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Manu Garba, coach of the Golden Eaglets on Tuesday assured that his team would beat Cote dâ€
Voire in the WAFU Zone B qualifiers on Thursday, Sept 6.
WAFU U-17 qualifiers: Garba assures of Golden Eaglets†victory over Cote d†Voire
18 players have arrived the teamâ€s Savoy Hotel Resort and Spa ahead of this weekend’s Afcon qualifier
Ahmed Musa, Odion Ighalo join Super Eagles as camp bubbles for Seychelles
The Nigerian Army has assured the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) of its support and assistance that will enable the commission carry out its constitutional responsibility of conducting the 2019 general election especially in the North-Eastern part of the country. The Acting General Officer Commanding (GOC) 7 Division, Brigadier General Abdulmalik Biu gave this assurance […]
2019: Army assures INEC of adequate security in Borno
2019: Army assures INEC of adequate security in Borno
Barcelona captain Lionel Messi says the club must focus on the Champions League this season following their underwhelming campaign in the last three editions of the competition. Barca last won the Champions League in the 2014-15 season and have failed to get beyond the quarter-finals since. That disappointment did not impact on their domestic campaign, […]
The post Messi: It’s Time For Barcelona To Win Champions League Again appeared first on Complete Sports Nigeria.
Messi: It’s Time For Barcelona To Win Champions League Again
They are out of control, looking for ways to pull the Church down, but they are all unable to make any compelling case because they have no evidence.
If they cannot, everything they say is expressive of their massive mental tremors. They are out of control, looking for ways to pull the Church down, but they are all unable to make any compelling case because they have no evidence.
Their strategy is madness, say anything and repeat everything to make it seem like there is really a problem with the Church. But there is nothing. The Church is not responsible for national development or the underdevelopment problem. The Church is not even a risk.
Everything about generators and the generator economy is a risk to Nigeria. It is a bigger risk to finances, safety, health, etc. Potholed highways are huge risks, dysfunctional public health is a risk, massive unemployment is a risk, etc.
Also Read: Daddy freeze is not wrong & Daddy freeze for President 2019
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Nigeria is not underdeveloped because of Church. When people come to Jesus, it to be a new creature, with old things passing away, it is more like a rebirth or transformation of life.
It is not to come to Jesus so thereâ€ll be no power outages at home, no one says that. As a fact, no Pastor in any of these two Churches can say that do not protect your life and property, and leave GOD to do that, or do not work, or do not study. It is often that GOD can help you, but play your part.
The Phantasm of Intelligence
A twitter user posted an evangelism tract of RCCG, attacking how the person gave the message of salvation to him. He seems convinced that he was smarter and wanted to embarrass the Church on social media.
Good for him and his phantasm of intelligence – probably borrowed for the wailing class of daddy freeze. Proselytizing is a core of Christianity and the message of salvation can be as simple as Jesus loves you, come to Him.
There is no point showing off low intelligence for a choice to accept to listen or to accept to follow. Intelligence is not all this nonsense several people love to post on social media, comments section or forums, attacking the Church.
Read about: Churches are NOT Business Centers & what is that Daddy freeze afraid of?
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There are big problems Nigeria has, and they all have no idea, or any means to solve. Their goal is to always chase petty and inconsequential issues and make it appear like important.
Another twitter user complained of how badly he and his best man were treated at his wedding at an RCCG Church because of beards. OK.
In trying to embarrass the Church, he showed that some of his own answers, to whatever questions they had asked him in that Church leading to that day, were false.
If they said they donâ€t want beards, they donâ€t. And as a courageous guy, he could have cancelled the wedding at that Church.
Instead, he accepted than followed up with the coward reaction to try to embarrass the policy of the Church on the internet.
All the people attacking RCCG, Winners and their leaders are cowards who cannot face the real problems or go close to the answers.
Nigeria needs hundreds of working solutions with potential to scale, but none of them can offer anything useful or original, only to question Christianity – something a requiring low intelligence.
Whatever seems to be a public slowdown caused by the Church is more of an effect of the nation.
Also Read: Does Christianity cause poverty in Nigeria & Addiction of daddy freeze
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If thereâ€s traffic after certain services, it is not just because of the Church, but because whenever thereâ€s traffic everywhere else, government has no strategy to solve it. So when it happens freely after a Church service, it is beyond control.
If Church universities are expensive, but are not producing geniuses or focused on solving societal problems, or focused on passionate knowledge to drive good change, then it is not great.
Church universities operating in Nigeria will have to be paid or free schools; it cannot be half way and cannot be imbalanced.
But school fees are worthless to solution in education Nigeria needs. There are expensive executive trainings in Nigeria – with no connection to Church – that are worthless to inspiring pure passion for major change in sectors.
What is the great education model that teaches the little and help the young apply knowledge or become super smart?
Pastor Adeboye rides in a private plane, Bishop Oyedepo does too. If they have both been in some ministerial leadership since the 70s and 80s, and they have not been a blessing to multitudes that have prospered enough to give to them, then they would have been failures.
But they have been massive blessings, and it is not because there are some members who are not successful in Church that means the Pastor should not prosper.
How about others who are successful? It is not the money of the helpless that a true Pastorâ€s lifestyle is built on, no matter what the mad social media people say.
RCCG does not use the picture of their lead Pastor in major service posters. But often use arts that may represent the theme. Some people can personally do anything with the Pastorâ€s picture, a pendant, calendar, jotter, etc.
Nobody worships the Pastor and some of those are embarrassing overzealousness probably disconnected from the Churchâ€s merchandise.
No matter what RCCG and Winners are in Nigeria, they are a problem to nothing. Church is a choice, giving is voluntary and not binding. Church is for Faith, Hope and Worship.
Read Also: Questions for Daddy Freeze on RCCG & Pastor Adeboye
All these people with other religions, lots of social activities, social spending and destructive addictions will stick with their delusions and say the Church is a problem; they have no evidence because it is not true.
Christianity leaves the freedom to interpret the Bible as anyone chooses. Donâ€t go to RCCG or Winners if you donâ€t accept their doctrine. And donâ€t blame them for the Nigerian stock exchange except you are a lunatic.
RCCG and Winners are NOT a problem to Nigeria and will never be. Their haters are strewn with terminal intellectual disability.
Written By Nneka Okumazie
Twitter/IG: Okumazie
Pulse Blogger: Daddy Freeze: Evidence against RCCG, Winners, Adeboye and Oyedepo
The Buhari Youth Organisation (BYO), Lagos State chapter, has urged the All Progressives Congress (APC) to review the nomination and expression of interest fees for aspirants contesting the 2019 general elections.
Continue reading 2019: Buhari Youth Organisation seeks review of nomination fees at Vanguard News.
2019: Buhari Youth Organisation seeks review of nomination fees
The crisis between the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) governorship candidate in Osun State, Senator Ademola Adeleke, and Dr Akin Ogunbiyi, is far from over. Ogunbiyi, the partyâ€s runner-up, had alleged that he was rigged out at the primary election conducted by the Bayelsa State Governor, Seriake Dickson in Osogbo. Ogunbiyi narrowly lost to Adeleke, polling […]
Osun Guber: War in PDP as Adeleke, Ogunbiyi face-off lingers
Osun Guber: War in PDP as Adeleke, Ogunbiyi face-off lingers
The former Real Madrid star is reportedly earning more than three times the amount of the second highest-paid player, Gonzalo Higuain
Ronaldo's €31m wage means he earns three times more than anyone else in Serie A – report
LEADERSHIP
A 19-year-oldman, Mohammed Tunde, who allegedly assaulted a man with bottle, was on Tuesday arraigned in an Ota Magistrates†Court in Ogun. Tunde of no fixed address, is facing a two-charge of assault and conspiracy. The prosecutor, Sgt. Abdulkareem Mustapha, said that the accused and others still at large, committed the alleged offences on Aug. […]
The post Man Docked For Alleged Assault appeared first on Leadership Newspaper.
Man Docked For Alleged Assault
Isaac Okoroafor, CBN's spokesperson, said MTN will not get a naira-denominated benefit to refund the record $8.1 billion.
News reports filtered on Monday, September 3, 2018, that the South African phone company may receive a naira-denominated refund for the CBN $8.1 billion demand.
But Isaac Okoroafor, CBN's spokesperson told Business Insider Sub-Saharan Africa on Tuesday morning, September 4, 2018, that the regulatory authority's demand is very clear on the matter.
“The report is very clear, what we have here is in dollar terms and not naira�, he said in a phone conversation.
Experts believed that the sanction which is about half of MTNâ€s market capitalisation will affect market conditions in Nigeria and could threaten the country's financial institutions.
Last week, Nigeria's central bank (CBN) ordered Africa's telecoms giant, MTN “refund a total of $8.134billion moved out of the country" for breaching the country's forex regulations.
The bank also slammed a huge N5.8 billion fine on the banks for allegedly aiding MTN in the illegal capital repatriation.
The affected banks and their fines are Standard Chartered Bank (N2.4 billion), Stanbic IBTC (N1.8bn), Citibank (N1.2bn) and Diamond bank with N0.25 billion.
MTN denied involvement in any wrongdoing while some banks said they are currently in talks with the monetary authority.
Rob Shuter, the Group CEO of MTN also stated that the apex bank's sanction will complicate the IPO processes. He, however, said MTN is continuing with the listing process.
Last Friday, Herbert Wigwe, Access Bank CEO, said, the bankers' committee will intervene in the current forex issues between Nigeria and MTN.
Access Bank CEO says MTN repaying $8.1 billion could lead to a banking crisis
CBN has ordered MTN and 4 other banks to refund $8.1 billion moved out of the country
Web Foundation has appointed Nigeria's former ICT Minister, Omobola Johnson, as a board member
Nigerian payment company, Paystack, raises $8 million Series A funding
Tidal has launched in Uganda in partnership with MTN as it eyes expansion in Africa
I visited the 6 Google Stations in Lagos and here's what I found out about the free Wi-Fi
6 Nigerians who hold leadership positions at top international organisations
Life after power for 3 African dictators who left office in 2017
President Muhammadu Buhari reportedly declared in China, last Sunday, that he believes in the idea of free and fair elections, and that he is committed to this pillar of the democratic process. I donâ€t expect him to say anything otherwise.  On the whole idea of free and fair elections, electoral integrity as it were, rests the political stability of our country and the legitimacy of democratic governments. Besides, President Buhari is a beneficiary of the framework of electoral integrity instituted by his predecessor in office.  On account of the misgivings reported about the conduct of the 2007 general elections, President Goodluck Jonathan upon his assumption of office had declared that he hoped to leave a legacy of free, fair and credible elections. He tried to do this in 2011, even if there was an outbreak of violence in parts of the North, owing more to ethnic emotions rather than any far-reaching failings by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).  Between 2011 and 2015, President Jonathan remained committed to his promise.
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Whenever elections were held, gubernatorial elections or bye elections and the ruling party lost, he was always the first to congratulate the winner of the election and to call for due respect for the peopleâ€s choice. I recall when the Gubernatorial election in Edo State was held in 2012. The President characteristically congratulated the winner in that election –  Adams Oshiomhole, now Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC). Some elements with the Edo State PDP had grumbled loudly that the President should not have congratulated Oshiomhole because they intended to reject the results and make trouble. I received one or two phone calls, as presidential spokesman, telling me I was stupid to have issued a statement so quickly congratulating Adams Oshiomhole. The Presidentâ€s acceptance of the result of the election tied their hands. They didnâ€t make trouble, instead they went to the Tribunal and pursued their case all the way to the Supreme Court.
The apex court in a lead judgement read by Bode Rhodes-Vivour (JSC) upheld Oshiomholeâ€s election. The rule of law prevailed. Again, in 2015, when the Presidential election did not favour President Goodluck Jonathan, he conceded victory to President Buhari and vacated office. He respected the Nigerian peopleâ€s right to choose. He chose to lead by example. If anyone is uncomfortable with this short narrative, let the person be further apprised of the fact that Professor Attahiru Jega, who served as the Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) under President Jonathan, (2010 – 2015), remains today perhaps the most successful electoral umpire in Nigeria since independence. With probably the exception of Hon. Justice Ephraim O. I. Akpata, every other electoral commission chairperson before him, left office with a trail of controversy.  The two general and other elections conducted by Attahiru Jega were widely regarded as credible. It may be too early to offer a final assessment of his successor, but it is safe to say that todayâ€s INEC does not seem to be as strong and as prepared as Jegaâ€s INEC.
This is the more reason why President Muhammadu Buhariâ€s declaration as regards free and fair elections is important. The preparedness and integrity of the electoral commission have far-reaching implications for the outcomes of the 2019 electoral process.  In a recent research essay by Mathew T. Page and Sola Tayo, titled “Countdown to February 2019: A Look Ahead at Nigeriaâ€s Electionsâ€� (July 2018) legitimate concerns have been raised about “Nigeriaâ€s volatile pre-election seasonâ€� and the strategic importance of the National Electoral Commission. If the Gubernatorial elections conducted in Kogi, Ondo and Ekiti states can be used as signs of things to come, then, indeed, Nigerians have cause to worry and the government enough reason to reassure the people. In the face of all this, it is important that President Buhari matches his words with action. The series of double entendres coming from the Presidency in the past few weeks, increase anxiety, not confidence, about the promise of credible elections in 2019.
It should be a matter of interest to us, for example, that barely six months to the 2019 general election, the National Assembly and the Presidency remain locked in a disruptive battle over the Electoral Act Amendment Bill 2018. In February 2018, the National Assembly forwarded an Electoral Act (Amendment) Bill to the President. This was vetoed. The President vetoed the Bill over disagreements on the issue of whether or not the National Assembly has the right to determine the sequence of elections. The lawmakers in re-ordering the 2019 elections had put the presidential election last, apparently to prevent the possibility of the elections being influenced by any bandwagon effect. The matter went to court and the Court of Appeal ruled in favour of the National Assembly. On June 27, 2018, the National Assembly sent another version of the amended Bill to the President for his assent. This was again vetoed on the grounds that it contained constitutional breaches. On July 24, 2018, the very day the National Assembly embarked on a recess till September 25, the National Assembly again passed another version of the Electoral Act (Amendment) Bill which purportedly reached the President on August 3, 2018. Pressures from National Assembly members to the effect that the Bill should be signed was rebuffed by the Presidency, with the argument that the President still had enough time, since the Constitution provides for a 30-day window within which the President can assent to a bill or he would be deemed to have vetoed it. That 30-day window closed on September 2.
Meanwhile, the only explanation that was offered by the Presidentâ€s Senior Special Assistant on National Assembly Matters (Senate), Senator Ita Enang, when I interviewed him on “The Morning Showâ€� (Arise News, DSTV Ch. 416, GoTV, Ch. 44 and SKY Ch. 519), on September 3 is that “it is well with the Electoral Billâ€�.  I couldnâ€t figure out what that means in plain English language.  “It is wellâ€�? How? I tried to provoke Senator Enang to comment on the Electoral Bill and its amendment. He argued that we should wait till September 25 when the National Assembly resumes, for us to know what the President has done with the Electoral Act (Amendment) Bill. I wondered: Why the secrecy? Why the mystery? I didnâ€t make much headway. Enang invoked his Miranda rights – a right that does not apply to him in the instance. But it is reassuring that before the close of work, on September 3, Enang had reconsidered his position and rightly taken the good step of providing clarifications. He reportedly disclosed that the President declined assent to the Electoral Bill on August 30 (which is the same as the President vetoing the Bill) on the ground that the Bill as proposed contains “some drafting issues.â€� Incidentally this is also one of the excuses that the Presidency gave to justify President Buhariâ€s rejection of the Petroleum Industry Governance Bill (PIGB) as presented to him by the National Assembly.
Nonetheless, the fate of the Electoral Act (Amendment) Bill remains dangerously shrouded in mystery. Why is it so difficult for the Executive and the Legislature to agree on a legal framework for the 2019 elections?  Sometime in August, both Enang and Garba Shehu, the presidentâ€s other spokesman, told us that there was still enough time for the President to sign the amended bill. We now know that he chose not to sign it. In response to allegations by the rival opposition party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), that the President continues to veto the bill because it contains provisions that would block under-age voting, identity theft, the influx of alien voters, and the manipulation of results between the polling station and the collation centre, Shehu responded that the President believes in the card reader system and the use of Permanent Voters Cards.
I consider the to-ing and fro-ing on this matter utterly contemptuous of the Nigerian people. If the matter is treated as important enough, the National Assembly should cut short its recess, and return immediately to take another look at the Bill and the earlier the better. For if the Bill continues to travel like a yo-yo between the National Assembly and the Presidency, it may be practically impossible to apply the recommended amendments to the 2019 electoral process. My suspicion however is that the Presidency probably does not want anything to tamper with the status quo, that is the Electoral Act 2010.
It all gets curiouser because members of the National Assembly have protested that the supplementary budget of N143 billion for INEC that has been endorsed by the joint committee of the National Assembly on electoral matters, clearly off-season, I mean during recess time, cannot be accessed if the President refuses to sign the amended electoral bill. Their argument is that the Bill covers approvals for INEC to procure necessary equipment and logistics for the 2019 elections. Long before now, INEC itself had complained that any further delay over the enabling legislation for the 2019 elections could hamper its ability to conduct a hitch-free election. So I ask: with all of these plain-sight facts, is there something that Nigerians should know that is not yet in the public domain? Could there be a covert attempt to derail the 2019 elections? Do we face the possibility at some point, of INEC throwing its hands up in the air in despair saying it is not ready, and that the election should be postponed in national interest, followed by the trading of blames? Please place emphasis on “national interestâ€�.  Â
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It is also clear, so far, that there is no love lost between the National Assembly and the Presidency. Both arms of government even when the ruling party had a sure-footed majority in parliament have not been able to work together harmoniously due to reasons not far from ego-conflicts, the conflict of sycophants on both sides, and the absence of a guiding, all-inclusive, shared vision and mission. Nigerians are also suffering the effect of the inability of the ruling party, a network of strange bedfellows, to transform into a political party.  Those who sold the APC as the best thing since toothpaste have since departed the party, returning majorly to the Peoples Democratic Party, the party that ruled Nigeria for 16 years, which today, by the way, is also still struggling to get its groove back. On the question of the Electoral Bill, President Buhari should see the need to provide the necessary leadership to ensure that a consensus that works for all parties concerned is established. He needs to realize that his own integrity is at stake. The amount of energy that the Presidency has devoted to the argument over the Electoral Act (Amendment) Bill raises high suspicion and may be used against President Buhari, in the future, whichever way the 2019 Presidential election goes.
The situation is not helped by the fact that the President most recently ran into murky waters with inappropriate and uninformed comments about the rule of law and national security, but perhaps he needs to worry more about these two issues within the context, not of power and might, but how best to ensure free, fair and credible elections in 2019. Respect for the rule of law will help to achieve that objective: and this would include: respect for the right of the Nigerian voter to make a free choice without threat or intimidation and for that choice to be respected and protected.  No attempt should also be made to hijack the National Electoral Commission, and no one should see the 2019 election as a do-or die-election. Respecting the rule of law would mean putting Nigeria first, before, during and after the election. National security: this does not necessarily need to be at conflict with the rule of law, instead it must be operationalized within the context of the rule of law. This is the simple point that sycophants and intellectual marabouts do not seem to get.
In the recent gubernatorial election in Ekiti State there were reports that the Nigeria Police deployed about 30, 000 policemen, other security agencies were also on ground with lorry-loads of men. Nigerians should not be made to vote under the rule of the gun and a climate of fear. It is a sign of our underdevelopment and the failure of institutions that in Ekiti, vote-buying was done in the open, by agents of the two major political parties involved, with security agents looking the other way. To have free and fair elections, President Buhari cannot also afford to tolerate the impunity of security chiefs who have turned themselves and their agencies into his campaign billboards. The politicization of public institutions in Nigeria on the grounds of religion, ethnicity and geography remains a serious threat to national progress, the professional political elite is collectively guilty; it only just got worse under President Buhariâ€s watch.
What President Buhari does or does not do, in the next six months has serious implications for his own politics and political fortune and for the Nigerian polity. It is not for nothing that the international community seems for now to have shifted attention away from Nigeriaâ€s Presidential politics and seem to be more concerned about trade, migration and security. But they are watching and waiting and listening. Nigeria is certainly under international searchlight. President Buhari should beware of those who tell him “all is wellâ€�. This is precisely the same kind of illusion that swept the PDP out of power in 2015.
Op–ed pieces and contributions are the opinions of the writers only and do not represent the opinions of Y!/YNaija
Read » Reuben Abati: Buhari, 2019 elections and the limitations of the law on YNaija
Reuben Abati: Buhari, 2019 elections and the limitations of the law
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