News

Arewa, Ohanaeze Youths, Others Meet, Say Buhari Has Failed

Published

7 years ago

March 27, 2018

Eric

The leadership of the Arewa Youth Consultative Forum, the youth wing of the Ohanaeze Ndigbo, the Ijaw Youth Council Worldwide, the Yoruba Youth Council and 54 other groups met in Abuja on Monday.

The groups, in a communiqué issued at the end of their meeting, said the President Muhammadu Buhari-led government had failed the nation.

They said the government had failed in securing the nation from the herdsmen killing people in the North and other parts of the country.

“The present government under President Muhammadu Buhari has failed in all ramifications and Nigerians, particularly the youths, must begin to examine other options and review the leadership selection process,” they said.

They vowed to mobilise Nigerian youths across all ethnic divides to work for a more stable and guaranteed future for the populace.

This is just as they called on all Nigerian youths to rise up and be part of the selection process that would guarantee their future.

The meeting was convened by the National President, National Ethnic Nationalities Leaders, Alhaji Shettima Yerima, who is also the leader of the Arewa Youth Consultative Forum.

At the meeting, they examined the security situation in the country and the uncertainties in the political and economic environment.

Signatories to the communiqué included; Yerima, B. Oweilaemi (President, Ijaw Youth Council Worldwide and Ethnic Nationalities Forum of Niger Delta); Okechukwu Isiguzoro (Deputy Chairman, Ethnic Nationalities Youth Leaders) and National President, (Ohanaeze Ndigbo Youth Council Worldwide); and Eric Oluwole(National Secretary Ethnic Nationalities Youth Leaders and National President, Yoruba Youth Council.

They expressed concern that in the past three years of the Buhari presidency, Nigerians, especially youths, were being killed and maimed, under various guises while the country’s elite and politicians “only quarrel and raise further tensions.”

The groups said the meeting was necessitated by “our concern over the deepening poverty and restiveness among the nation’s youths due to long neglect by the authorities.”

They said, “Worried by the recent uncertain twists in the country which are punctuated by crises and conflicting perceptions, the leaders of Nigeria’s ethnic nationality youth groups met in Abuja to review the state of the nation.

“It’s close to three years since the present government was sworn in with Muhammadu Buhari as president and Nigerians, especially the youths, are yet to feel any meaningful change.

“It’s been one challenge after the other, from stinging poverty, to mass joblessness, to pervading insecurity, to painful fuel scarcity, to poor power supply and to a persistent instability in the value of the naira.”

They added that while the government of President Buhari had an upper hand over the Boko Haram insurgents, the sect appeared to be more emboldened with the recent abductions and intensified attacks and killings.

As a way forward, the groups called on Nigerian youths to resist the temptations of being used as tools for the dirty jobs of unscrupulous politicians, religious and ethnic jingoists and merchants of hate and division.

The communiqué added, “We insist that the government must take visibly serious steps towards an extensive restructuring of the country as the only remaining available solution to the current economic and political woes.”

“We resolve to mobilise youths across all ethnic divides to work for a more stable and guaranteed future devoid of undue manipulation by the present crop of bankrupt elite.

“We therefore call on the youths everywhere to wake up and participate actively in the leadership selection processes in their local governments, states and the federation.”

The Punch

News

Sack Wike Now, Niger Delta Youths Tell Tinubu

Published

2 days ago

March 15, 2025

Eric

The youth chapter of Pan Niger Delta Forum (PANDEF) has issued a 48-hour ultimatum to Minister of the Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA), Nyesom Wike, to retract his publicly disparaging remarks against the Ijaw nation and the leaders of this socio-political body.

According to the youths, it is embarrassing that Wike insulted the late former Federal Commissioner for Information and South-South Leader, Chief Edwin Clark, even in death without respecting him.

Addressing journalists on Saturday, the National Youth President of the Youth Wing, Doben Donyegha, who gave the ultimatum, said that it was annoying that Wike abused the leaders of the South-South geopolitical zone less than 24 hours after its delegation met with the President at the Presidential Villa in Abuja.

Wike, during a media chat on Thursday, described PANDEF as “the worst organisation anybody can rely on”, while also calling the board of trustee members of the body “political merchants”.

Donyegha, who also urged President Bola Tinubu to immediately sack the minister from his cabinet, said that the youth wing no longer had confidence in him and that keeping Wike in his cabinet may affect the president’s re-election chances in the Niger Delta come 2027.

The President of the PANDEF youths also asked the Code of Conduct Bureau to investigate the minister, alleging land-grabbing activities in the FCT.

News

Ahead Budget Presentation, Amaewhule-led Rivers Assembly Adjourns Sitting Indefinitely

Published

3 days ago

March 14, 2025

Eric

The Rivers State House of Assembly has adjourned its sittings indefinitely.

The decision to adjourn legislative duties indefinitely was reached during plenary, presided over by the Speaker, Martin Amaewhule, in Port Harcourt on Friday.

The development comes hours after the State Governor, Siminalayi Fubara, wrote to the Speaker, informing him of his intention to visit the House to present the 2025 Appropriation Bill for consideration and approval.

The governor, in a letter dated March 13 and addressed to the Speaker, Martin Amaewhule, said he intends to present the budget on Wednesday, March 19, 2025, or any other day within March that the House may deem fit.

Fubara said his decision is in compliance with the Supreme Court judgment and in response to the lawmakers’ request for him to re-present the budget.

He recalled the bitter experience of visiting the Assembly Quarters with his entourage, where the lawmakers were temporarily sitting to present the budget, but he was denied access to the complex.

News

Suspension: Natasha Sues Akpabio, Others for Contempt

Published

4 days ago

March 13, 2025

Eric

The Senator representing Kogi Central Senatorial District, Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan, has filed contempt charges against the Senate President, Godswill Akpabio, and others over her six-month suspension without pay from the Senate.

Others listed in the Form 48 contempt charge, filed before the Federal High Court in Abuja and sighted on Thursday, include the Clerk of the National Assembly and the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Ethics, Privileges, and Code of Conduct, Senator Neda Imasuen.

It will be recalled that Justice Obiora Egwuatu of the Federal High Court in Abuja, on 4 March, while delivering a ruling on an ex parte motion filed by Senator Akpoti-Uduaghan through her legal team led by Mr. Michael Numa (SAN), restrained the Senate Committee on Ethics, Privileges, and Code of Conduct from proceeding with any investigation against the plaintiff/applicant.

This investigation related to alleged misconduct following events that occurred during the Senate plenary session on February 20, 2025 and a subsequent referral on February 25, 2025.

The court’s order was to remain in effect pending the hearing and determination of the motion on notice for an interlocutory injunction.

The court also issued an order directing the defendants to show cause why an interlocutory injunction should not be granted to restrain them from proceeding with the purported investigation against Senator Akpoti-Uduaghan for alleged misconduct, as such actions would affect her privileges as stipulated in the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 (as amended), the Senate Standing Order 2023, and the Legislative Houses (Powers and Privileges) Act.

Additionally, the court declared that “any action taken during the pendency of the suit is null, void, and of no effect whatsoever.”

The Court granted Akpoti-Uduaghan permission to serve the originating summons and accompanying documents on all defendants through substituted means, such as delivering them to the Clerk of the National Assembly, cited as the 1st Defendant, or by pasting them on the premises of the National Assembly and publishing them in two national dailies.

However, just two days after the court’s ruling, the Senate proceeded to suspend Senator Akpoti-Uduaghan for six months.

In response to the court order, the Senate President contested the power of the court to interfere in the internal affairs of the legislature, arguing that the court lacked jurisdiction to intervene in Senate matters.

In her contempt charge, Senator Akpoti-Uduaghan argued that her suspension constituted wilful disobedience to the subsisting court order issued on March 4 stating that an enrolled order of the interim injunction issued by Justice Egwuatu was duly served on the defendants on March 5.

According to Form 48, the defendants/contemnors “deliberately and contumaciously disregarded” the binding directive of the court and “proceeded with acts in flagrant defiance of the authority of the court.”

The court, in a notice of disobedience of a court order signed by its Registrar pursuant to Section 72 of the Sheriff and Civil Process Act 2004, informed the defendants/contemnors of their wilful disobedience to the court order issued by Justice Obiora Egwuatu.

It warned that defying the subsisting order rendered Akpabio, Senator Imasuen, and the Clerk of the National Assembly liable for contempt of court, which could result in their committal to prison.