‘We are the only country where politicians earn billions’ — Afe Babalola advocates new people’s constitution

 

Afe Babalola, founder of Afe Babalola University, Ado Ekiti, says politicians are benefiting from the “flaws” in the 1999 constitution.

In an interview with TheSun, Babalola said because they are beneficiaries of the constitution, they would not be able to make proper amendments where necessary.

The 1999 constitution was drawn under the supervision of the military, and some of its contents were part of the draft constitution prepared under Sani Abacha, the late head of state.

The senior advocate of Nigeria (SAN) explained that the calls for the amendment of the constitution were not necessary, adding that what was needed was a sovereign national conference to produce a new constitution that would benefit the ordinary people.

“The only way out is not an amendment to the flawed constitution but a new people’s constitution through a sovereign national conference,” he said.

“The politicians who are in government, in the national assembly, and who are benefiting from the flawed constitution can never make any good and proper constitution for this country and no amendment can ever do so.

“In 1965, we had a house of assembly and the senate. Nobody earned salaries then; what they earned was sitting allowance.

“Look at the house of assembly, senate. Now, hardly will you find 50 people there in a day and they earn salaries. They even talked about pension. So, there is no way you can amend the constitution. They will make sure that they remain earning these billions of naira. We are the only country where people earn billions.”

According to him, the 1999 constitution was drafted to allow the “military to perpetuate themselves in power”.

“For example, Awolowo paid 55 percent of the revenue on education, knowing the importance of education. People saw themselves as Nigerians then. Unfortunately, the military came in 1966, jettisoned the constitution and ruled by decrees. When they were going away in 1999, they did not return us to the constitution which they suspended and then they brought their own constitution and presented it as constitution made by Nigerians. That was a lie; even right from the face of it, it was a lie,” Babalola said.

“Actually, the constitution they made was done in such a way that it will allow the military to perpetuate themselves in power, and that is why you find, all the time, those who are in the military were coming back in one form or the other. We have never had good government ever since.”

The lawyer said the only way Nigeria could get it right with its constitution is by calling for a “sovereign national conference”.

“The meaning of that is that whatever they decide will not be subject to amendments by these people,” he said.

“I have participated in many conferences and at the end of the day what comes out of it? They want to spend another N2 billion for amendment; what are you amending?”

- THECABLE

I expect 30 goals from Osimhen at Napoli – Diego Maradona Jr.

 

Diego Maradona Junior has hailed Super Eagles’ Victor Osimhen, as a 30-goal striker.

Osimhen sealed a move from Lille to Napoli this summer.

Maradona, who was born in Naples, Italy and nurtured in the SSC Napoli academy, is the son of Argentine football legend, Diego Maradona.

The 33-year-old forward believes Osimhen will shine in the Italian Serie A, having already netted two hat-tricks in preseason friendlies.

Maradona, who represented Italy at the 2008 FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup, told Gonfialarete: “He is a forward with a great prospect, with room for improvement.

“If put in the right conditions, he can become a 30 goal striker. He’s just 21.

“I have expressed some doubts about his construction phase when it comes to tying up the game.

“He doesn’t have to do it too much, it doesn’t have to be his first goal. He is good at attacking depth and if he has space in front it hurts,” he added.

Napoli will kick off their 2020/2021 Serie A campaign against Parma at the Stadio Ennio Tardini on September 20.

- DAILY POST

Pregnant woman shot dead in Lagos

 

A bloody clash between suspected cult groups at Aleke community in Ikorodu, Lagos on Thursday has led to the killing of one pregnant woman identified as Risikat Saliman.

Saliman, 35, was shot dead after dozens of suspected cultists invaded Aleke community market around 8 pm and started shooting sporadically.

The Baale of Aleke Adeniyi Okemati said the hoodlums had gunned down the mother of two before the arrival of policemen from Imota division.

“I don’t know why they came and be terrorising our people. We want Lagos government to intervene so that we can collectively curb the menace to enable my people sleep with their two eyes closed,” he said.

The Baale urged residents to collaborate with local vigilante teams to curb insecurity in the area.

Brother of the deceased Babatunde Saliman told NAN that he met his sister “at the market lying in a pool of blood; some of her friends who came to the scene said that she was pregnant.”

“Her body has been released by the police and was taken to Ikorodu General Hospital mortuary in preparation to transport her to her home town in Kwara State,” he said.

Mr Saliman called on the police to investigate the killing and ensure the suspects are brought to justice.

Lagos police spokesman Muyiwa Adejobi said the cult clash was between Aiye and Eiye confraternity.

He added that policemen have restored normalcy to the area while the matter had been taken to the State Criminal Invesgation Department (SCID) Panti, Lagos.

He said: “The woman was killed by a stray bullet when the two rival cults of Eiye and Aiye engaged each other in a supremacy battle.

“The Commissioner of Police in the state, Hakeem Odumosu, has zero tolerance for cultism. Cultism breeds various other crimes wherever they exist.”

- PM NEWS

Oyedepo: You’re a mad dog with bipolar – Dunamis pastor, Paul Enenche attacks Daddy Freeze

 

Paul Enenche, the Senior Pastor of Dunamis International Christian Centre, has lambasted popular On-Air Presenter, Daddy Freeze over his attacks on pastors in Nigeria.

Enenche described Daddy Freeze as a mad dog who is suffering from bipolar disease.

The Dunamis pastor was reacting to a trending video where the OAP described Bishop David Oyedepo of Living Faith Church as a “baldheaded fowl.”

In a statement he issued, the clergyman stressed that the OAP has no moral values and respect.

He warned that Daddy Freeze risked the wrath of God if he continues attacking pastors in the country.

According to Enenche: “At this moment, it is imperative for us to address certain issues for the sake of upcoming generations. Otherwise, when evil is allowed to persist, it would be viewed as good.

“The culture of respect is a well-rooted scriptural bible culture.

“In Act 23:5, when Paul the Apostle spoke in a careless way, regarding the high Priest Ananias and his attention was drawn, he immediately withdrew his word and apologised.

“The culture of respect is also a deeply-rooted African culture. So strong that in parts of this country, in the west, children prostrate to greet fathers and elders.

“Yesterday, a man drew my attention from America, regarding a video that was mimicking God’s servant, Bishop David Oyedepo, posted by the MAD DOG called Freeze. MAD DOG emphasized. Someone said, Pastor, why are you calling someone a mad dog, Jesus did that first; he called Herod a wild dog – a fox.

“I said MAD DOG because that is spot diagnoses. Spot diagnoses is a situation whereby you know a sickness by just looking at the patient without even asking any questions. What he is exhibiting a is mad behavior.

“That is schizophrenia, schizophreniform behavior. That is mania. That is bipolar disorder. That is attention seeking psychopathic disorder. A man looking for attention by all means, trying to pull down people who have built values over the years.”

Enenche also backed the Pastor David Ibiyeomie of Salvation Ministries for calling Daddy Freeze a bastard.

The Dunamis pastor said the OAP deserved to be called a bastard because be behaves like one.

“Someone said they called him a bastard. I believe that the title is not less than what it is, because if that is not the title to be called, when last did you behave like someone who grew in a home? When last did you behave like someone whose father gave him any morals or value? When last did you behave like somebody who knows culture? What did your father teach you growing up? What did you learn as a child? And here you are, wifeless, houseless, jobless. You can’t keep a wife, can’t keep a job. Can’t keep nothing and you are speaking about someone who is married for close to 40 solid years.

“When last did a tailor advise a surgeon how to operate? When last did a carpenter tell a Senior Advocate of Nigeria how to stand before the court to defend a case? What do you know about marriage when you can’t keep a home. What do you know about life, success and destiny? Who is a baggage of moral bankruptcy. A baggage of emptiness of character, talking about people who you are a never up to and will never be up to even if they gave you a thousand lifetimes. If you are in the same class of architecture with Bishop David Oyedepo, ask yourself, where will your position be? That is if you are able to study such a course. Or you are in mathematics class with Pastor EA Adeboye, ask yourself, where will you be found in a mathematics class where he did a first degree in Mathematics and Applied Mathematics in Masters. Where will you be? In his PhD in hydro-dynamics with stokes equation – specialty. Have you heard of that before? Or where will you be in our anatomy class, in pharmacology, pharmaco-dynamics, pharmaco kinetics? What do you know about etiopathogenesis of diseases? Have you ever heard of such before? What will be your rating in such classes?

“They are people who would have defeated you from the scratch if you were their age mate. And they will defeat you till tomorrow. Ask yourself this question, how many life times will you need, to be able to employ 35,000 people in your organization? That is what Bishop Oyedepo has done successfully and beyond that. How many life times will you need to be able to run two universities world class? Covenant University is among top 500 universities in the world, it’s number 4 in Africa and number 1 in Nigeria.

“What value have you added? What do you have you to offer, other than to stay on the pulpit and speak of what you know nothing about? I advise you, you are already a cursed man, a cursed man by virtue of bankruptcy of everything around you. But you better repent now, otherwise, Jehovah, whom you have stood against will deal with you and your lineage.

“Let me give you a final counsel, before you talk about married people and people in ministry, go ahead and get yourself a wife, get a family, succeed in the marriage then you have any audacity, temerity or any effrontery to speak further on marriage or on any issue bordering on life and success, otherwise you are a colossal monumental generational waste of existence,” he said.

Enenche also advised Daddy Freeze to start a church and work towards its success since he was so interested in pastoring.

“Secondly, since you are so interested in pastoring and in pastors, get yourself a church started from the scratch, gather a 100 people physically, gather them up to 1,000 and up to 10,000 and when you are through with that, pray for the sick, deliver the oppressed, help their widows and orphans, and then run it successfully, then you have an advice to give to anybody who is in the ministry, otherwise close your irresponsible mouth forever and never to be heard.

“And for everyone who follows gullibly, irresponsible personalities such as this, valueless entities, worthless entities, adding nothing to society, offering nothing. Just don’t waste your life, go face your front and do what you need to do to make a mark in your generation.

“What you attack, you can’t attract, what you hate, you can’t have, what you don’t like, you must lack, don’t waste your life following a vehicle going nowhere. Don’t waste your life listening to a man, who is speaking on something he has no experience about, don’t waste your life. A caution to you. When the young men spoke against Elisha and called him baldheaded man of God, the curse of the Lord overran them. Don’t waste your life. Retrace your step and make amend. In the name of Jesus Christ,” be added.

- DAILY POST

NEXT LEVEL IN PROGRESS !! Bakers ask Nigerians to expect 50 percent increase in bread prices

 The Association of Master Bakers and Caterers of Nigeria (AMBCN) says a 50 percent increase in the prices of bread is inevitable.

Raji Omotunde, Lagos state chapter chairman of AMBCN, made this known in an interview with NAN on Friday.

He said the prices of baking ingredients have increased due to the coronavirus pandemic, adding that manufacturers are now running at a loss.

“Prices of all ingredients used for baking are too high, especially flour and sugar. Between March and September, there has been a monthly addition of N500 on a bag of flour and bakers have been bearing the additional cost,” he said.

“But as it is, baking bread and selling at the current price is no longer profitable. We have been appealing to the millers but they are groaning about the absence and increase in price of foreign exchange. The only option we have now is to cry out so that government can come to our rescue.”

Nura Musa, the public relations officer of AMBCN Abuja chapter, called for government intervention.

He said an increase in prices will affect sales which will consequently affect bakery jobs across the country.

Musa said government support is needed to reduce production costs, which according to him, is killing the bakery business.

“The instability of foreign exchange, high cost of diesel and other baking materials are reasons given by flour millers for the hike in the prices of baking materials,” he said.

“We have appealed to flour millers and other people involved in the selling of baking materials to reduce their prices but they have not responded.

“And that is why we are pleading with Federal Government to intervene in this matter by engaging the flour millers and baking material sellers.

“The association is one of the largest employers of labour in the country and if any bakery should fold up many people will lose their jobs.”

A bag of flour which sold at N10,500 before the outbreak of coronavirus, now sells at N13, 000.

Also, a bag of sugar now sells between N19, 000 and N20,000 depending on bargaining power against the pre-COVID-19 price of N14,000.

The alert on the possible increase of the cost of bread is coming at a time when there is outrage over hike in pump price of petrol and new electricity tariff.

- THECABLE

Fresh Southern Kaduna attacks: 8 killed, others injured, houses destroyed

 

Suspected Fulani militia has killed a 60-year-old widow, a mother of 6 children and a 56-year-old man in Manyi-Mashin village, Zamandabo ward, in Atyap Chiefdom, Zangon Kataf Local Government Area of Kaduna State.

The alleged fatal attack on the community took place in the early hours of Friday, 11th September 2020.

This is contained in a statement issued by the National Publicity Officer, Southern Kaduna Peoples Union, SOKAPU, Luka Binniyat.

Binniyat said the suspected Fulani militias burnt down almost all the houses in the village, looting and carting away valuables.

The statement explained that though men of Operation Safe Haven promptly responded, the militia fled before their arrival.

Recall that Fulani militia on the 8th of September, 2020 laid ambush on three Atyap youths from Atakmawei village in Zamandabo Ward in Atyap Chiefdom. The three young farmers were said to have gone to work in their Sugar cane farm about a kilometre from their village.

It said that armed herdsmen came from hiding and struck, descending on them with daggers and machetes.

Anthony Magaji, 25, a final year HND student with Nuhu Bamali Polytechnic, Zaria, was hacked down, axing his neck and head with macabre wounds which killed him instantly.

Isaac Thomas, 24, also an OND student of the same school, managed to escape with life-threatening injuries and is now under intensive care in a hospital, while the third escaped with less injury.

The statement further explained, “Meanwhile, we have received complains of farmers in Gora axis of Atyap Chiefdom, who say that Fulani men occasionally sneak into their farms and destroy large swaths of growing food crops, thus leaving them with a bleak prospect of hunger in the near future. All these gory development is taking place after a much-publicized peace deal was reached between natives of Atyap Chiefdom on one side and their long time settled Hausa and Fulani representatives on 23rd August 2020 in Unguwan Wakili, close to Zangon Kataf town.”

It added that on the 8th of September, 2020, an attack was launched again by Fulani militias at Kitsarapang village in Kizachi Chiwo of Kizachi community, Tsam Chiefdom in Kauru local government area, stressing that the attack claimed the life of Emmanuel David Yohanna, 13, leaving two persons grievously with gunshots namely Sunday Zango Stephen, 48 and Zakka John, 23 who are now receiving treatment at a hospital in Jos.

The statement explained that three decomposing corpses were found on Kaduna-Abuja highway on Sunday, 6th September 2020 who were among four persons that were abducted during a brazen operation last week at Maraban Rido, a suburb of Kaduna in Chikun local government area all in Southern Kaduna, who were killed after ransoms were paid.

The union requested the Federal Government, through Operation Safe Haven, under the Command of Major General Chukwu Emeka Okonkwo, to expedite action and bring to book all the Fulani militia that are currently occupying 101 Southern Kaduna Communities in four of our LGAs.

“We have furnished the world with the details and we are happy to note that eight of the displaced communities in Zangan District in Kaura LGA are now returning home as a result of more presence of men of OPSH. We are appealing to our youths to shun all forms of provocation and conduct themselves in manners that will not make them fall short of the law, not compromising their rights for self-preservation under the law,” the union appealed

- DAILY POST

Nigeria becoming failed and badly divided nation under Buhari – Obasanjo

 Former President Olusegun Obasanjo has lamented that Nigeria is gradually becoming a failed state and a basket case and poverty capital of the world due to the recent mismanagement of Nigeria’s diversity.

He said this in Abuja on Thursday while delivering a speech titled, ‘Moving Nigeria Away from Tipping Over’ at a consultative dialogue attended by various socio-cultural groups including Afenifere, Middle Belt Forum, Northern Elders Forum, Ohanaeze Ndi Igbo, and Pan Niger Delta Forum.

The former President Obasanjo, said he had never seen Nigeria so divided, adding that many of the problems confronting the country today which urgently needs to be pulled from the brink of collapse.

“I do appreciate that you all feel sad and embarrassed as most of us feel as Nigerians with the situation we find ourselves in. Today, Nigeria is fast drifting to a failed and badly divided state; economically our country is becoming a basket case and poverty capital of the world, and socially, we are firming up as an unwholesome and insecure country,” the former President said.

“And these manifestations are the products of recent mismanagement of diversity and socio-economic development of our country. Old fault lines that were disappearing have opened up in greater fissures and with drums of hatred, disintegration and separation and accompanying choruses being heard loud and clear almost everywhere.”

Obasanjo said those beating drums of war and calling for secession must remember that were Nigeria to break into several countries, the citizens would still be neighbours and would need to interact with one another.

He stated that if Nigeria was to successfully tackle its challenges, it must first address the problem of disunity because a house divided could not achieve much success.

The former President, therefore, commended all socio-cultural groups present at the meeting, describing their agreement to come together as a good sign.

He added, “With what I have seen, read and heard from the rapprochement that you are forging together, I see a ray of hope that Nigeria can be saved from disintegration.

“If we are ready to live together in understanding, mutual respect and love with equity, justice, inclusiveness while engendering sense of belonging and unity of purpose and all hands on deck, we can deal with internal issues of terrorism, organised crimes, banditry, kidnapping, human trafficking, drug, money laundering and corruption.

“We will then be able to deal successfully with any incoming attack of terrorism, organised crimes, etc; from outside.”

Obasanjo described the National Assembly’s fresh constitutional review exercise as a waste of time and resources.

He subsequently praised socio-cultural groups like NEF and Yoruba Summit Group for describing it as such.

Obasanjo said, “That ray of hope was somewhat manifested in the last 10 days or so when the Northern Elders Forum and Yoruba Summit Group complemented each other in their separate press releases on the Senate’s idea of inviting submissions from Nigerian public for constitution amendment which had been regular money-gulping activity by every National Assembly session since 1999, a veritable source of waste without end.

“I believe one of our major problems in the past was that we did not dialogue enough, we talk at ourselves and selfishly keep old prejudices and biases. If we show understanding, give-and-take, love of one another and commitment and love of the country, we will do what is right and stand firmly together for the good of all.”

He said he was optimistic that the consultation among the several groups would enlarge the circle from the mini-dialogue group bit by bit until a national dialogue that could save Nigeria from disintegration was reached. When that is done, he said the initiative would come to an end.

The former President said only self-deluded people would claim that all is well in Nigeria.

He said, “I believe Nigeria is worth saving on the basis of mutuality and reciprocity and I also believe it can be done through the process of dialogues rather than talking at each other or resorting to violence. It will amount to dangerous and destructive self-delusion for anybody to claim that all is well in Nigeria today.”

He stated that rather than work on fixing the country and ensuring that grievances among several units within the country are addressed, some are fixated on the 2023 Presidential election.

Obasanjo added, “Some people are obsessed with 2023, I believe that with death, destruction, debt, disease, deceit, disbelief, disenchantment, doubt, and suspicion around, we need to see our way through to 2023 and beyond in some form of unity of purpose, reasonable security, shared values, true democratic practice, inclusiveness and shared society. That is why we are here. No constitution is even permanent; it is dynamic with time and experience.”

- PM NEWS