Good morning Nigeria, welcome to Naija News roundup of top newspaper headlines in Nigeria for today, Saturday, 24th September 2022.
The above caption is inspired by Theodor Kallifatides, the Greek immigrant to Sweden, whose works were written in Swedish. According to the accomplished novelist and poet, “Emigration is a kind of partial suicide. You don’t die, but a great deal dies within you. Not least, the language”. This cold fact regardless, a simple survey of major urban centres in the country will easily show that nearly half the population know someone who in the past one year emigrated or is about to relocate from Nigeria to countries with better prospects and quality of life.
In a fad fancifully termed “Japa”, Nigerians with the means are increasingly bailing out of the country, reminiscent of scenes from Afghanistan when the Taliban took over the reins of government. It is no longer the case of poor Nigerians stowing away in aircraft components other than the cabin or braving the Sahara or Mediterranean to desert a hellish Nigeria, eggheads and sundry experts are leaving in droves. The destination of these medical practitioners, IT engineers, software whiz kids, programmers and blue-collar workers ranges from Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia, the United States, Saudi Arabia to Spain.
Data from the UN’s Department of Economic and Social Affairs has it that the number of international migrants from Nigeria in 2020, the latest year for which figures are available, was 1.7 million, up from 990,000 a decade earlier. British statistics show that about 14,000 UK study and work visas were issued to Nigerian nationals in 2019. That figure, which includes dependents, almost quadrupled in 2021. In Canada, more than 15,000 Nigerians were granted permanent residence in 2021 compared to about 4,400 in 2016.
The Presidential Candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar, has slammed the All Progressives Congress (APC) and its presidential flagbearer for dabbling in the PDP internal affairs.
Atiku, who spoke through his Media Adviser, Mazi Paul Ibe, in Abuja, on Friday, was responding to the APC Presidential campaign’s claim that Atiku’s ambition was tearing the PDP apart.
The Director, Media and Publicity APC Presidential Campaign Council, Bayo Onanuga had said that the presidential ambition of Atiku has come to an end.
He wrote, “Once again, another bid for the presidency of our country by former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar is slipping away. This is unraveling before our very eyes even before the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) blows the whistle for electioneering campaign. His party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) is in disarray. The signs are just too ominous for the Waziri what with the report by the Economic Intelligence Unit predicting another trashing for him in the forthcoming polls.”
Onanuga berated Atiku for refusing to honour the zoning principle, adding that he is now faced with karma.
Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Wike, has alleged that the chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Iyorchia Ayu took money from a presidential candidate in Lagos State.
The PDP chieftain who spoke on Friday challenged Ayu to deny the claims, noting that he has evidence. Wike, however, refused to mention the individual who Ayu collected the money from.
Wike who said he was hugely pained that he was unable to win the PDP’s presidential primary and go on to battle the All Progressives Congress, APC, said the money Ayu collected did not enter PDP‘s account.
“Will he deny the fact that he did not collect one billion naira from Lagos? Yes, let him deny it, I will tell him who gave him the money.
“Not Lagos state government, but someone in Lagos. The money was given to him in Lagos. He met one of the presidential aspirants and told him he was not sure state governors would want to sponsor the party.
“Let Ayu say no, I will even call some of the businessmen and how the money was arranged in Lagos. That money did not enter the account of PDP. But we are not attacking Ayu on that basis,” Wike said during an interview on Channels on Friday, Naija News reports.
Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers State has revealed that the presidential candidate of All Progressives Congress (APC), Bola Tinubu, asked him to run for senate after he lost the presidential ticket of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
Naija News reports that the Rivers State governor disclosed this while speaking to selected journalists on Friday.
According to Governor Wike, Tinubu accosted him amid the PDP’s crisis and wooed him to go for the senate, but he rejected the offer.
He said he refused to make decisions that will affect the overall interest of PDP despite the internal crisis at the national level,
Wike accused Atiku Abubakar, Sokoto State Governor, Aminu Tambuwal, and the party’s National Chairman, Iyorchia Ayu, of creating the crisis in the PDP.
A suit seeking to force the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to zone its 2023 presidential ticket to the southern region has been struck out by the Supreme Court.
The unanimous ruling of the apex court was handed down on Friday in a judgment delivered by Justice Adamu Jauro.
According to the judgment, the Supreme Court lacks jurisdiction to entertain the suit.
Naija News understands the suit was instituted against the PDP by a presidential aspirant of the party, and former Deputy Speaker of Abia State House of Assembly, Cosmos Ndukwe.
He pleaded with the court to order the PDP to zone the nomination of its presidential candidate to the south-east geo-political zone of the country.
Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers State has revealed that former President Goodluck Jonathan begged some members of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) not to leave the party in 2014.
Speaking at a media briefing on Friday, Wike said the Presidential Candidate of the PDP, Atiku Abubakar, a former Senate President, Bukola Saraki Governor Aminu Tambuwal of Sokoto State rebuffed Jonathan’s pleas to rescind their decision to join the All Progressives Congress (APC).
Wike said the PDP’s constitution contained provisions for zoning of elective and party positions but lamented that some people were doing everything within their powers to manipulate the system.
He said: “There shall be zoning of party and elective offices. It is clear. Not ambiguous. But people will always try to manipulate the system to suit them.
“They slant stories in such a way as to deceive the public. The founding fathers know the complexity of this country. They did it in a such a way as not to have problems.”
A former spokesperson of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Olisa Metuh, has claimed that the PDP Presidential Candidate, Atiku Abubakar, is under pressure to withdraw support for allies of loyalists of Nyesom Wike running election.
According to Metuh, the former Vice President is resisting pressures to pull the rug from under the feet of Wike’s loyalists.
Recall that the Wike camp had vowed not to partake in Atiku’s campaign activities pending the resignation of the party’s National Chairman.
Naija News learned that the Wike camp made the decisions at a strategic meeting held in Port Harcourt in the early hours of Wednesday.
It was gathered that the Wike Camp decided to hold the meeting following the vote of confidence passed on Ayu as the party’s national chairman by the National Executive Committee (NEC) despite their demand for his resignation.
The camp of Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers State has accused former Vice President and Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) presidential candidate, Goodluck Jonathan, of being instrumental in the failure of ex-President Goodluck Jonathan to get re-elected in 2015.
Naija News reports that Atiku alongside other PDP chieftains including Rotimi Amaechi, and Bukola Saraki, had dumped the then-ruling party for the APC back in 2014 to support Muhammadu Buhari. This led to Jonathan’s defeat in the election.
Wike’s camp, which is demanding the resignation of the National Chairman of the PDP, Iyorchia Ayu, and his replacement by a southern candidate, have accused Atiku of refusing to support Jonathan in 2015, claiming it was the turn of the north to produce Nigeria’s president.
Governor Wike, Governor Seyi Makinde of Oyo State, and others had pulled out of the Atiku Presidential Campaign Council until Ayu is removed or resigned.
Speaking to Daily Sun, an insider in Rivers PDP said those within Wike’s camp argued that in 2014/2015, Atiku was one of those who spearheaded the breakup of the party under former president, Jonathan, after they insisted it was the turn of the north to produce the president.
Many have been confirmed trapped in a collapsed building located at Sonuga Street, Palm Avenue, in the Mushin area of Lagos State.
Naija News gathered that the sad incident occurred around 2pm on Friday, with a yet-to-be-identified person and a child rescued.
The Permanent Secretary, Lagos State Emergency Management Agency, Dr Olufemi Oke-Osanyinyolu, confirmed the incident saying, “A three-storey building has collapsed at Oye Sonuga Street, opposite Oye Roundabout, Isolo road, Mushin. An adult and a child have been rescued. The search and rescue operation is ongoing.”
Also reacting, the Permanent Secretary, Lagos State Emergency Management Agency, Dr Olufemi Oke-Osanyinyolu, who had also confirmed the development, said two female occupants were still missing.
The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has filed 14 grounds of appeal against the Federal Government before the Court of Appeal sitting in Abuja.
This is coming as the National Industrial Court (NIC) ordered the union to call off its seven-month-old strike.
ASUU filed the appeal through human rights activist, Femi Falana, SAN, and also applied for a stay of execution of the judgment.
Recall that Justice Polycarp Hamman last Wednesday ordered the striking university lecturers to return to the classroom, pending the determination of a suit the Federal Government filed to query the legality of their strike action.
The interim injunction directing ASUU members to resume work followed an application FG filed through its lawyer, James Igwe.
Justine Hamman held that the order was both in the national interest and for the sake of undergraduates in the country that have been at home since February 14.
He held that the strike action was detrimental to public university students that cannot afford to attend private tertiary institutions.
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