Buhari moves to Defence House

Buhari moves to Defence House


President-elect Muhammadu Buhari has started operating from a government-owned complex following the allocation of the Defence House for his use.

He is expected to use the facility till March 28. After his inauguration on May 29, he will relocate to Aso Rock Villa where the presidential residence is currently undergoing renovation.

Gen Buhari moved into the Defence House on Tuesday on his return to Abuja from Kaduna and his hometown Daura, where he stayed after the governorship election on April 11.

The Defence House in the Maitama District of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) is one of the President’s guest houses. It is located opposite the Legacy House, which has been serving as the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) campaign headquarters.

The President-elect hosted ECOWAS chairman and President of Ghana John Mahama on Tuesday at the Defence House before leaving for his campaign headquarters where he received delegations from Kogi and Kwara states.

He has also been receiving visitors at the All Progressives Congress (APC) headquarters.

Senate President David Mark visited the president-elect yesterday.

Gen Buhari returned to Abuja from Kaduna on Monday and held talks with Ivorian President Alhassan Quattara at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport.

When our correspondent visited the Defence House, a horde of security operatives was  guard.  Visitors were being screened before being allowed into the premises.

The Defence House is wearing a new look.

APC Presidential Campaign Council spokesman Mallam Garba Shehu confirmed that the president-elect had been operating from the Defence House.

“Yes, the Defence House was handed over a few days ago after its renovation,” Shehu said.

After he was declared winner of the presidential election on March 30, Gen. Buhari started receiving visitors from his private residence in Asokoro area, before leaving Abuja for Daura to vote in the governorship and House of Assembly elections.

He spent one week in Daura, receiving local and international guests before leaving for Kaduna where he received another set of guests, including former President Olusegun Obasanjo.

Tukur to PDP: I warned you on looming defeat

Tukur to PDP: I warned you on looming defeat


The former National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party, Alhaji Bamanga Tukur, has said that he is having the last laugh over the party’s defeat in the just concluded general election, saying the party ignored his warning and refused to mend its ways.

Tukur said in a statement in Abuja that he had warned the party in 2013 that it will suffer defeat in the 2015 general election if the leaders refuse to change their ways and allow for internal democracy within the party.

In the statement titled: “PDP- Were you not warned?” the former PDP chairman reminded the party leadership of the speech he read at the PDP National Executive Committee [NEC] meeting of Thursday, June 20, 2913, which he presided over as chairman.

Quoting from the speech, Tukur said he had warned his fellow party leaders and members to have a change of attitude if the party must succeed.

He said: “In our efforts to achieve success, we must   rededicate our genuine political believes, change our attitudes and identify our political needs. These good values cannot be realized without accepting the supremacy of the party constitution as key instrument that ensures progress, stability and internal discipline.”

He also drew their attention to his words that “we must strengthen our democracy through determination, not personalization, correction, not manipulation, collectivism, not individualism and sacrifice, not disservice.

“If these pronouncements are substantial then, the party should quickly take urgent steps to achieve higher levels, at least by coming to terms with democratic norms and practices.”

Tukur argued that he also asked party members to accord President Goodluck Jonathan some measure of respect, saying, “We owe ourselves a duty to protect, project and support our President to leave behind, a lasting legacy for Nigerians,” while reminding them of the promises made on the PDP journey.

APC Meeting On Zoning Formula Deadlocked

APC Meeting On Zoning Formula Deadlocked


A meeting of senior chieftains of the All Progressives Congress (APC) today has again failed to release an approved zoning formula containing modalities for distribution of principal political offices across the six geopolitical zones of Nigeria.

Thisday gathered that during the party leadership meeting which ended not too long ago, the leaders could not completely agree on the zoning of positions for the regions.

The meeting which was held at the Rivers state Governors’ Lodge at Asokoro, confirms that the rumours on the adopted zoning formula which have been going round in media circles is not the true reflection of the situation within the party. Reports earlier, suggests the party had ceded the position of Senate President to North Central, Deputy Senate President to the North East, Speaker of the House of Representatives to the South West and Deputy Speaker to South-South.

Another report also had it that the party is under pressure to alter the zoning formula to accommodate other interests.

Following the stalemate, APC leaders have put on hold further deliberations on the zoning formula to allow for wider consultations.

The contentious positions were the key principal National Assembly seats of Senate President and House of Representatives Speaker.
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A source hinted that during the discussion on the office sharing, some of the leaders tried to trivialize the issue by weeping up ethnic sentiments.

“You see, some people are bringing up ethnic sentiment in the discussion about the zoning which is not proper. But we have no doubt that the matter will be resolved amicably in the end,” he said.

When contacted over the outcome of the meeting, the National Publicity Secretary of APC, Alhaji Lai Muhammed declined to give details of decisions reached.

MOVING ON! Nigeria's President Jonathan Orders Removal Of Campaign Posters

MOVING ON! Nigeria's President Jonathan Orders Removal Of Campaign Posters


With the 2015 presidential elections now concluded and the country preparing for the inauguration of a new administration on May 29, President Goodluck Jonathan believes that it is appropriate that steps be taken to restore the environment in Nigerian cities, towns and villages to their pre-elections campaign state.

Accordingly, President Jonathan directs that the PDP Presidential Campaign Organisation and the various associations that coalesced into the Jonathan/Sambo Support Group immediately begin the process of removing the posters, billboards, banners, signs and other campaign materials in support of his re-election bid which still adorn the landscape in major cities across the country.

The President thanks all individuals and organisations who made sincere contributions and worked with immense dedication for the Jonathan/ Sambo Campaign.

He applauds his supporters and other Nigerians for the disciplined, patriotic and democratic manner in which they comported themselves before, during and after the elections.

Now that the elections are over except for re-runs in a few states, President Jonathan urges Nigerians to put the recent political campaigns behind them and join hands with the incoming administration in working for a more united, peaceful, stable and progressive nation.

In Indonesia Govt orders execution process for Nigerian, Ghanaian, others

In Indonesia Govt orders execution process for Nigerian, Ghanaian, others



Ten persons imprisoned for drug trafficking - from Nigeria, Australia, France, Brazil, the Philippines, Ghana and Indonesia are to face firing squad simultaneously, after their appeal for presidential leniency was denied.


The government of Indonesia ordered their execution despite pressure and criticism from the international community, calling for the convicts not to be killed.


The spokesman for Indonesia’s attorney general’s office, Tony Spontana, said officials in charge of execution have been ordered on Thursday, April 23, to “make preparations for an execution.”


“This order has been issued so that the officials make preparations concerning their role,” Spontana told AFP.


It was gathered that prisoners are expected to be given 72 hours of notice before they are executed, but Spontana said the convicts have not been notified yet.


No date has been set for their execution.


Appeals by two of the convicts, Frenchman Serge Atlaoui and Martin Anderson from Ghana were rejected on Tuesday, April 21.


Australia has also intensified its diplomatic  campaign to save the two Australians on death row.

Stay away from politics,’ APC urges new Police IG

Stay away from politics,’ APC urges new Police IG


The All Progressives Congress (APC) has urged the new Acting Inspector-General of Police, Solomon Arase, to be professional in his job and not attempt to curry favour from the ruling party of incoming President, Muhammadu Buhari.


The APC also urged Arase to shun crass partisanship in the discharge of his duties.


The party’s comments were made via a statement released on Thursday, April 23, 2015, by by its National Publicity Secretary, Lai Mohammed.


The statement reads:


“We do not know the reason for the sack of the immediate past IGP, but we have read, just like other Nigerians, that it might not be unconnected with the role he either played or did not play in the last general elections.”


“What we do know is that the police force under the former IG was a major actor in the massive rigging and violence that characterized the elections in some parts of the country, especially in Rivers ,Akwa Ibom Sokoto and Gombe states just to mention a few.”


“Now, Mr. Arase faces perhaps the biggest test in his new capacity with the supplementary elections coming up in Abia, Imo and Taraba. We do hope he will not allow the police under him to be used to thwart the will of the people in those states or to give cover to those who will engage in violence”


“Any IG worth his salt does not need to pander to the President or the ruling party in carrying out his duties. All he has to do is to make sure the police carries out its statutory duties in accordance with the law and without fear or favour.”


“When Mr. Arase’s predecessor issued an illegal order directing Nigerians to vote and immediately vacate polling units during the last elections, he knew he was acting against what the law stipulates, but he chose to do so anyway to please his masters. However, armed with the position of the law, Nigerians simply ignored the illegal order, voted and stayed behind to defend their votes.”


“When that unlawful order is placed side-by-side with other acts that ran contrary to the maintenance of law and order under the immediate past IG – including the cover given to the OPC to wreak havoc in Lagos, the illegal withdrawal of the security details of House of Representatives’ Speaker Aminu Tambuwal, whom he (former IG) refused to recognize as Speaker in a clear usurpation of the role of the judiciary, and the shameful role of the police in the Osun Governorship election last year, during which hundreds of APC members were arrested and detained without cause – one will realize to what extent the police was dragged into partisan politics under him.”


“But in the end, those for whom the IG desecrated the police had no qualms about humiliating him out of office. We hope Mr. Arase will learn a lesson from this, toe a different path and not run the police like his private company and a tool in the hands of unscrupulous politicians.”


Arase was appointed on Tuesday, April 21, after the sack of former IG, Suleiman Abba

Terrorists have run out of arms, ammunition,’ DHQ says

Terrorists have run out of arms, ammunition,’ DHQ says



The Director of Defence Information, Chris Olukolade, has said that members of the Boko Haram sect in Nigeria have run out of arms and ammunition.


Major General Olukolade stated further that the terrorists’ numbers had dwindled due to the army’s recent attacks on them.


The defence spokesperson made the comments on Wednesday, April 22, 2015, while speaking to journalists in Abuja.


“The Boko Haram terrorists have run out of arms and ammunitions as the military have intensified attacks on Sambisa Forest,”Olukolade said.


“You can find more than 500 of the insurgents with only few of them having rifles and even when one or two of them have rifles, they have no ammunitions. It is just like somebody holding a stick…, as they have run out of ammunitions, because the usual supplies they get are not forthcoming,” he added.


“I am optimistic that the military will succeed by killing many of these sect members who have been terrorising residents in the past three years from the forest,” Olukolade said.


National Security Adviser (NSA), Sambo Dasuki had earlier stated that the military would succeed in clearing out Sambisa Forest, a Boko Haram stronghold, before May 29, 2015, when a new government would be sworn in.
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