The Ailoba Ahonkhai Blog Spot

Betty Okoebor, the woman behind the brewing crisis in Uromi The last has not been heard on the matter of the purported suspension and threatened deposing of the Onojie of Uromi by the APC government of Edo State as all Uromi sons and daughters across the world have been invited to Uromi to discuss the way forward and appropriately respond to Oshiomhole, Obaseki and the APC desecration of the Uromi traditional institution. The emergency meeting is scheduled to hold at Uromi town hall on 29th of October 2016 at 10.00am. Many observers predict that the series if events that would follow the meeting may precipitate a state of emergency or at least lead to a curfew in the district. Many leaders of thoughts across the state and also the national leadership of the APC have been mounting pressures on the outgoing governor to respect the sanctity of the traditional institution and hands off the Uromi debacle but all entreaties have fallen on deaf ears. The proposed me...

By Abbey Alowooja The country is officially killed. Buhari has done it. 9.6 trillion Naira loan. Before we even start discussing, I have just 7 questions. 1)Where is all the Subsidy savings?? Jonathan was said to have been paying hundreds of billions on subsidy.In 2013. There is supposed to be no more subsidy since the new price of N145. So where are all the subsidy savings? 2) Where is all the corruption savings? Since the previous government is accused of being terribly corrupt, and it is said that this government is corruption free, where are all the savings that should accrue from the new corruption free system? 3) Where is all the recovered loot? Why are we borrowing $10billion for reccurents when the government has boasted of recovered funds of $9 billion? 4) Where is all that 3 Trillion said to be locked up in the TSA account. Abi is the account under lock and key? 5) This government has borrowed N2.2 Trillion in the last one year. Where ...

APC to be Served Notice of Hearing by Substituted Means The Edo State Governorship Election Tribunal sitting in Benin Wednesday, in suit No. EPT/EDS/GOV/3/2016, granted the PDP her prayers to serve the APC the petition papers by substituted service. Consequently the petition was served today by pasting the petition papers on the gate of the APC secretariat. Justice Badamasi, the chairman of the tribunal who allowed the petitioners to argue the motion ex parte, outside the pre-hearing session of the court, ruled that the petitioners can serve the APC and Mr Obaseki with the petition and all other processes by substituted means. He said, ” lthe application is hereby granted as prayed”, because, “it falls in line with paragraph 47 first schedule of the Electoral act as amended and Sections 5(6) 5 of the High Court rules”, applicable able to the tribunal. The petitioners had asked the court for an order to enable them to serve the APC and Mr Godwin Obaseki ...

APC IN EDO CLUTCHING AT STRAWS TO KEEP MANDATE - Avoids Court Notice From PDP, Claims APC Secretariat is Sold Off The Edo State APC has taken to childish antics to avoid the court notice being served it by the PDP. Secretariat of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) has been in locks and keys since the day the PDP filed their petition against the Edo State Governorship Election Tribunal holding in Benin City. No human activity has been observed at the APC secretariat at Airport Road in Benin City. Not even the security personnel are available at the secretariat. Investigations indicate that the APC decided to close her gates and keep Godwin Obaseki, the respondent, in hiding because they panic over the fact that the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) has filed a watertight petition at the appeal tribunal and they are avoiding service to buy time so that the court may technically extend the seven days given to them to respond. On the 19th October 2016, Peop...

Oshiomhole Bitter As Buhari Choses Igbe Over SSG The outgoing governor of Edo State, Adams Aliu Oshiomhole, is unhappy with the President for dumping his preferred nominee for Ambassadorial posting,  Professor Julius Ihonvbere and picking the son of the Iyase of Benin kingdom and former Speaker of the Edo State House of Assembly, Hon Uyi Igbe. President Muhammadu Buhari has incurred the wrath of other leaders in the All Progressives Congress, APC, in many States, over the choice of nominees for non-career ambassadors. Last week, the Presidency sent names of ambassadorial nominees for confirmation by the Senate. Ihonvbere was not in the list, Igbe made it. Reports indicate that Governor Adams Oshiomhole’s bid to have Professor Julius Ihonvbere as Edo State nominee could not fly as the President opted for Uyi Igbe because, according to insider source, the president does not want to dance to the tone of any governor and he wants complete loyalty to him of his ap...

The protesters from Osissa community in the Ndokwa-East Local Government Area of Delta State over the attacks and killing of community members by herdsmen Osissa community in the Ndokwa-East Local Government Area of Delta State is currently protesting and holding the Secretary to the State Government, Mr Festus Ovie Agas, and his convoy hostage over the alleged killing of three members of the community by suspected Fulani herdsmen. The protesters numbering over one thousand intercepted the convoy of the SSG who was traveling to Asaba after spending the weekend with his family in Ughelli at about 6:55am along the Ughelli-Asaba express on Monday. Travellers, including those going to Onitsha market in Anambra State, were also trapped in the protest. The PUNCH had reported that suspected herdsmen over the weekend repeatedly invaded the agrarian community injuring at least one person. Two members of the rampaging herdsmen who invaded the community with their c...

ROTIMI AMAECHI | Buhari Partial, Against rule of Law Justices Inyang Okoro and Justice Sylvester Ngwuta of the Supreme Court had, in sepa­rate letters to the Chief Justice of Nigeria after their arrest by the Department of State Servic­es (DSS), traced their ordeals to Amaechi, for declining to influ­ence the court’s judgement in favour of the All Progressives Congress (APC) candidates in the Rivers, Akwa Ibom, Abia and Ekiti states’ governorship elections as allegedly demand­ed by the minister. In a reaction to the Justices’ allegations, the PDP on Sunday accused President Muhammadu Buhari of encouraging injustice by refusing to order the arrest and prosecution of Amaechi. The opposition party said the allegations from different quar­ters were too grievous for the President to ignore. It stated that “this is a con­firmation that the President is against justice and the rule of law.” The party said that the Jus­tices’ ordeals in the hands of the DSS were the f...

Buhari’s Shiite and German paradoxes Despite his genuine disposition to state matters, including the anti-graft war, many Nigerians suspect that President Muhammadu Buhari’s democratic credentials still fall far short of the demands of the 21st century. The ongoing Shiite imbroglio, in which the Islamic Movement of Nigeria (IMN, aka Shiites) is either banned by some states or under attack by sundry elements taking their cues from the government’s attitude to the group, is a poignant indicator of the severity of the intolerance sweeping through some states in the northern part of Nigeria. The president has not responded to the dire situation developing in that region either directly, as many Nigerians would have hoped, or indirectly through his spokesmen, as he is accustomed to doing when he is torn between his private longings and public duty. No one is sure whether he won’t wait until the problem expires naturally. There does not seem to be anyone capable of reining in ...

Aso Rock of juju, demons (Facts or fiction): Precidency reacts In his article in the Guardian newspapers of October 14, 2016, the former Special adviser to President Goodluck Jonathan on Media and Publicity, Dr Reuben Abati painted a surreal picture of incredible things that go on beyond the glitz and glamour of the official residence and office of the president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, popularly called the Aso Rock.  In that article titled ‘The Spiritual Side of Aso Rock’, Dr Abati who served as President Jonathan’s spokesman for four years recounted strange and some times, tragic occurrences that befell people who work or live in the precincts of the presidential Villa.  Recounting personal experiences and those that happened to colleagues while he served in the highest office in the land, Dr Abati gave a depressingly worrisome scenario of the higher spiritual powers that tended to influence or dictate the happenings in the Villa which by exten...

Full text of what Aisha Buhari told BBC President Muhammadu Buhari’s wife, Aisha, spoke to the BBC last week, about some appointments made by her husband, and warned that she may not support his re-election in 2019 if the president fails to shake up his cabinet. The president fired back by saying the first lady belongs in the kitchen. BBC : Almost two years after President Muhammadu Buhari was elected into this government; it appears as if things are not going well, the people are complaining; where do you think the problem is? Aisha Buhari : From my own observation, being a housewife, I think security wise; we have relatively achieved more than 100 percent. Being someone that comes from the North east, I knew when almost nobody sleeps in his or her house. But now, people sleep with their two eyes closed. The hardship that people are going through now was anticipated, knowing what we inherited. It is not going to be a smooth journey; but I think so far so goo...

Another Judge: Amaechi asked me to help nullify Fayose’s election ANOTHER Justice of the Supreme Court yesterday accused Transportation Minister Rotimi Amaechi and Science Minister Ogbonnaiya Onu of being the architect of his travails. Justice Sylvester Ngwuta, who was arrested by Department of State Services (DSS) operatives for alleged corruption, blamed it all on his refusal to cooperate with the duo, who he said had requested him to influence some electoral cases in their favour. He alleged that Amaechi and Onu asked him to assist them in relation to the governorship election disputes in Ekiti and Ebonyi states. Justice Ngwuta alleged that Amaechi, who claimed to be acting on behalf of President Muhammadu Buhari, wanted him to facilitate the annulment of Ayodele Fayose’s election so that Kayode Fayemi (Minister of Solid Mineral) could participate in a rerun election. Justice Inyang Okoro has also accused Amaechi of trying to bribe him. Justice Ngwuta...

Jonathan Nda-Isaiah The most trending story on the social media in Nigeria for the past week, is the First Lady, sorry, wife of the President, Aisha Buhari’s interview with the BBC and the reply from President Muhammadu Buhari. With the myriads of problems facing Nigeria at the moment, the rise of kidnapping, the economic recession and the hardship in the land, what has dominated the media space is the domestic spat between the president and his wife. Mrs Buhari entered our Guinness Book of records as the first wife of the president to openly criticise her husband in public. Issues that should be discussed in the other room was put in the public space. The issue has further shown the deep cracks in the APC and the presidency. Coincidentally, Buhari was having a good week with issues like the clampdown of judges, which I support 100 percent and the release of 21 Chibok girls, who have been abducted for over two years, then Aisha happened. In my candid opinion, is...

“94, 000 Pregnant Women HIV Positive In Zamfara” – USAID At least 94,141 pregnant women are said to be HIV/AIDS positive in Zamfara state, United States Agency for International Aids has revealed. Speaking on Thursday, October 20, at the end of a seven-year treatment and support rolling plan for those living with HIV in the state in Gusau, the Zamfara state capital, Aminu Sarki, the team leader of the organisation, said more than 500 women living with HIV received anti-retroviral drugs in the state during the period. He said 4,436 persons living with HIV in the state were cared for by his organisation. Sarki noted that the project was aimed at strengthening the capacity of the country’s public, private and community sectors for sustainable HIV/AIDS and tuberculosis prevention, control, care and treatment within the health system. He said his organisation had succeeded in providing services at four comprehensive care and treatment sites as well as trained heal...

Aisha Buhari: The ‘designer’ first lady that fooled my people by Umar Hassan I don’t really care whether Aisha Buhari belongs to the President’s kitchen, other room or even another man. That is their personal problem. What I am worried about is the fact that some Nigerians are celebrating her for wanting their most loyal friends in government. If the first lady had criticized the President’s friends for being inept ,then I wouldn’t have bothered even if we decided to name a state after her but as things stand, I can’t help hating those singing her praises and admiring her for other things. I admire her for having the guts to say what she did without being scared of losing the first ladyship which could mean never being able to afford Salvatore Ferragamo Capes. The one she wore to the African Ladies’ Summit in Brussels costs about $2600 (N1.157M) and that is just about N50,000 less than her husband’s monthly salary.I respect the lady for paying little or no attentio...

Painful as it has been for the vast majority of Nigerians, the country’s worst recession in 30 years is an opportunity to deeply reflect on the wobbly structure of our country’s economy and learn some basic lessons on how to move Nigeria forward. While it is important to focus on solutions that will get us out of our present economic difficulty, it is also necessary that President Muhammadu Buhari and his government, and indeed all aspiring politicians and technocrats that will form future governments, learn from and apply these lessons. These lessons and the solutions we hope will come out of them include fundamental issues of leadership, the formulation and execution of public policy, and national economic management. Nigeria’s economic recession has remote and immediate causes. The remote causes are well known. They include: (a) the failure to diversify the economy over the years and a dangerous dependency on one commodity (crude oil) for 80 per cent of our nation...