Benin has been established for the coordination and management of this facility.

”I am aware that a Joint Committee with membership from Nigeria and Benin has been established for the coordination and management of this facility.  I would like to call on the members of the committee to note the complex task ahead of them.

”The committee must ensure that border officials are sensitized on the mode of operation of the Joint Border Post concept which is a big departure from the traditional mode of operation. I call on the ECOWAS Commission to continue to provide the needed support to this Committee, ”he said.

Appreciating the financial commitment of the European Union Commission to the project and the contributions of the ECOWAS Commission towards its successful completion, President Buhari noted that inadequate transport infrastructure and inefficient services were some of the major bottlenecks to the attainment of socio-economic development and integration in the region.

”ECOWAS is a region where ports, roads, railways and airports still remain a constraint despite significant recent progress made.

”Nigeria has embarked on major investment programmes covering these sectors to improve the competitiveness of our economies and accelerate growth.  We are therefore delighted to welcome such initiatives aimed at boosting the economic integration of our member States in West Africa,’’ he said.

In his capacity as the Chairperson of the ECOWAS Authority of Heads of State and Government, President Buhari also thanked the EU for supporting two other joint borders at Malanville (between Benin/Niger) and Noepe-Akanu (between Ghana/Togo).

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Oshiomhole Cries Out Over Powerful Plots to Sack Him as APC Chairman

 “These influential stakeholders, according to grapevine, have begun to mobilise to pass a no-confidence vote on the leadership of Oshiomhole, having failed to impose their preferred candidates on the party in the nomination process. “Comrade Oshiomhole did not become national chairman of the governing party to bring it down a notch from the pedestal of its 2015 electoral victory let alone to preside over its liquidation. “Rather, his single-minded goal, from the outset of his declaration of interest in the position, was to deploy his capacity in helping to strengthen and reposition the party as a truly supreme and disciplined political entity. “Although, it might appear fortuitous to some persons that he became national chairman at the threshold of the 2019 general election; the truth is that there is no accident in predestination.

 “We must appreciate the fact that it has pleased the Almighty God to place him in the saddle of APC leadership at this time for a purpose. “The purpose has begun to manifest in its vast flourish and ramifications: instilling discipline, ensuring party supremacy, promoting due process, dealing with impunity and executive arrogance wherever they manifest to undermine intra-party electoral processes in the states. “From the outset, we never expected that those who cherished and supported the status quo, which Comrade Oshiomhole supplanted, would cave in easily under the magnitude of the current political revival that he spearheads. Efforts to rebrand APC “Indeed, while the progressives are enamoured of change, the conservatives find it difficult to embrace it. That is the current reality in the deliberate effort to rebrand the APC.

 “Again, we were not, in the least, deluded that the process of rebranding or rewriting the narrative of the four-year-old party would be easy. What we are witnessing in the APC today is Comrade Oshiomhole’s adroit management of the strains and pains that accompany the birth of a resuscitated governing party. “The leadership provided in the recently-held primary elections, and the large-scale integrity of the processes are developments that should hence serve as exemplars in the administration of governing parties. “Indeed, the message therein is very clear that the party, and not pseudo political empires in the states, has the power to superintend the primary elections for the nomination of the party’s candidates in the general election. “While the party will not surrender its functions, which are constitutionally circumscribed, to any other entities, it will always be ready to moderate the divergent tendencies and mediate the disparate political camps in the interest of party cohesion. “This is one of the hardnosed truths that the Comrade Oshiomhole-led NWC preaches and practises with an apostolic zeal to the chagrin of some influential stakeholders in the states. “Comrade Oshiomhole envisions an APC that is capacitated to pragmatically build a corpus of leadership and membership that do not only submit to the high ideal of party supremacy but also the credo of party discipline. “These-party supremacy and discipline- are two fundamentals that had been eroded even before the emergence of the Oshiomhole leadership. It is sad that while the national chairman is working round the clock, some stakeholders have thrown selfish political agenda into the mix to threaten the building of institutional capacity for the APC.

 “Rather than resort to needless perfidy at the threshold of a general election, we call on them to imbibe the spirit of sportsmanship, bolstered by the fact that the Oshiomhole leadership is propelled more by its interest in propriety in which victory for the party could be grounded. ‘’The crime committed by Comrade Oshiomhole’s leadership is its disdain for impunity and circumvention of due process perpetrated in some of the states at the pleasure of some influential stakeholders. “Overall, Comrade Oshiomhole has not, since stepping in the saddle, taken any unilateral decision in the running of the party affairs.  All decisions, so far taken, passed through the mills of NWC deliberative sessions and enjoyed unanimous resolutions. The records are there. History will justify Comrade Oshiomhole and posterity will vindicate him. “Therefore, with eyes firmly fixed on the general election, especially the re-election of President Muhammadu Buhari in the scheduled February 16 poll, Comrade Oshiomhole assures all stakeholders in the APC of his respect for them. He assures them of his readiness to work with them for the good of the party. “The comrade chairman also proposes a common front in the general election and believes that the APC, as a governing party, will do a commemorative post-mortem next year to appraise and reappraise the political developments and decisions that presaged the election, which it would win emphatically.”


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APC: The big crack ...

 The assertions nonetheless, Vanguard checks have revealed a major crack within the National Working Committee, NWC, of the party. It was gathered that the cracks began when Oshiomhole tried to force the mode of primaries on the NWC. The most virulent opposition came from the North East Zonal Vice Chairman, Comrade Mustapha Salihu, who was said to have asked Oshiomhole not to interfere in the affairs of the party in the latter’s home state, Adamawa. Things, however, got worse following what an insider described as attempts to run down the Zamfara State governor, Abdulaziz Yari, who also chairs the Nigerian Governors’ Forum. The party chairman had accused the governor of using state agents to rig the botched primaries in the state. 

Oshiomhole thereafter dissolved the executives of the party in the state down to the local government level. “This was what infuriated the Deputy National Chairman, North, Senator Lawali Shaibu who was obviously not carried along in taking such a major decision. Of course, he protested to the point of even denouncing the dissolution of the executives”, a party insider said last night. NWC members not students According to him, the only way there will be harmony in the NWC is for Oshiomhole to stop treating members as if they were his students. “We have our national secretariat, but he drags us to his private office for most of our meetings. We initially thought it was something that would be once in a while, but it has now become the pattern. “When you have a dissenting opinion on an issue, you are viewed as an enemy. We all represent different flanks within the party, and we cannot forget our constituents in a hurry, but when you talk, they say you want to make trouble”, he added. 

Another member of the House, E.J Agbonayinma, representing Egor/Ikpoba-Okha Federal Constituency of Edo State said: “Well, those who are making those derogatory statements are out to witch-hunt or blackmail Oshomohole, and, of course, you don’t expect anything good from the PDP because they are worried. “Oshiomhole has taken the mantle not just as the national chairman of our great party; he is also going to lead us to victory, come 2019. Since he came in, you can see he has won the elections that have been conducted so far.” ‘’How can you now be saying that PDP will take over? I don’t believe that Nigerians are sleeping. They know better. It is only PDP that has a short memory. They have forgotten how they plundered Nigerian resources and of a sudden, they are talking about getting power back. How can they win?”

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Bakare said this on Sunday

Bakare said this on Sunday at the Thanksgiving service to mark the 16th anniversary of Foursquare Gospel Church, Asokoro Abuja.

He said, “Look at the nation; look at those playing god; look at the godfathers who loom larger than life because of the level of authority they have. They forget that God brought them there and he has a way of removing them.

“When Samuel (in the Bible) entered the city, the king trembled but when some pastors visit Aso Villa, they are the ones shaking. All they want is photo opportunity (with the President),” he said.

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Bakare noted

Quoting from the Books of Genesis 6:12 and Phil 4:10 – 14 and 18, Bakare noted that the problem of corruption was not peculiar to Nigeria but insisted that the solution to the challenge must be people-driven.

“There is so much corruption in this country. But show me a country in the world which has no corruption. What is the solution? We are the answer to the dilemma of Nigeria but we keep playing church. We are the reason Nigeria is the way it is. You and I are responsible,” he stated.

He observed that the country was experiencing internal hostilities because certain individuals felt superior to the rest of the people.

Senior Pastor of Foursquare Gospel church, Asokoro, Dr. Babajide Olowodola, expressed gratitude to God for the strides the church had recorded in the past 16 years.

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Buhari recalled how his former deputy was overthrown

Speaking, Monday, when he received APC governorship aspirants and members of the party from the three senatorial zones of Kwara State at State House, Buhari recalled how his former deputy, from Kwara State, who was on pilgrimage in Saudi Arabia when the administration was overthrown in 1985, insisted on returning to the country despite the political uncertainty especially as he had learnt that Mr Buhari, as Commander-in-Chief at that time, had not been killed in the take-over.

The president added that the late Mr Idiagbon rejected the offer from the King of Saudi Arabia to bring members of his (Idiagbon) family from Nigeria to the Kingdom, as he was his guest at that time, and eventually returned to Nigeria to suffer arrest like he (Buhari) did.

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Buhari enjoined Nigerians to remain faithful and loyal

Buhari further enjoined Nigerians to remain faithful and loyal to the country in all their dealing

“You don’t have to be in uniform to be loyal. What I said long ago in 1984 is still valid today. We have no other country but Nigeria. Others who feel they have another country may choose to go. We will stay here and salvage it together,” he said.

President Buhari thanked the APC stakeholders for the position they have taken to continue to support the party regardless of the outcome of the primaries and assured them that, with the unity displayed so far, APC will form the government in Kwara State after the 2019 elections.

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He added that

He added that more members would leave before November 17.

Soba stated, “About 36 more members will follow next week.

“Others will also exit before the 17th of November.”

The Majority Leader of the House and leader of the APC caucus, Mr Femi Gbajabiamila, in a quick reaction on Monday, told The PUNCH that there were “genuine” and “not so genuine” cases, which would ultimately be resolved by the APC.

Gbajabiamila gave details, “These things are normal during election cycles when people feel short-changed. It has happened across all parties and it is how it is handled that matters.

“Some have genuine cases and some not so genuine. However, I know many of the members who might have lost out during the primaries and I believe over time when the dust settles, their issues will be resolved one way or another.

“I know them to be fierce party loyalists, who will remain true to the party. Of that, I am confident.”

The defection plans are on in spite of the ongoing efforts by President Muhammadu Buhari to resolve the disputes in the party.

Three weeks ago, he had summoned the aggrieved lawmakers to the Aso Rock Presidential Villa, just days to the submission of the final list of candidates to the Independent National Electoral Commission.

The PUNCH learnt that the President called the meeting after he heard the threats by the members to defect from the APC and work against the party during the 2019 polls.

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Yusuf vowed to fight back

When he resumed, Yusuf vowed to fight back, accusing some hospitals and insurance companies of ganging up against him for opposing some sharp practices.

But the governing council levelled corruption allegations against him six months after he was reinstated.

In a letter addressed to Adewole and obtained by TheCable, the council raised an alarm that unless an urgent intervention is done, the risk of the pending collapse “will have catastrophic consequence for the Buhari change mandate.”

Yusuf had argued that his suspension was illegal and that the governing board lacked power to suspend him.

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