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RUSSIAN FLAGS AT KANO PROTESTS: Sack Service Chiefs Now;Group

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A northern Group, Arewa intelligentia Caucus (AIC) has asked the government of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to relieve the service chiefs of their appointment over the hoisting of Russian flag in Kano and the lingering protests.

This was contained in a lengthy press release issued by the body on Monday in kaduna and signed by both the President and Publicly Secretary, Abubakar Ciroma and Nasir Adamu.

They said recent events had demonstrated the inefficiency and inefficacy of the current service chiefs to defend the integrity amd sovereignty of the country .

The body frowned at lack of proactiveness, foresight and the non application of intelligence thought the top notch of the armed forces in the country.

“It does not require a security and intelligence expert to understand the volatility of any form of mass gathering in Kano State. Some recent antecedents even attest to how civil dissent could escalate disproportionately to the actual subject of discontent.”

“Two recent cases in point should suffice.
In November 2023, hundreds of youths took to the streets of Kano, protesting the appeal court judgment that sacked Governor Abba Yusuf as the state’s governor. That protest took a violent turn as some of the protesters said they were ready to die as they demanded justice.
Also, in May this year, the repeal of the Kano Emirates Council Law by the Kano State House of Assembly, leading to the deposition of Aminu Ado Bayero and the reinstatement of Muhammadu Sanusi II as Emir of Kano, sparked violent protests.”

“It was therefore unsurprising when, on the first day of the #EndBadGovernance protest, tacitly endorsed and supported by Governor Yusuf, events took a violent turn, leading to the destruction of billboards and streetlights, looting of shops and public facilities, and attacks on flashy vehicles.”

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“Despite a 24-hour curfew imposed by the governor, the second day of the protest was marred by more violence. ”

“When security operatives attempted to disperse some youths who defied the curfew to continue the #EndBadGovernance protest, it was met with fierce resistance.
But more worrying, in terms of the implication and significance of the protest, was the waving of the Russian flag by some protesters urging Russian President Vladimir Putin to intervene in Nigeria. ”

“One has to be a fool to believe that those Russian flags were hurriedly and expressly delivered for use between the night of the first day of protest and the following morning.”

“And why Russia? Is it because Putin has finally chosen to actively subscribe to the playground of proxy wars among world powers which West Africa has recently turned into, with his affiliation to political disruptions in Niger, Burkina Faso, and Mali?”

“Undermining democracy has been a strategic objective of Russia’s African policy for the past two decades. Authoritarian governments lacking domestic checks and balances provide permissive environment for enabling Russian influence on the African continent.”

“Russian interest to undercurrent democracy in Africa occurs a range of methods with disinformation. In the desperation by Moscow, 22 countries targeted for electoral interference and extra- constitutional claims to power.”

“Sadly, 13 of the 28 countries where Russia is actively endangering democracy are in conflict. This according to researc hers,represents over 3 -forth of African countries in conflict.”

“Worst still, Russian support to military government in Sudan for example helped to derail the democratic transition in the country, thereby precipitating the ensuing conflict. It’s on record that 11 out of the 15 African countries with the highest levels of forced population displacement have been targets of Russian intervention to undermine democracy.
African countries such as Algeria
, Angola, Burkina Faso, Cameroon,CAR, Comoros, Congo, Cote d’ Ivoire, DRC, Egypt, Eritrea, Ghana, Guinea, Libya, Madagascar, Mali, Mozambique, Niger, Rwanda, Senegal, South Africa, South Sudan, Sudan, Tunisia, Uganda and Zimbabwe, all have different tales of woes of political interference by Russia.”

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“How could irate youths protesting against hunger and hardship pull together resources to procure the flag of another country notoriously noted to have dessimated the political fortunes of many African countries. ”

“The answer is simple:

They didn’t; they just did as instigated by some unpatriotic forces in high places.
Some questions are pertinent: Where was the governor who prides himself as the “Chief Security Officer of the state?”
Are we to believe that he suddenly lost his gumption and disappeared from the public view?”

“And how, on earth, did such a brazen and unpatriotic act by protesters waving Russian flags take the security services by surprise? It’s an indictment that some tailors somewhere in Kano made dozens of Russian flags and flooded different protest venues across the city with the flags without being questioned and, obviously, without any prior intelligence! .”

“How were the flags distributed unnoticed on a day when the security services were supposed to be on maximum alert?
The Service Chiefs must answer these questions! ”

“While we condemn, in strong terms, the treasonable action of protesters in Kano waving the Russian flag, we observe with dismay that the same flag was also spotted in some suburbs of Abuja, the nation’s capital. ”

“We also strongly hold that the action is a serious indictment on the security chiefs.
We, therefore, call on the President and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces, President Bola Tinubu, to be ready to wield the big stick and declare a state of emergency in any state or region if the political leaders of the affected area(s) are not acting decisively.”

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“As the Chairman of ECOWAS, President Tinubu owes the West African sub-region the responsibility to ensure that the sub-region does not allow external forces to further derail democracy.
Already, systematic efforts by Russia to undermine democracy in Africa have subdued democratic development in many African countries.”

“The president should immediately nip Russia’s threat in the bud and punish its home-based enablers.”

“To this end, We humbly demand immediate sack of the indolent Service Chiefs by the President and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of the the Republic Federal of Nigeria, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu. ”

“We also submit that those behind the treasonable action in Kano and Abuja be fished out for prosecution. ”

“Thirdly, we demand that state of emergency be imposed on the state’s where the treasonable action took place during the ongoing Endbad governance protests.”

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IMF urges Nigeria to focus on most vulnerable while stabilising economy

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The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has urged the Nigerian government to accompany its economic stabilisation policies with targeted social welfare transfers to support the most vulnerable populations.

IMF Director of Communications, Julie Kozack, made this known during a routine press conference at the IMF headquarters in Washington, DC, on Thursday.

Kozack acknowledged the challenges many Nigerians faced and stressed the importance of prioritising support for vulnerable households.

“The authorities’ policies to stabilise the economy and promote growth are welcomed.

“However, they must be accompanied by targeted social transfers to support the most vulnerable populations. We recognise the extremely difficult situation that many Nigerians face,” she said.

She said that completing the rollout of cash transfers to vulnerable households and improving domestic revenue mobilisation should be key priorities for Nigeria.

Kozack also announced that IMF staff would visit Nigeria next week to prepare for the 2025 Article IV Consultation.

News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), reports that under Article IV of the IMF’s Articles of Agreement, the IMF conducts annual bilateral discussions with member countries.

As part of this process, a staff team visits the country, gathers economic and financial data, and engages with officials on economic policies and developments.(NAN)

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Tinubu Distorting Democracy, Weaponising Judiciary, Others – Prof Udenta

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The founding National Secretary of the Alliance for Democracy, Prof Udenta Udenta, on Thursday, accused the Bola Tinubu Presidency of dismantling democratic values and weaponing the judiciary, and the 1999 Constitution (as amended) against Nigerians.

Prof Udenta, a distinguished fellow of the Abuja School of Social and Political Thought, said the suspension of Governor Siminalayi Fubara of Rivers State was a distortion of democratic institutions by the Tinubu government.

“The system that should protect democratic governance, you are weaponising them; the judiciary, the apparatus of the state, you are distorting, diluting and transmogrifying them in a way and manner that is shutting down democratic conversations.

“That is what you find as the legacy of the Bola Tinubu president and his political agents,” Prof Udenta said on Channels Television’s Sunrise Daily programme.

The scholar said dismantling democratic principles isn’t by shooting guns but by misusing democratic instruments like the constitution and the judiciary.

“When you abandon the foundational norms of democracy and then you begin to use instruments you acquired in power to dismantle the guardrails that govern the democratic system, then democracy dies.

“It is not by firing a shot that democracy dies or crumbles, it is leveraging the guardrails like the constitution, like what was done in Rivers State, to abort democratic rules,” he said.
The scholar also accused Rivers State Administrator, Vice Admiral Ibok-Ete Ibas (retd) of dismantling the levers of democracy with his suspension of all political appointees in the oil-rich state.

“You find the sole administrator strutting around Port Harcourt, dismantling democratic infrastructure,” he said.

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Prof Udenta described what is practised in Rivers State as a “hybrid regime which is a part of competitive authoritarianism” being deployed to “manacle the spirit of a nation and abort democratic institutions at all levels” including labour unions, media houses, political parties, and civil societies.

Prof Udenta regretted that the quality of the lives of Nigerians in the last two years has so depreciated. He lamented that there is widespread hunger and poverty in the land with escalating food inflation usurping the income of average Nigerians.

“There is poverty in the land, there is hunger everywhere, inflation is soaring, criminality and terrorism and all manners of insecurity pervade the nation, and the government is bemused like this current one,” he said.

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Bill To Create Prime Minister Office Passes Second Reading At Reps

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A bill for an Act to alter the provisions of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999, to provide for the office of the Prime Minister as head of government and the office of President as head of state and to provide for a framework for the mode of election to the said offices, has passed second reading in the House of Representatives.

It is among 32 Constitution amendment bills that scaled second reading in the House of Representatives on Thursday.

Also among the bills is a bill for an Act to alter the provisions of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999, to provide for specific seats for women in the national assembly and state houses of assembly.

Another is a bill for an Act to alter the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999, to reduce the lengthy period for determination of pre-election petition matters and provide for the establishment of pre-election tribunals for pre-election matters and regulate the process of suspending a member of the national assembly from legislative duties.

A bill for an Act to alter the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999, to review the requirements that qualifies persons to be elected as president and vice-president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, governors and deputy governor, passed second reading as well.

A bill for an act to alter the provisions of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999, to review the status of the Federal Capital Territory as regards the election of the president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and bills for the creation of Wan State and Gobir State also passed second reading.

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This brings the total number of Constitution Amendment Bills passed so far through second reading to 113.

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