2019: Presidency Cabals Shop For Buhari's Successor, Woos Dangote; Offers Him The President's Daughter As Bait, El-Rufai DROPPED

The Authority - With President Muhammadu Buhari barely two years in of­fice, members of his kitchen cabinet, who have constituted themselves into a cabal, are al­ready looking for his successor.

Their actions are prompt­ed by growing questions over alleged governance deficits of President Buhari’s tenure.

The AUTHORITY learnt that members of the cabal run­ning Aso Rock are no longer comfortable with Buhari’s per­formance and are worried that the North could lose the Pres­idency in 2019 if nothing was urgently done.

How I Increase My Blokos Size & Stopped Premature Ejaculation Issues 

That Scattered My Relationship For 2years.. Click HERE for Details

Leading members of the ca­bal are largely from Adamawa, Borno and Katsina States.

Sources also confirmed to The AUTHORITY that the high-stake game is borne out of the deep knowledge of the Pres­ident’s health, which has fuelled speculations that Buhari may not run for a second term on health grounds.

Age is also not on his side. Born on December 17, 1942, President Buhari would be close to 77 years old by 2019.

Consequently, the North, which fought tooth and nail to re­trieve power from the South, has started looking beyond Buhari.

The AUTHORITY fur­ther gathered that Africa’s rich­est man Aliko Dangote, who like the United States President-elect, Donald Trump, lacks any prior experience in government, has been fingered by the cabal as a worthy replacement for Buha­ri, come 2019.

To give more teeth to this quirky plot, some match-mak­ing by the cabal between Dangote and Buhari’s daughter, Fatima, was fine-tuned but ran into stormy waters.

Dangote, according to sourc­es, was already warming up for the marriage and for a shot at the Presidency.

But Fatima, who, like her stepmother Aisha Buhari, has scant regard for the cabal’s ar­rowhead, “out-rightly” re­jected the choice of Dangote.

She equally rejected the per­suasive pressure of another influ­ential member of the infamous cabal.

The AUTHORITY further learned that as 2017 draws near and in connection with crowning a successor to Buhari, key politi­cal realignments are expected to start taking shape.

A serving minister in the Bu­hari administration had recently shown how fluid the situation is by reportedly sending a text mes­sage to a member of the Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP), asking about a “post-Buhari” scenario.

Today, Buhari has become very unpopular in the North due to the inability of his government to deliver governance that direct­ly impacts the people.

On the other hand, the na­ture of the appointments he has made, defined by lack of consul­tation and inclusiveness, has al­ienated many.

The wife of the president had recently in a British Broadcast­ing Corporation (BBC) Hausa Service interview lamented that most officials of the government are not known to the President and the first family, adding that they are usurpers who did noth­ing to help the All Progressives Congress (APC) struggle in 2015.

The usurpers she was refer­ring to in that controversial in­terview are the core members of the cabal that call the shots in Aso Rock, notwithstanding Buhari’s claims to the contrary.

The core four-member pres­idency cabal under reference re­portedly didn’t vote in 2015 be­cause they didn’t register to vote.

As the opposition carefully watches the unfolding develop­ment and fine-tunes its plot, the emerging poser is how the cabal hopes to pull off the audacious gamble.

This remains a subject of speculation considering that they lack political skills and are very unpopular.

The AUTHORITY recalls that in her famous interview, Ai­sha Buhari, when asked to name those who had hijacked the gov­ernment, declared: “You will know them if you watch televi­sion.”

One of the key cabal arrow­heads has to-date allegedly cor­nered more than N5 billion school furniture contracts from Kaduna, Katsina and Sokoto States.

The Kaduna State contract has however been terminat­ed over “non-performance” by Governor Nasir el-Rufai, who unilaterally awarded it to Kadu­na Furniture and Construction Company (KFCC) without due process.

The initial sum for the Ka­duna furniture contract was N1 billion.

El-Rufai has never hidden the fact that his ultimate goal is the presidency. He has consist­ently told Kaduna State people that he is a one-term governor. The bad blood between a key member of the cabal, the chair­man of KFCC and El-Rufai, is re­portedly linked to the cabal of­fering the presidency to Dangote.

Sources further revealed that it was the last gasp effort to stop the Dangote-Fatima wedding using the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Of­fences Commission (ICPC) that caused the anti-corruption agen­cy’s chairman to be suspended from office before Buhari inter­vened.

The cabal had sacked the ICPC Chairman, Ekpo Nta, without the President’s knowl­edge - because he did not play ball - over claims that his tenure had expired.

Ekpo was reportedly or­dered by the cabal to arrest Gim­ba Kumo, a former managing di­rector of the Federal Mortgage Bank.

Similar efforts with the Na­tional Security Adviser (NSA) and the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) re­portedly failed.

But the cabal never gave up, hence the reports in the media about the arrest of Kumo.

This Article First Published By The Authority Newspaper

Osibanjo To Grace Retreat In OGP In Kaduna On Monday

...As Malami, El-Rufai, Lai Mohammed, Adewole, others brainstorm on National Action Plan

All roads point to Kaduna next Monday as Nigeria’s Vice President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo leads other personalities both within governmental and civil society organisations to brainstorm and chart a new course for the country on its fight against corruption leveraging on the nation’s recent membership of the Open Government Partnership.

Foreign delegates from the Global OGP, Washington DC, USA and its Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Sanjay Pradhan, development partners, other international officials including the Embassy of Switzerland and delegates from Nigeria have also confirmed their participation at this historic event.

Comrade Salihu Othman Isah, Special Adviser on Media and Publicity to the Honourable Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, SAN disclosed this in a statement released over the weekend in Abuja signifying that the AGF who will chair the occasion is also expected to present the keynote address while the Chief Host, Governor of Kaduna State, Mallam Nasir El-Rufai will deliver the welcome remarks.

In the statement, Comrade Isah hinted that the retreat is coming on the heels of the presidential directive that the Open Government Partnership (OGP) Principles to be implemented, hence the Federal Ministry of Justice through its Justice Reform Sector in collaboration with the DFID/J4A/PERL programmes has scheduled the National Retreat on the development of the OGP National Plan from 23rd to 26th October, 2016 in Kaduna, Kaduna State.

The retreat is coming up following Nigeria’s formal acceptance as OGP member country in July 2016, two months after President Muhammadu Buhari, attended the Anti-Corruption Summit organized by the government of the United Kingdom in May, 2016 where he reaffirmed the Nigerian government’s commitment to strengthen anti-corruption reforms and bring integrity to governance through leadership by example.

For the OGP to work in Nigeria, it must satisfy certain conditions viz:

i.      Endorse a high level Open Government Declaration

ii.     Co-create and deliver a country action plan developed with public consultation (government and civil society)

iii.    Implement commitments made by government

iv.     Commit to independent reporting on their progress going forward, and

v.      Contribute to peer learning.

The obligations of the Federal Government include promoting efforts to prevent the facilitation of corruption through partnership and information sharing, implementing transparent public procurement and fostering programmes that will drive out the culture of corruption and institutionalize integrity in the institutions, while building on technology as a core pillar for engagement. To secure the requisite high level buy-in from stakeholders required for effective implementation; government has launched a robust consultative process aimed at identifying national priorities towards the preparation of the National Action Plan (NAP).

As revealed by the press statement, “So far, the Federal Government has set up an OGP National Steering Committee, with the Federal Ministry of Justice as the coordinating ministry. This Committee is made up of representatives of government, civil society organizations, organized private sector and professional associations who will work together to co-create a two-year National Action Plan (NAP) to deepen and mainstream transparency in the management of public funds across all sectors.

“The Steering Committee will function as a platform for deepening government’s anti-corruption reforms. Using a multi-stakeholder approach, it will work towards encouraging improved openness and transparency in government as well as citizens’ participation and engagement. From the government side, the fight against corruption cuts across every sector and as such, all agencies are expected to work towards ensuring openness in their processes as well as developing a sense of accountability and responsibility towards the citizens.

“Through a consultative process between government and civil society, the National Steering Committee has agreed on consolidating existing reforms within four thematic areas identified for the proposed National Action Plan. The thematic areas are:

i.      Promoting fiscal transparency and improved public procurement and open contracting;

ii.     Access to information;

iii.    Anti-corruption and asset disclosure; and,

iv.     Citizen engagement and empowerment.

It further added that, “Nigeria is already implementing a number of anti-corruption reforms across several sectors of governance, and the OGP initiative presents a platform for increased global participation, peer learning and continuous self-assessment. We have also fully embraced the technology train like other countries around the world as can be seen in components of the various reforms:

i.      The Enactment of the Freedom of Information Act (FOI) 2011 has made public records and information more freely available and accessible to Nigerians. Several government agencies have set up compliance structures and are now able to respond to requests for information, within the ambits of the law.

ii.     Enactment of the Public Procurement Act (2007) and subsequent establishment of the Bureau of Public Procurement (BPP) has improved transparency and openness in the public procurement process. Open contracting is now taking place in the public sector, with the Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC) blazing the trail in Nigeria ahead of government’s plans to implement e-procurement in all its agencies.

iii.    Full enforcement of Treasury Single Account (TSA) which has allowed the government to monitor the financial activities of over 900 MDAs from a single platform, reduced the amount the FGN loses in interest rates on borrowing from commercial banks, eliminated the process of cash backing MDA’s accounts with commercial banks, improved the reconciliation process for MDA accounts and saved the government several billions of Naira which would otherwise have been lost through corrupt practices.

iv.     Implementation of the Government Integrated Financial Management Information System (GIFMIS) and the Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System (IPPIS) has brought greater transparency to public financial management processes. The Budget Office and the Office of the Accountant General regularly publish allocations of federation revenues to all tiers of government, and widely disseminate information on budget allocation and execution. On the other hand, IPPIS has created a centralized database system for the Public Service with a single, accurate source of employee information.

v.      The Nigerian Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI) has made some progress towards improving transparency in the extractive industry and is now working on populating a public register with the beneficial owners of all companies operating in the Nigerian extractive industry.

vi.     Implementation of the Bank Verification Number (BVN) initiative has created a centralized biometric identification system for the banking industry. The initiative has made it easier to follow the trail of money in the economy, reduced fraud in the financial sector and exposed tax evaders within the system.

vii.    The Code of Conduct Bureau is now better able to carry out its mandate of ensuring that public officers declare their assets and also that such assets are verified and recorded in accordance with the law.

viii.   The Money Laundering Prohibition Act 2007 is currently being reviewed to better define who a beneficial owner of a company is.

ix.     The Corporate Affairs Commission is also reviewing its laws to make it possible to disclose beneficial owners as well as provide information on ownership of assets held in blind trusts. It is also working to create a public register of beneficial owners of public companies.

Also expected to attend the retreat are the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation, Mrs. Winifred Ekanem Oyo-Ita, Clerk, National Assembly, Alhaji Sani Omolori,  Honourable Ministers of Information and Culture, Health, Budget and National Planning, Communications, Petroleum Resources, Foreign Affairs as well as Power, Works and Housing.

Other participants are from Office of the Auditor General of the Federation (OAGF), Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Nigerian Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI), Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB), Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC), Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Bureau for Public Procurement (BPP), Presidential Anti-Corruption Advisory Committee PACAC, Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC), Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) and the Natural Resource Governance Institute among others.

Representing the civil society at the retreat are Council for the Regulation of Engineers in Nigeria (COREN), Nigeria Inter-Religious Council and Centre for Environmental Education, based in Jalingo, Taraba state.

To recount, Open Government Partnership (OGP) is a multi-stakeholder initiative that focuses on improving government transparency, accountability and responsiveness to citizens through technology and innovation. It was formally launched in 2011 when the eight founding governments (Brazil, Indonesia, Mexico, Norway, the Philippines, South Africa, the United Kingdom and the United States) endorsed the Open Government Declaration, and announced their country action plans. Since then, OGP has welcomed the commitment of 62 additional governments, bringing to 70 the number of countries that are currently members of the initiative.

Nigeria formally joined the OGP in July 2016, two months after President Buhari attended the Anti-Corruption Summit organized by the government of the United Kingdom in May, 2016 where he reaffirmed the nation’s commitment to strengthen anti-corruption reforms and bring integrity to governance through leadership by example.

Why I support Gov. El-Rufai Of Kaduna State Preaching Regulation Bill, By Okoi Obono-Obla

I attended the prestigious Salzburg Global Seminar in Salzburg, Austria in 2008. The theme of the programme I attended in the Salzburg Seminars was titled “Islamic and International Law: Searching for Common Ground: Session 457. The Salzburg Global Seminar was originally founded in 1947 by a group of Harvard Graduates to encourage the revival of intellectual dialogue in post second war Europe. The mission of Salzburg Global Seminar is to challenge current and future leaders to solve issues of global concern. To this end, it design and facilitate and host international strategic convening and multi-year programmes to tackle systems challenges critical for the next generation.

While attending this programme, I met one of the participants from India, a Lawyer and Muslim. In the course of our engagement and discussion on current issues, he told me that India has many laws regulating the practice of religion. One of these laws is the law that proscribed the mounting of public address system or loud speakers on the minarets of mosques to call the faithful to prayers.  India has one of the largest Muslim populations in the World. India is also reputed to be the largest democracy in the world.

The Bill laid before the Kaduna State House of Assembly to regulate the practice of preaching by Governor Nasir El-Rufai which has generated much controversy and heated argument in the country is very much in order and indeed a step in the right direction in so far as it seek to keep in check those that exploit religion to divide us and infringe on the rights of others. All the hype and propaganda that Governor El-Rufai is Anti-Christian is hogwash!

The Bill applies to both Muslims and Christians in equal measure.  So what is all the brouhaha, about this very innovative and progressive Bill meant to curb extremism and exploitation of religion by some people to cause trouble?

Why must some misguided people continue to exploit religion to cause dis harmony in society? Why should some people think that religion is a cart Blanche to infringe on the rights of others?

Let me say that no fundamental right is limitless and absolute. In as much as we espouse our rights; we must also appreciate the fact that others are equally entitled to have their rights protected and respected. Why should a preacher or a Church or a Mosque in my neighborhood use a loud speaker to disturb my peace or arouse me from sleep without any iota of qualms in the name of religion?

Have we not seen how some people have continued to exploit religion to cause so much mayhem in the country and the world at large? The Constitution also provides that fundamental rights can be limited in circumstances where public safety, public morality, public order, pubic health and the will being is under threat. For example the law of slander and libel is a limit on the right of free speech and expression
There is nothing that violates the Constitution about the licensing of preachers. Are there no laws regulating the practice of medicine, law, engineering, accounting, nursing, pharmacy etc. So what is wrong in regulating the Christian and Islamic Clergy?

Law is organic and not static. Law must always change to reflect the dynamic and change that occur in society every day. For now the exigency and dynamic of the country demands that we should have a law in Kaduna State to regulate the practice of preaching.

Okoi Obono-Obla

PFN Dubs Gov. El-Rufai's Preaching Bill 'Anti-Christ'

The Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria (PFN) has described Governor Nasir El- Rufai of Kaduna State's proposed anti-preaching bill as 'antichrist and has vowed to stoutly resist the bill, The Authority Newspaper says/

The PFN Chairman, Abia State chap­ter, Rev. (Dr) Theophilus Anyimson,  made this known in an interview with AUTHORITY On Saturday in Umuahia. He said the bill was not only draconian and dictatorial but also ab­rogated the constitutionally guaran­teed freedom of speech and right to religion of people’s choice.

He said it was “a big error” for the governor to even contemplate such a bill when the constitution of the land guarantees everybody freedom of ex­pression.

The PFN boss said that “Chris­tians all over the country are unit­ed against the anti-Christ bill” , while urging members of Kaduna State House of Assembly not to consider the bill.

“We are united against such ob­noxious bill. The bill should not be considered at all. We cannot tolerate it,” he said.

Rev. Anyimpson said that PFN would mobilise support for Chris­tians in Kaduna State to ensure the bill “does not see the light of the day”.

He warned against any secret plot to Islamise Nigeria, vowing that Christians cannot allow any attempt to stop the preaching of the gospel.

Amidst growing outrage over plans to regulate religious preach­ing, Gov. Nasiru El-Rufa’i of Kadu­na State on Wednesday met with of­ficials of the state branch of Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) to seek their support.

The AUTHORITY On Saturday reports that Kaduna State Governor, Nasir el-Rufai, had, recently sent a bill to the state House of Assembly to reg­ulate religious preaching in the state.

The proposal is titled “A bill for a law to substitute the Kaduna State Re­ligious Preaching Law, 1984.
The bill is targeted at banning the use of loudspeakers for religious purposes “other than inside a Mosque or Church and the surrounding areas outside the stipulated prayer times.”

The governor is also asking the lawmakers to enact the law that will stop the playing or circulating of “all cassettes, CDs, flashdrives or any oth­er communication gadgets contain­ing religious recordings from accred­ited preachers other than inside one’s house, porch, Church, Mosques and other designated place of worship.”

Also, playing of any cassette con­taining “religious recordings in which abusive language is used against any person or religious organisation or re­ligious leaders (past or present)” will also be banned as well as sales of re­ligious books, usage of abusive and derogatory terms in describing any religion.

Anyone found guilty of violat­ing the proposed bill without a val­id license “shall be liable to two years in prison or pay a fine of N200, 000,” the governor stated, adding that Sha­ria courts and customary courts un­der the bill shall have the jurisdiction to try violators if it is passed into law.

The bill had already sparked off controversy in the state and the en­tire country amongst major religious groups.
Specifically, both the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) and several Islamic groups, including the State Council of Imams and Ulamas, had already rejected the controver­sial bill.

A section of the Nigerian com­munity is arguing that the bill, if passed into law, would take away the rights to religion granted by the 1999 constitution to every Nigerian and that a house of assembly has no powers to nullify provisions of the constitution via legislation.
In spite the protests, the state government had insisted that the Religious Preaching Bill is to “pro­tect the state from religious extrem­ism and hate speech”.

The governor’s spokesman, Mr Samuel Aruwan, in a statement said the government is going ahead with the bill.
“This is not a new law, it has ex­isted since 1984, with amendments in 1987 and 1996.”

According to him, the bill has not in any way affected people’s right to religious freedom.

“The bill, by virtue of Section 45(1) of the 1999 Constitution, is in order and does not offend the pro­visions of the constitution. The pro­visions of the bill are in tandem with the Constitution.

“There is nothing in the bill that suggests any effort to abolish, stop or derogate on the freedom of religion and religious beliefs.
“It merely seeks to ensure that religious preaching and activities in the state are conducted in ways that do not threaten public order, public safety, and to protect the rights and freedom of other persons.” he em­phasised.

However, the state government had met with the CAN officials for about 40 minutes behind closed doors at the Government House, Kaduna a couple of days ago. Gov el-Rufai was represented at the meet­ing by his deputy, Mr Barnabas Bala
Briefing newsmen after the meeting, the state CAN Chairman, Bishop George Dodo, confirmed that the meeting was on the con­troversial bill, but said the associa­tion would not make any comment for now.

“When we are through with the study, memo will be sent to the state Assembly. On the day of public hear­ing, we will explain more. But now, it would be premature to say what the position of CAN is,” he said.

On concerns raised by the pub­lic that the government is trying to muzzle religious freedom, the CAN chairman said: “I don’t think any governor has the power to en­act law that will supersede what is in the constitution.

“The constitution guarantees every person the right to practise his/her religion, I don’t think there is any governor that can enact a law in that regard.

“Governors ask for prayers in all places of worship, so how would they enact a law that will ban the practice of religion.”