POLITICS
Saraki Cautions Outgoing Governors to Avoid Undue Interference with Successors
Former President of the Senate, Sen. Bukola Saraki, has advised outgoing governors to avoid unnecessary influence on their successors after leaving office on May 29.
The former governor of Kwara gave the advice at a farewell dinner for outgoing governors organised by the Nigeria Governors Forum (NGF) on Sunday in Abuja.
Saraki, former chairman of the forum also advised governors-elect not to allow people around them to push them into frosty relationship with their predecessors.
“Outgoing, governors please from June 1 you are no longer governors; please allow your successors to do the work they have to do.
“Let them call you when they want your advice.
For those that are coming, those around you will always want you to have a `head-on’ with your predecessors.“It is a big mistake. It is unnecessary. Challenges ahead are beyond that,’’ he admonished.
While congratulating outgoing governors for successfully completing their tenures, Saraki also advised them to continue to play their roles in nation building.
“It is important that you play your role because this country needs everyone across all political parties.
“As you bow out as governors, you are going into a phase that is different and challenging. Brace up for challenges ahead. Spend more time with your families,” Saraki advised.
The former Senate president also advised incoming governors to start planning for their legacies from Day One in office.
“I pray and hope you will not be a governor for the sake of being a governor. You will be a governor that will impact on the people.
“Plan for those four or eight years and keep on challenging yourselves everyday to make an impact,’’ Saraki said.
In his remarks, former Gombe State governor, Alhaji Ibrahim Dankwambo also urged outgoing governors to avoid meddling in the affairs of their successors.
Dankambo urged incoming governors to begin to prepare for retirement as soon as they took office.
“Prepare for visits from the EFCC, ICPC and the Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit which may ask some questions that need answers,’’ he cautioned.
In her submissions, Deputy Secretary-General of the UN, Hajiya Amina Mohammed, said states must be made to work for their people.
“Nigeria cannot be great without the states. We know that we don’t have strong foundations but through hard work, this country can be better,’’ she said.
She called for partnership and deliberate policies to empower Nigerian women, noting that they did not have lesser brains compared to their male counterparts.
Former governor of Niger, Alhaji Babangida Aliyu, advised the governors-elect to give priority to programmes and projects that impacted on the people.
He also advised them to shun those pledging to help them to loot the treasury.
“Some people will come to tell you that this is your opportunity; don’t listen to them. A former governor who made that mistake is now walking the streets,’’ Aliyu said.
He also advised incoming governors to ensure they were accessible because being a governor does not confer superior intelligence.
“Get something to do to augment your income. Don’t always stay at home. Be active. Don’t allow your brain or physical body to sag,’’ Aliyu stressed.
One of the highlights of the dinner was the launching of a book entitled: “Common Ground (Leading Charge at the Subnational”) authored by former forum president, ex-Gov. Kayode Fayemi of Ekiti State.
Earlier in his opening remarks, chairman of the forum, Gov. Aminu Tambuwal of Sokoto State, said the event was to appreciate the outgoing governors and welcome the governors-elect.
Tambuwal said the book launched at the event would help the governors-elect in developing their plans and implementing them.
“Fayemi championed this and all our incoming governors will benefit from it,’’ Tambuwal said. (NAN)
The Abia Chapter of the INEC Staff Welfare Association (ISWA) has warned its members to uphold the integrity of the commission and guard against the culture of manipulating election results.
The Abia Chairman of the association, Mr Collins Eze, gave the advice at the group’s general meeting and end-of-year party in Umuahia.
Speaking in an interview with newsmen on the sideline of the ceremony, Eze said that the staff members were adequately aware of their enormous responsibility and should ensure free, fair and credible elections.
He said: “We have also told our colleagues that anywhere they find themselves they should make sure that they do the needful by ensuring transparency in the conduct of elections.
“We have always told them not to allow anybody to induce them with money to manipulate election results.
“I’m happy that they have been building the capacity of our colleagues on election processes.
“So, in the coming years, we won’t have any problem in ensuring free, fair and peaceful elections.”
He said that the end-of-year party was special as it afforded them the opportunity “to wine and dine together as well as thank God for sustaining them in 2024”.
Eze said that his leadership had introduced various means of assisting members in dire financial needs by providing platforms to solicit suppory for them.
He expressed gratitude to members for their support and cooperation, describing them as the “secret behind the success of this administration”.
He said that 34 of at least 350 staff members of the commission in the state retired from service in 2024.
According to him, the development has placed a huge financial burden on the association, in terms of their welfare and entitlement as members.
Report says that each member received a carton of tomato paste as Christmas gift from the association. (NAN)
A chieftain of All Progressives Congress (APC), Mr Osita Okechukwu, has told the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to be thankful to God that its 16-year administration was not probed by the successive APC-led governments.Okechukwu stated this on Tuesday in Abuja, while reacting to a statement by PDP congratulating Ghanaians for the conduct of free, fair and transparent general elections.
Report says that PDP had, in a statement, said that the verdict of the people of Ghana in the presidential election was a signal to the APC that its days were numbered. The party’s National Publicity Secretary, Debo Ologunagba, had said in the statement that the power of the people in Nigeria, just like in Ghana, would ‘surely prevail and end the APC’s oppressive rule’.This, he said, would “return Nigeria to the path of good governance, security, political stability and economic prosperity on the platform of the PDP in 2027.”However, in his reactions to Ologunagba’s statement, Okechukwu said that the PDP clan should thank God that former President Muhammadu Buhari and President Bola Tinubu, out of sheer statesmanship, had refused to probe ‘the 16 locus years of PDP administrations’.Okechukwu, a former Director-General of Voice of Nigeria (VON), described the 16 years of PDP administrations as ones full of squandering and lack of plan.He said that Nigeria had yet to recover from the humongous culture of impunity and trust deficit planted by PDP on the Nigerian soil.Okechukwu said corruption was among the culture of impunity, saying it governed the privatisation of Nigeria’s electricity value chain, a key element in the country’s industrialisation drive.“Another is the blatant rigging of the 2007 general elections which the foremost beneficiary, President Umaru Yar’Adua, out of good conscience and noble magnanimity, publicly acknowledged the malfeasance which characterised his victory,” he said.Okechukwu also mentioned what he called conscienceless sale of the legislative and ministerial quarters, the annual rentage of which, he said, was bleeding the country’s treasury.“Another one is the neglect of $23 billion Greenfield Refinery, which could have saved over $70 billion expended on importation of refined petroleum products and which simulated the economic hardship of today,” he said.On why, for nine years, the APC administration could not fix those challenges, he recalled the efforts made by the Buhari administration to reopen talks on the Greenfield Refinery which, according to him, the Chinese regrettably rebuffed.The former VON director-general said that Nigerians were not in a hurry to forget the deliberate breach of the rotational convention of president from the north to the south.He said that the country could not also forget the utter disregard for Section 7 of the PDP’s constitution which expressly mandated zoning.Okechukwu advised the PDP not to insult the sensibilities of Nigerians by assuming that citizens would easily forget how they were put in the harms way.He said that PDP should thank God that Buhari and Tinubu did not want to probe them, adding “that’s why Nigerians cannot decipher the difference between the two political parties.” (NAN)
Sen. Ned Nwoko (PDP-Delta) says that Local Government Administration is central to democracy in Nigeria as it ensures grassroots governance and service delivery at the local level.This is contained in a statement signed by Dr Michael Nwoko, the Chief of Staff to the lawmaker in Abuja on Monday.Nwoko said this on the occasion of the presentation of an award “Icon of Hope” to him by the Association of Local Government Vice Chairmen of Nigeria (ALGOVC).
He was represented by his Chief of Staff. He said that the importance of local government administration in the country could not be overemphasised, as it was the bedrock of democracy.According to him, local governments in Nigeria play key roles in the country’s democracy by promoting participatory democracy, providing services, and representing citizens.“Local Governments help determine local needs and how to meet them. They also act as a link between the centre, state, and local people.“They are created to decentralise power and bring the government closer to the people. They perform both mandatory and concurrent functions.“It is in view of this that I took it upon myself to enhance the viability of local governments through the Paris and London club loan refunds,”he said.Dr Folashade Olabanji-Oba, ALGOVC National Chairman, while presenting the award at its 7th Annual National Conference, said the award was in recognition of the lawmaker’s significant contributions to strengthening local government administration.She highlighted Nwoko’s critical role in ensuring the Paris and London Club loan refunds, a financial breakthrough she said enhanced the capacity of local governments nationwide.(NAN)
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