Cristiano Ronaldo has been named in Manchester United’s starting XI against Newcastle on Saturday – his first appearance for the club for 12 years.
Ronaldo, who re-signed for the Red Devils last month from Juventus, last appeared for the club on 27 May 2009 before joining Real Madrid for £80m.
The Portuguese, 36, scored 118 goals in 292 appearances in his first spell for Manchester United between 2003-09.
Five-time Ballon d’Or winner Ronaldo is wearing the number seven shirt.
The Federal Government says the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) should not be expected to generate revenue for the government since its mandate was to act as a regulator of maritime safety and security.
The minister of transportation, Rotimi Amaechi, in a statement by the ministry’s director of press and public relations, Eric Ojiekwe on Saturday, stated this at the final session of the 5-day National Council on Transportation summit in Kano state.
“People put NIMASA under pressure that they must make money; make money for what? NIMASA actually is a regulatory authority, not for them to go and look for money.
“The people that should be making money and they must hear it now is the Nigeria Ports Authority. It is their responsibility to make money.
“NIMASA should therefore focus on being a regulatory authority on issues of safety and security of our waterways,” Amaechi said at the summit.
The minister said the failure to convene the national council on transportation was due to Nigeria’s economic downturn and the advent of COVID-19, adding that decisions reached would be utilised by the Federal Government.
“Transportation is essential to sustainable development as it enables access to employment, business, education, health services and social interactions.
“The prosperity and wellbeing of developing and developed world are inseparably linked to transport. As such, President Muhammadu Buhari has made issues relating to transportation, one of the topmost priorities of his administration,” he said.
Peoples Gazette
As 2023 draws nearer, the scramble for the control of the structures of the ruling All Progressives Congress has started in earnest.
When three opposition political parties, namely the All Nigeria Peoples Party, Action Congress of Nigeria and the Congress for Progressive Change, as well as a fragment of the All Progressives Grand Alliance, came together to form the All Progressives Congress, little if anything, was heard about their power-sharing agreement.
Rather, party leaders were preoccupied with pursuing the main objective-to wrest power from the then ruling Peoples Democratic Party and form government. No sooner than the APC won the election in 2015, that the internal squabble for the control of the party structure started.
With the then Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd), from the CPC assuming office as President, the ACN bloc produced the first National Chairman of the party in the person of Chief John Odigie-Oyegun.
Political intrigues marked Odigie-Oyegun’s tenure. Disagreements over the handling of the “rebellion” by some party members in the National Assembly which led to the election of Bukola Saraki and Yakubu Dogara as Senate President and Speaker of the House of Representatives respectively consumed him. Both Saraki and Dogara, through members of the APC, were not candidates of the ruling party then.
Odigie-Oyegun’s successor, who is also a member of the APC but from the ACN bloc, was Adams Oshiomhole. His tenure ran into troubled waters quite early.
From clashes with fellow members of the National Working Committee of the party to governors and ministers, Oshiomhole was always in the news. Recalling how the party fared under him, the Director-General of the Progressives Governors Forum, Dr. Salihu Lukman, explained that Oshiomhole’s leadership style was his greatest undoing.
“Under him, might was right. Absence of meetings of organs partly contributed to most of the disaffections in the party during his tenure. Members with alternative views were considered enemies and treated as such. This attitude was alien to the progressive democracy which the APC was and is still being built upon,” said Lukman.
The crisis of confidence in the party under Oshiomhole led to a series of court cases with different members of the NWC laying claim to the chairmanship seat within a space of 48 hours.
Many members of the party heaved a sigh of relief when on June 25, 2020, the President, Muhammadu Buhari, presided over a hurriedly-called National Executive Committee meeting of the party where the Oshiomhole-led NWC was dissolved.
Before then, the party was at the precipice following what then appeared to be an intractable leadership crisis. Several power blocs within the party voiced their opposition to the president’s stoic silence as the party almost descended into chaos. The president bent over backwards and intervened.
In his address during the NEC meeting which was held inside Aso Rock Buhari said, “The issues currently confronting our party at this time are such that should worry every party member.
“At the moment, our great party is faced with internal wrangling; there are on-going litigations amongst some party members and we cannot clearly ascertain the status of certain National Working Committee members.’’
Soon after the dissolution of the NWC, the 13-member Governor Mai-Mala Buni-led Caretaker/ Extra-Ordinary National Convention Planning Committee, was put together and given the mandate to reconcile aggrieved party members and organise a national convention to elect new national officers.
It’s been a little over a year now since the Buni-led CENCPC took the initiative and embarked on a membership registration and revalidation exercise to pave the way for congresses that would lead to a national convention where new members of NWC are expected to be elected. The congresses which have since commenced have not been without challenges.
There have been reported cases of parallel congresses in Kwara, Ogun, Osun, Lagos, Enugu states among others. Those interested in party positions at the national level are not leaving anything to chance.
“They’ve learnt a thing or two from Oshiomhole’s downfall and now pay greater attention to the grassroots,” said Umaru Dantani, a party chieftain from Kano State.
In an interview with reporters, an Enugu State chieftain of the party, Osita Okechukwu, said, “the acrimony we are witnessing with our congresses today is simply a battle for control ahead of 2023.
“Desperate individuals who for some personal or myopic group interests are seeking to circumvent the laid down tenets of internal democracy in order to have their way.”
The race for the National Chairmanship seat of the party has unofficially commenced. Several northern leaders of the party have started consultations ahead of the national convention.
It is believed that the position will be zoned to the North because of a gentleman’s agreement for the Presidency to go to the South after Buhari’s second and final four-year term in 2023.
Some names being mentioned include: former governor of Zamfara State, Abdulaziz Yari; a former FCT Chairman of the defunct ACN, Sunny Moniedafe, a former two-term governor of Borno State and three term-term Senator, Ali Modu Sheriff, a former Nasarawa State governor, Senator Tanko Al-Makura; a serving Niger State lawmaker, Senator Sani Musa, and former Benue State Governor and now Minister for Special Duties and Intergovernmental Affairs, George Akume.
Although the aspirants are waiting for the party to release its zoning formula before making a formal declaration, most of the aspirants have started subtle campaigns.
Until his election into the Senate to represent Nasarawa South, Al-Makura was a two-term Governor of Nasarawa State.
His successor, Governor Abdullahi Sule, has on more than one occasion told everyone who cared to listen that Al-Makura deserves to be considered for the position.
He argued that the CPC bloc has remained the only bloc yet to produce a national chairman since the APC was formed, arguing that it was only fair that this narrative be changed.
Confirming his involvement in the campaign for Al-Makura’s election, Sule told reporters, “I have gone to the stage of making consultations, speaking with the right people who are supposed to be part of this; speaking with all the decision makers. I have spoken with the highest authority of the party, especially my colleagues, the governors. Some of them who went to Abuja will tell you I had a meeting with them, and it was all connected to that. I have been trying everything to ensure that we plead for this position to come to Nasarawa State.”
He was elected a Senator in Borno State at the start of the Fourth Republic in 1999 on the ticket of the defunct All Peoples Party. In 2003, he defeated the then sitting governor, Mala Kachalla, during the party primaries, after which he went on to win the governorship race when the party became the All Nigerian Peoples Party.
After serving two terms of four years each, he fell out with his successor, Kashim Shettima, who was elected governor after the Sheriff’s alleged preferred candidate was assassinated by Boko Haram terrorists.
Sheriff was later invited by power brokers to become the National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party after the party lost the 2015 elections.
He led one faction of the party while a former Kaduna State Governor, Ahmed Makarfi, led the other until the Supreme Court intervened and recognised Makarfi as the authentic Chairman. Sheriff returned to the APC in April 2018.
A former political adviser to ex-Governor Kashim Shettima, Mustapha Gambo, who is one of those mobilising support for Modu-Sheriffk, said, “The APC needs a stabilising force and with due respect to all those reported to be nursing ambition to vie for the chairmanship of our party, none of them comes close to what Senator Ali Modu Sheriff brings to be table.”
Abdullaziz Yari, a former two-term Governor of Zamfara State and one time Chairman of the Nigeria Governors Forum, has expressed his desire to run for the position if it is zoned to the North-West where he hails from.
Although many argued that it would be unfair to other parts of the north for the North-West to produce the next national chairman owing to the fact that the zone currently occupies the presidential slot, Yari has insisted that competence should be the yardstick ahead other consideration.
Sunny Moniedafe, a former FCT Chairman of the defunct ACN, has declared his intention to vie for the office of Chairman of the APC. Moniedafe, whose parents are from Delta State, was born and raised in Adamawa State. He has described himself as the best man for the job. He explained that his candidature will unify the party because he neither plays ethnic nor religious politics.
He told reporters, “I’m vying for the office of National Chairman of the APC because I want to give the party a new sense of direction.
“I have no godfather and I am no pushover. I will contest if it is zoned to the North-East. If it is not zoned to us, I will contest any position zoned to us because I want to serve.”
George Akume, the current Minister for Special Duties and Intergovernmental Affairs, was a two-term Governor of Benue State and had served as a Senate Minority Leader prior to his appointment as minister by the President .
His supporters recently set up a campaign office in Abuja with plans to hold a formal rally in his home state for him to make a formal declaration.
One of his supporters who craved anonymity because he was not authorised to speak to the media said, “Arrangements have reached an advanced stage, our candidate will soon make a formal declaration.
“He has been a Governor, a federal lawmaker and now minister, he can relate with all the power blocs easily because he has been there.”
A chieftain of the party, Abdullahi Jalo, is of the opinion that, “The kind of National Chairman we need now is one who can unite the party, he must have grassroots appeal and command the respect of all members.”
How well the party is able to manage the fallout of its ongoing congresses will impact heavily on the job schedule of whoever eventually wins the contest.
The PUNCH
Rivers Governor, Nyesom Wike, on Friday inaugurated the state’s Tax Appeal Commission shortly after the Abuja Division of the Court of Appeal ordered maintenance of status quo in the collection of value added tax by state governments.
The commission inaugurated by Wike is saddled with the responsibility to ensure taxable persons and entities comply with the rules of the newly introduced Rivers VAT law.
Wike had on August 19 signed the VAT Bill into law following the judgement of the Port Harcourt Division of the Federal High Court on the illegality of VAT collection by the federal government via the Federal Inland Revenue Service, FIRS.
At the inauguration ceremony in Port Harcourt, Wike urged the commission to “focus on dealing with complaints arising from those who do not want to pay their taxes, while also prevailing on those who believe that the tax body is doing what it is not supposed to do.”
“It is a very serious assignment at this period as regards to what is going on. So, I believe that you have to take this assignment as a call of duty from your state,” the Governor explained. “No country can survive without taxes. And so, you will do all you can to support the government and the citizens to do what they are supposed to do,”
The Governor’s remarks were contained in a statement by available to reporters by his spokesman, Kelvin Ebiri, on Friday.
The Governor, however, expressed confidence in the Chairman of the commission to effectively carried out the assignment.
It was learnt that members of the tax appeal commission sworn in are: Bennett Eke Ugbari (Chairman), Edwin Krukrubo, Owhonda Ihekwoaba Nobel, and Gift Sovins.
In his response, Ugbari, a retired judge, agreed with the governor that the state needs to generate enough internal revenues to augment the statutory allocations it receives from the federal government.
He noted that the newly introduced VAT will enable the governor to fulfill his promises to Rivers people in terms of infrastructure and other development.
“It is, therefore, the intendment of the commission to partner with other relevant tax authorities in Rivers State to generate adequate internal revenue for the State,” Ebiri quoted Ugbari to have said.
Meanwhile, the Abuja Division of the Court of Appeal, on Friday, however, ordered that Rivers State and the FIRS maintain status quo ante bellum, pending the determination of a suit filed by the latter concerning the Rivers court judgement.
Like FIRS, many northern states like Katsina, Gombe and Kogi have registered their protests against the move by Rivers and Lagos to begin independent collection of VAT. Adamawa State government however says it was ready to explore the new VAT reform.
Lagos Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, had also signed the state’s VAT Bill into law on Friday following the speedy passage by the State Assembly. The state is also seeking to be joined in the FIRS’ suit at the appellate court.
Earlier, the FIRS had urged taxpayers to discountenance the High Court ruling in Port Harcourt.
In another desperate move, the federal tax body wrote to the National Assembly, seeking amendment of the Constitution to exclusively grant it the rights to collect consumption taxes, among others, across the country.
Former President Goodluck Jonathan says Nigeria cannot attain peace in isolation of the pursuit of justice and other human security needs.
Jonathan stated this on Friday in Abuja at the public presentation of a research report entitled ‘Terrorism and Banditry: The Nexus’, conducted by the Goodluck Jonathan Foundation (GJF).
Jonathan, who doubles as Chairman of the foundation, said the challenges posed by banditry, terrorism and other crimes were a threat to Nigeria’s democracy and nationhood.
“Our pursuit of peace cannot be achieved in isolation of the pursuit of justice and other human security needs.
“This is so because peace is the bridge that links poverty to prosperity, reconciles hope with despair and imposes order on chaos.
“There is no doubt that our nation is plagued by many crises and these challenges have continued to threaten our fate and shared destinies.
“We have lost our loved ones, lost millions of properties and investments because of insecurity.
“The challenges posed by banditry, terrorism and other associated crimes threaten our human essence and the essential values of our democracy and nationhood.
“This is why the GJF considered it apt to undertake this research to engage the relevant stakeholders towards an improved security,” he said.
The former President said the crisis facing Nigeria today required sacrifice and urgency of actions from all stakeholders who must “show commitment to peace.”
Governor Samuel Ortom of Benue State has shown his support for his counterparts in Lagos and Rivers states amid moves to make the collection of Value-Added Tax (VAT) exclusive to states.
The Governor of Rivers State, Nyesom Wike, signed into law the bill on Value Added Tax (VAT) collection in the state.
This was days after a Federal High Court issued an order restraining the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) from collecting the tax in the state.
Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu of Lagos State followed suit on Friday.
However, the court of appeal in Abuja ordered both Rivers and Lagos states to maintain status quo over the collection of VAT, pending the determination of an appeal filed by the FIRS.
Ortom, who spoke with journalists on Friday, said although he supports Wike and Sanwo-Olu, he would embrace the decision of the court on VAT collection no matter the outcome.
Ortom said he had already directed the Benue State Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice to study the law and tell him its implications.
“I don’t think there is anything wrong in embracing the law as long as it conforms with the constitution, whether it affects states positively or negatively. I support the Governors of Rivers and Lagos states for what they are doing.
“Anything that is in tandem with the rule of law I will accept, but if anyone thinks otherwise, the best thing to do is to go to court. I heard they are in court, and if the case is decided otherwise by the Supreme Court, we will accept it,” the Governor said.
The Aare Ona Kakanfo of Yorubaland, Gani Adams, and other members of the South-West Security Stakeholders Group have berated Kaduna State-based Islamic scholar, Ahmad Gumi, over his visit to Igboho town in Oyo State.
Yoruba Nation activist, Sunday Adeyemo popularly known as Sunday Igboho, is an indigene of Igboho, the headquarters of the Oorelope Local Government Area of Oyo State.
In a viral video on Tuesday, the controversial Islamic cleric was sighted in Igboho town in the company of a former Chief Executive Officer of the National Health Insurance Scheme, Prof Usman Yusuf.
Reacting after an emergency meeting, the security group described the pro-bandits’ Islamic cleric’s visit as “provocative.”
The security stakeholders made this known in a statement while raising the alarm that bandits were plotting to attack the region and security agencies must be on alert.
They slammed Sheikh Gumi for embarking on a visit to Igboho town, saying the visit was an “attempt to mock and undermine the efforts of the Yoruba activists and freedom fighters”.
They stated that the Islamic cleric’s body language as well as statements in Igboho town “truly showed that he was behind the DSS attack on Igboho’s Soka home, and that part of the Yoruba territories have been conquered.”
“Gumi is a Nigerian, he has a right to visit any part of the country but it shouldn’t be to the extent of being deliberately attacking Igboho’s ideology in his hometown.
“Such an attempt is provocative and can lead to a crisis. That was why it elicited various reactions. Gumi’s ideas are always at variance with the present reality in the country and I think it is better for him to desist from fanning the embers of discord in the country and the southwest in particular,” the statement partly read.
The security stakeholders also warned bandits and other “bad elements” to stay away from the South-West region.
They claimed that that “there are feelings that bandits have perfected their plans to strike in South-West.
The statement added, “On this note, the South-West Security Stakeholders Group has considered it necessary to beef up the security operations in our region, and we charged the police and all other security outfits, across the region to remain vigilant in ensuring that the region is safe. Any attempt to invade the South-West will bring about both economic and political doom.
“SSSG is driven by the calls to ensure effective security across the South-West. We are also keen on regionalism where each region will control the security architecture of their respective region. If Nigeria didn’t return to or go back to regionalism based on the true Federalism that we have in the past, there may be a crisis and nobody should blame those agitating for self-determination.
“But as a group, we will not relent in the struggle to protect the South-West and we are determined to partner with the police and other security agencies to combat crime and make the region safe for all and sundry.”
Imo State Governor, Hope Uzodinma, says the All Progressives Congress is not looking for an Igbo President for the 2023 elections.
Asked whether the APC is committed to zoning 2023 presidential ticket to the South-East on Channels TV on Friday, Uzodinma dismissed speculations on his party zoning presidency to the South-East, saying the APC is not interested in an Igbo presidency.
“We are not looking for an Igbo President. We are looking for a President of Nigeria,” Uzodinma said. “We as a party APC we believe what we are practicing here is partisan democracy and every politician must be loyal to his party. At the end of the day it is the decision of the party that you belong to that will matter.”
Uzodinma, who hosted President Muhammadu Buhari on a working visit in Owerri on Thursday, said Buhari’s Thursday visit to Imo State has nothing to do with 2023 politics.
“Our people came out to receive the President who visited Imo State in solidarity to the Governor of Imo State. It has nothing to do with 2023 election or politics. We only received the President who came on a working visit, commissioned projects and had an interaction with us,” Uzodinma said.
But contrary to Mr Uzodinma’s stance, his Ebonyi State counterpart, David Umahi, said he would be pained if the APC fails to zone presidency to South-East Nigeria.
Umahi defected from the PDP to the APC recently, citing the opposition party’s non-committal to zoning the presidency to his region.
Agitations of marginalisation of Igbos have been rife under the Buhari regime, culminating in secessionist calls by the Indigenous People of Biafra. Observers says zoning the presidency to South-East may quell such agitations.
The Abuja Division of the Court of Appeal on Friday ordered the Rivers and Lagos authorities to stop the collection of Value Added Tax (VAT) pending determination of the application filed by the Federal Inland Revenue Service, FIRS.
The court handed down the ruling in Abuja on Friday, saying all parties should maintain the status quo until an application raised by the FIRS has been dispensed.
Justice Haruna Tsanami who issued the order said the law passed by Rivers State House of Assembly and signed into law by Governor Nyesom Wike must not be implemented.
The court warned both Lagos and Rivers not to go against its order, even though Lagos had yet to be joined as a party to the suit.
The order came in as Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu was signing the Lagos VAT Bill into law.
Islamic cleric, Sheikh Ahmad Gumi, has said bandits have over the years developed escape routes against military operations to curb terrorism.
He said this in an article titled, ‘War Has Never Been A Solution Anytime Anywhere,’ issued following the offensive by the military against bandits and their hideouts in the north.
Gumi also warned that bandits will migrate to other parts of the country from any part that is on fire.
According to him, “By the way, what you may not hear is that the bandits over the years have developed escape routes from aerial bombardments. They told us: you can only kill our women and children with your attacks!
“Just yesterday, two contingents of banditry victims came to me that their loved ones were abducted by bandits in Kaduna suburbs – Rigachukun and Keke.
“An escapee engineer in the later said when he overheard and understood that they were strangers in the area as they were calling the locals to lead them, that gave him the courage to slip through densely grown maize plantations to escape.
“The point is that, if Zamfara is on fire for them, definitely it goes without saying that they will migrate to other areas. So, is the whole of Nigeria going to be under lock-up in incommunicado?
“As for the economic impact of the areas now under siege, it’s just a matter of time, you’ll hear them crying out.
“Already yesterday a man from Tsafe came begging because of economic stagnation, one would have thought that Gusau the capital is closer than Kaduna to beg.
“As for those cynics that have no value to add in the dilemma except vituperation, and abuses, we know that is the substance they are made up of. No qualms whatsoever! you don’t expect fragrance from faeces.
“So, what is the solution?
“Good Intelligence! Good proficient policing, engagement of the local herdsmen in policing, rehabilitation, reconciliation, and reparation of all victims of banditry.
“The good honest judiciary that protects people’s rights. Money and time well spent on these will surely kill the disease and heal the nation of this delinquency, crimes, and bad governance.”
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