American rappers, Cardi B and Lil Baby, were part of the big winners at the BET Hip Hop Awards 2021 which was aired on Tuesday night.
Cardi B bagged three awards for “WAP”, which also featured Megan Thee Stallion. The song was named song of the year, best hip hop video, and best collaboration.
According to Billboard, the award ceremony was pre-recorded on Friday at the Cobb Energy Performing Arts Center in Atlanta, but was aired last night.
Lil Baby was another notable winner for the night who bagged hip hop artist of the year and best duo or group (with Lil Durk).
See full list of winners below:
Hip Hop Album Of The Year
Call Me If You Get Lost, Tyler, The Creator — Winner
A Gangsta’s Pain, Moneybagg Yo
Culture III, Migos
Good News, Megan Thee Stallion
Khaled Khaled, DJ Khaled
Savage Mode II, 21 Savage & Metro Boomin
The Off-Season, J. Cole
Song Of The Year
“WAP,” Produced by Ayo & Keyz (Cardi B Feat. Megan Thee Stallion) — Winner
“Back in Blood,” Produced by YC (Pooh Shiesty feat. Lil Durk)
“Late At Night,” Produced by Mustard (Roddy Ricch)
“Laugh Now Cry Later,” Produced by G. Ry, Cardogotwings, Roget Chahayed & Yung Exclusive (Drake feat. Lil Durk)
“Up,” Produced by Yung DZA, Sean Island, DJ Swanqo (Cardi B)
“Whole Lotta Money (Remix),” Produced By London Jae, Beatgodz, Tee Romano (Bia feat. Nicki Minaj)
Hip Hop Artist Of The Year
Lil Baby — Winne
Cardi B
Drake
J. Cole
Megan Thee Stallion
Tyler, the Creator
Best Hip Hop Video
Cardi B feat. Megan Thee Stallion, “WAP” — Winner
Cardi B, “Up”
Chris Brown & Young Thug, “Go Crazy”
Drake feat. Lil Durk, “Laugh Now Cry Later”
Lil Nas X, “Montero (Call Me By Your Name)”
Saweetie feat. Doja Cat, “Best Friend”
Best New Hip Hop Artist
Yung Bleu — Winner
Blxst
Coi Leray
Don Toliver
Morray
Pooh Shiesty
Best Collaboration
Cardi B feat. Megan Thee Stallion, “WAP” — WINNER
21 Savage & Metro Boomin Feat. Drake, “Mr. Right Now”
Bia feat. Nicki Minaj, “Whole Lotta Money (Remix)”
DJ Khaled feat. Lil Baby & Lil Durk, “Every Chance I Get”
Drake feat. Lil Durk, “Laugh Now Cry Later”
Pooh Shiesty feat. Lil Durk, “Back in Blood
Best Duo Or Group
Lil Baby & Lil Durk — WINNER
21 Savage & Metro Boomin
Chris Brown & Young Thug
City Girls
Future & Lil Uzi Vert
Migos
Best Live Performer
Tyler, the Creator — WINNER
Busta Rhymes
Cardi B
DaBaby
Doja Cat
Megan Thee Stallion
Lyricist Of The Year
J. Cole — WINNER
Benny the Butcher
Drake
Lil Baby
Megan Thee Stallion
Nas
Best International Flow
Little Simz (UK) — WINNER
Ladipoe (Nigeria)
Nasty C (South Africa)
Xamã (Brazil)
Laylow (France)
Gazo (France)
Dave (UK)
Video Director Of The Year
Missy Elliott — WINNER
Cole Bennett
Colin Tilley
Dave Meyers
Director X
Hype Williams
Producer Of The Year
Hit-Boy — WINNER
DJ Khaled
Metro Boomin
Mustard
The Alchemist
Tyler, The Creator
Hustler Of The Year
Saweetie — WINNER
Cardi B
Drake
Lil Baby
Megan Thee Stallion
Yung Bleu
Sweet 16: Best Featured Verse
Jay-Z, “What It Feels Like” (Nipsey Hussle feat. Jay-Z) — WINNER
Cardi B, “Type Shit” (Migos feat. Cardi B)
Drake, “Havin’ Our Way” (Migos feat. Drake)
Lil Durk, “Back in Blood” (Pooh Shiesty feat. Lil Durk)
Megan The Stallion, “On Me (Remix)” (Lil Baby feat. Megan Thee Stallion)
Roddy Ricch, “Lemonade (Remix)” (Internet Money feat. Don Toliver & Roddy Ricch)
Impact Track
Nipsey Hussle feat. Jay-Z, “What It Feels Like” — WINNER
Black Thought , “Thought Vs Everybody”
Lil Nas X, “Montero (Call Me By Your Name)”
Lil Baby & Kirk Franklin, “We Win”
Meek Mill Feat. Lil Durk, “Pain Away”
Rapsody, “12 Problems”
A Swedish literary critic, Jonas Thente, said he hopes that Nigerian author Chimamanda Adichie is awarded a Nobel Prize in October 2021.
Thente, a literary editor and critic at Dagens Nyheter in Sweden, however, said he fears that the 44-year-old Adichie is “probably too young” to be awarded a Nobel Laureate.
The youngest laureate to date was Rudyard Kipling, who was honoured at the age of 41 in 1907.
Organisers of the prestigious award will name a winner of the prize on Thursday.
The event did not hold in 2018 after a #MeToo scandal – on gender imbalance – caused the 2018 prize to be postponed.
Swedish Academy has promised new criteria that would lead to a more global and gender-equal literature prize.
Since then, two women have taken home the honour: Polish novelist, Olga Tokarczuk, for 2018, and the American poet Louise Gluck last year.
But the 2019 winner, Austria’s Peter Handke, was a controversial pick.
His pro-Serbian positions extended to backing Serbia’s former president Slobodan Milosevic, who was on trial for genocide when he died in 2006.
Thente’s stance aligns with that of critics who have pointed out that some non-Western writers are available for the Nobel prize.
Kenya’s Ngugi wa Thiong’o is regularly mentioned as an African author worthy of the prize, as are Somalia’s Nuruddin Farah or Mozambique’s Mia Couto.
South Korea’s Ko Un’s star may have faded following accusations of sexual assault, but India’s Vikram Seth and China’s Can Xue, Yan Lianke and Lao Yiwu (pen name Lao Wei) have also been cited as potential winners.
Caribbean-American Jamaica Kincaid and Maryse Conde of Guadeloupe have also been touted for the prize.
Major Western countries have all had several winners, France topping the list with 15.
But the world’s two most populous nations, India and China, have only one each, not counting the Chinese-born naturalised French citizen Gao Xingjian.
Caribbean-American Jamaica Kincaid and Maryse Conde of Guadeloupe have also been mentioned.
Thente submits that Swedish Academy might not be able to “stay away from scandal” because “the prize is more unpredictable than ever.”
The Ekiti State House of Assembly has screened and confirmed Justice Oyewole Adeyeye as the substantive Chief Judge of the state.
The confirmation was consequent upon adoption of the report of the House Committee on Judiciary and Legal Matters Chairman, Tajudeen Akingbolu, during plenary led by the Speaker, Mr Funminiyi Afuye.
Akingbolu, who said ‘the committee found the new chief judge worthy and fit for the job”, called on members to expeditiously confirm him.
The Speaker, Afuye, had earlier read a letter dated October 4 from the state governor, Dr Kayode Fayemi, requesting confirmation of the acting CJ following the retirement in May 2021 of the former CJ, Justice Ayodeji Daramola.
Justice Adeyeye, while addressing the House, had promised to ensure that justice administration would be given its necessary attention.
The National Judicial Council had earlier recommended the confirmation of Justice Adeyeye as the substantive CJ of Ekiti State to Ekiti State Government, for ratification by Ekiti State House of Assembly and approval of governor.
Justice Adeyeye was appointed acting CJ in June 2021 following the retirement of former CJ of Ekiti State, Justice Ayodeji Daramola, on 31st May, 2021.
As some Northern states today joined the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) in its appeal against the judgment of the Federal High Court empowering Rivers State to collect Value Added Tax (VAT), the South-South Governors’ Forum, also known as the BRACED Governors’ Council, yesterday, resolved to join the suit in solidarity with Rivers and Lagos states.
BRACED is an acronym for the six states in the South-South zone: Bayelsa, Rivers, Akwa Ibom, Cross River, Edo and Delta states. Governors from the region declared their unequivocal support for the decision of states to collect VAT.
Chairman of the forum and Governor of Delta State, Ifeanyi Okowa, while reading the communiqué at the end of the meeting, which lasted more than five hours at Government House, Port Harcourt, disclosed that the regional security outfit of the zone would be launched soon.
The crucial meeting was attended by five of the six governors from the zone. In attendance were Godwin Obaseki (Edo State), Ifeanyi Okowa (Delta), Emmanuel Udom (Akwa-Ibom), Douye Diri (Bayelsa) and the host governor, Nyesom Wike.
Governor Ben Ayade of Cross Rivers State failed to show up and did not send a representative. Sources close to the Council attributed his action to Ayade’s recent defection from the Peoples Democratic Party to the All Progressives Congress (APC).
Speaking further, chairman of the forum noted that the BRACED Commission had established their state security organs and the forum has approved it as the regional security architecture.
Part of the communiqué read: “After an extensive deliberation, the Council resolved that the President and National Assembly should take necessary measures to review some unfair aspects of the recently signed Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB) to ensure fairness and equity. It urged that the amendment should include a clear definition of host communities and that the trustees should be appointed by state governments.
“The Forum called upon the President and the Federal Government to uphold the law establishing the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) by appropriately constituting its Board. In addition, it expressed the hope that the Federal Government would make the forensic audit report public and deal justly and fairly with the report, with a view to strengthening the capacity of the NDDC to meet its obligations to the people of the region.
“The Forum regretted that the President and the Federal Government had generally failed to give reasoned consideration to requests made by the region during the dialogue with a special federal delegation led by Prof. Ibrahim Gambari, Chief of Staff to the President. Notable among the requests were the relocation of NNPC subsidiaries and IOCs headquarters to the Niger Delta and the completion of a number of federal projects in the region, notably roads.”
Reacting, the apex socio-cultural organisation of the South-South people, Pan Niger Delta Forum (PANDEF), described the resolution of South-South governors to join in the VAT/FG dispute at the Supreme Court as a welcome development. National Chairman of PANDEF, Chief Emmanuel Ibok Essien, spoke yesterday in Uyo, Akwa Ibom State capital.
He said: “The governors’ resolution on joining the suit is a welcome development. And the implication is that when the Supreme Court makes its pronouncement it will affect all the states that joined in the suit. And if that pronouncement is in favour of the states, it means that automatically they will all benefit from the judgment of court.
“Those states will start collecting VAT, on their own. But if they are not joined as a party to the suit, they will not be beneficiary of the judgment given. It means they will now have to go to court again on their own. Therefore, PANDEF’s advice to all the Southern states is that they should join as a party to the suit.”
Meanwhile, Lagos State Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, yesterday said the demand by federating states for a sharing formula that is just, fair and equitable is not controversial but very straightforward to reflect the contribution of states to the common purse.
He made this known at the opening of a two-day Southwest zonal public hearing on Review of Revenue Allocation Formula organised by the Revenue Mobilisation Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC) in Lagos.
The governor said the states also want a revenue formula that enhances the capacity of states and local governments to deliver high-quality services and the full dividends of democracy to the greatest number of Nigerians.
To this end, the governor demanded for one per cent share in the revenue allocation formula, maintaining that the special status of the state and its prosperity directly or indirectly has multiplying effects on the Southwest region and the entire country.
Lagos State government also proposed that the revenue sharing formula should be 34 per cent for Federal Government, including one percent for FCT; 42 per cent for state governments; 23 per cent for Local Governments and one per cent for Lagos State (Special Status) as against the current revenue allocation formula, which are 52.68 per cent, 26.72 per cent and 20.60 per cent for Federal Government, 36 state governments and 774 local governments respectively.
Sanwo-Olu said the review of the current revenue allocation formula is long overdue, noting that the best way to guarantee national progress and development is by paying attention to sub-national development because the national is a summation and a reflection of the sub-national.
He said the call for a special status for the state, which has been re-echoed at different fora and at various levels and tiers of government, cannot be over emphasised, especially against the backdrop of the current economic situation of the country, aftermath of the #EndSARS protests a year ago, and the devastating effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, for which Lagos has been the national epicentre.
“Lagos State is no doubt the nation’s commercial capital, and population centre. The level of funding required to service the state’s social and public infrastructure is so significant that it will be difficult to bear the burden for much longer under the present arrangement. It will actually be unfair to expect the state to bear this heavy burden on its own. It is, therefore, necessary to give due consideration to all the variables that support our advocacy for a special status.
“The call for a special status for Lagos is not a selfish proposition; it is in the best interest of the country and all Nigerians, for Lagos, which accounts for about 20 per cent of the national GDP and about 10 per cent of the nation’s population to continue to prosper,” the Governor said.
Justifying the need for Lagos State to be accorded special status, Governor Sanwo-Olu said Lagos is more than just another state in the Nigerian federation, noting that there is no tribe in the country that has no significant stake in Lagos State.
He said: “As the former capital of the country for 77 years (compared to the 30 years that Abuja has been the Federal Capital Territory), Nigeria’s largest metropolis still bears the heavy brunt of being home to all Nigerians; irrespective of age, class, gender, religious affiliation or tribe.
“Also, Lagos was the epicentre for this virus, the same way it was for the Ebola virus some years ago. The management of these unforeseen occurrences comes with huge responsibilities and financial commitments on the part of the State Government,” he said.
IN another development, governors and leaders of the Southeast zone will today gather at the Government House, Enugu State, for an emergency meeting over the high rate of insecurity in the zone.
The increasing insecurity in the area has caused several deaths, including last week’s killing of Dr Chike Akunyili, husband of the late Information Minister, Prof. Dora Akunyili, in Anambra State.
A memo sent by the Ebonyi State Governor and chairman of Southeast Governors’ Forum, David Umahi, stated that the leaders would in the meeting reach some decisions to “salvage our region that is currently battling with the high rate of insecurity.”
Umahi stressed that the meeting would be attended by governors of the five states of the zone, Ohanaeze leaders and heads of religious and traditional institutions. Umahi begged his colleagues in the zone to endeavour to be present and not send representatives.
He wrote: “Your Excellencies and our highly esteemed leaders, in consultation with our governors and President of Ohanaeze Ndigbo Worldwide, where a decision for an urgent meeting to be called was reached, may I, therefore, invite you for an emergency meeting of Southeast governors, some leaders of Ohaneze, some of our political leaders, some of our religious leaders and some of our traditional leaders.
“Our Leaders begged that I request all governors of Southeast to be present at the time and not on representative capacity so that together we should reach some decisions to salvage our region that is currently battling with the high rate of insecurity. May I, therefore, request that you please endeavour to attend this meeting for the sake of Ndigbo.”
Giving an insight into the agenda of the meeting, a source said: “As you can see, it is very obvious that the governors have received all manner of insults for not being firm and sincere in the establishment of the so-called Ebubeagu security outfit. You will agree with me that this vacuum they created led to the formation of the Eastern Security Network (ESN) by IPOB.
“If you check around the states, the people have accepted ESN because there is no alternative to that. When we talk about the renewed insecurity in the Southeast, anybody who wants to tell himself the truth will tell you that since the arrest of Nnamdi Kanu, and the governors playing selfish politics with it, we have been having sit-at-home, which has caused several deaths and arson.
“I think the governors will have to put an end to this and that is by discussing his arrest and giving assurance that he would be released. They are not happy that they only enjoy three working days in a week with no end in sight for the sit-at-home.”
A Russian actor and a film director have rocketed into space on a landmark mission to make the world’s first movie in orbit.
Actor Yulia Peresild and director Klim Shipenko blasted off on Tuesday for the International Space Station (ISS) together with cosmonaut Anton Shkaplerov, a veteran of three space missions.
Their Russian Soyuz MS-19 lifted off as scheduled at 08:55 GMT from the Russian space launch facility in Baikonur, Kazakhstan, and successfully reached the designated orbit.
Peresild and Klimenko are set to film scenes of a new movie titled Challenge, in which a surgeon, played by Peresild, rushes to the space station to save a crew member with a heart condition.
After 12 days on the space outpost, they are set to return to Earth with another Russian cosmonaut.
Hours before takeoff, the trio arrived at the launchpad clad in heavy spacesuits, waving to crowds as they boarded the spacecraft.
“For me, space is alluring, welcoming and has no boundaries,” said Peresild, who was chosen from 3,000 candidates for the role.
Shipenko, who has made several commercially successful movies, described their fast-track, four-month preparation for the flight as tough.
“Of course, we couldn’t make many things at the first try, and sometimes even at a third attempt. But it’s normal,” he said.
The 38-year-old director said he will finish the shooting on Earth after filming space episodes.
Shkaplerov and two other Russian cosmonauts on board the station are said to have cameo roles.
Russia’s state-controlled Channel One television, which is involved in making the movie, extensively covered the crew’s training and launch.
“I’m in shock. I still can’t imagine that my mum is out there,” Peresild’s daughter, Anna, said in televised remarks minutes after the launch.
Dmitry Rogozin, head of the Russian state space corporation Roscosmos, was a key force behind the project, describing it as a chance to burnish the nation’s space glory.
True to a pre-flight tradition religiously observed by cosmonauts, the crew said that on Sunday, they watched the classic Soviet film “The White Sun of the Desert”.
Shipenko and Peresild are expected to return to Earth on October 17 in a capsule with cosmonaut Oleg Novitsky, who has been on the ISS for the past six months.
“Not only do we need to make a film, we need to come back to Earth alive,” Shkaplerov said.
Opposition against the zoning of the 2023 Presidency continued on Monday with a coalition of over 60 Northern groups describing it as undemocratic.
The CNG warned that any political party which takes any step to block the window for the possible emergence of a northern Presidential candidate will be rejected.
The organization also threatened to revoke the property of any person in the north who may decide to obey the one-month sit-at-home directive issued by the Indigenous People of Biafra.
Spokesman for the group, Abdul-Azeez Suleiman said this at a press conference with the theme: “Our stand on the threats of destabilization from Southern Nigeria,” held in Abuja.
He said, “We have seen a new statement by IPOB directing all Igbos living anywhere in Nigeria which includes the North to participate in the sit-at-home order for one month.
“What we are saying is that the Igbo in the North are not threatened. On our part, we are going to hold any trader that complies with IPOB directives in the North.
“We will definitely take steps to ensure that his business place is revoked because we have no problem with Igbo here doing their businesses peacefully.
“But if they comply with that order, it means they are also with the people that are actually challenging the state. We do not want any Igbo man to comply with that in Northern Nigeria.”
According to him, no conspiracy in whatever form would “stop the North from fielding a Northerner for the presidency in the PDP in 2023 irrespective of its recent body language that tends to block a northern candidacy by quickly zoning the national chairmanship position to the North which is unacceptable.”
The CNG further said, “We find the renewed desperation by the South to threaten northern people’s right to franchise a deliberate attempt to bastardize democracy, cause greater instability in the guise of a contentious, undemocratic power shift arrangement and therefore downright unacceptable.
“As evidence of an agenda to impose a nonexistent zoning arrangement on the North that has its root and pattern in our history, recall that the Peoples Democratic Party which initiated the idea of zoning had itself literally bungled it at all subsequent elections since 1999.”
The Imo State Government, yesterday, described as wicked the speculation that wife of the governor of the state, Chioma Uzodimma, was abducted.
The state’s Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Declan Emelumba, said that the sponsors of the rumour were “devils’ agents.”
Emelumba said that those who do not wish the state well were the same people behind the abduction rumour.
Meanwhile, palpable fear, yesterday, gripped residents of Imo State as gunmen forcefully enforced the sit-at-home directive of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB).
Residents, shop owners, motorists and traders in Owerri capital city of the state and environs were forced to close shops and businesses in compliance with the sit-at-home order by IPOB.
The problem erupted when at about 10:00 a.m., traders in various markets, commuters and shop owners on various streets began to close and ran distances on hearing that the members of IPOB from neighbouring states had infiltrated the state to enforce the order.
The panic started from Ukwu-Orji to Ogbaku and Orogwe in Mbaitoli and Owerri West local councils of the state.
At Ehiogugu, Mbaise and Naze in Owerri North Local Council, shootings by gunmen were said to have scared residents of the place to return back to their homes.
Some of the tertiary institutions in the state also hurriedly shutdown amid the pandemonium caused by the gunmen.
Security operatives, including the police and soldiers, were quickly mobilised and armoured tanks deployed to strategic places in the capital city, including the Government House, Owerri entrance.
In another development, the IPOB has opposed the move by the management of the Federal Medical Centre, Owerri and Aladimma General Hospital to conduct mass burial for dead bodies in their facilities.
The medical facilities had last week indicated their intention to bury unclaimed bodies in their mortuaries to make room for others.
IPOB, in a statement by its Media and Publicity Secretary, Emma Powerful, however, opposed the move.
It said that the bodies were innocent Biafrans killed in different parts of Imo State by security agencies, stressing that hurrying to bury them was an affront on the concerned families.
Civil rights groups on Monday berated politicians and the elites as 10 Nigerian politicians were implicated in the Pandora Papers for tax evasion.
They were among hundreds of individuals from other countries indicted by the papers for hiding their wealth and assets in offshore locations to evade taxes.
Civil rights organisations including Transition Monitoring Group and the Centre for Public Accountability, in separate interviews with The PUNCH, said report showed deep rooted corruption in Nigeria.
The Pandora Papers is an investigation based on one of the biggest-ever leaks of financial documents which exposed a hidden world of shielded wealth belonging to hundreds of politicians and billionaires.
Published by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists on Sunday, the papers listed 336 politicians, including nationals of eight African countries.
The project saw 600 journalists from 150 news organisations around the world poring through a trove of 11.9 million confidential files, contextualising information, tracking down sources and analysing public records and other documents.
One of those named is a former governor of Anambra State, Peter Obi, according to Premium Times which participated in the investigations.
Obi, a former Vice presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party in the 2019 election was said to have used a Monaco-based foreign company, Acces International to incorporate an offshore entity in one of the world’s most notorious tax havens noted for providing conduits for wealthy and privileged corrupt political elites to hide stolen cash to avoid the attention of tax authorities.
According to Premium Times, he allegedly paid Acces International to provide nominee directors for his company, Gabriella Investments Limited.
Gabriella Investment Limited was born on November 17, 2010, with registration number 1615538 while two figureheads – Antony Janse Van Vuuren and Lance Lawson — were appointed its first directors while ultimate control resided with Obi.
Efforts were made to get a response from the former Anambra State Governor, Peter Obi, without success.
Calls to his mobile telephone number were neither picked nor returned.
A response to a text message sent to him with respect to his response to findings listed against him in the Pandora papers was still being expected as of 10:09pm
When contacted earlier by Premium Times, Obi stated, “I don’t declare what is owned with others. If my family owns something I won’t declare it. I didn’t declare anything I jointly owed with anyone.”
The EFCC spokesman, Wilson Uwujaren did not respond when asked if the commission would initiate investigations into the allegations against Obi and other Nigerians mentioned in the Pandora Papers.
He did not respond to calls and to a text message seeking his comment on the development.
According to an interactive map of the leaked documents, five Côte d’Ivoire politicians were helped by foreign agents to stash money suspected to be looted away from public view.
Ghana has three politicians listed in the documents, which has been described as “An offshore data tsunami.”
Chad, Kenya and Congo Brazzaville have two politicians each listed in the infamous documents that had reportedly sent shivers down the spines of public figures globally; while Gabon has three politicians listed.
Angola has nine politicians listed in the document, while Zimbabwe and South Africa have two each; Mozambique has one.
But the Executive Director of the Centre for Public Accountability, Olufemi Lawson, said the Pandora Papers revelations only confirmed what many Nigerians already knew as far as the culture of transparency among the political class was concerned.
He stated, “Even though the revelations transcend the shores of Nigeria, particularly on how corruption has become a global phenomenal, we should be concerned that people whom our citizens regard as otherwise transparent and credible, do also lack the needed integrity to manage public institutions and resources.”
Also, the Chairman of Transition Monitoring Group, Auwal Musa Rafsanjani, government fight against corruption was leaving a huge deficit and gaps by refusing to tackle political corruption.
He stated, “It looks like the government places more emphasis on political loyalty and political cover-up than the fight against corruption. This explains the silence on blocking leakages and taking strong measures to sanction official corruption in Nigeria.”
Former Governor of Kano State, Ibrahim Shekarau, has said that the 17 Southern Governors should stop “ganging up” and “issuing threats” to get the 2023 Presidential slot.
Shekarau, who represents Kano Central District in the Senate, stated this on Monday while featuring on Channels Television’s ‘Sunrise Daily’ breakfast programme.
The All Progressives Congress chieftain said that the next President after the incumbent, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), should come from the Southern region of the country to give “a sense of belonging” to every Nigerian.
He also noted that the APC should zone its presidential ticket to a capable and credible candidate in the South in the next election which is about 18 months from now.
The two-term governor and former Minister of Education, however, knocked the Southern Governors for “ganging up” to demand Presidency in 2023.
As the 2023 general elections draw nearer, there have been intense political posturing, permutations and fireworks. The 17 Southern Governors had met twice in the year and demanded power shift to their region while the 19 Northern Governors also met last week, opposing such move and noting that the candidate with the highest votes will emerge as President in the next general elections.
Speaking on the television programme, Shekarau lamented that it was very unfortunate that the issue of zoning has degenerated to a point where democracy has been reduced to “regional gang-up”.
The Senator knocked the Southern Governors for their various meetings and “gang ups”, saying they should desist from instigating other groups in the country from making similar demands that would heat up the polity.
He said that the Southern Governors should make intra-party consultations and discussions, rather than make public declarations.
Shekarau said, “As far as the party I belong is concerned, the APC, my proposal is that now that President Buhari is from the northern part of the country and (after) he has done his eight years, let beam the searchlight to the southern part of Nigeria, not because we don’t have competent people in the north…that does not mean you are throwing away the issue of competence, credibility and so on.
“While I agree we should go for the best and therefore throw it open, regardless of which part of the country, but we must also be mindful of the aspect of the sense of belonging. We must be mindful of perception, to give some sense of belonging to every part of Nigeria.
“Where I disagree with the Southern Governors is coming together to gang up to say it must be our turn. I think this is purely a party affair.”
Continuing, he said, “We must not do this at the point of threat, that it must be me, it must be he, we need to come together. This is more of a political party issue.
“My point of disagreement with the gang up groups like the Southern Governors is coming to gang up to say it must be our time, this is wrong, it is purely (a) party issue and the political parties should go into the boardrooms and sort this issue out themselves.”
“Today, the Southern Governors gang up, tomorrow, another group would gang up and say it must be us,” he said.
“Governors are very prominent people in the scheme of things, they are leaders, so, they must be careful coming together to make some pronouncement that would amount to instigating the general public to take a stand and see it as a regional fight,” Shekarau added.
Facebook owner, Mark Zuckerberg’s personal wealth has fallen by nearly $7 billion in a few hours, knocking him down a notch on the list of the world’s richest people, after a whistleblower came forward and outages took Facebook Inc.’s flagship products offline.
This is just as Facebook’s co-messaging apps, WhatsApp and Instagaram remained down after four hours of global outage which has upset businesses and disconnected billions of people around the world.
According to Bloomberg, a selloff sent the social-media giant’s stock plummeting around 5% on Monday, adding to a drop of about 15% since mid-September.
The stock slide on Monday sent Zuckerberg’s worth down to $120.9 billion, dropping him below Bill Gates to No. 5 on the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. He’s lost about $19 billion of wealth since September 13, when he was worth nearly $140 billion, according to the index.
On September 13, the Wall Street Journal began publishing a series of stories based on a cache of internal documents, revealing that Facebook knew about a wide range of problems with its products — such as Instagram’s harm to teenage girls’ mental health and misinformation about the Jan. 6 Capitol riots — while downplaying the issues in public. The reports have drawn the attention of government officials, and on Monday, the whistleblower revealed herself.
In response, Facebook has emphasized that the issues facing its products, including political polarization, are complex and not caused by technology alone.
“I think it gives people comfort to assume that there must be a technological or a technical explanation for the issues of political polarization in the United States,” Nick Clegg, Facebook’s vice president of global affairs, told CNN.
