Sunday, 24 July 2016

Nepotism in Buhari's government is the worst - Dr Junaid Read more:

 – Dr Junaid Mohammed has cast some aspersion on the Buhari-led government – Mohammed say there is great nepotism in the the APC-led administration – The ex-Joint House Leader of the defunct Peoples Redemption Party (PRP) sppoke on the ills in the Nigerian government A chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee, and member of the Defence Committee in the second republic, Dr Junaid Mohammed has said that there is a group wielding power within President Buhari’s administration.
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President Buhari In a recent interview with The Punch, Dr Mohammed reacted to talks about a cabal hijacking the presidency, a charge the presidency has denied.
 Mohammed said: “Let me say straight away that whether one calls it a cabal or a mafia or some kind of cult or whatever, there is a group of people who are wielding power within the presidency under Buhari.
 Whatever you say it is; it is and a lot worse. First, the most influential person in the presidency today is one Mamman Daura whom as you know, is a nephew of the president.

 His father was Buhari’s elder brother. In addition, Mamman Daura was the one who single handedly brought up Abba Kyari, the current Chief of Staff to the President.
 In fact, Abba Kyari knows Mamman Daura more than he knows his own father.
 Next, the Personal Assistant to Buhari himself is the son of Mamman Daura, next is what they call SCOP, State Chief of Protocol, and is also a son-in-law to Mamman Daura because he is married to Mamman Daura’s daughter.
 Next, the Minister they unilaterally chose, against the interest of the party and against the wishes of Sokoto people, happens to be the daughter of the younger sister of Mamman Daura’s wife.
 Both of them are daughters of Sultan Dasuki, who was sacked by General Abacha.
 We have the Aide De Camp to Buhari himself, Colonel Abubakar. He is married to the granddaughter of one of Buhari’s elder sisters.
 Next we have the woman who represents Kaduna in the Federal Executive Council, she is a cousin to Kaduna State governor, Nasir el-Rufai.
 It is well known that el-Rufai is one of the closest governors to Muhammadu Buhari.
 Next, we have the Minister for the Federal Capital Territory.
 The Minister of the FCT is the man called Musa Bello, who used to be the Managing Director of the Northern Nigeria Development Corporation, which used to be the biggest holding company that belonged to all the northern states. His only qualification to be FCT minister is the fact that his father has been Buhari’s friend over the years.
 Now, there is a young man called Sabiu Yusuf, nicknamed Tunde – probably because of late General Tunde Idiagbon. He is another PA to President Buhari.
 He is also a grandson of another sister of Buhari. This is enough to prove to you that this is shamelessly the worst form of nepotism in the history of government in Nigeria.
 In fact, in the history of Africa, let me make bold to assert that I have never seen any level of nepotism that has equalled or surpassed this in my entire life – I am now in my 67th year.
 Another thing I also want you to know is that, Amina Zakari, who was and still a national commissioner in the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) representing the entire seven states in the North-West.
 It is being claimed that Buhari knows nothing about her appointment (before he became President),
 it is a lie.
When President Goodluck Jonathan was re-organising the INEC and he was bringing in Prof Attahiru Jega, he reached out to Buhari and asked Buhari to nominate somebody from the North-West so that that person would be a national commissioner.
 Of all the people in the North-West, Buhari decided to nominate his own niece, the daughter of his elder sister- Amina Zakari.
She has been there; when Jega left, Buhari was determined to make her chairman, it was because of the massive backlash that he dropped the idea like hot potatoes.
 As we are talking today, that woman is a national commissioner which means she is one of the principal election umpires.
 Throughout my reading of history, political science and social sciences generally, I have never heard of any dictator or any tyrant under any system of government whether totalitarian or fascist, appointing his own niece to conduct elections in which he was either a party or going to be a party to; Buhari has done that.
 The immediate younger brother to Amina Zakari is currently the Minister for Water Resources representing Jigawa State in the same Buhari government.
 In addition, even though they are from Kazaure, Kazaure is contiguous to Daura.
 The eldest sister of both of them is now the Commissioner for Education in the All Progressives Congress government in Jigawa state.
 If this is not nepotism, then I don’t know what is nepotism and anybody who has the guts, the brutal arrogance to appoint these relations not bothering about public opinion, about the sense of justice, about competence, then you can see that he has a very serious question to answer.
 There are two mysterious cases. Dr Mohammed went on to speak on the mysterious cases saying: “The case of the Governor of the Central Bank, Godwin Emeifele and the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Ibe Kachikwu.
 It was Buhari himself who said that he knew when the governor of the CBN picked a piece of paper and gave an instruction that N14bn should be withdrawn from the CBN and that money was withdrawn.
 That was nearly a year ago and up till today, Buhari is still retaining Emefiele as CBN governor.
 The Buhari I know is an economic illiterate and anybody who knows anything about currency movement and foreign exchange and fluctuations knows that the Naira has been effectively devalued. It was the same Buhari who boasted that the Naira would never be devalued under him for as long as he remains President and even threatened the governor of the CBN that he was going to sack him if he devalued the Naira.
 He (CBN governor) is still there.
 In the case of Kachikwu, he is the mystery man in the cabinet.
 No one can actually tell you who nominated and brought in Kachikwu.
 We knew that he was friends with Abba Kyari when they both worked in Mobil but none of them had the influence to bring him in and make him Minister of Petroleum Resources.
 Forget the nonsense about him being the junior minister because he is the senior and junior minister in addition to being the Managing Director of the NNPC (until recently when he was replaced.
 This again confirms the arrogance of President Buhari in putting two positions together; one purely civil service and technocratic position which is the Group Managing Director of the NNPC and the other one which is purely political- a minister.
 What is wrong with the President merging these portfolios in the light of the administration’s desire to cut the cost of running government…? Since this man became minister, there has been nothing good coming out of the oil industry rather than confusion, crisis and corruption.
 That again is an indication of the decadence we have in this government.
 People who are being accused and arrested for corruption as it should be, we are also aware that some of these cases that the DSS is getting involved in are shady because they have no experience whatsoever in prosecution.
 That is why from the famous case of Farouk Lawal, a former member of the House of Representatives who was involved in getting money and putting it under his cap and what have you which was captured on camera.
  They arrested that man; it was a clear cut case long before Buhari became President.
 Till today, the DSS has not been able to prosecute Farouk Lawan. He is still sitting at home; his house is about 200 metres from my house.
 That shows you that when you hear that the DSS is arresting somebody for corruption, it is clearly political and maybe there is money or corruption involved.
 We also know that there are people from within the DSS from the very top who are even threatening that they will soon arrest the Chairman of the EFCC and the National Security Adviser.” The ex-Joint House Leader of the defunct Peoples Redemption Party (PRP) said: “The main reason is these people have refused to cooperate with them: Mamman Daura, Abba Kyari and the DG DSS, who is also part of the Daura cabal they want to take over the anti-corruption war so that it will be under their hand and they can cut deals and render the anti-corruption war useless.
 I know who they propose to take over, it didn’t work. I think Buhari resisted- which is miracle.
 They are now proposing somebody. The person who they proposed was a retired DIG, he, myself and Magu (current EFCC boss) had worked in Port Harcourt during my years in OMPADEC. Now they are thinking of a retired Commissioner of Police. The only qualification they are looking for is someone who can be controlled by them.
 This is the situation we find ourselves. In the light of what you have said, what would you say has changed in government? I will put it this way, we have exchanged one thoroughly corrupt government for one that pretends to be honest and is doing an honest job while in reality, it is business as usual.

'Xenophobia, racism and egocentrism' - world media react to to Trump speech


Combo picture of Trump images
Image captionEyes of the world media were on Donald Trump as he gave "main speech of his life" in Cleveland.

World media reaction to businessman Donald Trump's speech accepting the Republican Party's nomination for the presidential election has varied from region to region.
Latin American writers were disappointed by what they saw as the "racist" content of his address whilst Middle East journalists said they saw nothing new.
Mexican daily El Universal found "the only surprise" was that the speech did not contain the same amount of "barbarities" as before.
"Xenophobia, racism and egocentrism" formed the key points of the speech, according to Venezuelan-based news channel TeleSur which noted that Mr Trump blamed immigrants for the economic crisis whilst ignoring the millions of dollars spent on "unjustified military invasions".

Screen grab from TeleSur online article on Trump's nominationImage copyrightTELESUR

"Demagogic, populist and racist" was Brazilian news portal Ultimo Segundo's view of the speech and it quoted a pundit who suggested that Mr Trump's rhetoric was effective because of the "incessant search by the Republican electorate for a common enemy".

'Lavish promises'

In the Middle East, pan-Arab Al-Arabiya and Al-Jazeera TV channels highlighted Mr Trump's pledges on security and terrorism but said he gave no detail of future policy.
An Al-Jazeera TV reporter said "Trump lavished Americans with promises but, as usual, he forgot to tell them how he would achieve them".
Al-Arabiya TV said Mr Trump vowed to defeat the so-called Islamic State but added that he continued to blame his rival, Hillary Clinton, for its rise. Al-Arabiya's correspondent complained she heard "nothing new" in his remarks and no alternatives to current policy.
In China, national state TV also focused on Mr Trump's speech with Shanghai'sDragon TV correspondent saying the two key points were "security" and "prosperity", with a mention of China "three times".
But Chinese government mouthpiece People's Daily accused Mr Trump of making "groundless accusations against China on currency manipulations and the theft of US intellectual property."
Independent financial news website Caixin, however, noted that Mr Trump's motto of "Americanism" has struck a chord with online readers. It said he plans "to put US interests first, with the US creed of 'Americanism' instead of 'Globalism'".

Screen grab of Caixin piece on TrumpImage copyrightCAIXIN\WEIBO

'Apocalyptic' vision

Some European papers were disturbed by Mr Trump's "apocalyptic message on America's decline" as German broadsheet Die Welt put it.
While acknowledging that Mr Trump "delivered an effective and well-calculated speech" - which it described as his "most coherent" for a long time - the daily said that he painted "a bleak picture of America".
"'Crime, violence, poverty' was his negative message", it added.
Munich-based daily Sueddeutsche Zeitung agreed, saying that Mr Trump used the right-wing media's image of the USA being "a post-apocalyptic wasteland". His main message was that "America is ruined and he is the solution", the paper said.
German-language news website Spiegel Online said the acceptance speech showed a different man. "No repulsive macho, no shameless narcissist", it noted, but added that his subject matter remained unchanged.

Screen grab of Spiegel's article on Trump's nominationImage copyrightSPIEGEL ONLINE
Image captionGermany's Spiegel Online dubbed Trump's speech 'Festival of lies'

"Lies, paranoid visions, abstruse promises, uncomplicated appeals to white America. The USA destroyed, threatened from within (crime) and outside (terrorism)... Everything is still there, just packaged differently," it observed.
French newspaper Le Monde pointed out that Mr Trump had departed from the party line over the LGBTQ community, which he now promised to protect, despite the GOP's plan to revisit the issue of gay marriage.
However in Russia, Mr Trump's departure from party policy apparently went unnoticed as state-owned Rossiya 1 TV reported that "no political sensation took place" and Gazprom-owned NTV noted that "there was no mention of Russia" in his acceptance speech.
But a correspondent for Russian state-run news channel, Rossiya 24, said: "No matter how the election campaign pans out, it is the main speech of his life."
BBC Monitoring reports and analyses news from TV, radio, web and print media around the world. You can follow BBC Monitoring on Twitter and Facebook.

Kabul IS blast: Afghan capital buries victims of huge bombing


Graves are dug in Kabul, 24 JulyImage copyrightAHMAD SHAFAI
Image captionGraves had to be dug out of the parched ground

Funerals have taken place in Kabul for victims of Saturday's suicide bomb attack claimed by so-called Islamic State (IS), which killed 80 people.
Bodies were still being collected from morgues as the first burials were conducted in the west of the city.
The bomber targeted a protest march by members of the Hazara minority, Shia Muslims reviled by IS, a Sunni group.
President Ashraf Ghani has led prayers for the dead and Afghanistan is observing a day of national mourning.
Some families were still searching for missing relatives on Sunday, gathering outside hospitals to read the names posted on the walls, and checking morgues.
One family told the BBC they had four people still unaccounted for.

'War crime'

Mourners could be seen brushing down earth over the graves of victims in a report by the Associated Press news agency.


Media captionEyewitness Sabira Jan: "I saw many people killed"

On a hilltop, a digger was used to prepare for further interments.
The government banned all public gatherings and demonstrations for 10 days after Saturday's attack, which also wounded at least 230 people.
Thousands of Hazaras had been protesting in in Deh Mazang Square over a new power line, saying its route bypassed provinces in central Afghanistan where many of them live.

A funeral in Kabul, 24 JulyImage copyrightEHSANULLAH AMIRI
Image captionWall Street Journal reporter Ehsanullah Amiri took this photo of a funeral in Kabul on Sunday
Preparation for digging graves on a hilltop in the west of Kabul, 24 July
Image captionGraves were dug on a hilltop in western Kabul
Injured survivors in a Kabul hospital, 24 JulyImage copyrightEPA
Image captionAt least 230 people were wounded
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The victims

Few details were immediately known about the dead.
One of those killed was an Afghan journalist, Hussiani Mohammadi, according to fellow reporter Bilal Sarwary.
An unnamed victim had been the sole bread winner of his family, his cousin, Sayed Mohammad, told Reuters news agency after finding the man's sandals in a pile of bloodied personal effects. He was killed along with three other relatives, Mr Mohammad said.

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An Afghan intelligence source told the BBC that an IS commander named Abo Ali had sent three bombers from Nangarhar province to carry out the attack.
It appears that only one attacker managed to detonate his explosives. The belt of the second failed to explode and the third attacker was killed by security forces, the source said.
Speaking at a hospital, one protester, Sabira Jan, described what had happened: "We were holding a peaceful demonstration when I heard a bang and then everyone was escaping and yelling.
"I saw many people were killed and most of them were covered with blood. There was nobody to help the victims. Policemen were looking at us, and after that I heard gunshots, then I don't know what happened."
President Ghani vowed to take revenge against those responsible for the attack, which was also condemned by the Taliban, Afghanistan's most prominent Islamist militant group, who accused IS of seeking to start a civil war.

A relative (C) is comforted as he weeps alongside unseen shoes and other belongings of those who were killed in the twin suicide attack, at a mosque in Kabul, 24 JulyImage copyrightAFP
Image captionMourners broke down as they sifted through victims' belongings on Sunday

The UN mission in Afghanistan described the attack as a "war crime".
The Hazaras, who live mainly in the centre of the country, have long complained of discrimination. During Taliban rule in the late 1990s, many of them fled to Pakistan, Iran and Tajikistan.
Some Hazaras were furious at both the government and their own political leaders who, they said, had exploited the grievances of their community at longstanding discrimination to shore up their own power bases.
"They sold us and we will never forget this," mourner Ghulam Abbas told Reuters. "They've built skyscrapers for themselves and their families from our blood."

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Who are the Hazaras?

  • Of Mongolian and Central Asian descent
  • Mainly practise Shia Islam, in predominantly Sunni Afghanistan and Pakistan
  • Thought to be the third largest ethnic group in Afghanistan
  • Estimates suggest they make up 15-20% of Afghanistan's population, which is thought to be about 30 million
  • At least 600,000 Hazaras live in Pakistan, most of them in Quetta
  • Legend has it they are descendants of Genghis Khan and his soldiers, who invaded Afghanistan in the 13th Century

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