Clay Richie

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has approved the application by three political parties “the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), the All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP) and the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) to merge into one, to be known as the All Progressives Congress.

Nigerian newspapers and blogs have been abuzz since yesterday with the news that an award winning music producer, Aswad Ayinde, had been sentenced to prison for 90 after he was found guilty of impregnating his own daughters.

Former Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, Prof. Chukwuma Soludo, may have been picked by the All Progressives Grand Alliance, APGA, as its consensus candidate for the November 16 gubernatorial election in Anambra state, a competent source close to the party said.

A few days ago, Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, the finance minister, alerted us to the fact that the nation would soon run out of money to run itself. She hid under the alibi of the theft of crude oil, bunkering and pipeline vandalism. But there’s more to what the coordinating minister for the economy was willing to divulge. What she should have been very straightforward about is the level of barefaced stealing that is taking place in all facets of the Goodluck Jonathan government that could soon kill all of us. But let’s even discuss the oil theft, pipeline vandalism and bunkering that she talked about.

Major Hamza Al-Mustapha, former chief Security Offcier to late Gen. Sani Abacha has said that he could have taken over power immediately after the demise of his boss, but refused to because God used him to chart a course for the country.

Few days ago, the media was awash with reports of the military’ failed attempt to capture Boko Haram leader, Abubakar Shekau. Shekau was said to have been cornered by operatives of the Joint Task Force in Gwoza hills, Borno State, where a shoot out occurred between the operatives and members of the sect, resulting to the death of some of the insurgents and members of the Special Forces group.

Former member of the House of Representatives and executive secretary of Anti-Corruption Network, Hon Dino Melaye, has described the government of President Goodluck Jonathan as the most corrupt in the history of the country.

You may have heard that that Hamza Al-Mustapha, former Chief Security Officer to ex-Head of State, General Sani Abach paid a visit to ex-Niger Delta warlord, Asari Dokubo in his home. What you probably do not know is what could possibly be the connect between Al-Mustapha and Asari Dokubo.

What appears to be the beginning of peace in politically tensed Rivers State, happened Friday when the First Lady Dame Patience Jonathan and the wife of Rivers State Governor, Dame Judith Amaechi both signed the condolence register of the First Lady’s mother, Mrs. Charity Oba in Port Harcourt.

Apart from the Kanuris, Shuwa Arabs, the Hausas and other minority tribes of Borno extraction who are indigenous to the state, there other ethnic groups from other parts of Nigeria In Maiduiguri. There are also people who come from neighboring countries. But they have all united on a common mission – the ongoing manhunt of members of the Jama’atu Ahli Sunnah Lidda’awati Wal Jihad, also known as Boko Haram.

The fear of the possibility of revealing some dirty secrets perpetrated by former Head of state, General Abdulsalam Abubakar during his stay in office as the last military leader before the advent of democracy by Major Hamza Al-Mustapha, former Chief Security Officer to late Nigerian dictator, General Sani Abacha may soon lead to a showdown between the duo, SaharaReporters is reporting.

Who remembers the man mountain who terrorized the South-West in the ’90?s? The spirit-man whom the police never seemed to be able to catch, whose death rumours were dispelled each time he pulled off an even more daring operation? Who recalls the one name that left the people of the South-West shaking in their boots, the man who robbed in broad daylight with such sophisticated weaponry that witnesses felt transported into a Sylvester Stallone movie set? So notorious was he that people in neighbouring countries such as Benin Republic also feared him. Does the name ShinaRambo still send shivers down your spine?

Our attention has been drawn to the activities and pronouncements of the Governors of Adamawa, Jigawa, Kano and Niger States who have been going round the country inciting tension and division with the obvious intention of destabilizing the government of President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan. The objective of these activities, as they themselves trumpeted is to get a “northerner” by which they mean Hausa Fulani, replace President Jonathan in 2015, or even by any means possible.

It is very easy to look at the pay of Nigerian legislators and accuse them of injustice like I did in today’s Punch newspaper. It is so easy to see one side of the story and assume that is all there is to the whole story. There is always more. The opportunity cost of poverty in Nigeria is charity. Nigerians are essentially poor because they make demands on the rich, especially those governing them in a way that seemingly justifies the stealing of public funds and in less immoral fashion, the allocation of inconsiderate allowances to public officials.  

Former President of the Court of Appeal, Justice Ayo Salami, has resigned his appointment from the Nigerian judiciary. This is coming after almost two years of intrigues against his recall to the Court of Appeal which he heads.

President Goodluck Jonathan pledged Thursday in Abuja that as President of the nation and leader of its ruling political party, he will do all that is humanly possible to curb political excesses which are overheating the polity ahead of the 2015 general elections.

Chairman, Senate Committee on Federal Capital Territory, FCT, Senator Smart Adeyemi, has said the N935 billion budgeted for security last year could have helped to restore the nation’s educational sector, repair the bad road networks and create jobs for unemployed youths.

For all his 'attacking' against perceived opponents of President Goodluck Jonathan, Dr. Doyin Okupe, also known as " Attack Lion " received a brand-new  bimmer (BMW car) from president Goodluck Jonathan.

A group of President Goodluck Jonathan supporters led by Ijaw leader, Chief Edwin Clark yesterday described Nobel Laureate, Prof Wole Soyinka of being Governor Rotimi Amaechi’s hireling even as the team operating under the name, South South Elders and Stakeholders berated the literary icon for slamming First Lady, Mrs Patience Jonathan.

“You have a Minister, Nyesom Wike, who does no work in the Ministry [where lecturers are on strike] but is gallivanting all over Nigeria and the world in the interest of Rivers State politics and President Goodluck Jonathan’s 2015 ambitions.

Chief Security Officer to late General Sani Abacha yesterday turned his visit to Kaduna state into a 2015 campaign speeches. Al-Mustapha, who had been in detention for nearly 15 years, was acquitted by the Court of Appeal Lagos recently over the killing of Kudirat, wife of M.K.O Abiola, the presumed winner of 1913 presidential election.

Exactly seven days after he was invited by the police over the free-for-all fight he engaged his colleagues in at the assembly complex, the Majority Leader of the Rivers State House of Assembly, Chidi Lloyd, on Tuesday turned himself in at the Force Headquarters in Abuja.

‘So what’s next?‘ This is one question I always dread to ask myself. It is a question that kills me but it also gets me thinking.If you are fresh out of school like me, I’m sure that you would be able to relate to what I’m saying. The truth is that at some point in life, we don’t necessarily know “what next” or what exactly we want to do with our life or what we want our future to look like. But what we should know is that we are in a very fast moving world, where people are divided into two categories; those who are progressing and those who are moving backwards.

An amazing thing about light is you can see the damage it does to darkness when just a ray shines through. It is often that opinions focus on what is not being done in Nigeria, the darkness, but on the road last week I felt some relief, I went from the heart of Port Harcourt to the Governor’s office in Asaba in two and half hours at rush hour peak.

Opon Imo (Computer tablet) is a project of Osun State Government which has attracted more positive than negative comments from the public until Bola Ilori (Chairman of the Launch Committee) made a rigmarole of the subject. In Punch issue of May 23, 2013, Ilori replied a critic of the project and further proposed to us a thousand and one reasons why we should bow down and worship Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola for being the originator of this idea. Ilori, in his words, further described the Opon Imo as “unique in the true sense of it because it has never been used anywhere in the world prior to its advent in Osun State…” He also added that it will abolish paper work.

For voting in support of the retention of the controversial section 29 (4) b of the 1999 constitution, which states that a married underage girl is deemed to be an adult, the member representing Ondo Central Senatorial District at the National Assembly, Senator Ayo Akinyelure, apologised to members of his constituency in Akure on Monday. as he apologised to them that he voted in error to support the senate resolution backing marriage of underage girls.

The leadership of the party yesterday said that the tussle between the National Working Committee (NWC) of the party and the convention planning committee has been resolved, declaring that the merger All Progressive Congress (APC) is in trouble ahead of the 2015 elections. This was disclosed at a meeting between the party’s NWC led by Bamanga Tukur and the special convention committee led by Prof. Jerry Gana at the party’s headquarters yesterday.

Northern governors who weekend held closed door meeting with former President Olusegun Obasanjo over the 2015 presidential election and the crises rocking the country held a similar meeting with two ex-military Heads of state today in Minna, Niger state. Those at the closed door meeting held at the presidential lodge of the Government House, in the state capital today include Governors Aliyu Babangida of Niger, Musa Kwankwaso of Kano, Sule lamido of Jigawa and Aliyu Wamakko of Sokoto State.

Sources have revealed that last week’s “judicial decision” which set free of murder charges Hamza Al-Mustapha, the former Chief Security Officer to late Nigerian dictator, Sanni Abacha, is owed to President Goodluck Jonathan, who was following a “spiritual” fortune-telling that would enable him to win the 2015 election.

Despite receiving more than N13 billion in salaries, allowances and benefits that clearly positions members of the Nigerian Senate as the world’s best paid lawmakers, at least 35 serving senators have not listed a single Bill in their name since taking office in 2011, an investigation by The Nigerian Telegraph has shown. Between 2011 and June 2013, each senator drew about N400 million in salaries, allowances, and self-allocated bonuses, according to details of lawmakers’ allowances, as well as listed earnings for federal lawmakers stipulated by the Revenue Mobilisation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC).

The gang-up by  some Peoples Democratic Party  governors against President Goodluck Jonathan’s second term ambition is  believed to be unsettling the President The PUNCH gathered on Sunday that the reality that he might not win the PDP  ticket for the 2015 poll made him to  raise  a team of three governors to meet with former President Olusegun Obasanjo  in Abuja on Thursday. The governors, who met with Obasanjo, are  Governor Godwill Akpabio of Akwa Ibom Sate; Dr. Emmanuel Uduaghan (Delta State) and Liyel Imoke (Cross River State). The meeting, which was held at the Hilton Hotel, first had the duo of Uduaghan and Imoke in attendance.

A new report entitled “Nigerian Unity in the Balance” authored for the United States Army War College has, again, warned Nigerian leaders to beware of another civil war or an outright break-up following what it called ongoing divisive trends in the country. The report released by the Strategic Studies Institute of War College was written by two former American servicemen, Gerald McLaughlin and Clarence J. Bouchat. McLaughlin is a graduate of the U.S. Army War College while Bouchat is also an adjunct professor at the U.S. Army War College (USAWC) The report, whose foreword was written by the Director, Strategic Studies, Institute and U.S. Army War College Press, Professor Douglas Lovelace, observed that divisive forces were becoming more stronger than uniting forces in Nigeria, warning that unless this was reversed, Nigeria`s existence could be jeopardised.

There seem to be no end in sight to the no love lost between Rivers State Governor Rotimi Amaechi and President Goodluck Jonathan as the governor has once again fired another salvo at the President. Amaechi, in an interview he granted the Financial Times of London, accussed Preisdent Jonathan of turning the Peoples Democratic Party into a “one-man show” and of condoning “impunity and authoritarianism” in an effort to ensure re-election in 2015, adding that the President and his wife, Patience, were bent on removing him from office. He traced his ordeals in the hands of the President and his wife to the erroneous believe that whoever was in charge of  the Nigeria Governor’s Forum had the capacity to influence  the presidential election in 2015. “There is this fear in the Presidential Villa that whoever chairs the governors’ forum will influence the presidential election,” Amaechi  said.

”If I had any doubts that the self-confessed pedophile Senator Ahmed Sani was of the devil before today, I have long since shed those doubts. Ahmed is not only evil but he is also a very sick man. In any civilized society, he would be either be behind bars or he would be in a mental hospital. We as a people need to protect the girl-child from self-righteous sexual predators like him. He not only thrives on under-age sex and child rape but he boasts about it and seeks to justify it with his Islamic faith.

President Goodluck Jonathan and four northern governors, yesterday, engaged in a dramatic hide and seek game of politics in Abeokuta, Ogun State capital, where they did not only hold separate secret meetings with former President Olusegun Obasanjo but also avoided  one another. The drama began when  Jonathan  paid an  unscheduled visit to his estranged godfather  in his mansion on Osoba Hilltop, Abeokuta, after the four northern  governors had arrived Abeokuta but, reportedly, hid in an undisclosed location  apparently to avoid the President.

The clamour for the presidency to return to the North in 2015 is growing.  No fewer than four prominent groups are now championing the cause. The campaign was initially spearheaded by two groups – Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF) and Northern Elders Forum (NEF). Last week, the four northern groups signalled that the presidency will not remain with a southerner beyond the next general elections. In other words, incumbent President Goodluck Jonathan, from the South-south, suspected of nursing re-election, will not return to power. They claimed to have  conceded power to the South to give it a sense of belonging, saying, whether by power rotation or voting power, the North would upstage the South from the presidency in 2015. The groups also said that once North was back in power, it could decide to hold unto it indefinitely. The spokesman for the groups, Prof. Ango Abdullahi, who spoke in Kaduna, said: “Let me state that  ACF, to many people,  is not being as asse...

Controversial Senator, Ahmed Sani Yerima has reportedly fired back at the criticism that has trialed his objection to an earlier resolution of the Nigerian Senate to peg the age limit of marriage for women at 18. The Senate had during the voting on constitutional amendment  voted to expunge section 29(4)b of the 1999 constitution that provides for what constitutes a full age, but the Senator after the voting has been concluded called for repeat of the vote which eventually allowed the section of the constitution to remain. The Senator berated the critics, saying that the early marriage is the least problem facing Nigeria. Below is the full statement reportedly made by the Senator.   Nigeria has many uncountable problems and none of them is early marriage. As a matter of fact early marriage the solution to about half of our problems. For those who wonder if I can give my daughter(s) out in marriage at the age of 9 or 13, I tell you most honestly, I can give her out...

This should be the question on the lips of every man and woman of conscience, considering the acquittal last week of Maj. Hamza Al-Mustapha, Chief Security Officer of ex-military dictator, Gen. Sani Abacha. Al-Mustapha, until his acquittal, had been in detention since 1999 for the murder of Kudirat Abiola, wife of M.KO. Abiola, winner of the June 12, 1993 presidential election who himself died in detention in July 1998. The state reception and effusive welcome party for Maj. Hamza Al-Mustapha must be gut-wrenching for any Nigerian who lived through the horrors of the Abacha dictatorship. As Abacha’s Chief Security Officer, Al-Mustapha was the point man of the murderous triumvirate that comprised Ismaila Gwarzo, National Security Adviser and Frank Omenka of the notorious Directorate of Military Intelligence. They had as their henchmen Barnabas Jabila (a.k.a Sgt. Rogers), Muhammed Abdul (a.k.a Katako), Alhaji Danbaba, and Rabo Lawal amongst others.

The Nigerian Feminist Forum (NFF) has expressed great concern about a resolution of the Nigeria Senate to alter section 29(a) of the constitution which stipulates that a woman shall not be qualified for marriage until she attains 18 years of age, and called on the National Assembly to reconsider the resolution. In a statement signed by Geraldyn Ezeakile, NFF pointed out on Wednesday that the decision, part of the ongoing constitutional review process, will remove the age specification of women who can marry and would further deem a woman to be of “full age” once she is married, irrespective of the age she did so. “This action is a clear violation of Article 21(2) of the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child which prohibits child marriage and betrothal as well as Article 6 (b) of the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights on the Rights of Women in Africa which provides that the minimum age of marriage for women is 18 years,” the statement said.  

Since the Nigerian Senate, in its infinate wisdom, has now endorsed the "Paedophile Charter" which seeks to make it lawful and constitutional for a 9 year old girl to get married and to have sex it is my view that we have now become a nation of perverts and paedophiles. Every Nigerian should bow his or her head in shame as from today because what the Senate did yesterday, and seeks to do in the future, by beginning the process to amend our constitution in order for it to cater for the filthy appetite and godless fantasies of child molestors and sexual predators is sordid, ungodly and unforgiveable. Surely we ought to be seeking to protect our children and not seeking to bed them. Yet it appears that not everyone shares our outrage and collective sense of shame. One Uche Ezechukwu made the following contribution which went viral on the social media networks and which I think speaks volumes. He wrote- "Those who are railing against 'paedophile' senators, lik...

Rivers State was taken by storm with the visit of Progressive Governors led by Governor of Lagos State, Babatunde Raji Fashola in solidarity to Gov. Chibuike Rotimi Amechi over the recent security breach and other political situation in Rivers State.

The government of Rivers state today raised an alarm over the posting of some six strange policemen to the lodge of Governor Rotimi Amaechi in Port-Harcourt and Abuja. The government in a statement signed by Secretary to the State Government, Mr. George Feyii said “The Rivers State Government notes with distress what is now an apparent attack on the person of Governor Chibuke Rotimi Amaechi. Yesterday two policemen, one of who is an Inspector Bawa, reported to the Rivers State Governor’s Lodge at Justice Mohammed Bello Street , Asokoro, FCT Abuja. “They claimed to have been posted by Nigeria Police Force Headquarters to monitor the Rivers State Governor’s Lodge. “Earlier four intelligence officers had been posted to Government House, Port Harcourt by the Rivers State Police Command.  These postings were done without any notification or reference to Governor Amaechi. “We are aware that on issues of personal safety, an official reserves the right to pick the security person...

For the first time, wife of President Goodluck Jonathan, Patience, gave an indication that she might be behind the crisis rocking Rivers State at the moment as she opened up on a plethora of grudges she is nursing against the state governor, Rotimi Amaechi. She said her "fight" with Governor Amaechi started four years ago: Mrs. Jonathan spoke in Abuja on Wednesday during a courtesy visit to the Presidential Villa by 16 bishops from the South-South geo-political zone.

Nigeria is a wealthy nation, so says the world. It is not uncommon to hear both foreign and local journalists speak about Nigeria’s oil wealth. Business day online says Nigeria’s GDP grew by 6.17% in the first quarter of 2012. Nigerian Billionaire Aliko Dangote currently runs one of the largest cement factories in the world and is worth an estimated $2.1bn. German carmaker Porsche officially opened a new car dealership in the heart of Lagos’ wealthiest district, Victoria Island, in its bid to get to Nigeria’s rich. Recent reports also show that the country earned N7.2tr from oil in the first 3 quarters of 2012. All the above point to the fact that Nigeria is a rich country. But the question is, do we have a true picture of Nigeria’s wealth?

Popular Nigerian tele-evangelist Pastor T.B. Joshua of the Synagogue Church of All Nations, Sunday carried on with his message for job creation with a call to include the youth in decision-making positions or risk mass unrest that could spell serious doom. The prophet, speaking during a live service broadcast on his Emmanuel TV, said: “I am seeing a revolution. I am seeing people take to the street. At the beginning of that protest, it might be stopped. Eventually, it will become so big that it cannot be stopped.”

Nigeria is currently passing through one of the most turbulent times of her existence since it gained independence from the British in 1960. Perhaps the times that could be compared to this period of chaos, confusion, widespread violence, leadership breakdown and political instability will be from 1966 to 1970 to the inglorious June 12, 1993 when Moshood Abiola lost his popular mandate to a dictator and the crisis that followed.

According to a report carried by Elombah.com, Information available it indicates that Major Hamza Al-Mustapha may have been Promoted to Brigadier General.

The United Kingdom has expressed disappointment over Nigeria’s refusal to arrest visiting Sudanese President Omar Al-Bashir, who was in Nigeria to attend ongoing conference of the Special Summit of AU Heads of State and Government tagged “Abuja+12 Special Summit” in spite of the ICC  arrest warrant.

First Lady, Dame Patience Jonathan has called for the peaceful resolution of the crisis currently rocking Rivers state, urging the feuding parties to consider the social, political and economic costs of the crisis to the state and its people and urgently find a way of resolving their political differences amicably. Dame Jonathan in a statement in Abuja, by her Senior Special Assistant on Monday, Ayo Osinlu, said if the crisis was not resolved, “the greater consequence of the impasse is, as usual, reserved for the poor, the weak and the vulnerable, especially women and children, who are usually innocent bystanders in all these.

The myriad of rival cult clashes that was the hallmark of Rivers state before the advent of the Rotimi Amaechi administration in 2007 reared its ugly head on Friday as two rival cult groups, the Icelanders and Greenlanders engaged themselves in deadly fight with some deadly weapons