Buhari Appoints Lawal as SGF, Kyari, New Chief of Staff

http://www.thisdaylive.com/articles/buhari-appoints-lawal-as-sgf-kyari-new-chief-of-staff/218707/28 Aug 2015

 President Muhammadu Buhari

•  Enang, Kawu made presidential aides, Customs, Immigration get new helmsmen
•   Shirk corruption or ship out, president tells civil servants

Tobi Soniyi in Abuja

After weeks of suspense, President Muhammadu Buhari finally appointed Mr. Babachir David Lawal as the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), putting paid to speculation that the office had been zoned to South-east or South-south.

In addition, the president appointed a former Managing Director of United Bank for Africa (UBA) Plc and a member of THISDAY Editorial Board, Alhaji Abba Kyari, as his new Chief of Staff.

A statement by the Special Adviser to the President, Media and Publicity, Mr. Femi Adesina, said Lawal, the new SGF, hails from Hong Local Government Area in Adamawa State.

He graduated from Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria in 1979 with a Bachelor of Engineering degree and worked with the Delta Steel Company, Aladja, Nigerian External Telecommunications Limited and Data Sciences Limited before establishing his own ICT and telecommunications consulting firm in 1990.

He is also a member of the Nigerian Computer Society (NCS), the Nigerian Society of Engineers (NSE) and the Council for the Regulation of Engineering in Nigeria (COREN).

Kyari brings to his new role as the president’s Chief of Staff a wealth of experience in the private sector.

He holds Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees from the University of Cambridge and the University of Warwick in Law and Sociology, and has worked with the New Nigeria Development Company (NNDC), New Africa Holdings, African International Bank, UBA, Unilever, and Mobil in various capacities over the years.

Other appointments made by the president included Col. Hameed Ibrahim Ali (rtd.) as the new Comptroller-General of the Nigerian Customs Service (NCS), a departure from the past when comptroller-generals of Customs were usually selected within its ranks.

Ali holds Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in Criminology, and was the Military Administrator of Kaduna State from 1996 to 1998.

Mr. Kure Martin Abeshi has been appointed to take over as the Comptroller-General of the Nigerian Immigration Service (NIS), effectively terminating the appointment of Mr. David Parradang who was suspended by the president last week.

The new comptroller-general of Immigration hails from Nasarawa State. He joined NIS in 1989 as an assistant comptroller. His educational qualifications include a Master’s degree in Public Administration.
The president also appointed Senator Ita S.J Enang as his Senior Special Assistant (SSA), National Assembly Matters (Senate), while Hon. Suleiman A. Kawu was made his SSA, National Assembly Matters (House of Representatives).

The statement said all the appointments took effect from on Thursday.

The president also gave a marching order to all civil servants to either shun corruption or be ready to leave the service.

This was disclosed yesterday by the Permanent Secretary, General Services, Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Mr Mohammed Bukar, after the permanent secretaries in the office briefed Buhari.

He said that former military Head of State and the Chairman, Centenary Limited Board, General Abdulsalami Abubakar, would come to brief the president on the activities of the centenary hall project today.

Bukar further disclosed that not a farthing was taken from the account of the federal government for the project.

He said Buhari told the SGF personnel to make sure that all rules, laws and the constitution are strictly adhered to henceforth.

“We have received a mandate to work harder. We will give our best to support the government.
“We told him what we have been doing in support of the government’s policies and the president promised to give us the support and the political will to do our job better,” the permanent secretary told State House correspondents.

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Amaechi: Why I’m Fighting to Stop Wike’s Probe

Ex-governor of Rivers State, Chibuike Amaechi

http://www.thisdaylive.com/articles/amaechi-why-i-m-fighting-to-stop-wike-s-probe/218314/ The immediate past governor of Rivers State, Chibuike Amaechi, has again explained why he is opposed to and wants to stop the Judicial Commission of Inquiry set up by his successor, Nyesom Wike, to probe some selected government transactions, while he (Amaechi) was governor.

In a statement issued by the former governor’s media office on Sunday,  Amaechi said he was not afraid of a fair and decent probe or investigation or inquiry of his administration, and would cooperate and support such probe or investigation or inquiry in as much as it’s done within the ambit of our laws.

The statement made available to THISDAY on Sunday, read: “However what Wike has set out to do is anything but a fair probe. The commission will not be fair to Amaechi because it was set up to indict him. Wike had repeatedly held that Amaechi, the person to be investigated, acted illegally in the disbursement of public funds and that Amaechi ran a corrupt government. Clearly, Wike has prejudged the matter and showed his bias that Amaechi is guilty even before investigations. This means Wike, with his prejudiced, made up mind has taken a position of a guilty verdict even before the outcome is known or established.

“The same Wike who had adjudged the yet-to-be-investigated conduct of Amaechi as illegal and corrupt, is the same person that has gone ahead to set up a commission of inquiry and will have the final say on the findings of the commission. What a sham!

“This bias and predetermined agenda to indict Amaechi is obvious even in the terms of reference of the commission. In one of the defective terms of reference, Wike said the commission should investigate the circumstances that led to the ‘sale of the state Hotel Olympia’.

“With a fair and decent probe, the Inquiry should have been ‘to examine (or investigate) the transaction concerning Hotel Olympia.’ The difference is so clear: In the former, jaundiced Wike’s term of reference, it has been prejudiced and concluded that the hotel was sold, while in the latter, the Inquiry is open and fair, and may lead to a finding of a sale or a lease or even a gift or even a pledge.

“Now, having so concluded that Hotel Olympia was sold, would Wike be decent and humble enough to reverse himself if documents showed it was never sold but concessioned or leased?

“This is one of the dangers of Wike’s commission that harbours a predetermined outcome in the name of an Inquiry and Amaechi will not subject himself to Wike’s deceit and phony shenanigans. Hotel Olympia was never sold. The hotel was only concessioned (or leased) on the approval of the State Executive Council, and not sold.

“Even while inaugurating his yeoman commission of Inquiry, Wike could not conceal his vendetta agenda. He was clear to the panel members that their job is to indict Amaechi. And to do this dirty hack job, he got Justice G. O. Omereji (the commission chairman), a man who is well known to harbour a long-held, extreme anger, hatred and animosity against Amaechi. And Justice Omereji has never disguised this his stance and disposition towards Amaechi.

“As a matter of fact, Justice Omereji even advised a former Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) chairman in Rivers State on measures (to take) against then Governor Amaechi. He had expressed his hatred for Amaechi several times to the NBA chairman who was also an Attorney-General of  the state. How can we now expect Justice Omereji to be fair to Amaechi, the person he passionately loathes with extreme malice and venom?”

He added: “Anyone who has been following events in the state knows this Wike probe is just a fraudulent sham, a deceptive mission to indict Amaechi. Wike’s one-point agenda is to go after his predecessor. Immediately Wike took over, he made a show and gave a performance of his false accusations that Amaechi stripped the Governor’s Lodge bare, saying the former governor stole spoons, plates, knives, cups, mattresses, forks and even curtains from the Governor’s Lodge!

“However, in the images Wike showed to back his lies, the curtains in the lodge were clearly there, seen and intact. Again, Wike claimed he met a completely empty treasury. That again is another big lie and grand deception.

“We have said that Amaechi left billions of naira and we even went ahead to mention the banks and give the names of the accounts the money is on May 29, 2015. We challenge Wike to publish the statements of these accounts and other Rivers State government ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs) accounts as at May 29; to prove his claim and show the public that Amaechi left an empty treasury for him.

“This Wike’s probe is dead on arrival. It’s ill-conceived and ill-motivated. Wike’s probe is designed to twist and distort, or even completely alter selected legitimate government transactions in his desperation to cook upand fabricate sham cases of corruption against Amaechi. Wike’s probe commission shall not achieve anything beyond political excitements, entertainment and theatrics.

“Finally, Amaechi will continue to use every constitutional and legal means available to protect his name and image from this massive smear campaign, state-sponsored onslaught against him by Wike-led government whose sole agenda is a desperate search for a  Amaechi political downfall.”

Wenger - My midfield selection dilemma

http://www.arsenal.com/news/news-archive/20150821/wenger-my-midfield-selection-dilemma

 

 

 

Arsène Wenger says managing his midfield has become a delicate balancing act.
Arsenal arguably have the strongest set of options in the centre of the park of any side in the Premier League.
However, Wenger admits that can bring its own problems in terms of keeping everyone happy over the course of the season.
“It’s an impossible job but that’s why I tell you I always get asked two questions, ‘Why don’t you buy more players, and how do you keep them all happy now?’” he said.
“I believe that competition is part of our job. On the other hand you have to get the number right - too many players in the squad goes against competition.

If you have a certain number of players who think they never have a chance to play, they killed something. Not enough players creates too much of a comfort zone
Arsène Wenger

“If you have a certain number of players who think they never have a chance to play, they killed something. Not enough players creates too much of a comfort zone.”
Wenger also has to consider the make-up of his midfield, most recently where to place Santi Cazorla - in the centre or out on the left flank.
“It is tricky, because he is an important player in the build-up of our game,” the manager said. “He is naturally a guy who brings fluidity, and gets you out of tight situations.
“My thinking [putting him out wide] was more about physical power in the centre of the park, to win the ball back and be capable of winning challenges. Santi is a more technical player. And also to get him higher up, next to Ozil, to play through the lines, find those two, and combine in the final third.
“It worked sometimes, and sometimes not. The first goal in these games is vital. But anyway, against West Ham, I changed in the second half and brought Cazorla back to central midfield.”
Arsenal lost their opening game of the season against West Ham at Emirates Stadium, but Wenger does not expect a repeat performance against Liverpool on Monday night.
“[We must] play at the level we played at Crystal Palace, with good pace,” he said. “I think Liverpool will be a different game than West Ham. Against West Ham, we conceded a set-piece and after that another goal, just before half time. After that it was difficult.
“But if you look well, and you have to analyse the game well, against West Ham we didn’t give chances away. You play this game 20 times, you win it 19 because they had very, very, very few chances. Their goals came from our mistakes. That’s why we had to look at ourselves.”

Read more at http://www.arsenal.com/news/news-archive/20150821/wenger-my-midfield-selection-dilemma#t4WJ6ba6dBPwmEAv.99

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Single! Married! Fulfilled!!!: Does God speak to us concerning marriage?: "Dear SMF, thank you for being a blessing. Does God speak to us on matters concerning whom to marry? I ask because I was in a relation...

Police acquire helicopter to battle sea pirates, kidnappers

http://thenationonlineng.net/police-acquire-helicopter-to-battle-sea-pirates-kidnappers/

Ogunsakin alighting from the surveillance helicopter

The police at the weekend took delivery of a surveillance helicopter to battle militancy, kidnapping and sea pirates in the Southsouth.

 Assistant Inspector-General of Police, Zone 6 , Tunde Ogunsakin, said the police had scored a big point in the region with the acquisition.

The helicopter is fitted with modern communication gadgets to aid effective surveillance in the creeks.

The surveillance helicopter arrives on the heels of a pact by the command and sister security agencies within the zone to form a joint task force to checkmate security threat in the area.

While describing the helicopter’s arrival as a welcome development, AIG Ogunsakin applauded Inspector General of Police Solomon Erase for his commitment to peace and security in the zone.

Ogunsakin, who was elated at the development, promised to chase kidnappers out of the zone. While emphasizing the importance of a joint security operation, Ogunsakin assured that the security forces would deploy technologically-driven and action able intelligence in actualising their common goal in policing the zone.

The five-seater capacity surveillance helicopter, according to him, would help to reinforce the command’s war arsenal.