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Worst of insecurity in Nigeria is over, says FG

Published

1 year ago

September 5, 2022

Advocate News Nigeria

The Federal Government on Monday said peace and security are returning across Nigeria, noting that the worst of insecurity is over in nation.

It said while the country may still witness isolated attacks on soft targets by terrorists, the security agencies have battled the agents of darkness and recorded massive victory against the terrorists.

The Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, stated this on Monday in Abuja during a joint press conference on the nation’s security situation.

Others who jointly addressed the presence conference include the Ministers of Defence Maj.-Gen. Bashir Magashi, rtd, Interior, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola, as well as Police Affairs, Alhaji Mohammed Dingyadi.

Mohammed said the security forces are winning the fight against insecurity and terrorism, adding that the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari’s (retd.) regime would stop at nothing in securing lives and property of Nigerians.

According to him, never again will terrorists and bandits and their cohorts hold sway in our country.

He said, “As you are all aware, the issue of security has dominated ournational discourse in recent times, against the background of the terrorism, banditry and kidnapping in the North-East, North-West and North Central; separatist violence and crude oil theft in the South-East and South-South as well as cultism, armed robberry and sundry crimes in the South-West.

“Today, we are here to tell you that while we may not be there yet, our military and other security agencies have succeeded – and are
succeeding – in substantially restoring security across the nation. As far as the daunting security challenges we face are concerned, we can tell you that the worst is over. Never again will terrorists and
bandits and their cohorts hold sway in our country.

“The security challenges we have face, as an administration, have been daunting – from terrorism to banditry to kidnapping to separatist violence to crude oil theft to armed robbery and sundry crimes. It’s undoubtedly the greatest challenge to the peace and security of our great nation since the civil war from 1967 to 1970.

“It is the kind of challenge that would have overwhelmed many nations. But thanks to the purposeful leadership of President Muhammadu Buhari, we can say, I want to repeat, that the worst is over and peace and security are gradually returning to the land. Please don’t misunderstand or misrepresent this assertion. We may still witness isolated cases of security challenges here and there, but it will not be on the scale that we have witnessed in the past.”

According to him, when many called for the use of foreign mercenaries to tackle the challenges, especially terrorism and banditry, President Buhari never wavered in his belief in the ability of our gallant men and women in uniform to rise to the occasion, and rise to the occasion they did.

“Some said the security challenges have overwhelmed the military, but the military has now demonstrated that no group of ragtag criminals can ever overwhelm them. Terrorists and bandits and co can run but cannot hide, and this has been demonstrated by the arrest of those who attacked a church in Owo.

“These criminals can run but cannot hide, as we have seen in the decimation of the cowards who ambushed the Brigade of Guards troops in Abuja. I am sure you will hear from my colleagues how our military and other security agencies have been decimating the top echelon of ISWAP and Boko Haram, how armed bandits camps and resources have been destroyed, and how the capacity of IPOB/ESN has been substantially degraded.

“We are therefore not saying the battle is over. No. What we are saying is that our military and other security agents have been able to contain the daunting security challenges we face, and that the worst is indeed over. We have now put the terrorists, bandits and their ilk on the run and we will not relent until they have been crushed.”

News

Supreme Court to deliver judgement on Kogi APC guber primary Oct 23

Published

17 hours ago

September 28, 2023

Advocate News Nigeria

• Usman Ododo and Smart Adeyemi

The Supreme Court, on Thursday, adjourned an appeal filed by Senator Smart Adeyemi against the judgments of the lower courts, on the Kogi APC Governorship primary election, to October 23, 2023, for judgment.

Adeyemi had filed a suit at the Federal High Court seeking to nullify the primary election of the All Progressive Congress, which produced Usman Ododo as the party’s flagbearer for the state’s governorship election slated for November 11.The case was dismissed by both the High Court and the Court of Appeal for lacking in merit.

The apex court, while hearing his appeal, on Thursday, told his lawyer, Musibau Adetumbi, SAN, that his client was appealing against concurrent findings of the High Court and the Court of Appeal, which stated that primary elections were held in Kogi State but that he had failed to challenge these concurrent findings.

However, the appellant’s counsel said he would go ahead to argue the appeal.

The Supreme Court therefore adjourned the appeal to October 23, 2023, for judgment.The representatives of the Independent National Electoral Commission, All Progressives Congress and Usman Ododo include Chief Anthony Adeniyi (SAN) Abdulwahab Mohammed (SAN) and M.Y. Abdullahi, SAN; respectively.

The Court of Appeal had, on August 18, 2023, held that the appeal argued by Adekunle Otitoju on behalf of Adeyemi was completely bereft of merit.

In a unanimous judgment of a 3-man panel of Justices of the Court, Adeyemi was said to have failed to establish all grievous criminal allegations made against the conduct of the primary election by APC and its leaders.

News

50 poisoned at wedding party

Published

17 hours ago

September 28, 2023

Advocate News Nigeria

No fewer than 50 people were poisoned at a wedding in Iraq’s northern province of Kirkuk due to spoiled food, local media reported.

According to the report, the incident occurred in the town of Hawija, west of Kirkuk, the capital city of the cognominal province.

The provincial health chief, Ziyad Khalaf, said some of the cases were mild while some were serious.

He added that all the patients have received the necessary medical treatment in the hospital.

The incident came a day after a deadly fire ripped through a wedding hall in a predominantly Christian town in Iraq’s northern province of Nineveh, killing 114 people and injuring more than 200. (Xinhua/NAN)

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Make a difference in Niger Delta, Ogbuku charges new directors

Published

18 hours ago

September 28, 2023

Advocate News Nigeria

The Managing Director of the Niger Delta Development Commission, NDDC, Dr Samuel Ogbuku, has enjoined the newly promoted Directors of the Commission to make a difference in the discharge of their duties and take the Commission to greater heights.

Ogbuku, who gave the charge at the closing session of a two-week course on Leadership and Performance Management for directing staff of the NDDC in Abuja, said that the provision of quality services to the people of the Niger Delta was a collective responsibility and should be given priority.

According to him, the reason for sending the new Directors for training was to ensure they took the administrative knowledge acquired back to the Commission in order to make a difference for the overall benefit of the region.

He said: “We are supposed to be training and retraining our staff. This is just the beginning. I want the directors to take back the knowledge they have gained to others in the NDDC to better appreciate their roles and understand the expectations from them.

“We want to do things differently. We want to improve on our services. We want to take up challenges. We want to start with the staff first to ensure that all the staff are properly trained and they understand their roles.”

Ogbuku urged the directors to ensure they utilised the experiences gathered from the training to improve the administrative processes in NDDC to ensure that things were done differently.

He said further: “As new directors, you need to understand your roles and understand your boundaries. You also need to understand your strengths and understand when to use them and when not to.

“You need to understand that you are public servants and not civil servants. So, these are some of the things we thought you ought to be equipped with.”

“Over the years we have seen a situation where the staff of the NDDC seem to act as politicians, but as directors who have been inducted into Administrative Staff College of Nigeria (ASCON), I believe that you are not only going to be ambassadors of NDDC, you are also going to be worthy ambassadors of ASCON,” he said.

He stressed that his expectation was to work with directors who understood that they were career civil servants, and aspiring to get to their peak as professionals, not those who want to be nepotic or tribalistic.

Ogbuku noted that directors should be wary of their actions, adding that some of their actions could mislead their subordinates who are looking up to them as role models.

In her address, the Director General of ASCON, Mrs. Cecilia Gayya noted that training was essentially an activity that was designed to make an employee more efficient and productive in the performance of their functions.

She said that the focus of training was to ensure efficient and effective application of knowledge, skills and attitude for improved performance, noting: “The programme was carefully designed and implemented to provide the needed knowledge, skills and capacity to adequately and promptly discharge their responsibilities and thus, make meaningful contributions towards the attainment of the mission and vision of the NDDC.

“The conscientiousness with which you participated in this programme for the past two weeks is a testimony to your preparedness for the challenges ahead and thus gives us hope that this training will impact positively on your performance, especially as you rise higher in the strategic realm of the management of the Commission.