, not to merely lay the blame for your deficiencies and defalcation at not succeeding in this respect at the doorsteps of your predecessors.

President Muhammadu Buhari needs to be told the gospel truth so that he may be rescued from his delusions of grandeur. His greatest flaw is not new to our nation. And it is not likely to go away very soon. Inherited prejudices are often stubborn and intractable. President Buhari is obviously neither willing nor able to steer Nigeria in a different direction from that which he has been all too familiar with. I can write the history of how his government would end in advance. It does not require any gift of clairvoyance or precognition to see that, when tomorrow comes, history would record that the Buhari  administration was a most unambitious government that came to warm the seats of power and enjoy the trappings and appurtenances associated with it, but achieved little or nothing despite the humongous resources at its disposal.

Why do I say President Buhari’s political ailments are inherited and self-inflicted? He wants to be seen more as a champion of the North and the protector of the Fulani protectorates than as a world, even African statesman. It is so sad that this uncommon second chance is being blown and frittered away so recklessly. It is obvious from the President’s latest speech, on this epochal occasion of Nigerian nationhood, that he’s not too bothered about how anyone feels about his full-blown parochialism. How I wish the President has some Advisers who can stare at him eyeball to eyeball and tell him that Nigeria is torn at the seams and shattering and splintering at the speed of light. What shall it profit a leader who was handed a cohesive country but allowed things to fall apart under his watch?

When a President says on national television that some Nigerians traded away their rights, by not voting right, meaning not voting for him, so they must pay the price, I shudder. I simply cannot imagine or understand that any progressive leader would possess such an incredibly bigoted and sectarian mindset. Nigeria is being riven, divided and torn asunder by elements and communities clamouring for self-emancipation, restructuring, separate identities and even downright secession. Soothing, calming, conciliatory and rehabilitation words are required. That is not what the speech, which was full of belligerent, bellicose, pugnacious and discordant notes, portended. The President needs to learn the tenets of Democracy. It is impossible for everyone to vote for you, Sir. Nigeria is a multiparty, multicultural, multi-ethnic and multireligious State. And freedom of association and expression and other individual liberties are enshrined in our Constitution. So, it is unthinkable that any President would expect absolute loyalty from everyone. Even totalitarian regimes expect dissent. They only clamp down on them on occasions that such dissent becomes to them a destabilising force or to teach a salutary lesson.

The one thing that the President must do, as a matter of utmost necessity and urgency, is to regard and embrace every Nigerian as a bona fide valued and cherished citizen of the Federal Republic. No one should be victimised for not supporting the President during any particular election.

The reasons all the Nigerian Republics seemed to have failed spectacularly is embedded in an editorial written by the Time magazine in 1958 shortly before we got our Independence. It was forwarded to me last night by Ijeoma Nwogwugwu, the Managing Director of Arise News Channel. In fact, it summed up how Nigeria started failing before even starting. I’m glad I read the editorial while preparing this article. I will recommend it to every Nigerian who can read, and I reproduce it below:

“The Time Magazine 10th November 1958

INDEPENDENCE WITHOUT DIFFICULTIES IS A DREAM OF UTOPIA

For one month, delighted Londoners watched the 80 ceremonially dressed Nigerians —some with necklaces of animal teeth, others with feathered straw hats, at least one with a jewelled crown — parade into Lancaster House for their historic conference.

Everything possible had been done to make them feel at home.

For the Colonial Office’s big reception at the Tate Gallery, all nude statues were carefully screened so as not to offend Moslems. The Lord Mayor served up a banquet of stewed peanuts, and one paramount Chief — His Highness James Okosi II of the Onitsha — fulfilled a lifelong ambition: to ride the escalator at the Charing Cross underground station.[?]

In the end, the Nigerians got what they had come for: on Oct. 1, 1960, the largest (373,250 sq. mi.) of Britain’s remaining colonial territories would get its independence (TIME. Nov. 3). But behind the scenes the conference had revealed ominous signs of trouble to come.

From the start there was a clash between the personalities of the Premiers of the three regions — each obviously more important than the scholarly Federal Prime Minister, Alhaji Abubakar Tafawa Balewa.

In Western eyes, Obafemi Awolowo of the Western Region seemed the most statesmanlike: as the conference began, the London Times carried a full-page ad proclaiming his declaration for freedom under the title “This I Believe,” prepared with the help of an American public relations man.

In contrast, U.S. – educated Premier Nnamdi (“Zik”) Azikiwe of the Eastern Region seemed to have learned more in the U.S. about Tammany tactics than Thomas Jefferson, and was somewhat under a cloud as a result of a British tribunal’s 1956 investigation into corruption in his administration.

The North’s Premier, the Sardauna of Sokoto, a haughty Moslem of noble birth, could barely conceal his contempt for his less aristocratic colleagues.

Insults & Accusations. Under the great chandeliers of the Lancaster House music room, where Chopin once played for Queen Victoria, the Premiers bickered, shot insults back and forth like poisoned darts.

When the conference took up the ticklish problem of how to protect the rights of minorities among Nigeria’s 250 tribes, Awolowo suggested creating three new states. The North’s Sardauna, not wishing to relinquish any of his own territory, vetoed the idea. Nor did he like the plan for a centralized police force under the federal government: he much preferred to use his own force, which, answerable only to him, can pop a man in jail with no questions asked.

At one point, the Sardauna accused Awolowo of sending his supporters to Israel to be trained as saboteurs in the North — a charge fabricated out of the fact that Western Nigeria has imported agricultural experts from Israel to advise its farmers. Awolowo counter charged that the Sardauna flogs his prisoners.

At receptions the delegates sipped their orange juice, icily aloof from one another. In elevators conversation would suddenly stop if a delegate from another region got on.

Compromises & Contests. But as the weeks passed, the Sardauna grudgingly consented to let the constitution carry a bill of rights, though he was so thoroughly opposed to giving the vote to women that the conference decided that this was, after all, not necessarily a “fundamental” right.

The delegates then agreed on a centralized police force, but one that would be administered by a council of representatives from each region. Finally, with their own independence from Britain assured (as well as that of the adjacent British Cameroons, should they choose to become a part of Nigeria), the delegates started for home.

Until Nigeria’s federal election takes place next year, the three Premiers will continue jockeying for power, and the fate of Nigeria could well hinge on who comes out on top. Last week, even as the National Planning Committee of Independence opened its contest for the design of a national flag (first prize: $300), many Nigerians had grave reservations about what lay ahead.

For all its jubilation, Nigeria’s West African Pilot felt obliged to warn: “Independence without difficulties is a dream of Utopia.”

This Time Magazine editorial could as well have been written today by the same writer for the same magazine. Its prophetic analysis is so scary, and yet there is no sign Nigerian leaders are ready to change a system that has held us by the jugular for so long. Indeed, they seem to prefer to continue fostering the feeding frenzy that ensues from the rent system engendered by this broken system.

What an average Nigerian smells and feels today is that the grounds for war is being prepared already, but a powerful General should understand the unpredictable nature of a civil war. We have been down that road before to great sorrow and loss. Others have experienced similar wars leading to balkanisation of their countries and none of those countries can claim to have the greatness of the union they broke away from.

Moreover, Love is easier to achieve than war. All the fantastic, phantasmagorical projections of development laid out in the high falutin speech of President Buhari will come to nought if no sacrifice is made on the part of the President to bury his innate love for just his own region and seek to unite Nigeria and Nigerians now before it is too late. A word is always enough for the wise!

Going To Heaven Is No Tea Party, If Your Wife Says No, Then You Better Start To Pray, Says Olukoya

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Ayo AROWOJOLU

Ask anyone this question: “Do you desire to go to heaven and spend your eternity in perfect bliss?” Hardly would anyone answer in the negative. Not even the most notorious sinner!

The truth is, almost everyone wants to make heaven after this present life of vanity and emptiness. However, going to heaven is not a tea party at all. It is a journey fraught with utmost carefulness, patience, perseverance, humility and above all, stubborn determination.

The above scenario painted is a general exhortation any preacher or minister of the gospel would preach any day, anytime.

However, renowned cleric and General Overseer of the Mountain of Fire and Miracles Ministry(MFM), Dr Daniel Kolawole Olukoya, has added a rather strange dimension to the trending matters of making heaven and reaping eternal life.

Olukoya said, as individualistic as the heavenly race is, the choice of a spouse and his or her cooperation with the vision for eternity, will go a long way to determine whether a person will make heaven or crash by the way side.

The clergyman, known for his apostolic signs and wonders said emphatically that a Christian’s journey to Heaven can very much be truncated by a bad marriage.

Olukoya spoke recently while ministering on a radio programme monitored in Lagos, exhorting Christians to ensure they do their best to avoid a hellish marriage as he said the choice of a godly wife or a godly husband is foundational to reaching the expected end promised by God Almighty.

This was the way he captured it: “One of the greatest Apostle of our time, Apostle Joseph Ayo Babalola, once asked a group of pastors during a Ministers’ Retreat this question; How many of you here want to make heaven?

“As expected, all the pastors there raised their hands. Then came his shocking advice to the pastors. I want to tell you the gospel truth. Any man who wants to make heaven must first go and find out from his wife, asking her if she will allow you and not be a hindrance to your journey.

“But, if for any reason, the woman says you are going no where, then that man should tighten his trousers and proceed on marathon prayers and fasting to overcome”.

As curious and shocking as the submission of the late Apostle Babalola sounded, Dr Olukoya was in concurrence that the cooperation and agreement of anyone’s spouse is very crucial to the success of the heavenly journey.

The man of God further told his teeming listeners on radio:: “I tell you, you are in a very big trouble if your wife tells you, there is no way! Tell me, which heaven are you going to?”

Pastor Olukoya’s admonition to born-again children of God currently going through hellish marriages is for them to first do a rethink of whether or not they are still in the race to the heavenly Kingdom.

Quoting from the Bible in Luke chapter 4: 62, which says, “And Jesus said unto him, No man, having put his hand to the plough, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God”, the fiery preacher insisted that there are things which must first be settled before beginning the race of life.

Pastor Olukoya said a man must necessarily receive the cooperation of his wife so that the journey may be unhindered.

Olukoya also added another interesting dimension to the issue of discourse when he said women can mostly be ready tools in the hand of the Devil.

“It doesn’t take up to 10 or 15 minutes for a woman to scatter a church once Satan already gets hold of the person in question. Women are very powerful. May God deliver us all from the power of strange women”, he stressed.

Dr Olukoya, who also doubles as the Chancellor of Mountain Top University, holds a first class honours degree in Microbiology from the University of Lagos, Nigeria and a Ph.D in Molecular Genetics from the University of Reading, United Kingdom. 

The Mountain of Fire and Miracles Church, which he superintends over is devoted to apostolic signs, Holy Ghost fireworks and unlimited demonstration of power of God for deliverance.

Who writes Buhari’s horrible, error-ridden speeches? By Farooq Kperogi

A former minister called me a few days ago to say the focus of my columns on Muhammadu Buhari ignores my own 2018 disclosure that he is a captive of an irrecoverably degenerative mental decline that ensures that he doesn’t know what he says and does. “To criticize Buhari is to beat a carcass,” he said.

I see his point, but I disagree. It is the office, not necessarily the person, that is being criticized, although the person and the office converge. Anyway, the former minister said attention should be focused on the people who drive the policies of the regime, who write Buhari’s speeches, who baby sit him.

He pointed out, for instance, that CBN governor Godwin Emefiele now almost singlehandedly steers the economic policies of the country without recourse to the presidency—or the presidential economic advisory council— because there is frankly no presidency. It’s just outright anarchy.

But, to get back to the subject matter of today’s column, who writes Buhari’s speeches? Why are the speeches often embarrassingly error-ridden, callous, shallow, cavalier, ignorant, and unpresidential? Buhari’s October 1 Independence Day Speech is perhaps the crowning encapsulation of his speech writers’ utter inner emptiness and cluelessness. I’ll come back to this point shortly.

I know that Mamman Daura and Education Minister Adamu Adamu wrote some Buhari’s signature speeches in his firm term. I know this because when I wrote a June 7, 2015 column in my now rested grammar column titled “A Grammatical and Rhetorical Analysis of President Buhari’s Inaugural Speech” where I both praised and called attention to the speech’s grammatical errors, I got a swift, defensive, ill-informed response from a “Mainasara” who used the majestic self-referential plural “we” in his response to me, which was published in the Sunday Trust of July 12, 2015.

Daura betrayed himself when he made reference to Dublin College, Ireland as one of the guardians of the English language, which it isn’t, nor is there any. (He attended Dublin College!). I wrote a rejoinder to his rejoinder and shut him up. A senior person in Daily Trust later confided in me that “Mainasara” was Mamman Daura’s pen name and that Daura took my criticism personal because he was one of the writers of the inaugural speech.

Adamu Adamu, who had been Buhari’s speech writer before he was elected in 2015, also contributed to the 2015 inauguration speech, particularly the Shakespearean references in the speech. (Adamu Adamu is a Shakespearean enthusiast and wordsmith who probably wrote Buhari’s famous “I belong to everybody and I belong to nobody” line in the inaugural speech, which some people erroneously said was plagiarised).

But I no longer see the rhetorical echoes of Adamu Adamu—or even Mamman Daura—in the recent speeches Buhari reads. Whatever disagreements I may have with the duo, I can’t help but concede that they are excellent writers. This is particularly true of Adamu Adamu, who is far and away one of Nigeria’s finest writers in the English language.

I don’t know who writes Buhari’s speeches now. Nor is it possible to tell because the tones and tenor of the speeches change dramatically from occasion to occasion, underscoring the chaos and anything-goes climate in the presidency.

But whoever the speech writers are, they are illiterate doofuses who have zero appreciation of the power of what we call the rhetorical presidency in communication studies, which I have defined in a forthcoming book chapter as the symbolic and discursive powers of the presidency to frame, reframe, define, and redefine the contours of national conversations and identity formulations and reformulations.

As I pointed out on social media on October 1, Nigeria’s Independence Day is supposed to be a solemn, august, introspective moment, and the speech of whoever claims to be president of the country should reflect the dignified seriousness of the moment. It should inspire hope for the future, enliven spirits, and renew faith in the country.

But what did we see? Buhari’s speech writers chose the moment to visit rhetorical violence on Nigerians, to rile people and foul their mood, to annihilate people’s loyalty in the country, to fertilize hopelessness and despair, and to inspire disabling anxieties about the immediate future.

For instance, during his speech Buhari signaled that he’d yet again hike the price of petrol (and plunge Nigerians into even deeper misery than they’re already in) by saying, “It makes no sense for oil to be cheaper in Nigeria than in Saudi Arabia.” Which sane person writes that in an Independence Day Speech?

Well, it also makes no sense for the minimum wage in Saudi Arabia to be 3,000 riyals (which is equivalent to N305,149.30) while the minimum wage in Nigeria is a miserly N30,000, which hasn’t even been fully implemented in all states. Nor does it make sense for Saudi Arabia to have generous social safety nets for its citizens while the vast majority of Nigerians are crushed by biting deprivation. Or that Saudis have access to affordable public transportation, while Nigerians don’t.

To compare the petrol prices of various countries with Nigeria and ignore the sky-high differences in minimum wages and standards of living is beyond cruel. In any case, if the government claims it has fully “deregulated” the petrol industry, what business does it have again talking about the prices of petrol? In a deregulated economy, the government has no business fixing prices. That’s the prerogative of the private sector.

You are either deregulating or you are not. There is no in-between. Deregulation means freedom from government regulations. Yet, the government fixes the price of petrol. That’s insane. In a deregulated petrol price regime, the first government agency that should be disbanded outright is the fraudulent Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency (PPPRA).

I live in the United States where petrol prices are truly deregulated. Different states have different price regimes. In fact, in the same city, different gas stations have different prices. And prices fluctuate from time to time. Prices have been extremely low these past few months because of the slum in global oil prices. Ironically, government-engineered price hikes in Nigeria coincide with a time when prices are low everywhere else in the world.

But, as I’ve pointed out before, cruelty is now Buhari’s official governing philosophy. Denying Nigerians the expectation of relatively cheaper petrol prices is like asking people to hold cream on their hands while their faces and bodies are dry. That’s cruelty. Most Nigerians would be at peace with high petrol prices if their country doesn’t produce oil.

A wealthy parent who starves his children and justifies his cruelty by pointing to the starvation of the children of his poor neighbours is an irresponsible parent who doesn’t deserve his children.

I think one error people keep making, including the former minister who spoke with me, is to forget that even before his dementia-fueled alienation from his government, Buhari had notoriety for sadism. In a response to a previous column, for instance, a Katsina man wrote that Buhari’s nickname as a youngster was “Danlitimugu,” meaning “Danliti the sadist.”

Another said most people in the Northwest have internalised the fact of Buhari’s sadism by coining the expression “Da sauranaiki; Buhari yagamai rake da iPhone.” Literally: “There’s still more to be done; Buhari saw a sugarcane hawker with an iPhone!” In other words, the appearance of even a glimmer of prosperity in people activates Buhari’s sadistic instincts. So his government reflects his person, and his speech writers probably know this.

I wish I could say, “Happy Independence Day” to Nigerians, but that would be heartless. There was nothing to be happy about in an Independence Day that was ruined by Buhari’s sadism.

APC lost Edo because of 2023 race but we will still use court to remove Obaseki on technical grounds – Ahmed Wambai, ex-national vice-chairman

Immediate past National Vice Chairman, North Central in the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC, Ahmed Suleiman Wambai has let out some of the party’s well kept secrets why trying to explain the current power struggle threatening the foundation of the party. Wambai who spoke in Abuja detailed how Adams Oshiomhole, the ex-National Chairman of the party doled out billions of naira to ensure APC won the governorship elections in Imo, Kwara, Gombe, Zamfara, and Benue state. He said APC is not a political party but an almagamation of interests just for the purpose of grabbing power and as he insisted that the battle to control the party ahead of the 2023 presidency led to the failure of the party to win the recent Edo governorship election, the sack of Oshiomhole and the gang up against a national leader of the party, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu by APC governors. He boasted that despite losing the Edo governorship seat at the poll, the party would still remove Governor Godwin Obaseki on technical grounds using the courts. His words, “Oshiomhole was the only person that gave N20 million and N10 million contributions to all the Senators and House of Representatives candidates during the election. He was the only person that gave some governorship candidates of some states we desired to win like Imo, Kwara, Gombe and Zamfara N1 billion each, Benue, about N700 million.”

Is this the Nigeria of your dream?

Apart from our independence as a sovereign nation, the fact that Nigeria has remained an indivisible and indissoluble entity is enough to say that it is a country of my dream. There must be conflict and resolution in every establishment. In the conflicts, we must identify our differences and know how to consummate the differences.

The good thing is that we have been able to domesticate some of the factors confronting us as source of division and unity. There is no nation without its peculiar problems but the good thing is that the more problems we have the more solution we deploy in handling them.

We have so many tribes, religions in Nigeria but we have tried to use them to our advantage; to add value to the development of the country. We have tumbled and fumbled in our journey to greatness and have also converted some of the flaws to our collective benefits.

Why has it become very difficult for Nigerians to give President Buhari some benefits of doubt despite all he has achieved?

President Buhari came when this country was heading to the point of no return. The healthcare, social services, leadership, human dignity were all lost. There was so much decay in the country due to the 16 years misrule.

People from all corners of the country looked up to Buhari as a man of integrity, honesty. But there was a problem along the line. When he came with all the high expectations, nobody thought the situation will be like this. There was collapse in the economic indices. There was sharp drop in the price of crude oil in the international market.

He could not do any magic to change the narratives of the market equilibrium of price fluctuation in the global market. But Nigerians failed to understand that Buhari was handicapped in dealing with the forces controlling the crude oil in the market. The good thing is that nobody can accuse Buhari of lacking in integrity, or that he is a corrupt leader.

The biggest problem we have is the failure to realise that Buhari cannot be the governor of Nasarawa, Bauchi, Kano, Lagos and other states in the country. Corruption is already enshrined in our political system; economic, social and religious systems, including the clergies of the country.

The clergies and Ulamas are corrupt and Buhari cannot change them overnight. There is so much corruption in the land and the only way to kill it is by revolution. Anybody found guilty of corruption should be killed. I cannot imagine how this country will be in the next 20 years considering the fact that corruption is permeating the lives of the youths and children.

The biggest danger facing this country is that everybody is chasing wealth and riches. If only government will take strong stand against corruption so that whoever that is corrupt should be sanctioned heavily. If they do it successfully in China, we have to imitate the China model to live above board.

If political leaders should imitate Buhari, all the Ministers, Judges, heads of agencies will not be found wanting. We are becoming inherently sick otherwise, how can someone steal money as huge as N1 billion or $1 million? We have seen Nigerians with oil wells, estates, other investments, yet they are not resting. Surprisingly, whether they got them fraudulently or genuinely, they won’t invest in areas to help the people.

The religious and tribal differences are others constituting major problems facing the country. Everything is interpreted along tribal and religious bias. We have failed to capitalise on using such differences as a catalyst for the development of the country.

We have failed to realise that anybody that can provide good leadership should be regarded as a leader irrespective of his religion and tribe. It is unfortunate for this country that people have refused to change despite this journey of 60 years of independence.

Another serious problem is lack of ideological discipline by the political leaders. All those people in the PDP previously are now in charge of proceedings in the APC. They have held the leadership of the country hostage. We have seen politicians in APC today, PDP tomorrow and back to APC again in no distant time. We lack ideological consistency.

Will it be right to say that the APC has failed Nigerians having failed to fix all these problems you enumerated?

I won’t say with certainty that APC has failed Nigerians even though failure is inherently inbuilt in Nigerians. We will never do something to progress. The APC came with high enthusiasm to right the wrong. But, can we say that some of the Ministers are worthy enough to be one? Are they looking for money or rendering services?

The unfortunate thing in the APC is that we don’t have reward system. Those that worked and suffered for the party in all the states are not rewarded. Things are boomeranging because those that did not work for the APC are the ones rewarded and enjoying the fruits they did not sow.

There is no discipline in the APC till this moment. In the real sense of it, the APC is not a political party, but an amalgamation of interests for power quest and to wrestle power from the PDP. The Comrade Adams Oshiomhole-led NWC tried everything possible to redefine the objective and modus operandi of the party but the governors will not allow us.

The actions of the governors are the inherent behaviour of the PDP. In the constitution, the party is supreme but in the real sense of it, nobody cares in APC. It is a case of as far as I am a governor, I must have a control and the party must do his biddings. The governors’ quest for control and influence is what destroyed the APC and unfortunately under the influence of Mr President because he is a man of few words.

People took advantage to do everything they like using the name of Mr President. They just drop the name of Mr President everywhere and for their selfish aggrandisement. How can we operate in such way like we are in banana republic?

We cannot make any progress operating in such manner. We are in a country everybody does and acts the way he likes regardless of if he is infringing on another person’s right. The most painful thing is that they don’t care if Mr President is there or not. They take advantage of Mr President so much because he does not talk.

If it were Mr President of 1984, all of them could have been in jail. But if he takes them to jail, they will claim social stigma. They will accuse him of being dictatorial and that he is operating in an anti-democratic disposition.

He still remains a round peg in a round hole but unfortunately most of our people blame him while other political leaders are busy looking for money. Nobody is concerned about this country. Patriotism is completely missing.

Do you have any regret being part of the Oshiomhole-led NWC especially as they were blamed for being responsible for the problems of the party?

As far as I am concerned, Oshiomhole has paid his price and he has done well. Those people against him are the same clique against Mr President, Tinubu and the principle of the rule of law. They will object the moment things are not done their way. No party can function very well without discipline.

We supported Oshiomhole for two reasons. One is because he is our leader and we are supposed to be obedient to him as a leader. In the dissolved APC NWC, it was only about two or three persons that were anti-Oshiomhole. We would have gotten justice if we had gone to the court but we did not because of the interest of the party we have in our heart. APC is above every member of the party.

In the history of political party, Oshiomhole remains the only chairman that governors did not contribute money to the party purse under him. No governor contributed to the running of the party under Oshiomhole. We did that so that the party could be independent.

We never go cap in hand to any ministry for contract or patronages for the survival of the party. Oshiomhole was the only person that gave N20 million and N10 million contributions to all the Senators and House of Representatives candidates during the election.

He was the only person that gave some governorship candidates of some states we desired to win like Imo, Kwara, Gombe and Zamfara N1 billion each, Benue, about N700 million. We did all these from the purse of the party. In the history of political party, no one has done that. Ask me the source of the money, it was through the sale of our nomination forms. We deliberately raised the price of governorship nomination form to N22 million to reduce controversy, conflict and unnecessary competition.

We wanted to stop some unserious persons from picking the form. We even refunded the money of those that lost the primaries. Oshiomhole has never been dictated to by Mr President, the governors or the Ministers. That is the ideal way a party should run as enshrined in the constitution of the party.

Why are the APC governors against Oshiomhole?

They are against him because 2023 election is around the corner. Some of them want to be the next president, some want to be the vice president but they forgot that only God Almighty determines who becomes the next president and vice president. Many of them are living in illusion.

It was because of that interest that they connived and deceived the president. On several instances, they had wanted the Oshiomhole-led NWC to be dissolved but Mr President refused. But they used everything at their disposal in their desperation to sack us. We have left the party, let them run it, let them produce the president in 2023.

But if they are against Bola Tinubu, a major stakeholder in this party, there will definitely be a problem because he is too big to be sacrificed. I know that none of them dictating now, abusing Mr President and jostling to scheme out Tinubu will be able to deliver their zone.

Would the NWC have done things differently if given another opportunity?

In retrospect, what we would have done would have been to carry along and accommodate those interests we previously felt did not matter then. We were so serious to observe the stipulations of the party constitution.

What about the claims that no member of the NWC could challenge Oshiomhole especially on the issue of Governor Godwin Obaseki?

Challenging Oshiomhole is not the issue. You see, the governors have a cartel that no matter how bad you are as a governor, you must be allowed to recontest. The governors knew that Obaseki was not democratic by denying 17 lawmakers from being sworn-in. We did everything to settle this brouhaha but Obaseki refused. We involved the governors without knowing that they are in secret pact with him. The governors will say one thing before Oshiomhole and talk another thing behind him. We arranged a meeting between them, involving the governors, but Obaseki declined.

We arranged a meeting between them and the Senate President, yet Obaseki refused. He would have given Oshiomhole some level of respect for spending so much to make him governor. Oshiomhole is not the type that could request money from Obaseki. We asked him what was the problem with Oshiomhole but he said it was a matter of trust. He said Oshiomhole did not trust him, never allowed him to conduct his primary and even when we convinced him to conduct the primary, only four of his 24-men lost. It was a fair deal because you cannot get all in a democracy.

Why did APC lose in Edo governorship election?

It was pure conspiracy. Both PDP and APC members joined forces. But I tell you what, we have not lost that election. We are taking over Edo state on technical grounds. Obaseki has no paper and we are waiting to see the governor, any court or government that will prove that Obaseki is qualified.

Secondly, Obaseki lied under oath and received nomination forms from two political parties against the ruling of the Supreme Court. This is just a temporary celebration for him.

What is the zoning arrangement in APC ahead of the 2023 presidential election?

The constitution of the party is concerned about Nigeria’s unity. Zoning is an unwritten law in APC but we have to live with it. For this country to be socially, politically and economically stable, we have to be considerate. With the president coming from the north, vice president from the south, then by way of micro-zoning, the Senate President is from the Northeast, Speaker from Southwest.

As an apostle of zoning, I strongly believe that power should shift from the north to the south so that everybody will look at the APC as an umbrella of social mitigation. It was difficult for President Buhari to beat PDP until the southerners joined forces with us. I am sure that if Tinubu did not key into the merger, Buhari would not have won that election. For anybody sitting somewhere in the north thinking that power should not shift to the south, the person should be an enemy to the progressive tenet of the APC. The person is not only living in the past but a daydreamer.

This country cannot disintegrate because of the selfish ambition of certain persons to oppose the statutory eight years. If we want to live in peace in this country, we must accept and live with the reality of the fact that zoning must be maintained.

What is your advice to the Governor Buni-led APC caretaker committee?

Don’t forget that Mr President endorsed it and anything he endorses, is generally accepted in the spirit of leadership role. We will be disrespecting our leader by taking the case to court. The decision taken by Mr President did not go down well with us, but we have to swallow the bitter pill of democratisation. We did it in the spirit for the party to get direction.

I call on the caretaker committee to work assiduously to ensure that they did not put bias. They should not listen to one section of the party and ignore the other; the problem of the party will persist. I believe that the governor of Yobe state, a seasoned politician, who is the chairman of the party, will know the consequences of his action and inactions of negating one section of the party.

How true is the allegation that the Oshiomhole-led NWC was working for Tinubu 2023 presidency?

Let me tell you the honest truth, Tinubu did not bring a couple of members of that NWC into the APC national leadership. Don’t forget that we are all educated. We are men of integrity, representatives of our people, we have conscience. People are afraid of Tinubu so much like people are afraid of snake.

Sincerely speaking, Tinubu does not have Oshiomhole’s number. I know a couple of times Oshiomhole tried to reach him on phone, but he did not pick the calls. It was bad that we have to use somebody very close to him to let Oshiomhole talk to him. I am a big fan of Tinubu, but I cannot reach him because he does not know me.

I don’t know why the unnecessary exaggerated phobia for Tinubu, yet he is the only man that contributes to the survival of all states in the country. There is no governor that has not gone to Tinubu, either for court cases, getting a ticket and he has been up and doing in handling those romances.

There is no goal getter in APC like Tinubu. Everybody in APC who has the desire to contest in 2023 as a governor or president will need the support of Tinubu.

(Saturday Sun)

In Case They Didn’t Tell The President.

By – Dan Agbese

In the last one week or so, some very eminent Nigerians, either individually or in groups, have issued statements on the unacceptable state of the nation. These are men who have paid their dues to the country as public officers and in their various professional capacities in the military, the civil service and the academia.
They are not men who can mistake a pussy cat for a wolf. Nor are they men who want to hug the limelight. They have hugged the limelight for most of their lives. They are patriotic and responsible men for whom it would be the height of irresponsibility to seal their lips when the nation is in dire straits. They speak out because they find it unacceptable that the president and his men and women choose to live in denial while our nation is burning and bleeding.

I am reproducing some of those statements here in case the president’s men failed to draw his attention to them.

The first statement came from former President Olusegun Obasanjo, who spoke at a Consultative Dialogue of Nigeria’s Socio-Cultural Political Organisations on the State of the Nation in Abuja. His audience was made up of Northern Elders Forum, Afenifere, Middle Belt Forum, Ohanaeze Ndigbo and Pan Niger Delta Forum.
These are serious-minded groups who, worried about where we are and wonder where we are going as a nation, engaged the former president in the dialogue to offer their collective and informed views on how to stop the nation from heading into the pit of hell.
Here is what Chief Obasanjo said: “ I do appreciate that you all feel sad and embarrassed as most of us feel as Nigerians with the situation we find ourselves in. Today, Nigeria is fast drifting to a failed and badly divided state; economically our country is becoming a basket case and poverty capital of the world, and socially, we are firming up as an unwholesome and insecure country.
“ And these manifestations are the products of recent mismanagement of diversity and socio-economic development of our country. Old fault lines that were disappearing have opened up in greater fissures and with drums of hatred, disintegration and separation and accompanying choruses being heard loud and clear almost everywhere.”
The president kept mum.

The Chief of Army Staff, Lt General Tukur Buratai, was in Osun State recently to commission some projects at Kuta and Asamu. Lt-General Alani Akinrinade, former chief of army/defence staff, spoke at the occasion. He sent a message to the president through the army chief.
This was part of what he said: “ Please grant me the indulgence to mention to him one or two matters that throw me into distress because of my association with him.
“ The first is this pervasive belief that he is an ethnic bigot, an irredeemable religious fundamentalist, that he firmly subscribes and promotes the possibility of his ethnic Fulani to take over the country, the reason he does not interfere in curbing brigandage of the Fulani herdsmen, that he has performed woefully in the fight against the terrorist Boko Haram and that he cannot rise to the occasion when it comes to reflecting the heterogenous composition of our country when it comes to appointments to sensitive positions in his government.
“ He can take better counsel in the appointments to the sensitive parts of his government. There are capable and loyal men and women from every village in the country.
“ He needs to stand on the table against the motley crowd of advisers surrounding him and take a firm stand on the re-organisation of our country physically, politically, economically and socially. It is long overdue and over flogged.”
The president kept mum.

The Nigerian Working Group on Peacebuilding and Governance called for dialogue to save the country. The group parades eminent men and women such as Cardinal John Onaiyekan, General Martin Luther Agwai, former chief of defence staff, Professor Attahiru Jega, former INEC Chairman, Ambassador Fatima Balla, Professor Jibrin Ibrahim, Aisha Mohammed Oyebode, Nguyan Shaku Feese, Dr Usman Bugaje and Chris Kwaja.
These were some of the points raised by the group about the state of the nation under Buhari’s watch:
“ Our country is rapidly approaching a tipping point. Enough is enough. The time for action is NOW!
“ In our federal system, Nigeria’s state and local governments are the closest to the people. However, increasing insecurity across the country raises questions about the ability of the country’s security architecture to manage the multiple security challenges at the state and local levels. Criminality in rural areas further complicates the situation by undermining food security, as many farmers have been unable to go to their farms for months for fear of losing their lives.
“ The government has been incapable of assuring Nigerians that it cares about our predicament. Numerous conspiracy theories about the causes of the violence continue to circulate, without any reassuring counter narratives coming from the government. .. many have lost faith in public officials and security agencies.
Several communities have resorted to taking up arms to protect their lives and property from marauding criminals, while security agencies look on overwhelmed.
“ There is a growing public consensus that the current leadership of our security agencies have failed woefully, and that our commander-in-chief has so far refused to act. This cannot continue. Mr President, you must show more concern and do what is necessary to improve the effectiveness of our security agencies, even if it means replacing the current leadership of our security agencies.”
The president kept mum.

Professor Wole Soyinka said: “ The ongoing governance posture of aggressive evasion spells only one end: collective suicide.”

Eighteen members of the British parliament chipped in with a letter to the secretary-general of the Commonwealth on the security situation in our country. They wrote: “ We write to highlight urgent concerns about escalating violence in Nigeria, where attacks led by Boko Haram, Fulani herders, and other Islamist militia continue in northern and central-belt states, with reports of increasing violence in the South-East.
“ The state’s failure to protect its citizens is a clear breach of its obligations under the Commonwealth Charter in respect of human rights.”
And the president does not bestir himself.

These people and groups made their views known in the time-honoured doctrine of collective responsibility, to wit, while one man heads a government, the success of every government is a collective responsibility imposed on all citizens. Their views may be ignored in the cynical, if self-righteous belief, that they are mere noise-makers who deserve to be treated with contempt.
That would be a big pity.

It is not just a shame, it is an outrageous shame, that 60 good years of independence still find our nation at this very sorry pass where the government cannot protect its citizens from a slew of criminal elements who hold sway in every part of the country. To pretend that we are not drifting towards a failed state or a deeply divided country takes living in denial to the next level. Time now to admit that we have problems. That is the first step towards finding solutions to them.
Democracy is a system of governance that derives its legitimacy from promoting constant dialogue between those who govern and those who are governed and among those who are governed. The idea that a government has the monopoly of wisdom is strange to democracy. Omniscience is not one of the attributes of political leadership.

To repeat the obvious: the fate of our country is in the hands of President Muhammadu Buhari. It is he who can take steps to stop our country from “ fast drifting to a failed state.” And it is he who can take determined steps to stop our country from “ rapidly approaching a tipping point.” He has to listen less to his aides and more to the sane, responsible and patriotic voices of eminent men and women. History is watching; so are we.

The Guardian, Nigeria.

FG justifies fuel price comparison with Saudi Arabia, others

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The Federal Government says the comparison made by President Muhammadu Buhari on fuel prices between Nigeria, Saudi Arabia and other countries in his 2020 Independence Day national broadcast is justified.

Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, made the submission when he featured on a Radio Nigeria current affairs programme, “Radio Link’’ on Saturday in Abuja.

President Buhari said in his Independence Day broadcast that: “we sell petrol at N161 per litre when same is sold at N168 per litre in Saudi Arabia; N211 per litre in Egypt; N362 per litre in Ghana; N362 per litre in Chad, and N346 per litre in Niger Republic.

“It does not make sense for petrol to be cheaper in Nigeria than Saudi Arabia,’’

A cross section of Nigerians, however, criticised the president for making such comparison without considering the minimum wage, standard of living and infrastructure in Saudi Arabia in particular.

Responding to the critics, the minister said there was nothing wrong in making such comparison.

“Some people have said that why should we compare ourselves to Saudi Arabia with better infrastructure and higher wages.

“Our answer to that is very simple. Saudi Arabia has 34 million people while Nigeria has 200 million people.

“Saudi Arabia produces 10 million barrels of crude oil per day, while Nigeria produces at its best, 2.1 million barrel per day.

“Their population is about one-sixth of Nigeria’s population and they are blessed with more resources.

“Therefore, they can afford to pay higher wages and build infrastructure.

“Our argument must be put in proper perspective.

“As we have said, whatever money we make from the subsidy removal, we will invest in infrastructure development’’ he said.

The minister commended organised labour for its understanding and patriotism in suspending its planned strike to protest the fuel price deregulation and the electricity tariff adjustment.

He noted that the suspension of the strike by the Nigeria Labour Congress, the Trade Union Congress and their affiliates, averted a “national calamity’’.

Alhaji Mohammed said after spending sleepless nights engaging with organised labour, the two congresses agreed with government that the fuel deregulation was inevitable

“The moment we lost as much as 60 per cent of our earnings and suffered a kind of shock in crude oil prices, we must deregulate.

“Between 2006 and 2019 we paid N10.413 trillion in fuel subsidies; an average of N743.8 billion per annum,’’ he lamented.

“The country right now cannot afford the subsidy regime,’’ the minister stressed.

He said government agreed with labour that it would facilitate the setting up of many modular refineries and rehabilitate existing regular refineries to cushion the effect of the deregulation.

He said the Ministry of Petroleum Resources would intensify efforts to ensure that Nigerians could get alternatives such as gas to power their vehicles and machinery.

Alhaji Mohammed said that the first auto gas station would be inaugurated and opened to public next week in Lagos.

On electricity tariff adjustment, the minister explained that government agreed with labour to establish a joint committee to investigate and confirm that the price increase did not affect vulnerable Nigerians.

He said the committee would specifically ascertain and ensure that the price increase did not affect Nigerians who get less than 12 hours of electricity per day.

Alhaji Mohammed said government would provide five million households with solar power in the next 12 months.

He said the solar energy programme would benefit at least 25 million people and would create about 250,000 jobs.

The minister said government was also working toward providing other palliatives to cushion the effect of the tariff adjustment and fuel price deregulation. (NAN)