Workers verification: El-Rufai warns civil servants against strike

Governor Nasir El-Rufai of Kaduna State has warned civil servants against embarking on industrial action over the ongoing workers verification exercise.

He warned that workers who fail to get verified risk being removed from the government's payroll.

In a statement issued by his media aide, Samuel Aruwan, the governor said that the verification exercise is a legitimate attempt by government to update its personnel records and is therefore compulsory.

“Cooperation with the employer to verify the status of every worker is expected. It cannot be made a reason for industrial action.

“Refusal to participate in verification will result in the concerned persons being removed from the payroll.

“The labour leadership seems to be afraid that workers will opt-out of joining unions.

“If that be the case, the unions should seek ways to increase their attraction to workers, including persuading them to opt for continued membership.

“Inciting workers against a legitimate process of updating their personnel records is counter-productive,” the statement said.

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Better days for farmers as Dangote tomato factory begins production in Kano.

The brand new Dangote Tomato Processing Factory last week began test production in Kano.

According to the Managing Director of the company, Alhaji Abdulkadir Kaita, the factory which is designed to process 120 tonnes of fresh tomatoes per day has already processed more than 500 tonnes.

He said that the company has been paying tomato farmers higher than what they get at the open market.

“We purchase the commodity at N20, 000 per tonne irrespective of the tomato specie.

“So we buy a basket of the commodity above N1,000 per basket and the current price at the market is N300. This is more than twice the price at the open market.

“The farmers are happy about the price because we have had several meetings with the officials of their association before we agreed on the prices.

“Once we collect the tomato, the company will pay you within two days,“ he said.

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Read Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria's reaction to Kaduna Religious Bill

The Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria, PFN is angry with the Nasir El-Rufai administration over the Kaduna State Religious Bill which is now before the State House of Assembly.

The PFN described the bill as obnoxious and vexing.

The Chairman of PFN in Kaduna State, Reverend Professor Femi Ehinmidu told newsmen in Kaduna that the organization would use every legal means to defend the rights of Christians in the state.

“We do not see any reason why restricting and regulating religious activities should be the Government of Kaduna State priority when the issue prevailing in Kaduna State currently for every family is how to put food on the table. It is unimaginable to see our erudite Governor exhuming a military era edit which came into being when the constitution was suspended, smacks of mischief.

“Now with this bill that he has sent to the House, he is opening up new vistas of hostilities‎ between Christians and Muslims when bias implementation is carried out if the bill is passed into law.

“Further more, the bill is obnoxious and directly offends our faith. The bible commands us in Mark 16 vs15 to ‘go ye into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature’ and 1 Thessalonians 5 vs 29 also said ‘pray without ceasing’ this is the life wire of the Christian religion.

“Taking away the rights to preach and evangelise is telling the Christians not to practise their religion as commanded by the Lord Jesus.

“There are many laws that legislate on trampling on the rights of other people. Let those laws take full course. The bill should not take Kaduna State backward. We oppose the bill in its entirety and we shall do everything legal to ensure that our rights as Christians are not curtailed.

“We call on well meaning Nigerians and relevant stakeholders to prevail on the Government of Kaduna State to withdraw that vexing bill before Kaduna State House of Assembly.

“The bill has latent explosive heat that can set Kaduna State on fire if not tamed with proper stakeholders engagements or better still withdraw the ‎bill from being processed in the house of assembly and use existing laws to address the re-emerging religious challenges.

“The Nigeria constitution guarantees our freedom of worship and our rights to propagate our religious beliefs. The Kaduna State government is not wiser than the whole lot of eminent Nigerians who gave the nation the constitution," he said.

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IPOB calls for boycott of Fulani cattle

The Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB has called on the Igbo nation to boycott Fulani cattle in order to forestall the infiltration of their land by armed Fulani herdsmen.

IPOB urged Ndigbo to grow their own native cows which can be found in abundance at Abakaliki, in Ebonyi State, Nsukka in Enugu State and Obudu in Cross River State.

In a statement signed by its Media and Publicity Secretary, Comrade Emma Powerful, IPOB said;
“After putting our acts together, IPOB discovered that the Fulani herdsmen are determined to exterminate the lives of Biafrans through their herdsmen.

“We in the IPOB worldwide are calling on all Biafrans to stop eating Fulani cows and stop patronizing them. They will leave our land and stop raping our women and girls and they will stop killing our men because of our wives and girls.

“We discovered that these Fulani herdsmen are not ordinary people but Boko Haram insurgents who were trained by their brothers. We are calling on Biafrans to start eating goat meat, chickens and fish.

“Again, all Biafrans should start  rearing their local cows. We have them at Abakiliki in Ebonyi State, Nsukka in Enugu State and Obudu Ranch in Calabar, Cross River State in abundance.

“If we Biafrans implement this without patronizing them again, they will leave our land without molestations because they were equipped with guns and we Biafrans don’t have guns and ammunition.

“We also know that Hausa/Fulani don’t eat much of cow meat but have you asked yourselves questions why they don’t eat red meat?

“IPOB reminds you about what the Hausa/Fulani did in Agatu, Benue State and in Delta State where they kidnapped a traditional ruler and killed him and in Enugu and Ebonyi states where they ravaged, killed, maimed and raped our women and girls.”

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7 former governors, 6 ex-Ministers set to lose loots in Dubai

The Federal Government appears to have concluded arrangements for the repatriation of over $200b loot kept in the United Arab Emirates by seven former state governors, about six ex-Ministers and other public servants, including their fronts.

The Nation reports that some real estate belonging to former Politically Exposed Persons, PEPs and their cronies and fronts are in danger of being seized.

Among those being investigated for hiding looted funds in the Arab country either in cash or real estate are seven former governors, six former ministers, a fleeing presidential aide implicated in the $2.1billion arms deals, ex-military chiefs under probe, agents / fronts of some of these public officers and five chieftains of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP.

The Minister of Justice and Attorney-General of the Federation, Mr. Abubakar Malami, the Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, Mr. Ibrahim Magu and crack detectives from the anti-graft agency are on a Federal Government's team that is already comparing notes on the indicted PEPs with their  counterparts in the United Arab Emirates.

Recall that President Muhammadu Buhari had in January signed a “Judicial Agreement on Extradition, Transfer of Sentenced Persons, Mutual Legal Assistance on Criminal Matters, and Mutual Legal Assistance on Criminal and Commercial Matters, which includes the recovery and repatriation of stolen wealth."

According to a source who to The Nation in confidence, “the Federal Government team has met with those from the UAE on intelligence sharing, the list of those on EFCC radar, the number of highly-placed Nigerians with fat accounts in UAE and those with choice properties in Marina (Dubai), Bur Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Doha.

”Some of the former governors include one from the South-South, two from Northcentral, two from the Northeast, one from the Northwest, and one from the Southwest.

“A former-governor had made botched attempts to transfer about $517million loot to Dominican Republic because UAE law is now strict.

“More than six ex-ministers and a former presidential aide, who is on the run over the $2.1billion arms deals, were said to have acquired choice mansions and malls in UAE. One of the former ministers, who was alleged to own two houses in Dubai, was said to have served as a front for a former First Lady.

“Another ex-minister had bought some malls through a few cronies in Dubai. The list of such agents is being screened.

“Certainly, the anti-graft agency has tightened the noose on these former public officers and there is no hiding place for them.

“The success of the collaboration between the Federal Government team and the UAE Government will determine when EFCC will release the concessions on some of these PEPs. Very soon, we will unveil these ex-political office holders.”

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Police nab three drug lords in Katsina

The Katsina State Commissioner of Police, Alhaji Usman Abdullahi, has announced the arrest of three major dealers in illicit drugs in the state.

Abdullahi while addressing newsmen in Katsina on Monday, said  that large quantities of assorted drugs and some sacks containing some leaves suspected to be Indian hemp were recovered from the suspects.

“The command deployed detectives who monitored the activities of the drug kingpins before arresting them,“ he said

He called on the residents of the state to always avail the police of information concerning the activities of drug traffickers as the consumption of illicit drugs in the area is very high.

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Power mongers in PDP, APC responsible for Rivers elections violence - Okupe

Chief Doyin Okupe, one time Senior Special Assistant on Public Affairs to former President Goodluck Jonathan, is angry with his party, the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC and the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC over the killing of innocent Yoruba youth corpers in the violence-ridden Rivers State legislative re-run elections.

This is how he poured out his heart on Facebook.

Doyin Okupe
The scale of violence that accompanied the Rivers Re run elections is condemnable and unacceptable. All principal participants must accept responsibility for this intolerable acts savagery. By all principals I mean, pdp,APC and their leaderships, the Inec, and the entire gamut of our security agencies.
In 2016, the wanton destruction of lives and properties that accompany our elections in varying degrees is no longer excusable.
The frequent deaths of citizens, electoral officials, members of the security forces has assumed highly barbaric proportions.
Of particular importance is the reported death of innocent Youth corpers.
As a Nigerian parent whose children will still go through this national calling, I cease this opportunity to call on other Nigerian parents and well meaning Nigerians to prevail on Inec to stop with immediate effect the deployment of our children for electoral services. We can no longer bear the pain of losing our wards to mindless acts of lawlessness by thugs and hooligans acting for and on behalf of reckless, desperate and irresponsible politicians and power mongers.
Inec stands accused in all this dastardly developments. Before going into an election in any volatile area they ought to obtain full security reports of the area in question and also confer with the police and the army to get written assurance that they can guarantee the security of electoral materials and officers.
Firstly it is unacceptable that Inec will still be involved in moving electoral materials all over the place on election day. All materials for election must arrive all LGA headquarters 2weeks before election day.
They must arrive all wards one whole week before elections, only to be moved to the polling stations accompanied by security in the morning of the elections.
All personnel including security, should be at the wards at least 2days before the elections and be familiarised with their areas of duty and their security details before the D Day.
In special volatile areas like rivers and others as to be advised by police and the intelligence agencies, a minimum of 5 armed personnels per polling station with availability of standby re enforcement in each LGA quarters.
If it is impossible for any reason that these provisions can be made available, elections in such areas must be deferred.
In the case of this re run in rivers, Inec the main organ empowered by our laws to conduct and oversee elections ought to have correctly projected these events and prevented it by breaking the elections into two episodes separated by one week. It is not acceptable for Inec, after its publicly manifested incompetence, to just come up after each mayhem, technical and administrative failure, and announce gleefully that the elections are "Inconclusive".
If the present leadership in Inec are incompetent, the federal government should not waste time and continue to expose the citizenry to misery and pain. The entire organization should be overhauled.
The security agencies must keep their roles to their professional calling. Voting and the processes that are before or after it is not their business.
Politicians, thugs and all persons involved directly or indirectly in acts of violence should be tried and if found guilty should be sanctioned with punishments ranging from death sentences to life imprisonment depending on their level of involvement.
For the next re run in rivers, Gov Wike, and Amechi and at least 10 of their proven closest aides must be moved out of rivers state into protective custody, deprived of their phones for a day before the new elections and on the day of elections.
Enough of violence in our elections.
8 hrs · Public

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