Shettima disowns Borno Deputy Speaker, says it’s moral insanity to discuss Buhari’s successor

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Discussing succession at a time President Muhammadu Buhari is attending to his health is nothing less than insanity, Governor Kashim Shettima of Borno has said. The governor was reacting to a call by the Deputy Speaker of the Borno State House of Assembly, Danlami Kubo, that Mr. Shettima succeed Mr. Buhari as president.

The governor, who is currently in Oslo, Norway, for a humanitarian conference on Nigeria and Lake Chad, spoke through his spokesperson, Isa Gusau. Mr. Shettima said he was angered by the lawmaker’s comment and it doesn’t represent his views in anyway.

“He came (to Norway) so that donors do not get a wrong signal that would show the Borno State Government being less committed to those making donations to support citizens of the State,” Mr. Gusau said.

“I received a Google alert of the story credited to a lawmaker in Borno State over issue of succession. Governor Kashim Shettima was deeply angered by that report and he has tried reaching the lawmaker to clarify if he granted that interview or he was misrepresented. In the meantime, Governor Shettima feels it would amount to moral insanity for any Nigerian to be discussing issues of succession at a time a very popular, highly experienced and capable sitting president is managing his health.”

In the message sent to PREMIUM TIMES, Mr. Gusau then quoted the governor condemning the call.

“We have a sitting President, a popular one that we are all proud of for working more than anyone would have done in fighting the Boko Haram insurgency which is our number one problem in our state, the north-east and the Northern region,” Mr. Shettima said.

“How can anyone in his right thinking be talking about succession when a cherished President is dealing with his health? It would amount to moral insanity for anyone to be discussing succession of President Buhari at this time. What has gone wrong with our moral values? Has politics taken over our sanity? What is most precious to me is to have Boko Haram brought to an end and I don’t think anyone would have done better than what President Buhari is doing for us. This call does not represent the slightest of my thoughts.”

The Borno governor said he believed that from Nigeria’s democratic history, people who emerged president were those invited to vie for the position.

“… only a mad man blindly aspires to be Nigeria’s President if history is anything to go by. From 1979 to date, nobody with aspiration for the presidency has achieved it.

“President Shagari was invited to contest without aspiration in 1979; President Obasanjo was invited to contest without aspiration in 1999; President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua was invited to contest without aspiration in 2007; President Jonathan who eventually succeeded Yar’Adua, was also invited to become Vice President without aspiration. Even President Buhari with his electrifying popularity didn’t win the presidency in his 2003, 2007 and 2011 aspirations until in 2015 when he was invited to contest.

“This is the complexity of Nigeria’s politics and any person with the slightest wisdom must learn from history and face his business of the day.”

The Borno Governor indicated his willingness to support the re-election of Mr. Buhari as president in 2019.

“Insha Allah, President Buhari will be fine and will be popularly re-elected to positively change Nigeria forever,” he said.

He added that his “greatest wish is that the person succeeding me as the next governor of Borno State doesn’t inherit the Boko Haram crisis like I inherited the crisis in 2011 and my other wish is that Borno is rebuilt before whoever is taking over from me at Allah’s appointed time.”

“I am not the ungrateful and not the blindly ambitious type and I thank Allah for his grace and pray that I succeed in positively reversing the Borno story,” he said.

Robbers attack Nigerian journalist

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Armed robbers Wednesday morning stormed the residence of the Ebonyi State correspondent of National Mirror Newspapers, Godwin Aliuna, and dispossessed him of his money and other valuables at gun point.

The hoodlums broke into Aliuna’s house at Igweokpu street, Abakaliki and attacked him before carting away his HP laptop, camera, two handsets and N52,000.

The incident, it was, gathered, happened at around 2 a.m.

Narrating his ordeal, Aliuna who sustained injuries during the attack, said the hoodlums tried to kill him but he was saved by God.

Narrating his ordeal, the journalist, said he was sleeping when three armed men broke his window and invaded his room.

“The three men, who were with gun, cutlass and saw came to where I was laying down and ordered me to put my hands at my back for them to tie me. I did as they asked me to do and, they beat me up; broke my head and inflicted injuries on my eyes. They dragged me into my toilet and locked me up. They ransacked my house and took my N52, 000.

“They also took my laptop, two handsets, camera and other belongings that they took from my wife’s and children’s rooms. My wife and children went to the village and are to return this weekend.

“One of the robbers later came back to the toilet where they locked me up and asked “so, this man you never die? We think say you done die. When they finished ransacking my rooms, they opened the door at backyard and left”.

“When they left, I shouted and my neighbours came and untied me, by that time it was already 4a.m. I went and reported the matter to the police and they said I should first go and treat myself which I have done”.

PHOTO SPEAKS: EFCC recovers 17 vehicles from former Nigeria Customs boss Dikko

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The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) says it has recovered 17 “exotic vehicles’’ in a warehouse belonging to a former Comptroller-General of Customs, Abdullahi Dikko Inde. Wilson Uwujaren, Head, Media and Publicity of the commission, said on Wednesday in Abuja that the vehicles were recovered from Mr. Inde’s residence located at Nnamdi Azikwe Street, Kaduna.

The recovery was sequel to an intelligence report the commission received that stolen money and properties suspected to be proceeds of crime were being warehoused at the former customs boss’ premises, he said.

He said upon receipt of the intelligence, a team of operatives from the Kano Zonal Office of EFCC were deployed to carry out investigation on the matter.

“On arrival at the location, two individuals who were identified to be the custodians of the property – Dantala Mohammed and Ahmed Balarabe, were presented with a search warrant.

“In the course of the search, a total of 17 vehicles among which are brand new cars, shuttle busses and SUVs were found in the premises,” he said.

See pictures below:

EFCC recovers 17 vehicles from ex-Customs boss, Inde

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The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) says it has recovered 17 “exotic vehicles’’ in a warehouse belonging to a former Comptroller-General of Customs, Abdullahi Dikko Inde. Wilson Uwujaren, Head, Media and Publicity of the commission, said on Wednesday in Abuja that the vehicles were recovered from Mr. Inde’s residence located at Nnamdi Azikwe Street, Kaduna.

The recovery was sequel to an intelligence report the commission received that stolen money and properties suspected to be proceeds of crime were being warehoused at the former customs boss’ premises, he said.

He said upon receipt of the intelligence, a team of operatives from the Kano Zonal Office of EFCC were deployed to carry out investigation on the matter.

“On arrival at the location, two individuals who were identified to be the custodians of the property – Dantala Mohammed and Ahmed Balarabe, were presented with a search warrant.

“In the course of the search, a total of 17 vehicles among which are brand new cars, shuttle busses and SUVs were found in the premises,” he said.

Mr. Uwujaren said the vehicles and the two individuals have been conveyed to the commission’s zonal offices in Kaduna and Kano, respectively.

He said investigation revealed that the warehouse in question actually belongs to the former customs boss.

EFCC listed the particulars of the vehicles recovered to include Black colour BMW 525i series, 2010 model with chassis number WBAFR7108BC262936.; Ash colour Hyundai Velester, 2012 model with chassis number KMHTC6AD4CU056038; and Dark Blue BMW 325i, 2003 model with chassis number WBAEV31090KL48386.

Others are Black colour Land Cruiser Prado Jeep, 2014 model with chassis number JTEBU3FJ50K082080; Black colour Mercedes G wagon, 2013 model with chassis number WDB4632361X207661, and also a Black colour BMW 335i series, 2012 model with chassis number WBA3A91040F268895.

Also, Silver colour Peugeot 406, 2002 model with chassis number VF3BBRFNR81519018; Black colour Land Cruiser Prado Jeep, 2014 model with chassis number JTEBU3FJ10K082352, and Yellow colour Toyota FJ Jeep, 2007 model with chassis number JTEZU11F68K001301.

The commission also listed Black Toyota Avensis, 2013 model with chassis number SBIBL76L20E037245; Dark ash colour KIA Cadenza, 2011 model with chassis number KNALN414BC5093288.

It also included Silver colour Porsche Cayene, 2009 model with chassis number WPIZZZ9PZ9LA12738; Golden colour Honda Accord, 2013 model with chassis number IHGCR2634DA620609.

A White colour Nissan Urban Bus, 2006 model JNITF4E25Z071583, and a White colour Nissan Urban Bus, 1996 model with chassis number JTFJXO29P605023996.

EFCC further listed a White Toyota Hiace Bus, 2010 model with chassis number JTGJXO2P4B5020268 and a White Nissan Bus, 2009 model with chassis number JNITA4E250011697.

“The two suspects arrested are in custody assisting the EFCC in investigation,’’ the spokesman said.

However, Uwujaren did not give the value of the vehicles.

Security operatives arrest Lagos PDP chieftain Gbadamosi – Wife

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Security operatives on Wednesday arrested Babatunde Gbadamosi, a chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party in Lagos State, after he honoured a verbal invitation, his wife said.

The law enforcement agency that arrested Mr. Gbadamosi and official reasons for the action were not yet confirmed as at 7:00 p.m., but Sade Gbadamosi told PREMIUM TIMES her husband was arrested by the State Security Service, SSS, for his fierce anti-government views.

PREMIUM TIMES could not independently confirm that SSS executed Mr. Gbadamosi’s arrest. The agency’s refusal to appoint a spokesperson running close to two years made it impossible to get clarification about the development.

A spokesperson for the police in Lagos did not immediately respond to requests for commentsWednesday night.

But Mrs. Gbadamosi said her husband was detained shortly after his arrival at the Lagos field office of the secret police around 11:00 a.m. Wednesday. He was transferred to Abuja about two hours later, she said.

The politician was there to honour a verbal invitation he received from SSS officers who stormed his residence in Eleko Beach Tuesday, but were prevented from gaining access because they allegedly did not show a valid warrant of arrest, Mrs. Gbadamosi said.

“They came yesterday. No warrant. So I did not let them into the estate. I told them he will come today instead. So we went. Immediate arrest without charges and he was then bundled to Abuja,” Mrs. Gbadamosi told this newspaper in a brief exchange on instant messaging platform, WhatsApp.

“No freedom of speech,” she said.

Mr. Gbadamosi, a PDP governorship aspirant in Lagos, had gained recognition as a vocal voice of opposition to Muhammadu Buhari administration, often joining voices with Governor Ayo Fayose of Ekiti and ex-minister Femi Fani-Kayode to rail against Mr. Buhari and his party, the All Progressives Congress.

Hours before his arrest while he was going to the SSS field office in Lagos, he put up an update on his Facebook page, to warn of his possible detention for an extensive period.

“Yesterday, six men from the SSS came to deliver a verbal invitation for me to attend their office at CMD Road, Shangisha today.

“I have packed a day bad, just in case they decided to add me to the exclusive club of detained opposition voices.

“The struggle to free Nigeria from the clutches of tyranny and corruption must continue, with or without me. I fear no man, only God the Creator,” he wrote.

His wife reaffirmed that six men were at their residence on Tuesday.

She said her husband might have been arrested over a video he posted on the Internet to vent his opposition to the Central Bank’s foreign exchange policies.

“A particular video went viral. Talking about forex hanky pankies,” Mrs. Gbadamosi said.

PREMIUM TIMES did not see the video.

Mrs. Gbadamosi said she will be in Abuja Wednesday night with her husband’s lawyers to seek access to him in SSS custody.

PDP national secretariat to be reopened before Friday – Sheriff

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The national chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Ali Modu Sheriff, on Wednesday, said the party’s national secretariat at Wadata Plaza would re-open before Friday. Mr. Sheriff said this when he received some PDP leaders from South-West geopolitical zone who paid him a visit in his office in Abuja. The party’s national secretariat has been under lock since its national convention on May 20, 2016.

The police said the action was to avoid breakdown of law and order as a result of the leadership tussle between Sheriff-led and Ahmed Makarfi-led National Caretaker Committee. Mr. Sheriff said he had commenced legal process that would allow the party leaders and workers to access the secretariat, currently under lock.

He added that “between now and Friday, we will move into our national secretariat. “We have transmitted the necessary document to the security agencies; including the Nigerian Police and the Department of State Security Services (DSS) to reopen it.” Mr. Sheriff, who was confirmed as authentic national chairman of PDP by Court of Appeal, Port Harcourt on Feb. 17, said he was not in PDP to remain its national chairman.

He said “my mission is to rebuild the party and bring it back to its 1999 position. “I am not here to remain as chairman forever. I will leave after the convention. “We will conduct a credible convention and whoever wants to be PDP leader can contest in the convention,” he said. He urged PDP leaders to go back to their respective wards and work for the party. He also pleaded with governors to join him in rebuilding the party, saying they were leaders in their own right.

The PDP South West Zonal Chairman, Makanjuola Ogundipe, who led the team on the visit, said they were at Mr. Sheriff’s office to express the zone’s support for him. Mr. Ogundipe said the visit was also to advise Mr. Sheriff to use his victory at the court to reunite everybody in the party, irrespective of what happened earlier. He added that “you must see yourself as father to all. “Now that you have been saddled with the leadership responsibility, we want to urge you to make sure that the party is revived within 40 days.”