Breaking: University of Lagos Students mourns Student Union Leader Seun Paul Ogunjide. A.K.A “Success P”.

The University of Lagos was thrown into a mourning atmosphere when the news broke of the death of one of its vibrant Student Activist Seun Paul who was among the 19 people involved in the ghastly road accident on the Lagos Ibadan expressway on Sunday 19^th of June.

Flash: Independent Electoral Monitoring group @Isdmg meets @INECNigeria on way forward on Nigeria Furure. via @Adungbe

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in conjunction with the Independent Service Delivery Monitoring Group (ISDMG) yesterday in Abuja held a CSO Expert Group meeting on Electoral Reforms.

Result of opinion poll conducted on reasons given for inconclusive elections by @INECNigeria. Via @Adungbe

A cross section of Nigerians have endorsed the position that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), should cancel results of elections in areas that record electoral violence during elections as a way of discouraging politicians from engaging in violence during elections. 

SW PDP Youth Caucus writes Senator Buruji Kashamu (a.k.a. Esho Jinadu) an open letter, Enough is enough!!!

  

Dear Senator Buruji Kashamu, Originally known as Esho Jinadu

 
What else do you want that you have not achieved in life? We defended loads about you over time as you gave us the impression that you meant well for the PDP. We were against our leaders in the SW just because we felt they were against all about you. Sir, we are making a detour because you have let us down!

Sir, recent events have proved us wrong and confirmed that indeed, you derive a lot of pleasure in heating the polity just to have things done your way. This is wrong sir! Sir, we lost Baba Obasanjo in Ogun State as well as his teeming supporters in the PDP to your attitude. Same in Ekiti State where we lost ex-governor Eng. Segun Oni and in Osun, ex-governor Omoba Oyinlola. For how long are we going to be loosing 'quality' for 'quantity'? 

Sir, what do you stand to gain with the numerous court injunctions purportedly secured by your pawns and sponsored by you against the PDP? Why are you so power drunk and arrogant sir? We prayed and fasted to ensure that the NDLEA failed in their bid to arrest you then and with all those events, we believe you would have lied low....  Why are you so 'common' in the news sir?

Sir, in as much as we want to commend you for all you have done for the PDP, we are now begging you in the name of God to take your time and team up with your so-called 'role-models' in the APC. We have our facts and figures. We know where the meeting points have been and all the major links. With you in the APC-party of the saints, you will no longer be declared 'wanted' in the USA. Sir, kindly and quickly team up with them now and give us a break in the PDP. 

This problem that started in Ogun State way back that we failed to nip in the bud has now graduated to the SW zone and now already in the National. Senator Kashamu, allow us to be in the PDP! We know you too well and we have started programs to ensure that all our youths in the SW are properly educated to identify 'quality' from 'quantity' and not to be carried away by 'flash'.

 

Finally, we want to beg all our leaders in the SW to come back home and see themselves as one. We have always been one until ...... Let's go all out and ensure lost key members are invited back to the PDP to help salvage the sinking ship of the Nation due to the poor visibility of the present driver in the APC. 

While we welcome Chief Ladoja and all others back to the PDP, we want to beg every committed members to ensure we are not swayed by the antics of a power drunk and sectional leader who has been mandated by his sponsors to ensure that the PDP is finally buried as a guarantee for a safe landing in all the cases he's having. 

To all the PDP leaders in the SW, pls, let's all the congress lists be well harmonised to accommodate all. Let's have this spirit of give and take for the party to move forward. To those who have made up their minds to ensure their bread and butter MUST be kept safe for them by sticking their arses to that of their master, we say, good luck and God bless! 

We wish you all the best during the National Convention of the PDP holding in Port-Harcourt, Rivers State. God grant you the grace to elect the best that will represent our party nationally. We wish you safe journey mercies to and from Rivers State back to your individual bases.

Yours:

Comrade Ajayi Ogidiolu- Iperu Remo (Ogun State)
Spokesman of the Caucus

Ms. Adenike Oyewunmi- Ogbomoso (Oyo State)

Alfa Yunus Quadri- Iragbiji (Osun State)

Mr. Segun Ojo- Efon Alaaye (Ekiti State)

Comrade Akinola Akinla - Ondo (Ondo State)

Mr. Bamidele Fadeyi -Ikorodu (Lagos State)

Issues Around Who Becomes the Next Publicity Secretary of PDP - By Ademola Olarewaju (@DemolaRewaju)

 

The opposition status conferred on the Peoples Democratic Party over a year ago necessitated a change in media approach and strategy. Central to whatever effort the party will mount in 2019 is the Publicity Department of the PDP and the questions: how will our media messaging be shaped going forward and how will the Publicity Department of PDP ‘partner’ with the APC to ensure that the ruling party performs and delivers on its promise of change which is now becoming a change of promise?

 

Why @PDPNigeria needs @OlayinkaLere as National Publicity Secretary.

I can say for a fact that I know Lere Olayinka more than most people do.
And without a shadow of a doubt, I will support him for this job.
In terms of job credentials, experience, exposure to the job and loyalty to the party, no one among the contenders, has it more than Lere. 

#DontKillUsForVotes | The Hashtag of violence free poll in Nigeria. Via @Adungbe

This is a numbered Tweets that promotes violence free poll in Nigeria. Join the trend and post them on your social media.

Breaking News | How Governor @ElRufai of Kaduna State and Deputy Slapped Each Other.

Reports confirm that Governor of Kaduna state Mallam Nasir el-Rufai and his deputy, Architect Barnabas Bala Bantex had traded slaps during an argument at a cabinet meeting in the state.

According to a reliable source via a telephone conversation, the Governor and the deputy have been having a cold war over the plans by the governor to sack top civil servants in the state.

The governor who is embarking on a civil service reform agenda had decided to retire these top civil servants, who still had some years left in service but the deputy was said to have been disturbed and deeply uncomfortable with the situation.

Coalition of civil society group, chides anti-Emefiele, backs CBN momentary policies of Godwin Emefiele. Via @Adungbe

Being a Press Conference by Coalition of Civil Society Groups in Support of
The CBN Governor, Mr. Godwin Emefiele on Wednesday, March 23, 2016 At Agura Hotel, Abuja.
Nigerians voted for change and not magic, therefore a change that will usher in an everlasting period of prosperity must be gradual and not spontaneous with the capacity to repair the faulty foundation and maladministration of decades experienced by our great nation.
It is on this note that we welcome everyone to this press conference this morning in order to express our opinions on several issues that borders on the current state of the Nigerian economy with more emphasis on the role and impact of the Central Bank of Nigeria in shaping the nation’s economy through the instrumentality of various policies.
Nigeria is presently going through one of the most difficult periods in her national life owing to several events that have characterized the socio-economic and political landscape of the nation in the past one year. Having gone through a successful transition, which brought in an opposition party to power for the first time, it became the case of mixed excitements when the country equally happens to be passing through difficult times economically as the main source of revenue, which is crude oil is daily declining in the international market thereby causing a shortfall in foreign exchange earnings available to the nation. It is this contradiction of fortunes that has made it an extremely difficult period for Nigerians who expect a spontaneous change in fortunes having gone through untoward hardships in time past.

Having done an in depth analysis of the present economic situation in the country under the present leadership of President Muhammadu Buhari, we are very pleased with the various policies of government that has helped to bring about monetary and price stability in the system. Just as it is on record that no government preceding President Muhammadu Buhari has dared to probe security vote or fight corruption with the intense ruthlessness as we are presently witnessing so also is his will power to ruthlessly tackle the various clogs in the wheel of our economic progress as this is evident in his bold approach of supporting the Emefiele led CBN forex policy in stopping the sale of foreign exchange to BDCs, a policy which has helped in no small measure to checkmate round tripping.
While we are not unaware that when you wage a war against a wrong system, the system we fight back, it is however pertinent that Nigerians remain vigilant and steadfast in resisting any gang up behind such system that has been operating before now.
It is sequel upon the above that:

Our attention has been drawn to a shadowy, bogus and unscrupulous group parading itself as a civil society organisation has been circulating messages threatening a protest against the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Mr. Godwin Emefiele.

Against this backdrop, we, the Executive Committee of the Coalition of Civil Society Groups in Nigeria, have called this press conference to address a host of issues related to this.

To start with, we wish to put it on record and make it categorically clear that the phony group in reference is not (and has never been) a civil society organisation and is therefore not recognised by the Coalition of Civil Society Groups in Nigeria. Regardless of how this group intends to mask itself as a civil society organisation, our independent research revealed that it is in fact a political organisation of paid agents and sponsored groups representing the interest of a certain geopolitical zone in the country. The political nature of their agenda shows that their intentions are not by any means noble, and their objectives are far from making the lives of ordinary a little bit better. The promoters of this group are persons who are known to be troublesome and have the capacity to disrupt the public peace.

Having said that, the Executive Committee of Civil Society Groups in Nigeria fully appreciates the difficulties and anxieties of many Nigerians given the tough economic times that are confronting us. But this situation was not caused by one man or one institution and therefore, it is rather unfair to try to put the blame on any one person or organization. What we need right now are collective and constructive solutions to our structural problems rather than scapegoating.

And even if we must “scapegoat”, should it be against a man or an institution that have been at the vanguard of protecting ordinary Nigerians from the disastrous effects of the global shocks due to the sharp drop in oil prices? We must note that the prevailing difficult economic condition is not limited to Nigeria. It is global and more entrenched among developing and emerging markets. Compared to its peers, the Nigerian economy has not performed poorly. Among commodities exporting economies for instance, inflation, GDP growth and employment are far worse in countries like Zambia, Ghana, and Argentina with inflation between 19-28 percent. As a matter of fact, Brazil and Russia are in recession while South Africa is struggling to record positive growth. These are all linked to the fall in the commodities prices in the international market. Emefiele and the CBN have so far managed to keep the inflation far below what is being witnessed in many comparator countries.

 We believe that the policies of the Emefiele led CBN are indeed aimed at protecting ordinary Nigerians from the destructive capitalistic instincts of a few plutocrats and bourgeoisies. Emefiele’s policies have truncated the rent-seeking ability of many of these economic parasites and saboteurs. And we believe it is for this singular reason that both Emefiele and the CBN are being vilified in the most unfair and disgraceful manner by a sponsored group of anarchists.

Nigerians have been taken for a ride for too long. Our collective patrimony has been cornered by few looters for too long. We can no longer stand idly by and watch these thieves, in collaboration with foreign neo-colonialists and imperialists, keep the masses of our people under perpetual bondage. This is the time to free Nigeria and its people from the dirty hands and greedy mouths of a few.

By our reckoning, Emefiele is in fact being persecuted for his policies on:
Bank Verification Number (BVN), which is an identity mechanism put in place by the CBN to ensure that everyone who operates in the Nigerian banking system is uniquely identifiable. It limits frauds and identity theft. It also ensures that those who have looted our commonwealth and concealed them under various account names are detected. Given their inability to hide their identities these thieves have avowed to hound Emefiele for daring to destroy their criminalities. May God never allow them to them succeed!
List of 41 items not eligible for foreign exchange at the CBN. A lot of elites and moguls have been depleting the country’s foreign exchange reserves by aggressively importing goods, which can be easily produced here in Nigeria. By their action, these czars have killed jobs in Nigeria and created jobs abroad. They have exported prosperity abroad and imported poverty into their fatherland. But as long as their huge profit margins are guaranteed, they do not care. What Emefiele and his team have done is to say that we can longer import unemployment and export wealth out of Nigeria. In this regard, the CBN’s policies is already yielding goods results. Our research shows that local manufacturers like Erisco Foods (manufacturers of tomato paste), Wapco Aluminium, GZ (manufacturers of aluminium cans), Obasanjo Farms, and the association of cold rolled steel manufacturers of Nigeria have seen increased patronage. The significant rise in sales is translating to increased employment of more Nigerians. As their operations expand to meet demand so will employment. Emefiele should be commended for this and allied polices enunciated in order to sustain the drive.
Reform of Bureau de Change (BDC) was undertaken to ensure that genuine business people engage in this business and not fronts for those who continuously loot of our national Treasury. Indeed these looters and their sponsors have used all sorts of guises to register several BDCs with which they drain foreign exchange from the CBN and use such to transfer their loot abroad. It is only in Nigeria that BDCs expect Government (CBN) to give them foreign exchange before they do business. Emefiele has since stopped this haemorrhage. They have also vowed to remove him from office. May God never allow them to them succeed!
Saying no to “Further Devaluation” because it will reduce value of the Naira and will worsen the welfare conditions of the long-suffering and poverty-stricken masses of Nigerians. Most of these looters have amassed huge amounts of dollars with their stolen money and they are putting pressure on the CBN to devalue the Naira so that they can further get richer by converting their dollars back into Naira. They don’t care that this will make life even more miserable for the masses of low income Nigerians. This debate has raged on for a long time and Nigerians, speaking with our truly elected President have repeatedly returned the resounding verdict: WE DO NOT WANT DEVALUATION!!! Attempts have been made to use all sorts of media house, international magazines, newswires, and others home and abroad describing Nigeria’s monetary policy as unorthodox and unconventional, to attack not just Emefiele and the CBN but also President Buhari, who has maintained that he would not support devaluation at this time. We are also aware that huge sums of money have been paid to some newspapers, notable influencers on twitter, Facebook and many bloggers to champion these nefarious plots.

We would also like to address the guised grouse of the so-called employment bias at the CBN. Let us begin by asking a very pertinent question. How many public agencies in Nigeria have advertised for vacant positions in the last 10 years? Does this lack of advertisement mean that they have not been recruiting all these while? If one accounts for the continual exit of staff through retirements, resignation, dismissal, transfer of service, death, etc. then all these agencies would have closed up for lack of staff. Yet, all these agencies have fresh faces all the time. So why is this shadowy group singling out the CBN? This contention should actually be the prerogative of the Federal Character Commission rather than a civil society organisation, let alone a phony political group. The Federal Character Commission should be allowed to determine whether the CBN or any public agency broke any rule with respect to recruitment or geopolitical balancing of their staff.    

We hereby give notice that we, the masses of Nigerians, have resolved to take what remains of our economic destiny into our hands and to stop the CRIMINAL AGENTS OF COUNTER-CHANGE in their tracks. We have resolved to engage in the following actions to defend our future:
We have begun the compilation and will soon publish the infamous list of all the criminal elite and their collaborators on this plot of shame;
We shall call Nigerians out on a street march to register our condemnation of the attempt to thwart the CHANGE movement and take Nigeria backwards;
We shall continue to support the policies of CBN Governor Emefiele, the Economic Team, and President Buhari as they try to make our lives better, even though it means denying unscrupulous business men their darkest means of livelihoods;
If this unscrupulous group does not call off its purported march planned to hold in a fortnight, we as the Coalition of Civil Society Group shall embark on a counter protest simultaneously to force them down. We will be waiting for them; and
We shall match the CRIMINAL AGENTS OF COUNTER-CHANGE tweet for tweet, blog for blog until we chase them all out of our country.
Long Live the Federal Republic of Nigeria

Signed:

Etuk Bassey Williams (JP) Abubakar Ibrahim
President General Secretary

Nigeria: It's Time To Get It Right. Text of a Press Release by Civil Society Organizations on the Rivers Re-Run Election - @Adungbe

The outcome of the March 19, 2016 Rivers rerun election is yet another sore point in our national journey to a free, fair and credible electoral process. While the Electoral Management Body was busy making preparations for a credible election, the political gladiators in the state were busy planning for war and perfecting means of undermining the efforts of the Independent National Electoral Commission(INEC).

The numerous security breaches culminating in the wanton destruction of lives and property  despite the very large number of security personnel deployed to Rivers state is a cause for worry. 6000 conventional Police men, 8 additional or visiting mobile police squadrons to support the 46 units of mobile police already serving in the state, soldiers, SSS operatives, Civil Defence personnel and other paramilitary agencies could not provide adequate security for the National and State Assembly elections in just one state. More worrisome is the fact that each of the above mentioned agencies was associated with particular political parties and report from observers in the field can confirm that in several instances these security agencies worked for the parties they were associated with.

We are not unaware of the fact that INEC made the necessary arrangements for credible elections and its officers ready to deploy timeously  to their various Polling Units in a very charged environment , a situation which the Commission still braced to discharge its responsibility. We acknowledge that there were logistical handicaps on the part of INEC , a situation that could not be remedied owing to the rampant violent environment.

We the undersigned therefore condemn in the strongest terms possible the violence that was unleashed in the state by the political actors and their agents and call for the arrest and prosecution of any individual found to have remotely or actively aided and abetted these occurrences.

We join millions of other well meaning Nigerians to mourn with the family of Samuel Okonta, the Youth Corps member who lost his life while on election duty . We also condole with the families of all other citizens, staff of INEC and security operatives who lost their lives during the election. We restate our total support to and for INEC as it grapples with the challenges of reforming a broken and flawed election process in our country , which is worsened by the Machiavellian politics of might is right of the political elites in Nigeria.

We also  call on politicians nationwide to shun violence and all Nigerians to continue to support the INEC in its efforts to reform our electoral process and provide a fair platform for Nigerians to choose their leaders freely.

  We also call on the federal government to ensure effective investigation of the violence in Rivers with a view to identifying the perpetrators and bringing them to account. Security is the responsibility of the federal government. The only way to curb recurrent electoral violence is to bring perpetrators to account.

Ezenwa Nwagwu- Partners for Electoral Reforms
Dr Chima Amadi - Centre for Transparency Advocacy
Okechukwu Nwanguma- Network for Police Reform in Nigeria
Faith Nwadishi - Koyenum Immalah Foundation
Jaye Gaskia- Say No Campaign
Samson Itodo - YIAGA
Funke Philips-   Independent Service Delivery Monitoring Group
Emeka Ononamadu - Citizens Centre for Integrated Development and Social Rights
Laz Apir - Transition Monitoring Group
Esther Uzoma-     Proactive Gender Initiative
Kemi Okenyodo-Partners West Africa - Nigeria: RoLE Initiative
Hauwa Shekarau - Law,Media and Development Initiative
Aminu Mahmud - Public Interest Lawyers League
Patrick Chiekwe - Foundation for the Conservation of the Earth (FOCONE)
Delight Aniche - Open Development Initiative
Effiom Duke - Green Concern for Development (Greencode)
Umoh Isua Ikoh- Peace Point Action
Larry Ineme- Policy Alert
Barr. Tochukwu Ohazuruike- Liberty Foundation
John Atani: Nigeria Electoral Rights Group
Isioma Okafor: Women's Right Advancement Forum
Kola Salau: Centre for Democracy and Leadership
Opeyemi Azeez: Justice Watch
Nnamdi Orji: Alliance for Democratic Advancement
Abiodun Salau: Young Democratic Lawyers
Ologun Ayodeji: Centre for Ethics in Leadership
Adigun Abimbola: Global Agenda for Development
Ayuba Ephraim: Get Involved Campaign