I remain loyal to Buhari – Atiku

A former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar, has pledged his loyalty and support to President Muhammadu Buhari.
Mr. Abubakar’s pledge is contained in a statement on Sunday by his media office.
“Make no mistake about it Atiku Abubakar holds Buhari in the highest esteem, and would always remain loyal to him, and support him in every endeavour to succeed as president,” the statement signed by the head of the media team, Paul Ibe, said.
Mr. Abubakar’s pledge comes amidst rumours that he was a mastermind of the emergence of Bukola Saraki as the senate president. Mr. Saraki, who like Mr. Abubakar is a member of President Buhari’s All Progressives Congress, APC, emerged senate president contrary to wish of his party. He got a block support of opposition senators of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, to emerge senate president at an election were 51 APC senators were absent due to a scheduled meeting with Mr. Buhari.

Probe of my administration, fraudulent witch hunt —Amaechi

Former Governor of Rivers State, Mr. Rotimi Amaechi, has described the probe of his administration by Governor Nyesom Wike as fraudulent and a witch hunt, stressing that he would explore every legal means to defend himself. Amaechi, in a statement by his media office, said the probe was dead on arrival, adding that the achievements of his government were on ground to speak for him.
The statement said: “Amaechi will use every constitutional and legal means available to protect his name and image from this smear campaign against him by this directionless, purposeless Wike-led government. As governor, Amaechi served his people well and the good things he did with the resources of the state are visible all over the state.
“This so called Wike’s probe of Amaechi is dead on arrival. All the noise Wike is making is to grab media headlines with his lies of monumental corruption against Amaechi. It is all drama made for the media. What is playing out is a script written and directed by Wike,” the statement said.
Amaechi alleged that Governor Wike left specific instructions that the commission of inquiry should ensure that he (Amaechi) was indicted at the end of the day.

I BORROWED N24 BN TO PAY ARREARS--AREGBESOLA

Osun State Governor Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola has said despite raising the internally generated revenues (IGR) from 900 million naira annually to N3.6 bn, he was yet to pay workers’ salary because the banks were not forthcoming on further loans.

He was speaking in Abuja at the annual Ramadan Lecture of the Al-Habibiyyah Islamic Society of Nigeria themed “Ramadan: Changing Positively”.
He said he has borrowed N24 billion so far to pay salaries and that it was when the banks refused to give more loans that he was stuck and started owing workers.
He however said that contrary to reports, local government and other categories of workers were being paid and not owed except workers under the state’s civil service commission.
“How can anyone accuse me of mismanaging the resources of the state (Osun State) when my campaign promises was based on populace welfare and infrastructural development?
"By Gods Grace I have delivered on most of the promises. Initially it was thought that only Osun owed workers salary, but it can be seen that it is a national issue and that 23 of the 36 states of the federation owed their workers.

Buhari’s TC Chairman, Joda Discovers N7trillion deficit Left By Jonathan Administration

Ahmed Joda, the Chairman of the transition committee put in place by President Muhammadu Buhari to interface with the former administration of President Goodluck Jonathan for a smooth handover of power on May 29, has stated that the former president left behind a N7 trillion liability.
This figure contradicts claims by officials of the administration that the country’s debt profile stood at N1.3 trillion.
Mr. Joda made the disclosure in an interview he granted the Daily Trust newspaper, published on Sunday.
Mr. Buhari’s deputy, Yemi Osinbanjo, had said shortly before the handover of power that the new government would be inheriting a debt of $63 billion.
However, the former Minister of Finance, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, promptly rose to the defence of Mr. Jonathan’s administration, saying of the $63 billion debt, the administration only incurred $21.8 billion.
She also said the $63.7 billion cited by Mr. Osinbajo included multilateral and domestic loans by successive federal and state governments since 1960.
Speaking on Sunday, however, Mr. Joda said, “We were told at the beginning of the exercise that the government was in deficit of at least N1.3 trillion and by the end people were talking about N7 trillion; everything is in a state of collapse.

Obiano assures on Workers’ Salaries, Delivery of Awka Flyovers on Schedule

In spite of the biting cash crunch that has made it impossible for many states in the country to pay workers their salaries, the governor of Anambra State, Chief Willie Obiano at the weekend assured Anambra workers that their salaries would always be paid and that the three flyovers simultaneously coming up in the state capital would all be delivered on schedule.

Obiano who spoke during an unscheduled tour of the Flyovers at the weekend also assured that the prevailing economic downturn would not halt any of the massive construction works going on in different parts of the state.

The governor expressed satisfaction with the quality and pace of work on the bridges and maintained that things were going according to plan. “These three bridges we are seeing will be completed according to plan. Two will be completed in August this year while the other one will be completed in April next year. So, before May next year, we would have completed all these projects,” he enthused.
Governor Obiano further observed that the Managing Director of IDC, Mr. Shaheed was always on hand to personally ensure that construction work was going on as planned. According to him, “It may interest the doubting Thomases to know that we pay the bills on these bridges as they are processed and we are not going to renege on that. And we are not going to owe workers because of any of these projects. We are going to keep paying salaries,” the governor assured.

APC crisis: Obasanjo’s peace mission hits brick wall

Efforts by the Senate President, Senator Bukola Saraki, to nip in the bud the crisis set off by the recent election of the principal officers of the National Assembly may have hit a brick wall.

The crisis of confidence which has pitted party leaders of the All Progressives Congress against the new principal officers of the National Assembly may take a turn for the worse this week.

Contrary to the belief in several quarters, President Muhammadu Buhari, who is widely believed to have accepted the election of the principal officers as a fait accompli, is said to be unhappy with the leadership of the National Assembly.

We have recovered from our electoral defeat — PDP

The Peoples Democratic Party has said it had recovered from the unprecedented electoral defeat it suffered during the 2015 general elections.

The party said it had begun moves to recapture power from the All Progressives Congress in 2019.

The PDP said one of the moves, aiming at wining the elections in the future, was the election of the Governor of Ondo State, Dr. Olusegun Mimiko as the Chairman of the PDP Governors’ Forum.

The PDP, in a statement by its National Publicity Secretary, Mr. Olisa Metuh, in Abuja on Saturday said Mimiko, as a seasoned administrator and a highly organised person, was equipped for his new role as the chairman of the forum.

Metuh hailed the process that led to Mimiko’s emergence, saying the development reflects the unity and sense of purpose within its fold, especially at this rebuilding time.

Opposition’s Feeble Attacks against Obiano

It's becoming laughable how unemployed political apologists of Mr Peter Obi make endless efforts to discredit the ever growing influence of Gov Willie Obiano of Anambra State.
Prior to the 2015 General Elections, they had cooked all manner of lies and malicious stories aimed at blackmailing Governor Obiano presenting him as a prodigal son who forgot his godfather, Obi in the evil forest.
During the election, they employed all forms of physical and virtual forces to cause disaffection between Obiano and the then president, Goodluck Jonathan.  Peter Obi went steps further by personally supervising and ensuring that the National Assembly election results in the state were manipulated and many voters injured as the former governor (once followed by his people) turned against same people in a "do or die" attempt to install a concubine as a Senator and probably destroy same Party on whose platform he rose to fame.

I Did Not Receive 108 Billion Naira From Jonathan--Wike

     
Rivers State Governor Ezebunwo Nyesom Wike has denied allegations that he received the sum of N108 billion from the administration of former President Goodluck Jonathan as refund from the repairs of federal roads in the state, which was carried out by former Governor Rotimi Amaechi.

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Wike, who made the denial during an interactive session with journalists in Port Harcourt at the weekend, wondered when the money was released to him, adding that such funds are not difficult to trace.

The governor said, “It is not possible that I received N108 billion. Did Jonathan pay the money into my account or gave me the cash‎? Was I paid the money before or after I was sworn-in as governor? Did Jonathan have the power to sign money after President Mohammadu Buhari was sworn-in?

Buhari to merge EFCC, ICPC; 42 ministries reduced to 19

After three weeks of consultations with international and Nigeria’s political leaders, President Muhammadu Buhari appears set to effect major changes in the administration of the country in a bid to translate the ‘change’ mantra of his party into reality. To start with, the President  is said to have accepted the recommendation of the transition committee he raised a few weeks ago to slash the number of ministries from the present 42 to 19 with a view to saving cost and making them more effective and responsive to the needs of  Nigerians.

In the same vein, many of the ministries have been merged to ensure proper coordination of duties and ensure greater efficiency and service delivery.
A source close to the Presidency told  Sunday  Vanguard that the number of  Federal Government departments and agencies had also been trimmed in line with the policy of the administration.