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FIRS Collects N10 trn Tax, Highest Ever

By
Tosin Olatokunbo
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Mohammed Nami, the Executive Chairman of the Federal Inland Revenue Service, FIRS, has disclosed that dogged implementation of reforms and use of modern technology led to increase in the tax revenue generated by the Agency.

The agency boss spoke while reacting to the N10 trillion generated in 2022. This is the highest since the creastion of the agency, and it represents more than 90 percent of its target for year undr review.

He allude the high tax collection to the “dogged implementation of strategic reforms over the past two years; a renewed commitment by officers of the service, accompanied with a boosted morale; as well as the innovative deployment of technology for automation of both tax administration and operational processes”.

“This collection was possible through collaboration with our stakeholders, from our colleagues at the executive branch of government, to the members of the judiciary, to our brothers and sisters at the national assembly, as well as the tax advisory committee, professional bodies, unions, and most crucially our taxpayers,” the agency boss said.

Nami made this known in a statement released by Johannes Oluwatobi Wojuola, his special assistant on media and communication on Monday.

According to the breakdown of the figures released by the agency, non-oil taxes contributed 59 percent of the total collection in the year, while oil tax collection stood at 41 percent of total collection.

“The FIRS, in the year 2022 collected a total of N10.1 trillion in both oil (N4.09 trillion) and non-oil (N5.96 trillion) revenues as against a target of N10.44 trillion,” the statement reads.

“Companies income tax contributed N2.83 trillion, value-added tax N2.51 trillion, electronic money transfer levy N125.67 billion, and earmarked taxes N353.69 billion,” the statement said.

Najaatu:  Another Uncultured Rottweiler Joins Atiku

By
The Source
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Kassim Afegbua and Najaatu Mohammed

By Kassim Afegbua

If at this age, a 67-year old Lady can still behave like a typical hustler, then Asiwaju Tinubu truly has a lot of work to do to empower such fellows when he becomes President

Last week, Najaatu Mohammed separated herself from Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu and joined the Atiku Abubakar’s chequered aspiration. She loosely and lousily declared that but for the South-West media, Asiwaju Tinubu should not be allowed to become president.

A Najaatu that has always been on the side of justice; or supposedly, I should have said, has now latched on to Atiku Abubakar’s campaigns to further her hustle.

Since then, she has been shouting like an uncultured rottweiler trying to demarket Tinubu; as if the APC candidate is not a man we see all the time.

She says Tinubu cannot hold a tea cup; maybe she has been babysitting Asiwaju Tinubu and feeding him tea, or spoon feeding him each time he has a meal.

The likes of Najaatu, and (Daniel) Bwala, came with the notion that there will be so much to salivate their appetite, but seeing that Asiwaju Tinubu was not forthcoming with free money, they decided to find the exit door.

If Najaatu Mohammed had quietly exited and hid her shame, it would still have made some sense; but for her to be shouting at the top of her voice to undermine the APC candidate is the most ridiculous engagement of this lousy Lady who has failed in all her political contests.

She has just joined her compatriot, another perennial loser; who has been contesting for President since 1992. Like him, the times that Najaatu Mohammed has contested, she has failed. She will soon meet her disappointment in the Atiku camp, because the mouth-watering financial greasing of the palm that she so desperately wants is not there. I doubt if Atiku Abubakar can match her appetite for easy money. The romance will soon go sour. Let it be on record that I said so.

Najaatu Mohammed declared that Asiwaju Tinubu “cannot hold a tea cup” and that The APC candidate is “suffering from dementia”. It is possible that Najaatu is talking about another Asiwaju Tinubu, certainly not the one we have been seeing campaigning everywhere.

When Najaatu’s new partner, Atiku Abubakar, went to Chatham House sometime ago, he went blank trying to deliver his written speech. He said there was interruption by only God knows what. Even when Reno Omokri rushed to his aid, he was still transfixed, looking helplessly because his mind had deserted him. That is a typical example of dementia. And Atiku Abubakar exhibited that so eloquently.

I do not quarrel with Najaatu Mohammed for exiting the Tinubu camp to follow her heart, but to make empty conjectures and rhetorics in order to embellish her deep hunger and greed, exposes her dubiety of purpose. That is usually the stock-in-trade of jobless minds who live on charity and free money.

Asiwaju Tinubu has defied all the insinuations to confound the public with his energetic campaign since November. Since his return from Saudi Arabia, no single day has gone by without one activity or the other. If able-bodied minds like Governors Ganduje, El-Rufai, Bagudu, Badaru, Suleiman, Masari, Lalong, Abu Bello, Yahaya Bello, Zulum, Mai Buni, Mutawallen, Yahaya, and Abdulrasaq, all serving Governors from the North under the platform of The APC, persons who see Asiwaju Tinubu on a regular basis, have not seen “dementia” in Tinubu, it means that Najaatu possesses spiritual binoculars and sees that which does not exist.

There are other notable Nigerians in the Tinubu Campaign who can attest to his alertness , agility and energy.

Trying to blackmail Asiwaju Tinubu or run him down will certainly not fetch Najaatu Mohammed extra meat from Atiku Abubakar’s pot of soup. Asiwaju Tinubu is an idea whose time has come. God almighty will surely see his aspiration through to victory.

It is interesting that Najaatu Mohammed has joined Atiku Abubakar’s rottweiler colony, but she should please be honourable enough to bark with facts, and not mere conjectures. I will come her way again.

Afegbua, former Commissioner for Information, Edo State, was one of the Spokespersons for Atiku’s PCC in the 2019 Presidential Election. He has gone back to the APC from where he decamped to the PDP then.

Naja’atu Muhammad: The APC Presidential Ticket Should Have Gone To Osinbajo, Not Tinubu

By
The Source
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Naja’atu Muhammad and Yemi Osinbajo

By Gideon Njoku

A Commissioner on the Police Service Commission, PSC,  who represents the Civil Society on the Commission, Naja’atu Muhammad, has blamed the Yoruba Nation for supporting Bola Tinubu to clinch the Presidential ticket of the All Progressives Congress, APC, instead of the Vice President, Professor Yemi Osinbajo.

” If Yorubas were serious they would have backed (Yemi) Osinbajo, not Tinubu.”

Muhammad resigned on Saturday as the Director of the Civil Society to Tinubu/Shettima APC Presidential Campaign Council on Friday, 19th January, 2023 after she attended the Presidential Rally in Yola, Adamawa State.

She said Tinubu is neither physically nor mentally fit to be President, and disclosed that in Yola, they had to beg that the microphone be taken away from the APC Presidential Candidate.

Resigning from both the office and the Party, she posited that “my dream for a better Nigeria is a bigger motivating factor than party politics.”

Both Tinubu and Osinbajo were aspirants in the APC Presidential Primary. Tinubu defeated the Vice President after an, almost, bitter campaign.

Explaining why Osinbajo could have been the best  candidate for APC,  she said,  he was denied the ticket because some people have taken over Nigeria as their personal property.

Muhammad: “But Nigeria has become the personal property of some elite. If you had given me Osinbajo, I swear I would have put my life on the line for Osinbajo, because he is a better person, he’s open, he’s proactive and he puts his eye on the ball and looks at Nigeria holistically.

“The few months that he was given to act he changed things, so why should I be sentimental. If the Yorubas were serious why not give it to Osinbajo, who is a Pastor. You are doing Muslim-Muslim now. The Holy Prophet said a just atheist is better than an unjust Muslim.

“So, why do I care about Muslim-Muslim? But they are busy not only galvanizing the polity but deceiving people, how Islamic are they? Somebody that could not even read Fatiha is calling himself a Muslim, without Fatiha you can’t pray, which means he has never prayed, what nonsense is that?

“I don’t care about a Muslim-Muslim ticket, but because Nigeria is a nation of ignorance, sheep’s been driven to the slaughter house. That is why our ruling class deliberately took education from the people especially in the North”

Muhammad has declared she would work with the Presidential Candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Atiku Abubakar.

My Problem With Peter Obi – Najaatu Muhammad

By
The Source
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Najaatu Muhammad and Peter Obi

By Gideon Njoku

Najaatu Muhammad, a Director on the Presidential Campaign Council, PCC, of the All Progressives Congress, APC, who resigned on Saturday from the office, has explained why she is not supporting the Presidential Candidate of the Labour Party, Peter Obi.

Muhammad, whose description of the kind of President she would want for Nigeria, fits Obi like a glove, however, explained his problem with Obi.

In her first interview after she cut links with Tinubu and APC, and pitched her net with Atiku Abubakar, Presidential Candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Muhammad said she takes an exception to Obi because he has failed to publicly condemn the activities of the South-East based Indigenous Peoples of Biafra, IPOB.

IPOB, which leader, Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, has been under the custody of the Federal Government since June, 2022, and being prosecuted for sundry issues, including treasonable felony and terrorism, is a group campaigning for the independence of the South-East Region from Nigeria. It is seeking for a Republic of Biafra.

She told THE WHISTLER on Obi: “Why I take exception to Obi is that he has never condemned it (IPOB). That is my problem with him.  He has never come out to condemn IPOB.

“If you want to lead, how do you dialogue with them?  They are even killing his own people. He said they have a right to agitate for secession.

“So, if you believe they can agitate, then you shouldn’t be the President of the country.

“He should be like Desmond Tutu and negotiate for peace as a national figure.”

She said she dumped Tinubu because the APC Presidential Candidate is neither physically nor mentally fit to be the President of Nigeria, a country with about 200 million people.

He also rejected, Senator Rabiu Kwankwaso, his former State Governor, insisting the Presidential Candidate of the New Nigeria Peoples Party, NNPP, stands no chance, at all.

She, has, however, decided to work with the Candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar, describing him as the “lesser of two devils” (meaning: between him and Tinubu).

OPINION: G-5: Wike’s Soon Has Been Long In Coming

By
The Source
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Amanze Obi

By Amanze Obi

“G5 does not really exist in actual terms. It is a creation of the media which has come to take a life of its own following the unceasing vituperations of Wike against the leadership of the PDP. Of the five, only Wike and Governor Samuel Ortom of Benue State are being heard. The rest are merely tagging along”

We all know that Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers State is at war with his political party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). But he is holding the short end of the stick. He has had cause to jibe at the party over matters of exclusion.

The problem was basically his. But in order to add verve and grit to his protestations, he dragged four other governors along. Together, they constitute the G5 governors who have been giving.

However, of this five, only Wike and Governor Samuel Ortom of Benue State are being heard. The rest have merely been tagging along. I have, as a matter of fact, had cause to say elsewhere that G5 does not really exist in actual terms. It is a creation of the media, which has come to take a life of its own following the unceasing vituperations of Wike against the leadership of the PDP. The fact of the matter is that only Wike and Ortom matter in the G5 calculation.

The others, namely, Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi of Enugu State, Okezie Ikpeazu of Abia State and Seyi Makinde of Oyo State, are merely making up the number. They do not have the capacity to upturn the popular sentiments in their localities. In fact, they will be swimming against the tide, if they attempt to do that. Since these gentlemen are intelligent people, they are not likely to commit political harakiri for the sake of a nebulous G5.

This leaves us with Wike and Ortom. How far have these men gone with their push?

Wike, the author and finisher of G5, has said that the group would make public its preferred presidential candidate soon. But the soon has been long in coming. Observers of the Nigerian polity never imagined that the announcement would linger up till now. With just one month to the presidential election, no pronouncement has been made about the group’s choice.

As I noted earlier, Makinde, Ugwuanyi and Ikpeazu are inconsequential in this calculation since their ethnic localities are already decided on where their votes will go. But the same cannot be said of Wike and Ortom. Interestingly, Ortom has already taken a stand. He has chosen Peter Obi of the Labour Party as his preferred presidential candidate. He has been unequivocal about this. He believes that Obi is the only one among the pack that can give Nigeria a new lease of life.

Ortom is a man of principle and his words are respected. He is bold and fearless and this is what has put him on collision course with Fulani herdsmen operating in Benue State. Given his principled stand on issues, Ortom’s position on Obi is taken to be well considered. Many have applauded him for his declarative position on the 2023 presidency.

This technically leaves us with one man in the G5 configuration. This one man is Wike. Yet he is still telling Nigerians, one month to the election, that G5 governors will soon unveil their presidential candidate. But we know that the other governors have moved on.

G5, strictly speaking, has metamorphosed to G1. So, what does Wike want to do with the octopus on his hands?

The truth is that many who had sympathy for Wike on this matter have lost interest. They have noticed, to their chagrin,  that Wike has lost steam. Why should the pronouncement of a preferred presidential candidate be an interminable process? When will this be? Will it come after the elections? Many are wondering. Only recently, one of Wike’s loyalists in Rivers State confessed to being bored. He said he was tired of waiting for the unveiling of the anointed presidential candidate. He wants Wike to stop foot-dragging.

But who will Wike support in the presidential election? Observers believe that the choice is simple enough. What they do not understand is why the governor has chosen to mystify the issue. Since the man appears lost in his own game, let us help him to solve the puzzle.

Can Wike support Atiku Abubakar of PDP? That is most unlikely. He has no reason to. He has told the world in clear terms that PDP is not an option considering the fact that it is plotting to retain power in the North after eight years of a northerner. Besides, Wike is scandalized by the refusal of the party to respect its own internal rules. So far, the party has done nothing to remedy the situation and it is not likely to do anything. In fact, it can actually do nothing about some of Wike’s demands.

The presidential candidate is already from the region where the seating President comes from. This cannot be reversed at this stage. Can Wike live with it? It does not appear so.

Can Wike support Bola Tinubu of the All Progressives Congress (APC)? It will be strange if he does, considering where he (Wike) is coming from. Tinubu committed an all-time blunder when he accepted the same-faith ticket, which a section of the North gave him as a condition for their support. Tinubu knew that it was a poisoned chalice. But he decided to drink from it.

The effrontery has since boomeranged. Wike, like all Nigerians of goodwill, has been up in arms against this. Can he eat his words? He is not likely to. Doing so will amount to political suicide. Wike is not ready to die yet, politically.

This leaves us with Obi among the top three contenders. Peter Obi should be the natural choice of Wike, considering that Atiku and Tinubu cannot make his list. But why is Wike pussyfooting over this? The answer to this question constitutes a dilemma to the Rivers State governor. Perhaps, Wike is looking back with mixed feelings. Those of them who muzzled Obi out of PDP are bemused at the present state of the presidential race. They never imagined that a Peter Obi, outside the reign and protection of the PDP, would be somebody. But somehow the man has taken Nigeria and the outside world by storm. The rejected block has become the cornerstone. I suspect that Wike remembers this.

Regardless of the harsh reality that this poses, Wike should get over it. He should brave the odds and save his supporters from an endless wait. Beyond his supporters, the larger Nigeria is waiting for what he said he would do for his preferred presidential candidate. He promised to campaign for the candidate across the country. When will this be? Since Wike is neither a seer nor a necromancer, it will be unnecessary to imagine that he is waiting for a revelation. He is not. He is just a bit confused. But I know that he can deal with that paralysis of will if he so wishes. But he has to. That is the only way to escape the harsh judgment of history.

Obi, PhD, an accomplished Journalist, Columnist, Author, former Chairman of Editorial Board, The Sun, and former Commissioner for Information and Culture, Imo State

2023: Momodu Optimistic Of Atiku’s Victory At Poll, Brush Aside Tinubu, Wike

By
Akinwale Kasali
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By Akinwale Kasali

The Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Presidential Campaign Council, PCC,  Director of Strategic Communications, Dele Momodu, has said that the All Progressives Congress, APC, and Labour Party, LP, Presidential Candidates, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu and Peter Obi, are no threats to the Presidential ambition of Atiku Abubakar.

Momodu disclosed that he is optimistic of the victory of  the PDP’s Presidential Candidate brushing aside surveys carried out in which Tinubu and Obi are  predicted to win.

Momodu said Atiku Will emerge victorious come February 25th, 2023.

In a Statement on Monday by Momodu, he dismissed polls conducted by surveying agencies which predicted victories for either Bola Tinubu of the All Progressives Congress or Labour Party’s Peter Obi in the past few months.

He said, “I have read with bemusement many of the polls about the forthcoming presidential election on February 25, 2023, and have come to the conclusion that the elitist polls have failed monumentally due to the over-reliance on technology in a largely illiterate population.

“I have decided to help situate the forecasts based on the established political history of Nigeria and empirical data.

“A Presidential Candidate cannot depend totally on votes from outside his home base to win this election. It is a fact of history that whenever the South produced two strong candidates, the dominant northern candidate won, such as in 1979 and 1983, Obafemi Awolowo and Nnamdi Azikiwe versus Shehu Shagari.

“Tinubu is far weaker today in the South-West and Awolowo was by far more formidable, while Obi is the new Azikiwe (the first Governor General and President of Nigeria) in the South-East, and Kwankwaso is the current Aminu Kano.

“Atiku will dominate the North-East, North-West, North-Central and South-South. Tinubu may pick a few states in the North and South-West but won’t have enough to win. The bridges required to cross to victory has taken Atiku 30 years to build. Tinubu has not been able to lock down the entire South-West not to talk of the whole of Nigeria. Over-reliance on bribing the electorates will fail.”

According to him, the reliance on rigging will fail woefully, saying, “Hoping to rig brazenly will also fail spectacularly. I repeat, the entire North and the South-South will make Atiku the next President. Atiku will still be competitive in the South-East and South-West.

“Wherever Obi is number one in the East, Atiku will be number two. Wherever Tinubu is number one in the South-West, Atiku will be number two or vice versa. Atiku will be the first to cross the line of recording 25 per cent in 24 states. He will get 25 per cent automatically in the 19 states of northern regions and will pick six in the South-South automatically.

“He will pick up 25 per cent in all of the five states in the South-East, a traditional base of the PDP, and the same in the South-West. Wherever Obi is number one, Atiku will be number two or vice versa.

“I do not know if in any state, the PDP will not record 25 per cent and eventually win the overall popular votes. Nigeria has become so divided that the people are going to vote majorly along ethnic lines as well as primordial sentiments.

“The North will not vote for a “fake Muslim” in the name of a pretentious and mischievous Muslim/Muslim ticket. The scam is dead on arrival,” he declared.

Justifying this position, Momodu argued that “The North East will never vote for a number two position when they have been chasing the number one since 1966. The North West will not abandon an Atiku for a Tinubu who is well known for his iron grip on Lagos State since 1999.

“The South-West itself knows it has the most controversial and palpably weakest candidate in this race this time and would humbly and readily accept its fate with equanimity.

“It will also dawn on the South-East that Obi’s raving popularity alone cannot carry him across the winning line and many of their traditional voters will willingly settle for Atiku and Ifeanyi Okowa, the cerebral man and gentle giant of Igbo ancestry.

“I predict that former Atiku will be the next President. He is the most prepared and experienced candidate in the race who is ready to hit the ground running from day one. Nigerians will experience real politicking in the days ahead,” he added.

President Buhari Walks Out Of APC Rally In Bauchi Over Poor Organization, As Campaign Ends Abruptly

By
Akinwale Kasali
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President Buhari in Bauchi Campaign Rally

By Akinwale Kasali

It was a bad day for the All Progressives Congress, APC, Presidential Campaign Council, PCC, as the Party’s Rally in Bauchi State ended abruptly.  President Muhammadu Buhari walked out of the venue of the Rally without making a speech.

The President had arrived at the Rally Ground about 12 noon to campaign for its Party Presidential Candidate, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu and other Candidates of the Party at various levels in the State when the Public Address System suddenly went off and couldn’t be rectified just as the APC National Chairman, Adamu Adamu was making his speech.

After waiting for some minutes without the Public Address System coming up, Buhari staged a walk out alongside his entourage.

The aircraft conveying the President had touched down at the Sir Abubakar Tafawa Balewa airport, Bauchi around 10:20 am, with the President proceeding to the Palace of the Emir of Bauchi, Dr Rilwanu Adamu, for a courtesy visit and thereafter headed to the Sir Tafawa Balewa stadium, venue for campaign rally.

He was received by the Bauchi State Governor, Bala Mohammed, who is the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, candidate and his opponent in the March 11 governorship election, Air Marshal Sadique Abubakar.

Others at the airport to receive the President were the APC party chairman, Abdullahi Adamu; Director-General of the APC Presidential Campaign Council and governor of Plateau State, Simon Lalong; Senate President Ahmad Lawan; Speaker of the House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila; former Chief of Defence Staff, Gen. Abdulrahman Danbazzau; Andy Ubah, Governors of Borno, Kebbi and Yobe states, Babagana Zulum, Abubakar Bagudu and Mai Mala Buni, respectively.

Having left Bauchi State, President Buhari headed to Lagos State on a two day Working Day Visit where he would unveil several projects, including the Lekki deep sea port, the blue line rail project designed to run from Mile 2 (on the mainland) to Marina; 32-metric tons Lagos Rice Mill, Imota; and 18.75km Eleko to Epe T Junction express road.

Others are the John Randle centre for Yoruba culture and history and the groundbreaking for the blue line rail phase 2 (Mile 2 to Okokomaiko).

Count Us Out Of IGP Tenure Elongation – PSC

By
Ayodele Oni
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Usman Alkali Baba

By Ayodele Oni

Reactions have continued to trail the tenure elongation of the  Inspector General of Police, (IGP) Usman Alkali Baba as the Police Service Commission (PSC) clarified that it has no hand in the gesture.

PSC explained that it never endorsed the tenure elongation of the current Inspector General of Police, IGP Usman Alkali Baba.

The Minister of police affairs, Mohammed Dingyadu, had last week announced that President Mohammadu Buhari has granted tenure elongation to the IGP explaining that the Police Act 2020 has changed the rules for an IGP’s retirement.

Alkali Baba and some other high ranking officers are due to retire in March amidst general elections.

There have been speculations lately that the Police Chief, who clocks 60 years on March 1, 2023, will honour the rule that mandates public servants to go on retirement at 60.

Head, Press and Public Relations Ikechukwu Ani, said the retired AIG Lawal Bawa , one of yhe Commissioners in the Commission representing the Police, was quoted as saying that the Commission “is not against the extension of the tenure of the Inspector General of Police.”

It went further to quote the Commissioner ” If the IGP feels that it will affect effective monitoring of the elections, let him write to the President for their extension, We (PSC) have no objection.”

The PSC said that the Commissioner had since denied making such statement, stressing that he was obviously misquoted.

According to him, it is the prerogative of Mr President to decide and take such a decision.

“The Commission therefore wishes to state that it has not endorsed any tenure elongation for the current Inspector General of Police.

“As a matter of fact the Commission was never contacted on this subject at any time.

“It notes that it will always commit itself to the letters and spirit of the laws of the land and will not at any time support or encourage any attempt to subvert these laws.

“The Commission wishes to appeal to the media to avoid unnecessary sensationalism in an attempt to attract huge readership.

“The Commission will also continue to work to ensure an effective and efficient Nigeria Police rooted in the rules and regulations governing its operations.”

“I Am Working For Atiku; Kwankwaso Has Met With The PDP Candidate” – Najaatu Muhammad

By
The Source
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Najaatu Muhammad and Atiku Abubakar

By Gideon Njoku

Presidential Candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party,  Atiku Abubakar, has gained a strong voice to his backyard.

Najaatu Muhammad who, on Saturday, resigned as both a Director on the Presidential Campaign Council of the All Progressives Congress, APC, and a member of the Party, has disclosed that she would work with Atiku.

She resigned from the APC after a Presidential Rally in Yola, Adamawa State, on Saturday, where, according to her, they had to beg for the microphone to be taken away from the APC Presidential Candidate because nobody could decipher what he was saying.

She said Tinubu suffers from an advanced stage of dementia, and that she is loyal to Nigeria, not to any individual or Political Party.

On her decision to work with Atiku, Muhammad who spoke to THE WHISTLER described Atiku as the lesser of two devils.

She said: “What I’m saying is, if I have to choose between the devil and the deep sea, I’ll go for the deep sea. I will support Atiku, because over and above everything else, I follow my conscience. I’m not doing it for myself, I’m doing it for God and for my country.”

Tinubu Has No Plans For North

Unless Tinubu did not understand the questions she asked him, Muhammad said Tinubu told her he had no plans for the North.

She revealed that she had not met Tinubu since her appointment as a Director in his PCC but claimed the Candidate had no plans for the myriads of problems confronting the North.

At the London meeting with the APC candidate before her appointment,  Mohammad recalled:  “I asked Tinubu, ‘What do you have for us in the North? He looked me in the face and said “Nothing.”  I said, ‘Sir, you mean you have nothing for the North? The question of security, out of school children, agriculture, and many things like that, everybody in the northeast is waiting to be killed or kidnapped.

She said she had a list of what to ask from Tinubu, but regretted that till her resignation, she was not allowed to meet with him and discuss them.

The breakdown of what she wanted to discuss with Tinubu, included: “The question of the Almajiri. They are the ones that are used as cannon fodder, for banditry. And then, the economy, agriculture, our currency.  Do you know, I compiled these things till date I have not been allowed to deliver to him. So, you can see how patient I have been.”

I Don’t Care Who Asiwaju Is, I am Not Zombie

“I told Asiwaju I have no business being a zombie, I can’t be following you because you are Asiwaju, I don’t care who you are, I can only follow Allah. Because anyone that does not put himself on the scale of God, unto whom he will return, I think that person is a sick person.”

Kwankwaso Has No Chance Of Winning, He Has Met With Atiku

A native of Kano Municipality, when asked why she wouldn’t work with the Presidential Candidate of the New Nigeria Peoples Party, NNPP, Senator Rabiu Kwankwaso, a two-time Governor of Kano State under the PDP, Muhammad said Kwankwaso has No chance,  at all, of winning the Presidency.

“Kwankwaso does not stand a chance at the Presidential level. This is the reality that one has to think. In my position I can’t start to be sentimental, I have to be broad minded.

“I don’t wish for anything for myself. Everything I’m doing is out of passion for my country, I went to a public school, Europeans were teaching me in Kano at a public school, except for my primary and junior school that I went to a Catholic private school, I was the only black girl in the white school. After that, Baba put me in a public school all through to the university, it was public. But Now I have to pay through my nose for my child to go to Oxford, why?

“Millions of our children cannot go to school. They are the bandits that are hunting us today, this is by our creation, and we still lie until we all become victims.

‘Will you then talk to Kwankwaso to step down for Atiku’?, she was asked.

And her answer:

“No, you don’t ask anybody to step down for anybody. They had a meeting the last time, and I wouldn’t want to tell you what happened because its none of my business, I shouldn’t be speaking for him.”

She, already, has visited Atiku.

P&ID vs FG: Battle To Overturn $11bn Judgement Resumes In London

By
Tosin Olatokunbo
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0

The federal government on Monday, told a High court in London that Nigeria was a victim of bribery and deception by the P&ID.

Its lawyers made this known at the resumption of trial, as the federal government tries to overturn the $11 billion judgement against it by the oil servicing firm.

A London arbitration tribunal in 2017 awarded $6.6 billion in damages to Process & Industrial Developments (P&ID), a little-known British Virgin Islands-based company, for lost profits related to the failed project.

With interest, that has now swelled to just over $11 billion, or around 30% of Nigeria’s foreign exchange reserves.

The West African country alleges the 20-year contract awarded to P&ID in 2010 was procured by bribes paid to senior officials at its Ministry of Petroleum Resources.

It also alleges that, when P&ID took Nigeria to arbitration for breaching the contract, P&ID bribed Nigeria’s legal representatives, who then did not properly defend the case.

P&ID has, in written submissions to the court, denied it paid bribes to procure the contract or that it colluded with Nigeria’s legal team during the arbitration, arguing that Nigeria breached the contract and it is entitled to enforce the tribunal’s award.

At the start of an eight-week trial, Mark Howard, representing Nigeria, told London’s High Court that P&ID obtained its contract “by telling repeated lies and paying bribes to officials”, and then “corrupted” Nigeria’s lawyers to obtain confidential documents during the arbitration.

Howard added in court documents that P&ID paid bribes and relied on false evidence “to dupe (Nigeria), the tribunal and this court into giving P&ID an extraordinary amount of money on the back of a campaign of bribery, corruption and deception”.

P&ID, however, argues the gas processing agreement was “a genuine contract which P&ID genuinely wanted to perform”.

Its lawyer, David Wolfson, said in court documents that Nigeria’s loss in the arbitration “had nothing to do with any corruption”.

Hearing in the case resumes on Tuesday.

Reuters

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