Clay Richie

Much has been said about the defection of Malam Nuhu Ribadu from the All Progressives Congress (APC) to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). Most of the comments I have read or heard are very critical of his decision. He has been described as a typical Nigerian politician without values. Someone said his defection is an indication of his desperation to get power in any form or shape and by any means -even if it means romancing with the devil that they say the PDP represents. Many of his fans are bitter and angry and disgusted and embarrassed by his political relocation .

A former chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Chief Tom Ikimi has vowed to ensure victory for the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), in the south-south region. Ikimi stated this in his Maitama home in Abuja, during a visit of the leadership of the Peoples Democratic Party on Friday.

By Nwaorgu Faustinus It was a touching moment when Rivers State Governor and Chairman of Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF), Rt. Hon. Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi, did not only have his stewardship publicly appreciated but was also begged to act fast to rescue Nigeria from the dungeon by contesting the 2015 presidential election as the only panacea to the present sad state of affairs in the country. The plea was made by the cousin of Chief Nyesom Wike and a leading light of the Rumueprikom community, Barr. Tasie Wike, during Amaechi’s resumed Meet-the-People Tour of Obio Akpor Local Government Area.

Nuhu Ribadu’s defection from the All Progressive Congress to the ruling People’s Democratic Party has been greeted with savage personal attacks that have condemned him as a perfidious and opportunistic turncoat. By joining the PDP, the former anti-corruption czar is said to have betrayed his principles. Ribadu, it appears, is being held to a very rigorous standard of consistency – one that could only possibly be met by a political clairvoyant.

Cameroon’s army has attacked the Nigerian Islamist group,  Boko Haram, shelling one of their camps across the border and killing “many” fighters, a security official said on Thursday. The source told AFP that the army had shelled the camp on Wednesday evening, two days after the jihadist group had seized control of the town of Gamboru Ngala on the border with Cameroon.

Former Chief of Army Staff, Lt-General Ihejirika shot back at former minister of the FCT, Nasir El-Rufai for saying that he is a Boko Haram kingpin. El-Rufai had earlier today stated that in his facebook and twitter page that an Australian Negotiator had revealed that Ali Modu Sheriff and Former Chief of Army Staff Ihejirika are Boko Haram “Kingpins”

Today marks 136 days since  April 14 , when 219 daughters of Nigeria were taken captive from our midst at close to  midnight  while we all slept. The Presidential Fact-Finding Committee on Chibok Abduction which was set up evidently to validate to those who doubted the tragedy, helped confirm that our daughters that went to acquire knowledge were forcibly taken by terrorists. In all, the report stated that 276 school girls were abducted from Government Secondary School, Chibok on that fateful night and that fortunately, 57 of them courageously took the risk of self-rescue and are since reunited with their families.

Davis, 63, says he had survived months of extreme danger trying to rescue more than 270 Chibok schoolgirls kidnapped by Boko Haram. When news broke in April about the Chibok girls’ kidnapping from Government Girls Secondary School, Chibok, Borno State, Davis, who had recently moved to Perth from London, decided he could not sit on his hands.

It was a hard nut to crack for the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) National Working Committee (NWC), which met in Abuja yesterday to determine whether or not to grant waiver to former Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) Chair Mallam Nuhu Ribadu and two others seeking its governorship ticket.

To protect the fleeing 480 Nigerian soldiers from harm, Cameroonian troops killed 27 suspected Boko Haram militants between Monday and Tuesday, the Cameroon State Radio said yesterday. The radio said the Cameroonian soldiers escorted their Nigerian counterparts back home after the Tuesday attack.

Well, this is not the usual versions of open letter which become a drama type feature towards to later part of last year. This letter is a call to service. Call it a proposal of idea and one will not be far from the truth. In recent years since Chief Olusegun Obasanjo federalized the NSCDC a lot of Nigerians have been finding it hard to pin point the duties and responsibilities of the NSCDC.

For any student of social theory, theology, comparative religion or jurisprudence, no word or term has greater significance than the Concept of Sovereignty, which is eternal will power of an individual to govern himself, but, as a group, though, it is usually ceded to an elected or appointed leader, who exercises it on behalf of the people. Indeed, to a believer in religion, it is sovereignty that defines the fallacy of polytheism, because, multiplicity of gods goes against the rationality of a single sovereignty, in fact, even in the world monotheism, which is a belief in one God, those who believe in the truism of Biblical Trinity, cannot explain how such a scenario is not a clever attempt at enshrining the multiplicity of a single sovereign.

Boko Haram Republic of Gwoza is both a bad idea and a bad omen for Nigeria because the indigenes of Gwoza are not sympathetic to  Boko Haram. Boko Haram Republic flags should be hoisted in territories where majority of the inhabitants are supporters of the insurgents, and definitely, Gwoza is not part of them. Currently, Boko Haram have declared Gwoza an Islamic Republic and that is very unfair to the predominantly Christian community.

…President Jonathan and his security department arrest some politician sponsors of Boko Haram. The massive looting of more than half of the nation’s oil earnings… perhaps I can forget that. This government did not invent looting. The past 15 years of PDP “democratic” governance are not the only years in which Nigeria has witnessed looting and will perhaps not be the last. Apart from the Murtala and Idiagbon/Buhari regimes, I am not sure many other past regimes were not decorated with some looting; if not as much as Jonathan/Diezani’s, at least there was some.

By Muhammed Haruna A supposed email exchange between Chinweizu, veteran columnist and author (The West and the Rest of Us, Anatomy of Female Power) and Professor G.G. Darah, communications teacher and prominent Delta State delegate to the just concluded national conference, has been making the rounds on the internet. If the exchange is true – and the style and substance of the exchange suggests it is – then we are in an even deeper trouble in this country than we imagine because of the Boko Haram insurgency.

Citing his inability to coexist with those he described as petty-minded people or condone what he claimed to be the domineering influence of Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, Chief Tom Ikimi, yesterday, withdrew his membership of the All Progressives Congress, APC.

The 480 soldiers who fled into the Cameroonian Territory following a heavy battle with the Boko Haram sect has explained the reason for their action. The soldiers, according to Agence France Presse (AFP), who spoke through a junior officer acting as their proxy, said his colleague who spoke with him from Cameroon claimed that they fled after running out of ammunition.

National leader of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu has said that the former chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Mallam Nuhu Ribadu remains a friend and a brother despite his defection to the People Democratic Party (PDP).

Even though President Goodluck Jonathan has continued to dither on declaring his intention to contest the 2015 presidential election, Nigerians are no doubt aware that he has since commenced his campaign across the country in outright breach of the electoral law. He and the PDP have held rallies across the six geopolitical zones to canvass for votes, even though INEC has not endorsed the kick-off for campaigns as required by law. Section 99 (1-3) of the Electoral Act says: “For the purpose of this Act, the period of campaigning in public by every political party shall commence 90 days before polling day and end 24 hours prior to that day.” The president has consistently trampled on this law without necessary legal repercussions.

We are approaching another election year in Akwa Ibom State and the gladiators are up in arms against one another. Nobody is talking about competence and credibility. Nobody is talking about health care, job creation, security, infrastructures and the real issues of governance.

By Peregrini Brimah The Boko Haram terrorist movement released a latest video to update Nigeria on their current status. In it they claimed the formation of a nonsensical caliphate, plagiarizing from the concurrently running operations of fellow loony ISIS terrorists in Iraq and Syria.

The Defence Headquarters on Monday said the presence of Nigerian soldiers in Cameroonian territory is a tactical maneuver from the sustained battle it had with the Boko Haram insurgenst group. Abusidiqu had reported earlier that the  480 Nigeria soldiers fled into the Cameroonian territory  after they were overpowered by the Boko Haram sect in a fierce battle in Gamboru town, near the Nigeria-Cameroon border.

What is a political party? One simple definition would be this: A group of individuals assembled around a common belief or set of beliefs, for the purpose of acquiring political power. The power is of course meant to be a means to an end, not an end by itself – it is supposed to be deployed to achieve a series of specific objectives that align with the larger organising belief(s) of the group.

On January 18 this year, Mr. Hamani Tidjani, a prison inmate died at the Kirikiri Maximum Security prison in Lagos. The deceased, who suffered from partial stroke, was not given any medical attention by the prison authorities. He was a citizen of Niger Republic arrested in Cotonou, Benin Republic and brought to Nigeria in September 2003 for investigation and trial for some trans-border armed robberies and allied criminal offences. After a prolonged trial, he was convicted by an Ijebu Ode High Court in 2011 for receiving stolen goods and sentenced to a 10-year jail term.  Although the deceased completed the sentence, he was not released from prison custody as he stood trial for similar offences in the Lagos High Court.

Former President, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, has likened the present state of the economy to the one witnessed under the military junta headed by the late General Sani Abacha. The former president, who addressed a group of traders who were on a courtesy visit to his Abeokuta residence however urged people to take solace in the fact that tough times don’t last but only tough ones do.

By Leadership In October, Adamawa indigenes will go to the polls to elect a new governor. MOHAMMED ISMAIL , in this piece writes that the political landscape in the state is getting heated up daily judging from the array of aspirants lining up for the number one job in the State

Former Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Mallam Nuhu Ribadu, who recently joined the Peoples Democratic Party to contest the Adamawa governorship election has met with the leadership of the party to present his agenda if elected.

Adamawa State acting Governor, Umar Fintiri, who was the speaker of the State House of Assembly that oversaw the impeachment of former Governor Murtala Nyako has taken the path of what they accused and impeached Nyako for. According to the assembly, Nyako misappropriated the states fund, awarded contract without due process and favoured only his family members and close allies.

The military has debunked the claim of the leader of the insurgent group, Boko Haram, Abubakar Shekau that it had formed a Caliphate in a northeast town seized by the earlier this month. In a statement on its website, the military said the claim was empty. “The sovereignty and territorial integrity of the Nigerian state is still intact.

Boko Haram’s leader said he has created an Islamic caliphate in a northeast Nigeria town seized by the insurgents earlier this month, in a video obtained by Agency France-Presse on Sunday. “Thanks be to Allah who gave victory to our brethren in (the town of) Gwoza and made it part of the Islamic caliphate,” Abubakar Shekau said in the 52-minute video.

Sometime in 2004, or thereabouts, I told the then Director-General of the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC), Professor Dora Akunyili, that in spite of the successes recorded by her agency, fake drugs were still coming to Nigeria. She sighed, and with one look of frustration creating a dent on her face, she told me: “We at NAFDAC are doing our job honestly and diligently. If only the other agencies of government at entry points are also doing their job, not a tablet of fake or substandard drug will enter Nigeria. That is the whole truth.”

It thus appears that some members of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), are plying their trade with so much confidence. Just few days ago, a member of the PDP and senator representing Kogi West senatorial District in the National Assembly, Senator Smart Adeyemi asked the Chairman of the party not to disregard prominent leaders of the opposition All Progressives Congress (APC) who want to come to the PDP. According to Adeyemi, he  See Buhari and Tinubu Joining PDP Soon.

When Nigeria’s leading airline, Arik Air commenced operations on October 30, 2006, citizens, likewise foreigners heaved a sigh of relief. It was the final arrival of the long-awaited large bird-like machines; fresh wine in a new glass though on an old platter. Having endured average (in some cases below par) services of existing airlines at the time, not a few travellers wasted no time in telling them to make way, as ‘the virgin-bride is here’.

Nigeria has a highly complex and colorful social mosaic. The cultural diversity and heterogeneity makes this mosaic chaotic. The diverse culture and custom of Nigeria cannot be compared with the melting pot of the American society or with the multinational state exemplified by the now defunct Soviet Union.

Indications have emerged that over 100 police trainees at the prestigious Nigeria Mobile Police Academy in Gwoza, Borno State went missing shortly after the attack by members of the Boko Haram sect. The Boko Haram insurgents group few days ago attacked the college, reportedly killed some of the police trainees and took over the college.

Mohammed Abacha and Risqua Mohammed, both sons of Nigeria’s former heads of state, General Murtal Muhammed and General Sani Abacha are set to battle for the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), governorship ticket in Kano state.

I write this morning with a very heavy heart. This is because one of my political heroes decided to commit what I consider political  hara kiri . My sadness also stems from the realisation that Nigeria may be in trouble because those you feel have the moral suasion to drag the country by the force of their characters cesspit we have been taken to, to the Eldorado our politicians always promise to take us to, are turning out to be not better than the worst of the lot. My sadness stems from the fact of knowing that most of us who grandstand on most national issues actually use our grandstanding as a vehicle for personal gain and nothing altruistic.

Fellow Nigerians, it has been a week of serious fireworks and heavy bombardment against one of our own on social media. The brouhaha erupted over what should have been a simple migration of Nuhu Ribadu from his erstwhile political Party, APC, to PDP, a Party most of his fans turned attackers consider to represent a complete opposite of the politics that Ribadu professes as well as a total abandonment of his avowed principles. As much as I tried not to dabble into what I considered a personal decision, I was forced at a stage to state some facts on Twitter. I intend to expand the content of that intervention today.

In spite of the condemnation that trails the spate of terror attacks perpetrated by the Islamist group Boko Haram since 2009, the Chief of Air Staff, Air Marshal Adesola Amosun, has disclosed that the Nigerian Air Force has actually benefitted from the insurgency. Amosun, who made this disclosure on Thursday, 21 August, 2014, at the commissioning of the remodelled Oko Barracks Road  in Benin, Edo State said the activities of the dreaded Boko Haram sect has enabled the Nigerian air force to improve its fighting force and skills appreciably?.

Dr. Kent Brantly, a US doctor who contracted the deadly Ebola virus in Liberia was yesterday discharged from the Emory University Hospital in the United State having been cured of the disease.

By Leadership Widow of the late Liberian, Patrick Sawyer, the man who brought the deadly Ebola disease to Nigeria, Mrs. Decontee Sawyer, yesterday said that she shared the pains of the family of Dr Ameyo Stella Adedavoh, the female doctor who attended to Sawyer.

The Presidency has welcomed the former Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Mallam Nuhu Ribadu into the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). The presidency described his defection as a positive development to the Nigerian polity.

Ahead of the October 2014 date for the commencement of its primaries to pick candidates for various elective positions in the 2015 general election, the All Progressives Congress (APC), is reportedly “strongly” considering a former Lagos State commissioner for justice and attorney-general, Professor Yemi Osibajo, as its vice-presidential candidate, TheCable is reporting.

Minister of Information, Labaran Maku has vowed to chase out the incumbent governor of Nasarawa State, Governor Tanko Al-Makura and the incumbent governor from office and assume the mantle of leadership in 2015.

A former Speaker of the House of Representatives, Alhaji Ghali Na’Abba, on Tuesday said he has been searching for job since he left the House in 2003. A member of the People’s Democratic Party, Na’Abba represented the Kano Municipal Federal Constituency of Kano State from 1999 to 2003 during the Olusegun Obasanjo regime.

The Boko Haram insurgents group has continued in their quest to take over some parts of the North-East. The insurgents have seized Buni Yadi town, headquarters of Guja Local Government Area of Yobe State, and hoisted their flag at the palace of the district head.

There are not ten people in the world whose deaths would spoil my dinner, but there are one or two whose deaths would break my heart”—Thomas Babinton Macaulay The death on Tuesday of Dr Stella Ameyo Adadevoh has broken many hearts, including mine despite the fact that I didn’t even know her. Yes, it is true that some of my friends knew her and have attested to her character, professionalism and commitment to her calling but that is not the reason I consider her passage very painful. It is because of the circumstances of her last few weeks on earth and what she symbolizes in our country today.

It beats the imagination when US policies flip-flop dangerously and towards global dangerosity. The US is clearly soft on ISIS. Obama only reluctantly initiated “limited strikes” on ISIS with few jets sent to “halt the advance” of the terrorists, “protect stranded Yazidi’s” and “protect US interests.” That was pretty much it. What happened to US no terrorist rhetoric? What happened to US non tolerance to the likes of Saddam Hussein and to Moammar Gaddafi? Why is the US suddenly so sympathetic to the cause of ISIS and eager to permit their existence?

By tomorrow, Friday, August 22, the kidnapped girls of Chibok would have been unwitting ”guests” of Boko Haram for 130 days. Between their kidnap and frightful escapes, the recurring line from the relevant security agencies has been, “We know where they are”! Ironically, every Nigerian knows where they are too: With Boko Haram!

By Punch On May 7, 2015, a Nigerian, Chuka Umunna, could make history by becoming the first black Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. Born in London in 1978, Chuka was bred in the UK. His late father, Bennett, hailed from Anambra State while his Irish mother, Patricia, is a solicitor.