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Obasanjo’s Endorsement: SERG Urges Atiku, Tinubu to Step Down for Obi

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By Modupe Gbadeyanka

The presidential candidates of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Mr Atiku Abubakar, and his counterpart in the All Progressives Congress (APC), Mr Bola Tinubu, have been urged to step down for the candidate of the Labour Party, Mr Peter Obi.

This appeal was made by a pan-Igbo socio-political pressure group, the South East Revival Group (SERG), in a statement signed by its president and national coordinator, Mr Willy Ezugwu.

This is coming a few days after former President Olusegun Obasanjo openly endorsed the former Governor of Anambra State for the race.

In a letter addressed to the youths on January 1, 2023, Mr Obasanjo said Mr Obi remains the only candidate that could rescue Nigeria from hell on earth he said the current administration of President Muhammadu Buhari had plunged the country into.

Reacting to this, SERG described Mr Obasanjo’s endorsement as “a welcome development,” saying that based on equity, fairness, and justice, it was really the turn of the South East to produce the next president of Nigeria.

“The late second republic Governor of Kaduna State, Alhaji Abulkadir Balarabe Musa, in an interview with Channels Television on September 19, 2019, unambiguously proposed that the South East region should produce the next president come 2023, arguing that zoning the next presidency to the region will not only give the Igbos a sense of belonging in Nigeria but will also promote national unity and cohesion.

“In his interview with Vanguard on July 25, 2020, the late statesman insisted that for the sake of peace, justice and national unity, the presidency should go to the South East region of the country in 2023.

“According to the former governor, since the North, South West and South-South have all had a shot at the presidency, it will be morally wrong if any of the zones contest the presidency in 2023 against the South East that has not tasted power since the return to democracy in 1999.

“On its part, the Yoruba socio-cultural organisation, Afenifere, also called for a Nigerian of South East extraction to lead the country come 2023.

“Afenifere leader and elder statesman, Pa Ayo Adebanjo, observed that based on morality, the South East region should produce the next president in the spirit of fairness and unity.

“The elder statesman also reasoned further that since his South-West region has had its turn with former President Olusegun Obasanjo and Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, the South-South with ex-President Goodluck Jonathan, political parties should not hesitate to see the South East as the next in line.

“On April 26, the Leadership newspaper reported that the Southern and Middle Belt Leaders urging all political parties to zone their presidential tickets to the South East to cement unity and fairness in the country.

“The regional leaders reiterated that most of the zones in the country have had their people occupy the presidential villa, adding that the South East has qualified candidates in all political parties that can be president in 2023.

“These Nigerian elders and statesmen, who have seen it all, cannot be wrong in their unanimous calls.

“With peace eluding the country, not just because of agitations in most parts of the country but also in view of the increasing insecurity and poverty, rotation of the Presidency remains the panacea for attaining national unity and transformational development.

“From the words of our elders, rotational Presidency is the most viable option for nation building and in the quest to evolve a country where all citizens have equal rights to positions of authority, rather than the skewed political leadership practised in the country since the post-civil war politics in Nigeria,” the group stated.

“Secondly, the South East has produced the best candidate among the contenders who is unarguably the most prepared for tackling the current security and economic challenges bedevilling Nigeria. To crown it all, Mr Peter Obi has picked one of the most qualified young men from the North, Senator Yusuf Datti Baba-Ahmed, as his running mate.

“It was surprising that in the build-up to the primary elections, the South East was tactically excluded from the race by selfish politicians in both the PDP and the APC as their presidential tickets went to the highest bidders, rather than to the most competent to lead Nigeria.

“But, by divine providence and in the wisdom of the Nigerian people, a third force was birthed, and Mr Peter Obi and Senator Yusuf Datti Baba-Ahmed became the anointed joint ticket for the task of rebuilding our country, which has been troubled by ethnicity and religion in recent times.

“It has been argued that the North East and the South East have not produced a President of Nigeria since the return to democracy in 1999, but in the interest of justice, it would be unthinkable for a northerner to take over from President Muhammadu Buhari who himself is of Northern extraction come May 29, 2023.

“Therefore, the Obi-Datti presidential ticket is an opportunity to unite Nigeria and promote justice and equity for national integration development.

“Today, we are excited that Nigerians have seen the need to give unto themselves the best and most qualified presidential and vice presidential candidates in the person of Mr Peter Gregory Obi and Senator Yusuf Datti Baba-Ahmed, who are youthful and have no baggage of corruption. Both have come to the race with a verifiable track record of performance in both the public and private sectors.

“The public endorsement of the joint ticket by former President Olusegun Obasanjo has given the country direction and hope for national recovery after years of maladministration and mismanagement of Nigeria’s natural endorsements.

“We then call on the presidential candidates of the PDP and the APC to toe the path of honour and immediately step down for Peter Obi as it is the right thing to do at this time of our national leadership deficit,” SERG added.

Modupe Gbadeyanka is a fast-rising journalist with Business Post Nigeria. Her passion for journalism is amazing. She is willing to learn more with a view to becoming one of the best pen-pushers in Nigeria. Her role models are the duo of CNN's Richard Quest and Christiane Amanpour.

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EFCC Pleads for Speedy Passage of Delayed Unexplained Wealth Bill

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By Adedapo Adesanya

The Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Mr Ola Olukayode, has urged the National Assembly to speedily pass the Unexplained Wealth Bill.

Mr Olukayode made the appeal at the ongoing National Conference on Public Accounts and Fiscal Governance, organised by the Senate and House of Representatives Public Accounts Committees on Thursday.

“Help me pass the Unexplained Wealth Bill, I’ve been begging for the past one year. This same bill was thrown out in the last Assembly. If we don’t make individuals accountable for what they have, we’ll never get it right,” he pleaded.

The bill seeks to go after Nigerians with no known source of wealth or with illicit means of gathering wealth.

Speaking at the event, he said the anti-graft has mounting evidences of people living above their means and there was no clear-cut law holding them accountable.

“In the last three weeks, we started a commission-wide investigation into the extractive industry, particularly the oil and gas sector. What we have discovered is mind-boggling.

“We have only just opened the books. So much more corruption is to be unraveled. If this is what we’re seeing at the surface, imagine what lies beneath.

“There is a very strong connection between the mismanagement of our resources and insecurity.

“When you look at banditry, kidnapping, terrorism, trace it back, and you will find a pattern of corrupt practices and diversion of funds that were meant to improve people’s lives.

“Someone has worked in a ministry for 20 years. We calculate their entire salary and allowances. Then we find five property , two in Maitama, three in Asokoro. Yet, we’re told to go and prove a predicate offence before we can act. That is absurd,” he said.

The EFCC boss urged all Nigerians to put aside creed, politics and ethnic sentiments to block revenue leakage and save the economy of the country.

Mr Olukayode also said that Nigerians should not fail to take advantage presented by President Bola Tinubu’s administration to block revenue leakage as it could spell doom for the country.

According to him, no amount of capacity will be able to recover half of the resources stolen from Nigeria as many host countries are not willing to repatriate.

He said that the best option was to prevent corruption saying that failure to do so, corruption would kill the country.

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Dangladima Tasks Onne Customs Command on Trade Facilitation, Others

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Dangladima Onne Customs Command

By Bon Peters

Officers and men of the Port Harcourt Area 11, Onne Command of the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) have been charged to always ensure legitimate trade is facilitated.

This charge was given by the Zonal Coordinator of NCS Zone C, Assistant Comptroller General (ACG) SK Dangladima, during a visit to the command on Tuesday in Port Harcourt, Rivers State.

He hinted that the core mandate of the agency was to collect revenue, facilitate trade and suppress smuggling, stressing that personnel should ensure that legitimate trade is facilitated, while customs brokers or agents must avoid wrong declaration.

“Let’s facilitate legitimate trade,” he declared.

Speaking on the staff training, he noted that going forward; promotion would be based on improvement on staff educational qualification.

“I advise you to go for junior or senior courses at Gwagwalada to improve yourself because promotion will be based on merit as customs is in a new era and for you to be promoted going forward, you must have passed through your junior or senior courses at Gwagwalada,” he posited.

On the movement of containers to bonded terminals, he emphasized that containers on transire should be escorted to their destinations without diversion while insisting that containers should not be delayed.

“Containers on transire should be escorted and make sure they reach their destinations. Please don’t delay containers. Work together and be your brother’s keeper,” the customs officer stated.

While speaking on the inter-agency collaboration, he said that other agencies involved in the examination and release of containers should be handy at all time to avoid unnecessary delays and ensure that containers are released in good time.

He scored Onne Customs Command Controller, Mr Mohammed Babandede, high on revenue generation, urging the stakeholders to assist in making sure that command achieves its revenue target for the year 2025.

Earlier in his address, Mr Babandede thanked his guest for the visit, assuring him that the revenue target for the year should be met.

He also informed him of some challenges his command was facing, including accommodation, operational vehicles, and the newly introduced B’odogwu platform, which he said has been having migration issues from Nigeria Integrated Customs Information System (NICIS) to B’odogwu most of the time as a result of network failure.

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Nigeria to Fix Visa Policy After US Reciprocal Action

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US Visa

By Adedapo Adesanya

Nigeria has taken steps to fix a visa policy after the United States reduced the validity of its non-immigrant visa for Nigerians to three months from five years.

The Minister of Interior, Mr Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo, met with the United States ambassador to Nigeria, Mr Richard Mills, over the recently introduced visa procedures by the US government for Nigerians.

Mr Tunjo-Ojo in a statement on Wednesday, a day after the US announced a major change to its visa policy for Nigeria, said, “Our government, under the leadership of President Bola Tinubu (GCFR), will continue to ensure strict compliance across the board in key areas, including secure travel documents, ensuring the issuance of secure travel documents with verified traveller identities. Visa overstay management: Implementing measures to limit overstays by travellers on US visas.”

According to the Minister, the gathering was aimed at strengthening ties between Nigeria and the US through a well-structured visa framework.

He said the recently introduced visa procedures by the US government for Nigerian nationals were discussed during the meeting.

Mr Tunji-Ojo stated said the US ambassador provided “valuable insights into the revised protocol and its alignment with established practices to uphold the integrity of the visa process.”

“The ambassador described the new e-visa policy of the Nigeria Immigration Service as an innovation intended to streamline and enhance the application process for foreign travellers into the country,” he stated.

“The Ministry of Interior, the Nigeria Immigration Service, and the US Mission in Nigeria agreed to strengthen collaboration, emphasizing adherence to visa regulations and promoting responsible travel practices among Nigerian citizens.

“Information sharing: Sharing relevant security and/or criminal record information to protect public safety,” the minister added.

In its reciprocal policy, the US said nearly all non-immigrant and non-diplomatic visas issued to Nigerian citizens will now be single-entry and valid for only three months, adding that this is part of a global reciprocity realignment, a sharp shift from previous visa terms, which often allowed for multiple entries over two years or more.

Nigeria also offers single-entry visas valid for three months only for those planning to visit the country from the US.

Business Post reports that Nigeria has no ambassador to the US, under President Bola Tinubu.

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