Sen. Ben Murray-Bruce.

The Senator representing Bayelsa East Constituency at the Senate and Chairman, Silverbird Group, Senator Ben Murray-Bruce has raised the alarm over possible threats to his life by suspected Fulani herdsmen.

In a tweet on his twitter handle, @benmurraybruce, the outspoken Senator disclosed that he has been receiving series of text messages warning him of a planned attacked on him by Fulani herdsmen.

He said he was particularly worried over this especially going by the current happenings in the country and for the fact that he doesn’t move around with security.

“[I] received these texts from an unknown number. With what has been happening in Nigeria in the last few years, and with the fact that I don’t move about with security, let me use this medium to alert Nigerians and the international community of a possible threat to my life,” he tweeted earlier Wednesday.

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Sen. Bruce has been known for his opposition to the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari over what he calls mis-governance. Apart from his twitter handle which has become very busy with messages of opposition to the current APC government, the “Common Sense Senator” as he’s now fondly called has made a number of videos in which he proffered ways to right governance.

It is not yet clear as at the time of filing this report if he has report the treat to the security agencies for action.

Sen. Ben Murray-Bruce.

The Senator representing Bayelsa East Constituency at the Senate and Chairman, Silverbird Group, Senator Ben Murray-Bruce has raised the alarm over possible threats to his life by suspected Fulani herdsmen.

In a tweet on his twitter handle, @benmurraybruce, the outspoken Senator disclosed that he has been receiving series of text messages warning him of a planned attacked on him by Fulani herdsmen.

He said he was particularly worried over this especially going by the current happenings in the country and for the fact that he doesn’t move around with security.

“[I] received these texts from an unknown number. With what has been happening in Nigeria in the last few years, and with the fact that I don’t move about with security, let me use this medium to alert Nigerians and the international community of a possible threat to my life,” he tweeted earlier Wednesday.

Have You Read This: I DON’T MIND SERVING AS BUHARI’S HOUSEBOY – NIGERIAN SENATOR

Sen. Bruce has been known for his opposition to the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari over what he calls mis-governance. Apart from his twitter handle which has become very busy with messages of opposition to the current APC government, the “Common Sense Senator” as he’s now fondly called has made a number of videos in which he proffered ways to right governance.

It is not yet clear as at the time of filing this report if he has report the treat to the security agencies for action.

Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, the Chairman of the Independent Electoral Commission.

Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, the Chairman of the Independent Electoral Commission, INEC, has decried the lack of provision in the 2018 Appropriation for the forthcoming 2019 elections. He said however, that delay in the passage of the Electoral Act prevented the Commission from including the budget of 2019 elections in the 2018 appropriation.

According to him, until legislative process is completed on the bill, the Commission would be unable to estimate effectively the cost for the election.

Prof. Yakubu disclosed this Wednesday when he appeared before the Senate Committee on INEC to defend the 2018 budget.

“We can’t complete work on the election budget unless the national assembly has helped us to complete work on the electoral act,” he said.

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Continuing, he said, “For instance, there is provision in the Bill passed by the Senate for two types of primaries; direct and indirect. One party may opt for direct, another for indirect and both will have different cost implications. What are we going to do? We have to wait until the act is passed before we know the correct figure. I will appeal to the distinguished Senators to expedite work on the electoral act so that we can have an idea of the figure.”

The INEC Chair noted that the Commission has made three key improvements on the card readers for forthcoming elections; adding that the Commission was improving the processors of smart card readers so that it becomes speedier. He also disclosed that INEC was increasing the windows where people press the fingers on election day.

“We have realised that part of the problem sometimes is with the size of the window. If the entire thumb covers the window, there is the tendency of the machine not to recognise it. The third part is to enhance it to be able to transmit from the polling Units,” he said.

Herdsmen, constantly accused of destroying crops and farmlands across Nigeria.

In what seemed to be direct confrontation with the Ogun people, herdsmen have invaded four hectres of land in Likosi-Alabata village in Papalanto in Obafemi-Owode local government area of Ogun State, not far from Ifo, an Industrial town in the state. 

Consequently, farm produce believde to be worth about N6.8million have been destroyed.

Vanguard reports that the herdsmen also inflicted machete cut on one of the workers, who was receiving treatment at a hospital as at the time of this filing this report.

Mrs. Roseline Ogege, the farm owner, while speaking with newsmen in Abeokuta earlier Wednesday, narrated her ordeal in the hands of the herdsmen, declaring that the herdsmen were Fulani who had a camp close to her farmland.

We planted hybrid species obtained from an agricultural institute in Ibadan which has six month gestation period. And we spent N6.8 million to put up the farm,” Mrs. Ogege said, while lamenting her losses.

She also lamented that suspected Fulani herdsmen invaded the farmland and their cattle ate up all the cassava sticks planted on the four hectres of land.

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Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, Nigeria’s former President.

Following his recent 13-page letter to President Muhammadu Buhari on the state of the Nigerian nation in which he gave him an advice not to seek a re-election, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, Nigeria’s former President, has opened a twitter account, @Chief_Obasanjo.

On his first tweet on the platform, Chief Obasanjo acknowledged the importance of the social media having evolved to become a power tool for communication and engagement.

Hear him: "I’ve finally embraced [the] social media since it expands the possibilities of engagement. Glad to officially be on twitter and I hope to be here for a long time."

In conclusion, he advised those who would be engaging him henceforth to do so, based on mutual respect. “Please let’s respect ourselves,” he warned.

In his usual hilarious way of treating some issues, he described himself in his profile as “Nigeria’s Foremost Letter Writer, Farmer and Elder Statesman."

In a related development, another former Nigerian leader, General Ibrahim Badamosi Babangida {retd.), widely known as IBB, while responding to some negative comments that greeted Obasanjo's letter to President Buhari, twitted thus on his @General_Ibbro twitter handle: “No serving General in the Army today joined the military earlier than 1982. By then, Obasanjo had already finished his military career. I respect him a lot, he is a true statesman.”

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Some sessions of the Nigerian society have embacked on a campaign to ban beef consumer on account of the killings believed to be by the Fulani herdsmen across the country.

The on-going killings are not necessarily cattle related. It appears to me more like a Jihadist movement, aimed at the primitive acquisition conquest of Uthan Dan Fodio, sponsored and propagated by the Gen. Muhammadu Buhari-led Federal Government. The President’s body language and double standards tell it all. How else do you explain the fact that a man like General Buhari who swiftly moved against the Independent People of Biafra (IPOB) with the full weight of the Nigerian military might, just to quell a wave of protests in the South East and went further to declare them a “Terrorist Organization” could suddenly grow entirely “clueless” in responding to a wave of coordinated killings by his kinsmen across the country?

I guess the puzzle pieces are now beginning to fit together on the reason why the President constituted the National Security Council in a manner that defies the Federal Character Principle and ensures that people of his Fulani tribe constitute a clear and overwhelming majority of its entire membership.

The militia who perpetrate these killings are well trained, armed, and sophisticated. They are most likely imported mercenaries engaged to help their principals in accomplishing the evil agenda of conquest and occupation. The Fulani Herdsmen we have always known are not belligerent. Though they cannot be totally absolved of participation in the on-going carnage – especially in the face of the prospect of victory as guaranteed by the President’s body language of tacit support – the professionalism and precision with which the present pogrom is being carried out is beyond the innate capabilities of the of the ordinary bow and arrow-carrying Fulani herder we all used to know.

The eye witness report of constant supplies of military hardware and other materials, using helicopters and other equipment belonging to the Nigerian State to these marauders is a further testimonial to the fact that the pogrom is not happening without the backing of Aso Rock. There was a video which was making the rounds on the internet over the weekend, showing how some of these killers were slitting the throats of their victims, with the camera capturing some persons wearing military boots and uniforms, standing to supervise the slaughter. The account of Governor Samuel Ortom of Benue State on how he made several frantic calls to the Presidency and the military hierarchy with the aim of averting an impending attack on his people, which eventually fell on deaf ears, resulting in the slaughter of over 70 innocent citizens cannot also be said to be mere coincidence. It was all part of the plan. Finally, the haste with which the Federal Government has moved towards creating cattle colonies across the country as its solution to the crisis comes across as a move, ostensibly to provide operational bases for the Jihadists at various locations. This puts paid to every iota of doubt that the Buhari-led administration is an interested party in this whole big project of killings, subjugation and occupation of Nigerian territory by Islamic extremists with a view of taking a notch higher, Nigeria’s membership of the Organisation of Islamic Countries (OIC) and effectively situating the country as the Islamic headquarters of Africa.

Little wonder we now hear of stories of the presence of members of the Islamic State of West Africa (ISWA) now roaming free in the streets of Nigeria, having gotten a green light from a government that has demonstrated in more ways than one, that its primary essence of being in power is to ensure that the ethno-religious philosophies of the President is carried out to the letter. Such intolerance is what is presently keeping the leader of (an Islamic sect which is philosophically and ideologically opposed to that of General Buhari) the Islamic Movement of Nigeria, Sheikh El Zakzaky in custody against all known court orders and Rule of Law.

To this extent, it is my very objective opinion that even a hundred per cent success in the “Boycott Beef” protest being pushed on social media will likely to do nothing to stem the tide of the on-going wave of killings and destruction in the country, because they are hardly connected. Even if such connection were to be identified, it will be too insignificant, as the funding for the Jihad must be coming not from proceeds of cattle business, rather from some more organized State and Non-State sources.

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Representational photo.

I have two boys who are four and six years old. Tare and Priye.

These are the values I hope to teach them as they grow up into responsible adults.

Value of Work: I hope to help them learn that the result they get will depends on the work they put in. It will not depend on their ‘positive confessions’ or ‘seed faith,’ but their work and action. Good work, good results. Qed.

Vision: I want them to know that those beautiful societies they see on TV were built by men who were once little boys just like them. That they too can make their lives­—and society—the way they want it; that societies are built by vision, diligence and innovation. Not by prophetic ‘decree’ or proclamation.

Respect: I want them to learn to respect other people; to treat everyone nicely and with courtesy, but not to respect others to the point of being intimidated by their status, skill or place in life.

Religion: I want them respect and fear God. I want them to realize that there is a force greater than all of us. But I also want them to be curious, to ask questions about faith and about life. I want them not to ever mock a person because of his faith, to know that faith is usually as a result of the accident of birth. I do not want them to grow up having a blind faith in a ‘man of God,’ or ‘spiritual father.’ To know that the Pastor or Reverend or Imam is but a man (or woman) who shouldn't and cannot take the place of God.

Life: I want my boys to be serious with their academics and generally with life. I want them to know that what they sow now, they will reap later. But I also want them to have fun, to have adventures and to (sometimes!) take risks that do not make sense. I want them to have good memories because in the end that is all what we have.

So help me God….

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Chief Mike Ozekhome, SAN. 

That Chief Mike Ozekhome, SAN, was booed yesterday at an event organized by NBA Ikeja to celebrate late Chief Gani of blessed memory was very unfortunate. It is condemnable and clearly unacceptable. We should not degenerate to that level despite the situation on ground. Everyone accused of crime today in Nigeria is presumed innocent until the contrary is proved in the court of law and therefore such a defendant is entitled to be defended by a lawyer of his or her choice. That is the current jurisprudence in Nigeria. It is the duty of the Prosecutor to assemble and marshall his facts and evidence to convince the court of the guilt of the Defendant and the proof must be beyond reasonable doubt while the Defendant is entitled to be heard and defended by a lawyer of his or her choice. 

That a lawyer should be booed, jeered at because it is alleged that he defends "corrupt persons" is unacceptable, bad, uncultured and reprehensible. It is not the route for us to go because it will mean criminalizing a professional duty which we all condemn when doctors are not allowed to treat armed robbers.

Please, please ladies and gentlemen we must not degenerate as a people, it is a plea. That Ubani chooses tomorrow not to handle matrimonial or criminal cases, it will be by choice. Chief Ozekhome SAN may have his excesses but he is still a human being and not God. Lawyers should not be made endangered species in the line of duty…BIKO!

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There’s no doubt that globally WhatsApp calls have become a crucial part of the popular messaging app, with over 100 million calls made per day on the platform. The popular messaging app lets users supports both voice and video calls, and it has been rumoured for months that WhatsApp is testing a new feature that will allow users to switch between voice calls and video calls. The feature is only available on Android beta (v2.18.4) for now, and lets users switch between calls at the touch of a button. You can register for the WhatsApp Android beta programme via Google Play.

Here’s how you can download the app. 

If you are in the middle of a WhatsApp voice call and want to switch to a video call, you just need to tap that button to make the switch. Tapping the button will send a request to the person on the other side, asking they want to switch from voice to video.
 

Gadgets360.com reports that if the offer is accepted, the call will be switched. If the offer is declined, the voice call will continue as normal. In the current version of WhatsApp, you need to end a voice call to make a video call. WhatsApp calls are currently only available for one-on-one conversations but it might be available to group chats in the near future.

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The new WhatsApp feature was spotted on WABetaInfo, which tracks changes to the popular chat app. It said that the feature is only available to those who have signed up for the beta version of WhatsApp.

Last month, WABetaInfo reported that WhatsApp mistakenly rolled out the 'Reply Privately' feature in a beta update that would allow users to privately send a message to a participant in a group without anyone else knowing about it.

The feature appeared and was subsequently dropped from the beta version of the app, watcher of the popular chat app @WABetaInfo said, confirming that the developers wrongly enabled the feature.

WABetaInfo also leaked the details of the features that WhatsApp was developing for web and desktop, including tap to unblock and a picture-in-picture (PIP) mode.

File Photo.

The nation’s Police and other security operatives in Kaduna have mounted surveillance at major roads and the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) Secretariat in the state capital to prevent the Nigeria Union of Teachers (NUT), from going ahead with the protest.

Policemen were also drafted along the Kaduna-Abuja highway to prevent NLC members from other states and the FCT from entering into Kaduna state for the anti-government protest.

Meanwhile, NLC officials from the national secretariat and labour leaders of affiliated unions from the 36 states of the federation are already in the state to take part in the rally.

Earlier the state government and the police had warned the teachers against embarking on any illegal procession or engaging in any act that violates the law or threatens the peace of the state.

The State Commissioner of Police, Agyole Abeh who addressed journalists in his office on Wednesday, said any breach of peace by the striking teachers would be dealt with decisively.

Recall that the Nigeria Union of Teachers (NUJ) in Kaduna State had on Monday commenced an indefinite strike to protest against the sacking of over 21,000 teachers by the state government.

Channels reports that the union directed all teachers in the state to remain at home until the state government reverses its decision after the sacked primary school teachers scored below 75 per cent in a competency test conducted for them in June 2017.

Nasir El-Rufai, Kaduna State Gov.

The directive was contained in a notice served to NUT members across the state and signed by the union Chairman and Assistant Secretary-General, Audu Amba and Adamu Ango respectively.

The NUT explained that the decision to commence the industrial action followed the expiration of the two weeks’ notice it gave to the state government to rescind the decision.

They also criticised the government’s decision to proceed with the sack despite a suit at the National Industrial Court on the matter.

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However, the state government is not taking the matter with kid gloves as it warned public school teachers not to obey the directive by the union.

In a statement signed by Governor Nasir El-Rufai’s spokesperson, Mr Samuel Aruwan, the government warned that any teacher who is absent from work would be treated with the consequences that pertain to absconding from duty under the Public Service Rules.

The statement read: “There can be no doubt that state will take firm and decisive disciplinary action against personnel who absent themselves from duty, including dismissal from service.

“This is an illegal action, and will not achieve its aim of derailing the education reforms being implemented by the government. The Kaduna State Government wishes to inform the public that it has instructed its education administrators to open registers in all its schools, starting from Monday, January 8, 2018.”

The government insisted that there is no going back in its decision, stressing that there is no amount of blackmail that will make it retain unqualified teachers in service.

They added that they won’t mortgage the future of two million primary school pupils because failed teachers “are shamelessly mobilising sentiment”.

There are fears ISIS fighters may be among Nigerians brought back from Libya by the Nigerian govt.

A security expert, Dr Ona Ekhomu, has advised the Federal Government to conduct checks on Nigerians returning from Libya, saying ISIS fighters may use the avenue to enter the country.

Ekhomu, who is the President of the Association of Industrial Security and Safety Operators of Nigeria, in a statement on Monday, said proper documentation and vetting of the returnees could help forestall a disaster in the future.

He said, “Given the threat of infiltration into Nigeria of ISIS fighters, it is prudent to carefully prove the identity of each of the returnees before releasing them.

“Some of these people may have pledged loyalty to ISIS.  They should be separated from those who migrated for economic reasons. There is no way of knowing a Nigerian by face.  It is presumed that most of the returnees do not have travel documents.  So, it is merely assumed that they are Nigerians.

“A questionnaire must be quickly drawn up to enable the returnees to prove their national identities.  These should include questions about their dates of birth, places of birth, LGAs, names of traditional rulers, primary and secondary schools, ethnicity and native languages.   To discern their purpose for migration, they should be questioned about the source of funds for their trip to Libya. All information provided must be quickly investigated (verified) and each individual cleared to enter society. Nigeria has too many active killing fields right now and does not need the threat of ISIS infiltration.”

Ekhomu lauded President Muhammadu Buhari for ordering the repatriation of the Nigerians, saying the government must also do the “responsible thing” of ascertaining their true identities “as there is a high probability that a few of them may be ISIS fighters escaping from Libya, or coming to Nigeria to execute a possible terrorist plot.”

Source: Punch

Chief John Odigie-Oyegu, National Chairman of the All Progressives Party, APC, (left), and President Muhammadu Buhari.

The All Progressives Congress (APC), Sunday declared that it was not aware that President Muhammadu Buhari was preparing to seek a second term in office in 2019.

National Chairman of the party, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun, said the party has not received any communication from the President about his re-election plans.

There were reports that Buhari had declared his interest to seek re-election in 2019 by appointing the Minister of Transport, Mr. Rotimi Ameachi, as the Director General of his Presidential Campaign Council.

Reacting to the report, Oyegun, told New Telegraph at the weekend in Abuja, that the ruling party had not received any communication from the president regarding his ambition.

Asked to clarify that the president has not notified the party on his re-election ambition, Oyegun said: “Yes, that is true.”

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The APC national chairman further said that whether by declaration or writing officially to the party, the president must inform the party of his intention to seek re-election.

“I don’t even know where you people are picking this information from. The president has not told the party formally, officially, that he wants to run for second term. We only read these things in the newspapers. So, officially, I’m not aware that Buhari is running again. I only read what you people write.

“Either he inform the party officially or he make a declaration or whichever, he will certainly take a decision,” he said.

On what premise the ruling party would want to come back to power in 2019, the APC National Chairman said: “I can say to you with every sense of responsibility that the polity is settling down.

“I can say to you emphatically that the economy is recovering strongly. We are out of recession clearly and the economy is beginning to grow. I can say to you emphatically that in the critical areas that promotes development as distinct from growth, the policy of the party and the implementation are firmly grounded

“Whether you are talking of power, without which no nation can develop, it has stabilized reasonably. We still have a long way to go.”

Daily Post

File photo.

The Nigerian Bar Association, NBA, has slammed President Muhammadu Buhari for handling the incessant slaughtering of of people of Benue State by Fulani herdsmen with kid’s gloves.

Addressing newsmen in Markudi, the Benue State capital, the Chairman of Makurdi branch of the NBA, Emmanuel Agbakor, said the NBA was disillusioned by the President’s show of apathy in the issue.

He said, “The NBA is totally disappointed, disenchanted and absolutely disillusioned at the display of apathy by the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari, with respect to the wanton, reckless and unwarranted killings.

“We condemn, in strong terms, the recurring invasion of the state by herdsmen and the concomitant nonchalant cum indifferent posture of the Federal Government concerning the problem.

“We overwhelmingly voted the President into power as Nigeria’s President but he has dramatically become ethnic and does not see anything wrong with what his kinsmen, the Fulani, are doing in different parts of the country, including Benue State. This is totally unacceptable. A government which is incapable of defending her people is simply, to say the least, not worth its salt.’’

Source: Daily Post

 

Senator James Udoedehe.

For his unyielding love for President Muhammadu Buhari, Senator James Udoedehe, a chieftain of the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC, and former senator of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, has declared that serving the President as a domestic staff (house boy, cleaner or messenger) would not be demeaning to his personality.

He disclosed this to newsmen in reaction to the recently released names of board members of various agencies.

The former Akwa Ibom State senator, a former minister, who was recently appointed as a board member of the Nigeria Information Technology Development Agency, maintained that he has been receiving calls from his political associates describing the appointment as humiliating.

He said he didn’t mind serving the president in any capacity, promising to make rally support for President Buhari and help him win majority of votes in Akwa Ibom in the 2019 elections, no matter the challenges.

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Hear him, “It will be disrespectful to the president for me to reject the offer, I am a loyal party member. If the president finds me worthy to be a messenger or a cleaner in the government, as a Christian I should humble myself and accept it. I don’t want to give my enemies weapon to tell lies against me. I don’t want my enemies to go and tell the president that I am arrogant.”

Going spiritual, he quoted the Bible as teaching about long suffering, humility, patience, and gratefulness to God.

Nwaokobia.

"My crime was to have taught the young to THINK" - Patrick Wilmot.

Happy NEW YEAR, Esteemed Countrymen and women, I am grateful to the Almighty for allowing us another time and moment in history, it is indeed awesome to be here in God's most engaging planet, in God's most challenging continent, and in God's most blessed Country, Nigeria. I am glad to be here, and I hope you are? If perchance you are not, we can work together to make it better, and to make the years ahead awesome and sublime. Blessedness.

The deluge of response that attended the first part of this effort rekindles my faith in the fate ahead of us as a nation. I am thankful for the kind words of encouragement from young people across the Country and for the critique of friends and foes alike. Even more encouraging is the fact that those who consider my piece too hard on the 'old', accept that our Country is in dire need of a NEW DEAL, and that we must all work together to take back our Country for the good of the masses of this nation.

Many thanks to my friend and brother Okey Ogunjiofor, who called and sent a message on WhatsApp, to update me with the true story of Nollywood, and how in his twenties, he assembled a team that gave birth to the success our motion picture industry has become. I cannot forget the hit movie LIVING IN BONDAGE, and the many others that came after it. To Compatriots Okey Ogunjiofor, Kenneth Okonkwo, Gabe Okoye, Ralph Nwadike, et al, a heart of love and respect.

It does appear that decades after that movie which can aptly wear the garb of the pioneer Nollywood hit, the Nigerian Youth sits in the back waters of political engagement at the Federal level, LIVING IN BONDAGE, fighting each other in the social media, spewing invectives and seeking to make a difference between worse and worst, between two evils, between the rock and the hard place, between the devil and the deep sea, and between six and half a dozen, which best defines the leviathan, the APC, and the behemoth, the PDP.

Since 1999 when this democratic voyage, nay civilian rule began, it has been a chequered tale of woes, of pain, of pang and of little pleasantness dotting far between. A child born in 1999 is today an adult, and old enough to vote in 2019. All that young adult knows is the PDP and the APC, all they know are bungled hopes, bungled dreams, bungled promises and bungled expectations. Now is the time, therefore to try something new, and to try something different.

I have watched the growth of the Music and the Comedy industry in Nigeria, and cannot but applaud the ingenuity and the industry of our young people. They broke the jinx of the lethargy that hung over that industry, one that The Great FELA, Sunny Okosun, Majek Fashek, Chika Okpalla (Zebrudaya), Baba Sala and a few others tried so hard to diminish. Today, that industry gives our Country about her best P. R. rating the world over, and it holds an immense potential for huge revenue to government. It is a Testament of the awesome ability and capacity of our Youths. A lucid epistle of our competency, and the fact that we can create something just out of nothing, speaking deeply.

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I am compelled to appreciate once again DJ Jimmy Jatt, Babatunde Okungbowa aka OJB of blessed memory, Atunyota Akpobome aka Alli Baba, Julius Agwu, Okey Bakasi, Michael Collins Ajereh aka Don Jazzy, Mandy Uzonitsha and many others who with no boot straps made lustre out of nothing. To Innocent Idibia aka 2Baba, now is the time to do the GAGA SHUFFLE, 'come follow me....', we must organize to take back our Country. We must peacefully shuffle the 'old' to retirement, and make our nation great again.

One of the most striking rejoinders to the first part of this effort came from someone who queried my applaud of the banking revolution that was pioneered by young people in their twenties, thirties and forties. The writer argued that in the quest for huge and quick profit they repudiated professionalism. And the writer maintains that Buhari is the best bet for our Country, now and come 2019. But I understand how politically correct some are. I have also seen that the benefits of the Banking Sector revolution pioneered by the Fola Adeolas, Jim Ovias, Tony Elumelus, Pat Utomis, Femi Pedros et al, and how it made our financial sector and business life easier and better, it may not yet be perfect, but it is certainly better than the 'old school'.

With Nigerian Youths breaking records in the Academic world, worldwide, with the biggest IT Driven companies worldwide unable to function without Nigerian born experts, with Nigerian born intellectuals wowing our planet in just about all fields, and with the universe looking Youth-ward, what better time is there to redeem and revolutionize this nation?

All we have had since 1999 are same of the same, POLITRICKCAL PROFITEERS jumping from one big party to the other, merchants of power and merchants in power whose complete quest in politics is the key to our collective till. Men and women to whom nothing about the people matter, all that counts is access to our collective wealth, they steal and loot what they do not need in ten lifetimes, and argue that Youths are ill-prepared for leadership, and sadly, some self-serving and crumb picking Youths buy into the hubris.

Can the present generation of leaders particularly at the Centre, fix Nigeria? The answer is capital NO. Why not, you may ask? Because as posited by Albert Einstein 'To attempt to solve a problem the same way it was created, is insanity'. Again, because one cannot give what one does not have. We have thus been unfair to Buhari and his generation, we have placed them beyond their capacity and capabilities, and we demand of them feats they cannot reach. To this end we must accept our collective guilt, and repent.

I had a debate on one of the 218 WhatsApp Groups to which I belong, and on what you may ask? I opined that we cannot redeem Nigeria by upholding the same divisive normative that brought us to where we are. I argued that to mobilize Nigerians into the redemptive vehicle that must birth and berth a NEW DEAL come 2019, that we cannot delineate Nigeria along the old fault lines of North and South, but deal with Nigeria as a Country of 36 States and a Federal Capital Territory, but was called an idealist, another argued that the North/South normative is for ease of mobilization. Such is the foulness of the lessons we learnt from the 'old', how can you truly unite Nigerians for greatness holding on to normative that divide. This is one truism that the 'old' and the politically correct are unable to grapple with.

Another is the six geopolitical zonal protocol that has further divided us, and deepened our fault lines. The old messed up our Country by creating vehicles of political convenience rather than creating a nation centred on equity, fairness and justice. Unfortunately, some of our young people are sold to the North Central, North West, North East, South West, South South, and the South East normative that only deepens regional prejudice at the expense of the whole. May God give us THINKERS for Leaders.

Have you also wondered how illogical it is to argue that our unity is not negotiable whereas billions of Naira is spent yearly on the NATIONAL YOUTH SERVICE CORP NYSC in a Country with national forms and protocols providing for State of Origin, rather than State of Residence or Birth, what an irony. How can you unite a nation divided by just about every State normative? An intense x-ray of the problems with Nigeria, reveals a collosal failure of leadership, and those who canvass the continuation of the APC or PDP are unfair not only to the Country but to the present crop of leaders, so unfair you want them to give what they do not have. THINK.

I have been challenged by many of my friends and followers, both old and young, to take up the gauntlet, and run again for the office of President in 2019. And my answer is, for this cause was I born. I was born with an inexplicable love and passion for my Country, a matchless faith in the matchless potentials that the Almighty has blessed Nigeria and Nigerians with, for which I presented the best manifesto in 2011 when I ran for the high office of President at 40, and I am persuaded that for this mission have I been divinely blessed and gifted with overwhelming grasp of the many problems with our beloved nation, and the solutions thereto.

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Have you wondered how easy it would be to attempt a rework of our national normative and structural programmatic without the North/South divide now deepened by the six zonal hubris? Have you wondered how the bonds of unity would deepen if we replace State of Origin in our national protocol with State of Birth or Residence? And have you wondered how easily Nigerians will understand RESTRUCTURING as a win win normative if we do away with the North/South divide, and jettison the dichotomies engendered and deepened by the unconstitutional Six Geopolitical Zones?

Countrymen and women, we must cease to look up to those who do not know the WAY to lead us, or we crash, and perhaps at best remain uneventful, mediocre and lethargic. Now is the time to do things differently, and now is the time to take back our Country.

I, CHRIS MUSTAPHA NWAOKOBIA JNR, a citizen of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, do hereby declare my intention to run for the office of President of the the Federal Republic of Nigeria come 2019. I have elected to do so because we cannot continue to watch God's greatest Country remain a laughing stock. I have elected to do so because we cannot allow mediocrity to thrive, as the present watch turns falsehood and propaganda to an Act of State. We must redeem our nation, we must rework our collective values, and halt the pervasive deep in the morass.

This race is not political qua political, it is a peaceful ballot based ORDINARY PEOPLES revolution come 2019, our trust is to build a great Nigeria for all Nigerians, and to bequeath to posterity the greatest nation in our continent, for this cause the COUNTRYFIRST MOVEMENT exists in the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, in Lagos, and in some of the States of the Federation.

To all who believe in the uniqueness of Nigeria, and in the challenge before us, it may suffice to inform you that we are pulling through with a merger of like minded political parties, and shall update you in due course with the platform by which our peaceful ballot based revolution shall be prosecuted.

We are however on course with the COUNTRYFIRST MOVEMENT, and are open to volunteers across the 36 States of the Country, who believe with us that A NEW AND A BETTER NIGERIA IS POSSIBLE. #YESWECAN #COUNTRYFIRST. To the Bridge, Dear Compatriots.

God Bless Nigeria.

- Chris Mustapha Nwaokobia Jnr, a legal practitioner is Convener, COUNTRYFIRST MOVEMENT