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N500billion NDDC budget to fund APC campaigns – Wike *Queries, N4billion de-silting, N60billion security provisions
Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Wike on Monday, alerted Nigerians about the likelihood of the N500billion 2023 budget of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) currently sitting with the National Assembly being plunged in the prosecution of the 2023 elections by the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).
Wike, who said that NASS was under pressure to pass the budget, not to develop the region, but to raise funds for this year’s elections,particularly queried the importance of some of its provisions, such as a whopping N4billion for the de-silting of drainage and another N60billion for security agencies.
Wike, who raised the issues, while hosting a delegation from media houses, who were at the Government House in Port Harcourt to present letters of nomination as the winner of Leadership Politician of the Year 2022 and the Sun Courage in Leadership Award 2022,award, wondered why a commission that “has not completed one road in one year,” despite being established to develop key infrastructures in the Niger Delta region, would be allocating such an amount of money to clean drainage and build structures for security agencies.
Wondering the relevance of the Niger Delta Ministry which was created in 2008 to coordinate efforts to tackle the changes in infrastructure development, environmental protection and youth empowerment in the Niger Delta, he railed against a situation where it had now restricted its duty to supervising the NDDC, a situation he said further put pressure on the commission.
Zeroing in on the crisis in the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP),he recalled how the party betrayed his trust and confidence when the convention committee reopened a foreclosed window to allow a Presidential Aspirant, Governor Aminu Waziri Tambuwal of Sokoto State to relaunch a campaign after all the aspirants had spoken, where he did not only announce his withdrawal from the race, which was of no offence, but was allowed to instruct his supporters on who to vote for.
In fact, Wike, who said the entire exercise was completely marred by irregularities by Tambuwal’s antics, which was akin to launching a fresh campaign after all the aspirants were given the time to speak and voting was about to begin, said, he decided to forge ahead despite the fraud perpetrated by his party, believing that equity would be done in the holding of party positions and that its National Chairman, Iyorchia Ayu would resign as promised.
“I could have taken up legal action against the PDP, but for the love I have for the party I sacrificed a lot to rebuild when it was abandoned. While I have not reneged on my promise at the convention ground to support whoever that emerges as the candidate, the other party must also fulfil its promise.I cannot join the PDP Presidential campaign to tell lies about its prospect to do things differently in the country when its leadership has not been able to effect minor internal changes.
“No amount of threat and blackmail will deter me from speaking the truth. I’m not ‘a move-about politician.’Rivers State has not benefitted from the Federal Government since 1999 despite its support for the party.The media must not “panel beat” the truth to create a better society for the preset and posterity.”
The echoes of the drums rolled out to celebrate the rescue of the 44 teachers and students, kidnapped from some schools in Oyo State, after 56 days in the bush, would surely be disrupted abruptly, with the divergent echoes of a fresh abduction, this time coming from Kogi State.
Reports indicate that the gunmen, struck on Tuesday at the Government Secondary School, Odo-Ekina, in Dekina Local Government Area of the state, abducting four students, the school principal and a National Examinations Council (NECO) ad hoc staff member.
Authorities of the Kogi State Police Command, who immediately unleashed their operatives in hot pursuit of the abductors, said the attack occurred at about 5:25 p.m. while the students were writing their NECO examination.
Saliu Oyiza Afusat, an Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) and spokesman of the command, said a combined team of police personnel and other security agencies has launched a search-and-rescue operation following the incident.
Informing that one of the students was actually rescued immediately, she said efforts were ongoing to secure the release of the remaining victims and apprehend the attackers, adding that Naziru Bello Kankarofi, the state Commissioner of Police, alongside the Brigade Commander and the State Security Adviser to the Governor, Commodore Jerry Omodara (Rtd), were already on the way to the scene for an on-the-spot assessment.
Oil prices are expected to go down now with the announcement of Donald Trump, US President that he will no longer impose a 20 percent “safe passage” fee on ships passing through the Strait of Hormuz.
The POTUS, hinged his reversal of the decision on the intervention from some Gulf countries, who pleaded with him not to toe the line due to the massive economic impact the decision would make on the region.
Indeed, oil prices had shot up immediately Trump announced the new levy on Monday while declaring the US ‘the guardians of the Hormuz strait,’ a measure which he said was to pay for the cost of guarding the volatile area in order keep supply of oil flowing.
Reports said that Gulf allies of the US worked frantically to get Trump on the phone in time to talk him out of the idea altogether, while a flurry of appeals came from Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Qatar.
In response, the POTUS, posting on his Truth Social platform, wrote: “Based on highly productive conversations with Middle East leadership, I have decided to replace the 20% United States Reimbursement Fee with Trade and Investment Deals that the various Gulf States will be making into the United States.”
Trump, who said the investments would be “MASSIVE but, at the same time, extraordinarily good for them, and their future,” added that the deals would see factories, plants, and equipment pour into the US at “Historic levels.”
The Gulf nations have committed to invest trillions of dollars in the US, though it remains unclear how much of that they will actually spend over the next several years.
Meanwhile, the US continues to bomb Iran in what appears to be a resumption of active conflict between both countries, despite an ongoing roadmap to end the conflict.
Reports say operatives of the Osun State Police Command, and those of the Department of State Services (DSS) had tracking the trail of Adeniyi Adeyemi, controversial Director General of the Presidential Foreign Intervention Promotion Council (PFIPC), for weeks, before he was eventually pulled out of his hole on Tuesday.
However, the duo, were said to have pulled back after failing to track him through his mobile phones, which he had reportedly switched off for about two days, making it difficult to locate him, leaving the stage for the members of the Police Intelligence Response Team (PI-RT) led by Moses Lohor, a Chief Superintendent of Police (CSP).
Lohor, said to have previously served as the Commander of the Anti-Kidnapping Squad of Osun State, and reported to have been involved in high-profile security operations and controversies, after taken over fielded his men to pick up signals from their well-oiled signal networks.
Regarded by many Osun residents as one of the key security officers who contributed significantly to the peace and stability enjoyed in Ilesa and other parts of the state during his tenure, he was said to have relied on his contacts before his transfer out of the state, said to have raised concerns from the public about the security situation he would be leaving behind.
His exit from the state was said to be hinged on an incident in 2024, in which he allegedly shot one Iyanda Alowonle, then Chairman of Osun State Motor Transport System, in the stomach at the police station in the state prompting an order for his arrest by then Inspector General of Police (IGP).
His effort was said to have paid off when he successfully tracked down the controversial PFIPC, boss, who was seen on Tuesday evening, in a shot video on social media undergoing interrogation, and eventually handed him over to Ibrahim Gotan, Commissioner of Police in the state.
The PUNCH quoted one of the sources as saying: “The arrest (of Adeyemi) took place on Tuesday morning by the IRT squad, who immediately moved him to Abuja. After he was arrested, he was taken to Ibadan and from there to Abuja.”
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