Metro

‘You were elected to end poverty, not to increase it,’ Atiku tells Tinubu

Published

4 months ago

June 19, 2024

Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has told President Bola Tinubu that Nigerians elected him to end, or at least, reduce poverty in the country and not increase it.

Atiku, who was the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the 2023 presidential election, was reacting to Tinubu’s Sallah day comments that Nigeria was not the only country undergoing poverty and suffering, urging Nigerians to stop complaining.

Tinubu, who gave the admonition when he recieved a delegation of members of the National Assembly led by its leadership, Senate President, Senator Godswill Akpabio, Deputy Senate President, Senator Jibrin Barau and Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Hon Benjamin Kalu.

While addressing the delegation who came to felicitate with him on the occasion of Eid-el-Kabir, Tinubu said:

“Yes, there is poverty; there is suffering in the land. We are not the only people facing such but we must face our challenges,” the President said.

“We must find a way to eliminate banditry and terrorism so that farmers can bring out food from the farmlands.

“If you do not have good roads to bring the food to the population, even if you grow the food and you are losing 60-70 per cent to damage, you will pay the price,“ he added.

But the comments from President Tinubu has continued to elicit strong criticism from Nigerians who believe the President should concentrate on revamping the economy instead.

In his reaction to the comments, Atiku said Tinubu was elected to tackle, instead of amplifying poverty, and should stop making excuses for inflicting multidimensional poverty on Nigerians.

In a statement through his Special Adviser, Paul Ibe, Atiku said:

“There’s a saying that the baby goat watches the mother goat eating grass and consequently learns to eat grass.

“There are little or no values nurtured and promoted by Tinubu and his administration. What Nigerians are seeing manifest is insensitivity, bigotry, nepotism, corruption, and wastefulness.

“For the President to speak about us finding a way to eliminate banditry and terrorism is an acknowledgement of failure.

“What we expect to hear from him are the measures and the strategy to deal with the menace and not to regale us with the problems we are all well aware of.

“The poverty in Nigeria is multi-dimensional. It was exacerbated by the policies of the Tinubu administration that did not prioritise production and cutting costs.

“Policies that were not well-thought-out and are only aimed at pauperizing the citizens. Tinubu’s trial-and-error policies have continued to dig the country deeper into economic degradation.

“His government is characterised by a lack of transparency and accountability. For example, his administration is paying for subsidy, contrary to the claims that it is gone for good.

“According to his minister of finance, last year (the very same year they allegedly stopped payment of subsidy), Tinubu paid a subsidy of N3.6 trillion and this year, he is projected to pay a subsidy of N5.4 trillion.

“Why are they lying about this other than to divert money away from the federation account? Truth be told, Tinubu is the one causing the deepening poverty in the country.

“May be this administration needs to be reminded that it was elected to reduce if not eliminate poverty, hunger and disease but what we have seen is an obsession with opulence.

“We are yet to get over the billions appropriated for the renovation of the President and Vice President’s lodges, now we hear they want new jets to join the Presidential fleet.

“Our schools and health institutions are on their knees, the same government claims it cannot afford to pay public servants a living wage but has enough to make itself comfortable at the expense of the suffering masses.

“Mr. President, we implore you to uphold the constitution you swore to protect. The constitution says the security and welfare of the populace shall be the primary purpose of the existence of your government. Enough of this mockery.”

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Metro

‘You’re better off in retirement, drinking in peace’, Zambian President taunts predecessor

Published

3 days ago

October 23, 2024

Isaac Dachen

Zambian President, Hakainde Hichilema, has told his predecessor, Edgar Lungu, that he should forget the presidency in 2026 as he is better off in retirement where he can drink in peace.

Hichilema, who spoke to supporters of the ruling United Party for National Development (UPND) in Mazabuka district on Tuesday, told Lungu that his “buttocks are glued” to the presidential seat, advising Lungu to continue “drinking in peace” because his dream of bouncing back to power was unattainable.

He added that he had sympathy for Lungu who has claimed he would return to the political arena.

“He is better off being in retirement so that he can be drinking in peace,” Hichilema said.

“Someone who is drunk wants to come back to the presidency seat. Where will he sit? You drink and get drunk, then you want to come back to the presidency seat, the seat which I have already taken with my buttocks glued to it, so where will he sit?” he wondered.

Hichilema further dismissed Lungu’s aspirations of returning to power as far-fetched, emphasizing, “I’m not leaving anytime soon.”

He recounted watching Lungu rant from a distance, saying he was not moved by his claims because he perceived Lungu as a drunk man.

“When I hear him talking about bouncing back to power, I peep, and I am like, ‘You are drunk; just sit down and continue drinking every day,’” he remarked.

The President insisted that no one would want to return to the era of the Patriotic Front (PF) which he said individuals were beaten for expressing their political beliefs.

“These people want to take away the free education; they want to take away the increased CDF, which was not correct. We cannot allow people who used to beat us just for wearing red,” he stated.

He pointed out that under the PF’s rule, people were arrested simply for being associated with the UPND, but now it was the PF’s turn to face consequences for their violent behavior.

Hichilema also cautioned all UPND members against claiming that he had already won the 2026 election, warning that such assertions could lead to serious trouble.

Metro

Nigeria: EFCC says country loses $500m to cybercrime annually

Published

3 days ago

October 23, 2024

Isaac Dachen

Chairman of Nigeria’s anti-corruption agency, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Ola Olukoyede, says the country loses over $500 million annually to various forms of cybercrimes.

Olukoyede, who made the disclosure on Tuesday at the National Cybercrime Summit organised by the EFCC in collaboration with the European Union-funded Rule of Law and Anti-Corruption Programme of the International (IDEA) in Abuja, noted that an estimated $500m was lost to the scourge in 2022, adding that cybercrime suspects got a larger share of the 3,455 convictions recorded by EFCC in his one year in office.

He added that projections by multiple sources show that the global loss to cybercrime may reach a staggering $10.5tn.

“As a matter of fact, the research I did earlier this year confirmed that cybercrime has become the third largest GDP in the world with approximately 2,328 cases occurring daily,” the EFCC boss said.

“The implication of all this is that if left unchecked, cybercrimes pose grave dangers to the entire world.

“Bringing it to Nigeria, in 2022 alone, Nigeria lost over $500 million to cybercrimes. These are the realities driving the commission’s fight against these crimes.

“Cybercrime accounts for a significant percentage of the 3,455 convictions recorded by EFCC in my one year as the Executive Chairman of EFCC.

“A significant portfolio of choice assets has also been recovered and returned to both local and foreign victims of cybercrimes by the commission.

“We are not oblivious of insinuations and misconceptions in some quarters,’ Olukoyede, noting that as part of measures to curb crime, the anti-graft agency was building a cybercrime research centre.

“We are putting up a Cybercrime Research Centre in collaboration with one of the fintechs in Nigeria.

“It’s a centre that will take a minimum of 500 young Nigerians at a time and train them in cyber security and all areas of cybercrime research so that we’ll be able to make something out of them,” he added.