PDP in coma:- David Mark

Senate President, David Mark, yesterday, warned that the party, PDP, will die if the leadership, stakeholders and members did not urgently nip in the bud all internal squabbles and media hostilities.

The Senate President said the party is already in coma and haemorrhaging, warning that further squabbling by its leaders would lead to the death of the party.

Mark painted the sad picture when the Chairman of the PDP post-election assessment committee, Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu, visited him.

Mark spoke as the national leadership of the party said that the PDP has overcome the shock and trauma it suffered at the polls and urged members to embrace peace and work with the Ekweremadu committee.

Senator Mark, however, called on all stakeholders to rise above the present circumstances and work hard to rejuvenate the party, adding that the new status of the party as an opposition will be a challenge that must be faced with all honesty, sincerity of purpose and dedication to duty.
He said he had the belief that democracy and the nation would be better for it, “if we play credible opposition to ensure good governance and delivery of dividends of democracy to Nigerians.”

Meanwhile, the national leadership of the PDP said that it has recovered from the shock and trauma it went through following its massive loss at the 2015 general polls.

Apart from losing the presidency to the All Progressives Congress, APC, the ruling PDP lost its 16-year dominance of Senate and House of Representatives and control of its traditional states like Plateau, Niger, Kaduna, Benue, Bauchi, and Jigawa. Now it has 46 senators to APC’s 60 and the same scenario applies in the House of Representatives.

In a statement in Abuja at the end of the party’s National Working Committee, NWC meeting, PDP National Publicity Secretary, Chief Olisa Metuh, said that the timely intervention of President Goodluck Jonathan paved the way for the party’s quick recovery from the trauma.

Buhari order escorts to obey traffic rules

Muhammadu Buhari, on Wednesday ordered all security personnel attached to him as well as his official escorts to obey traffic rules. This, according to a statement signed by the Director of Media and Publicity of the All Progressives Congress Presidential campaign council, Mallam Garba Shehu, is a demonstration of Buhari’s leadership style.

Buhari was quoted, as saying obedience to the law would be the guiding philosophy of his administration, adding that, “without leadership by example, the ordinary citizens would become copycats of the lawlessness of their leaders.”

The President-elect explained that the “arrogance of power, lawlessness and disregard for the rights and convenience of fellow citizens will have no place in his government.”

According to him, for leaders to inspire respect, they must obey the laws, adding that when leaders treat the country’s laws with contempt, they would be sending the wrong message to the citizens. Buhari lamented a situation where fellow citizens “are punished at traffic points and public roads because of the arrogant lawlessness of the leaders.”

He said in a democracy, leaders should not inflict inconveniences and other unbearable ordeals on the citizens for their own comfort.

The President-elect advised his military and police security personnel to be in tune with his philosophy of “bringing the rule of law to bear on the conduct of leaders during their movements on public roads.”

Don’t tamper with power privatization: FG tells Buhari

The Federal Government yesterday cautioned the incoming administration of Major General Muhammadu Buhari (rtd.) against interfering with the privatisation of the power sector.

Minister of Power, Professor Chinedu Nebo, told State House reporters in Abuja after the Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting that reviewing the transaction would set the nation back for many years.

Speaking against the backdrop of the current power outage in many parts of the country, he said the Federal Government had made a significant progress in the sector, especially with the privatisation. He added that it would not be sensible for the incoming administration to reverse any policy relating to the unbundling and final sale of power assets to private companies.

“On privatisation, I think the incoming government will be ill-advised to reverse the privatisation and liberalisation of power generation, transmission and distribution because any attempt to do that would be to set Nigeria back many decades.” “With the recent drop in power generation and distribution, there have been calls from several quarters for the government of General Buhari to revisit the privatisation of the power sector, which many consider as a scam,” he stated.

Africa's biggest economy, Nigeria admits 'struggling to keep going'

Muhammadu Buhari, elected in March in one of the most applauded and surprising elections in Africa of recent years, will take over as Nigeria president with an economy lined with thorns.

 

The country has already borrowed more than half the amount it budgeted for the full year as it struggles to deal with lower income from oil, Finance Minister Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala said.

Africa’s biggest crude oil producer and economy has sold 473 billion naira ($2.4 billion) so far in domestic and external debt this year, within the budgeted allowance of 882 billion naira for 2015, she told reporters on Tuesday in the capital, Abuja.

“We’ve had to manage the first half on a month-by-month basis,” Okonjo-Iweala said. “We’ve had a cash-flow crunch.”

"Under the 2015 spending plan approved by lawmakers last month, Nigeria, which relies on oil for about 70% of government spending, will run a fiscal deficit of 1.09% of gross domestic product," she said.

“Under very difficult circumstance, we’ve managed to keep the country going,” said Okonjo-Iweala, who is part of President Goodluck Jonathan’s outgoing government, which will be formally replaced on May 29, when President-elect Buhari is due to be inaugurated. 

The price of Brent crude has fallen more than 40% since last year’s peak in June.

Nigeria isn’t the worst-affected of oil-producing nations because it has made improvements in agricultural output and its inflation rate is still holding below double figures, Okonjo- Iweala said.

Inflation rate climbed to 8.5% in March, the country’s statistics agency said last month.

Angola, sub-Saharan Africa’s third-largest economy, has been negotiating a $500 million line of credit with Paris-based Societe Generale SA as it also struggles to cope with plunging oil revenue.

The continent’s second-largest crude oil producer was also negotiating loans with Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and London-based Gemcorp Capital LLP, each for $250 million, and with Spain’s Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria SA, for 500 million euros ($537 million), reports said last month.

An oil price dip was a factor that led to Buhari’s ouster in 1985. While his short-lived economic record was hardly illustrious, Buhari was oil minister in 1976, and then head of the state-owned oil company.

Though, in that sense, his victory could be seen as a poisoned chalice, he is likely to get a more sympathetic ride this time round from Nigerians given he was hired to clean up graft and instil order in the often chaotic economy.

Pre-election unrest grips Burundi

Protests are set to continue in Burundi as increasing numbers of protesters take to the streets against President Pierre Nkurunziza's decision to seek a third term in office.

Three people were reportedly killed and 45 wounded in clashes between protesters and police in the country's capital, Bujumbura, on Monday, bringing the death toll over the past week to 11, including soldiers and police.

As clashes continue, people have been fleeing the country into neighbouring Rwanda, out of fears of all-out fighting.

As many as 21,000 people were reported to have fled to Rwanda in April, according to UN refugee agency UNHCR (http://tinyurl.com/nk6zoa9)

Burundi, a small landlocked country in East Central Africa, came out of a 13-year civil war based on ethnic lines only nine years ago. An estimated 300,000 people were killed in fighting between Hutus and Tutsis.

There have been recent claims and counter-claims about the distribution of threatening letters that have been circulated to people's homes. The letters - illustrated with coffins and graves - say Tutsi men, women, boys and girls will be killed if President Nkurunziza does not run for a third term.

Protesters say Nkurunziza's decision violates the Arusha agreements that ended the civil war.

Some people blame the Imbonerakure, the youth wing of the ruling CNDD-FDD party for distributing the letters. The Imbonerakure deny that they are behind the letters. 

Fight of the Century: Conspiracy theory emerges after scorecard suggests judges marked winner in wrong corner

The scorecard from Saturday night's showdown between Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao has led to suggestions the Filipino may have in fact won the bout.

Mayweather stretched his unbeaten record to 48-0 at the MGM Grand, once again intensifying his position as the greatest fighter of his generation.

The judges scored it 118-110 and 116-112, 116-112, with Glenn Feldman, Burt Clements and Dave Moretti, named 'white, 'blue' and 'pink', all awarding Floyd the victory.

However, an administrative error on the scorecard has led to conspiracy theories that Pacquiao should have been victorious.

The official card from the Nevada State Athletic Commission shows the fighter in the red corner ahead, on all three judges' scores - but Mayweather was actually in the blue corner in Las Vegas.

While there have been claims on social media that something sinister has occurred with fans taking to Twitter to claim the result was incorrect and a rematch should be arranged.

However, the bottom right of the scorecard clearly reads 'Mayweather won by unanimous decision' - proving the general consensus after the fight. The name above each corner on the card also reads Mayweather in red, suggesting the conspiracies may well be wide of the mark.