Maitatsine metamorphosed to Boko Haram terrorists – NSA

Babagana Munguno

The National Security Adviser (NSA), Maj. Gen. Mohammed Babagana Monguno (rtd), yesterday revealed that the Maitatsine insurgents that ravaged the northern part of the country in the 1980s and led to the death of about 5,000 people metamorphosed into the present Boko Haram.

The NSA also said the problem of militancy in the Niger Delta region has called into question the power of the government to protect its citizens.

Monguno who was represented by the Director of External Services in his office, Mr. Abba Ibrahim, disclosed this in Abuja at the fourth Eminent Persons and Expert Group Meeting (EEGM) 2016, with the theme: ‘Dialogue on Current Security Challenges in Nigeria: Towards an All-Inclusive National Strategy,’ organised by the National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies (NIPPS), Jos.

According to him, “The most significant security challenge to our individual and national peace and security is the menace of the Boko Haram sect. Though it started as a suppressed religious group called Maitastine in the 80s, it clearly metamorphosed to terrorist sect called Boko Haram in 2009.”

He noted: “Its terrorist inclinations manifests in the activities of the group which is now known as a notorious product of an unhealthy mix of religious and political chauvinism and extremism.”

The NSA stated that unfortunately, everyone is mutually enmeshed in a high degree of risk and uncertainty posed by the current security challenges which have festered from the inception of our state and have metamorphosed into hideous conditions in more recent times.

Baring his mind on the incessant herdsmen/farmers’ clashes, Monguno stressed that the unpalatable situation had spurred hot clashes and flared tensions which have now spread to states in the South-west, South-south and parts of the South-east.

On the Niger Delta crisis, the NSA said: “The militancy that has permeated the Niger Delta region has been most negatively impactful on our economy. Not only has it called the image of the state in the protection of citizens, it has made our tabbed oil rich nation of the confidence to court Foreign Direct Investments (FDIs).”

Monguno recommended that the current security challenges facing the country urgently presents the need for dynamism and pro-activeness in the formulation of a grand strategy of security within the state with standards that must take cognisance of the carrot and stick approaches.

“Dialogue presents the state with the opportunity to negotiate with and rehabilitate suspects who could be potentially productive resources to the state. Also, onus lies with the security agencies to wield the big stick where necessary, that is, to meet violence with more force to subdue any person or group whose actions deliberately undermine our security in order to maintain its paramount in ligation to protect lines and property.

“To ensure these however, the question of capacity of our developmental and security institutions have to be addressed so that emanating security strategies can work beyond papers,” Monguno added.

Earlier, the Director General of NIPPS, Mr. Jonathan Juma, said the conference was called to dialogue on the issue of various security challenges facing the country, and to address them.

He said at the end of the conference, actionable recommendations that would address the issue of security challenges would be submitted to the government.

Also, the Chairman, National Advisory Committee, Nigeria Stability and Reconciliation Programme (NSRP), Odein Ajumogobia, said in this technological age, technology was not a luxury but a necessity in order to address the issue of security properly.

He explained that technology ensures real-time spring of information and enables efficient collaboration between different arms of government.

MEET OLUBIYO ABIMBOLA RUTH, FORMER OKUN QUEEN TO BECOME MISS KOGI 2016/2017

Miss Olubiyo Abimbola Ruth hails from Aiyegunle Igun area of Kabba/Bunu Local Government of Kogi State. She signified her intention to contest for the coming Miss Kogi Beauty Pageant basically because of her passion to affect positively the lives of the downtrodden(have not) through tremendous services to humanity.

Her area of concentration is to put smiles on the faces of the less privilege most especially orphans and the widows. She also have the intent to assist the low income students across the three(3) senatorial district of Kogi State through disbursement of scholarship.

In her words, as former Miss Bunu 2009/2010 and Miss Okun 2013/2014, i am very much sure i have the experience it required to serve in the capacity of Miss Kogi. As a passionate lover of development and transformer of change, i believe with the support of His Excellency, Alhaji Adoza Yahaya Bello and our amiable First Lady and Tripple A entertainment, its no doubt that the road to success will be very smooth and clear to utilize my office judiciously and as expected by the people of Kogi State.

I remain commited to the leadership of His Excellency Alhaji Yahaya Adoza Bello, supportive to the patriotic spirit of Ttipple A entertainment and i promise to remain loyal to the entire people of Kogi State as your support will help me go a long way to achieving my aims and objectives. She said.
The beauty contest is slated to hold on the 4th of December, 2016 at the State capital Lokoja.

OKUN SUMMIT : Omoluabi Olabode Adeyemi to deliver lecture.

Okun people of kogi state will gather together in an unprecedented event to chat a new direction for the socioeconomic and cultural development of the yoruba speaking part of Kogi state during a 3 day summit tagged Breaking the bond of under development.The event that will feature lecture, paper presentation and group discussion has been adjudged to be most unprecedented, unifying and resourceful will host the leaders, academics, politicians and opinion makers from Okun land from various fields of endeavor. The event which has received the support and endorsement of every well meaning Okun sons and daughters is organized under the collaborative efforts of the Okun Development Association and Okun Development Initiative with the aim to define a new narrative for the progress of the people. The event is under the Chairmanship of Prof. Ikupolati, a world renowned scholar and administrator. Expected to deliver a lecture titled "Okun Youth Development and the National equation" is a communications and Media consultant, Youth Leader and philanthropist, Omoluabi Olabode Adeyemi, Executive director, Africa Media Roundtable Initiative and Publisher/Chairman, Editorial Board of the African Views Magazine. The popular and very loved Okun patriot and emerging leader is considered for the assignment in view of his significant influence, popularity and control among the young people across the country. It would be recalled that Omoluabi Olabode Adeyemi was earlier in the year honored as the youth ambassador of the year by the National Youth Council of Nigeria in Kogi state among several honors. Speaking on the development, the leader of Okun Youth Leaders Forum, Comrade Alamoh Kehinde Samuel described the nomination of Omoluabi as representing the wishes and opinion of every Okun youth, e described Omoluabi as resourceful, intelligent, youthful and very fit for the assignment. Another youth leader, Comrade Olowosayo Sunday described Omoluabi Adeyemi is a selfless leader and true leader of okun youth

Corrupt Nigerians fighting my administration with stolen wealth – Buhari

President Muhammadu Buhari has lamented that some Nigerians who had corruptly enriched themselves in the past are currently using the stolen funds to wage war against his administration.

He said the situation has made his administration’s ongoing anti-corruption war “tough and grueling.”

According to a statement on Thursday by his Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Mr. Femi Adesina, the President spoke on Thursday in a meeting he had with the United States Secretary of State, John Kerry, on the margins of conference on climate change, COP22, in Marrakech, Morocco.

Although he said corruption was fighting vigorously back, the President assured Kerry that the anti-graft war would be won.

Buhari said corrupt people had accumulated a formidable arsenal of illicit wealth, which they were now deploying against the government on diverse fronts.

“But it is a war we are determined to win, and which we will win. People of goodwill are behind us, countries like America and many others are with us, and we will surely win,” he said.

Mobilize all corps members- President Buhari

The Director-General of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC), Brigadier-General Sulaiman Zakari Kazaure, has said that despite the inadequate budgetary allocation, which has stalled the agency’s operation in the past few months, President Muhammadu Buhari had given the marching order to the agency to mobilise all qualified prospective corps members for the 2016 Batch ‘’B’’ service year.

In all, the NYSC boss said that over 170,000 corps members will be mobilised this month, while the remaining 86,000 members will be mobilised in January next year.

He stated this while interacting with journalists in AbujaAccording to him, ‘’In the past few weeks, the NYSC has been in the news over its presumed inability to mobilise all qualified prospective corps members for the 2016 Batch B service years. As much as there is always public interest in the affairs of the scheme, there is the need to put the fact in their right perspective and clear the lingering doubt.

‘’In summary, the NYSC is prepared as always, to mobilise all qualified graduates for the next service batch. However, it must be emphasised that as a budget-dependent organisation, the scope of our activities is facing financial constraints like every other government agency in the present recession.’’ on Wednesday.

Professor who predicted Trump win, says he will be impeached

The man dubbed “Prediction Professor” for accurately calling every presidential election since 1984, including the 2016 election, now forecasts the impeachment of President-elect Donald Trump.

“There’s a very good chance that Donald Trump could face impeachment,” Allan Lichtman told Erin Burnett on “Erin Burnett OutFront.”

Lichtman, a political historian who teaches at the American University in Washington, says he uses his own system of 13 true of false statements to judge whether the incumbent party will retain the White House. However, when it came to his bold prediction of a Trump impeachment, he told Burnett it’s based on his instinct.“First of all, throughout his life he has played fast and loose with the law,” Lichtman said. “He has run an illegal charity in New York state. He has made an illegal campaign contribution through that charity. He has used the charity to settle personal business debts. He faces a RICO lawsuit.”

Burnett pushed back at Lichtman’s claim, noting his allegations have not been proven in a court of law and went on to ask why he thought Trump could be impeached when Republicans hold both the House and Senate, reports CNN.

“The Republicans are nervous about Donald Trump,” Lichtman said. “He is a loose canon. Nobody knows what he really believes or really where he stands. He can’t be controlled. The Republicans would vastly prefer to have Mike Pence, an absolutely predictable down-the-pipe conservative Republican.”

22,430 cultists surrender in Rivers State

The Rivers State Government on Tuesday concluded the first phase of the state Amnesty Programme as 22,430 cultists accepted amnesty in the state.

The government also disbanded all vigilante committees in the state with directives to the security agencies to take charge of scrutinising such committees.

Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers State announced this during the submission of the report of the Rivers State Amnesty Programme by its committee in Port Harcourt.

He described the Amnesty Programme as very successful since about 22, 430 cultists accepted the amnesty.

Wike also said that for the fact that 911 assorted arms, 7661 assorted ammunitions and 147 explosives were surrendered made the programme a success and the state relatively peaceful.

He, however, said that his administration had zero tolerance to crime and criminality.

Wike said: “To show that Government is serious, I hereby disband all vigilante committees in the various communities.

“I direct the security agencies to make sure that we don’t have such committees except they profile their members to prove that they don’t belong to any cult group.

“Initially, people felt it was a political game. I thank God Almighty that we have proved our critics wrong that we are serious to ensure the security of lives and property in the state.”

Wike explained that the state government did not monetise the amnesty programme as it preferred the cultists and kidnappers to sincerely embrace the programme.

He assured all the repentant cultists and kidnappers that they would be duly rehabilitated and made to become useful to the society.

He said: “But if by tomorrow, you return to crime, know that amnesty does not cover you.”

The governor also directed security agencies to go after all cultists and kidnappers who refused to voluntarily accept the amnesty offer.

Wike said that the time for amnesty “is over and we are going to take the war to them”.

He said: “Since we have given you the opportunity and you have refused to surrender, you have become enemies of the state.

“The state will fight to the last to make sure that criminality is reduced to the barest minimum so that investors will continue to have confidence to invest their funds in the state.”

Wike cautioned the politicians not politicise crime, adding that anybody that was involved in crime should not be reduced to party politics.

According to him, when somebody is a cultist, don’t say that that person belongs to party A, that is not fair.

Wike also stated: “We have to fight crime; we have to join hands to bring lasting peace to this state.”

He then called on the Federal Government to support the state with adequate security as it is the treasure base of the nation.

He said: “If there is crisis in Rivers State, it will affect Nigeria and so for us as a government, we will continue to partner with Federal Government to achieve zero tolerance to crime.

“We will not support crime. It doesn’t matter the political divide. If you are involved, you will face the law.”

Kenneth Chinda, the Chairman of the Amnesty committee, who is also the Special Adviser to the Governor on Amnesty, presented the report of the committee to the governor.

Chinda said the committee was successful as it adopted a direct dialogue approach by establishing direct, honest, transparent and sincere contacts with the leaderships of the various groups through a discreet confidence building process.

The committee urged the government to disband all armed community vigilance groups as well as direct all communities to surrender their weapons to the relevant security agencies.

The membership of the State Amnesty Committee was drawn from the Nigerian Army, the Nigerian Navy , the Nigerian Police and the Department of State Services.

US senator pushes to abolish electoral college after Trump win

Barbara Boxer

A California senator introduced legislation Tuesday to rid the United States of its electoral college, the system that allowed Donald Trump to win the presidency despite Hillary Clinton’s lead of nearly one million votes.

The measure comes amid calls for reform following last Tuesday’s presidential upset, but is a long-shot.

“This is the only office in the land where you can get more votes and still lose the presidency,” said Democratic Senator Barbara Boxer, who introduced the measure.

The US Constitution specifies that the electoral college ultimately decides the presidential election, not the popular vote.

Each US state is given a number of electors, which corresponds to the size of the state’s population.

In 48 of 50 states, rules require all of a state’s electors to cast their votes for whichever candidate wins the popular vote there, in a winner-take-all system.

Under these rules, the winner of the electoral college vote does not always correspond to the candidate who won the country’s popular vote.

“The electoral college is an outdated, undemocratic system that does not reflect our modern society, and it needs to change immediately. Every American should be guaranteed that their vote counts,” Boxer said.

Although Clinton received nearly 800,000 more votes than Trump, according to the latest partial results, she lost in the electoral college.The electoral vote is at 290 for Trump and 232 for Clinton, although one state has yet to be called. No matter its turnout, they do not have enough electors to bring Clinton a win.

More than 4.3 million people have signed a petition on the change.org website asking the college’s 538 electors to elect Clinton on December 19, when their votes will be officially counted.

But because 26 states legally mandate that electors vote according to the rules and it is almost unprecedented for the remaining states’ electors to disobey, there is little possibility of a Clinton presidency.

Clinton’s popular vote performance brings to mind the 2000 election, when Democrat Al Gore lost the White House despite taking 48.4 percent of the popular vote to George W. Bush’s 47.9 percent.

Hundreds of Constitutional amendments have been proposed over the decades concerning the electoral college, but none has succeeded.

Amending the Constitution requires the agreement of two-thirds of Congress and ratification by three-quarters of the states.

Trump himself had strongly criticized the electoral college in 2012 calling it a “disaster.” On Tuesday, however, he changed his tune.

“The Electoral College is actually genius in that it brings all states, including the smaller ones, into play. Campaigning is much different!” Trump tweeted.

Picture News: Obaseki, Shuaibu sworn in as Edo gov, deputy

Mr Godwin Obaseki and Hon. Phillip Shuaibu have been sworn-in as the new governor and deputy gvernor of Edo state respectively, for the next four years, at the expiration of the term of office of Comrade Adams Aliyu Oshiomhole

Assassination Attempt on Faleke wicked and senseless- Hon. Duro Meseko

The Audu/Faleke Political Organisation has condemned the recent assassination attempt on the leader of the group and former Deputy Governorship Candidate of the All Progressives Congress(APC ), Hon James Faleke along Lokoja-Abuja highway.
In a statement issued by the Director, Media and Publicity of the group, Duro Meseko, the group expressed shock at the development which they described as wicked and senseless.
"The news of the assassination attempt on our leader, Hon James Faleke came to us as a big shock. How could any sane mind contemplate such evil on an innocent soul who though shamelessly robbed of his Governorship mandate has remained humble, calm,peaceful, and law abiding. His supporters have also followed same path of peace without a single incident of protest after the infamous Supreme Court judgement . What else could those wicked masterminds want?".
"Perhaps stunned by the mammoth and unprecedented  crowd that welcomed Hon Faleke home recently, his political foes had resorted to this dastardly plan to assassinate him. We thank the almighty God for sparing his life", the statement declared.
The group wondered why" some desperate and wicked people would want to cause more pain and misery to an already pained citizenry who aside having lost the creme of its political class to both natural and unnatural causes like Barrister James Okoli, Prince Abubakar Audu, Senator Ohize and even Senator Ohiare who narrowly escaped death recently, are also undergoing the most unprecedented socio-economic crisis ever."
The statement  called on the security agencies to ensure  that they are on top of their duties to protect lives and property of the people. It also called on the Inspector General of  Police and the other relevant security agencies to as a matter of urgency begin investigations into the assassination attempt.
Hon Faleke was last Sunday, November 6, 2016 attacked by some unknown gunmen under the overhead bridge at the entrance to  Gwagwalada near Abuja around 7pm. His SUV was shot at severally at point blank range shattering the windscreen of the vehicle but could not penetrate deeper due the bulletproof status of the vehicle.