News

‘We Regret Voting Jonathan Out Of Office,’ Northern Elders Lament

Published

4 years ago

September 22, 2021

The Northern Elders Forum has said that it regretted that it got rid of then President Goodluck Jonathan in the 2015 elections to vote in the incumbent, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.).

The group expressed disappointment that Buhari has let down millions of Nigerians including members of the All Progressives Congress who trusted in his leadership prior to the poll six years ago.

NEF, therefore, said that the next President of Nigeria should be one who would act in the “opposite direction” of Buhari, who hails from Katsina, North-West Nigeria.

NEF Director of Publicity and Advocacy, Dr. Hakeem Baba-Ahmed, spoke on Tuesday when he featured on Arise TV’s ‘The Morning Show’ breakfast programme monitored by The PUNCH.

He said, “Is there any Nigerian who is not disappointed in President Buhari including diehard APC people? Is there anybody who would not tell you he wished President Buhari had done much better?

“We raised huge expectations, we told people, ‘Get rid of Jonathan, put Buhari there, he would fix corruption, he would fix insecurity, he would fix the economy’ (but) look at where we are now.

“How can anybody say they are happy with the record of President Buhari, even the people very close to him would tell you that they wished he could have done much better and he could have done much better and he hasn’t.”

The group’s spokesman said Nigeria needs a President who would act in the “opposite direction” of Buhari in terms of economic policies, security, amongst others.

“So, what we need to do now is to get ready to elect another President who would go in the opposite direction, a President who has a vision and a clear idea of what governance involves rather than just being a President. So, I am disappointed and that is why today, I am actively involved in trying to see that a new leader emerges in getting Nigerians a new lease of life,” Baba-Ahmed noted.

With the 2023 elections fast approaching and the clamour for power shift to the South, Jonathan, who has the legal right to one more term as Nigeria’s President as the constitution permits all eligible Nigerians to be in office for two terms of eight years, has been receiving entreaties from the APC.

Many APC chieftains have visited him in recent time, raising the stakes in permutations for the 2023 general elections.

Of late, with the wave of defections swinging in the direction of the ruling party, the National Secretary, APC Caretaker, and Extra-ordinary Convention Planning Committee, John Akpanudoedehe, said Jonathan would be given an opportunity to contest the 2023 presidency on APC platform if he chose to join the ruling party.

However, the former President has not declared any intention to contest in the forthcoming election.

Speaking further, Baba-Ahmed said the north had lived under Southern Presidents — Olusegun Obasanjo and Goodluck Jonathan — since Nigeria’s return to democratic rule in 1999.

He, however, said Southern Governors should not make the 2023 Presidency a matter of disagreement amongst Nigerians, noting that they should negotiate rather than demand the number one seat. The 17 Southern Governors at their meetings in Lagos and Enugu lately had insisted that power must return to the South in 2023.

“We have lived under Southern Presidents because we recognise that Nigeria is made up of sections, ethnic groups and interests. We recognise that, we are northerners, pluralism is in our DNA, we accept that, we live with it.

“Don’t make the issue of Presidency a matter over which Nigerians would fight and threaten the country and the democratic process, that is very dangerous for this country,” the NEF spokesman stated.

Baba-Ahmed also insisted that the north has the numerical strength in any election, adding that those doubting the north’s voting power should check the last elections, claiming that millions of southerners voted for northern candidates during the elections.

He, however, said though the north has the numerical strength, neither the north nor the south can solely produce a President without the help of other parts of the country.

‘APC, PDP not answer for 2023’
Also, the NEF spokesman said that Nigeria needs a President who realises the need to rebuild the country, secure Nigerians and boost the economy from the downward slope.

“The nation needs a leader that would do the things that President (Muhammadu) Buhari hasn’t done, create inclusiveness, address resentment and frustration in other parts of the country and in the north and speak and act for everybody,” he added.

The elder statesman, however, regretted that both the ruling APC and the leading opposition party, the Peoples Democratic Party, have no answers to what Nigerians want in a candidate in 2023.

He noted that the “smaller parties” should be given the opportunity to field candidates with the character and capacity to lead Nigeria from all her current woes.

(PUNCH)

News

FG Shuts 22 Illegal Tertiary Institutions

Published

4 hours ago

August 25, 2025

Editor

The National Commission for Colleges of Education has uncovered and shut down 22 illegal Colleges of Education.

The discovery was made during a crackdown on illegal colleges of education in the country.

The development was revealed in the commission’s achievements, seen by our correspondent.

“The NCCE identified and shut down 22 illegal Colleges of Education operating across the country.

“The NCCE conducted personnel audit, financial monitoring in all the 21 federal colleges of education,” the commission said.

President Bola Tinubu had recently urged the National Universities Commission, the National Board for Technical Education and the National Commission for Colleges of Education to weed out illegal higher institutions of learning in the country.

Speaking at the 14th convocation of the National Open University of Nigeria in Abuja, the President ordered the NUC, the NBTE, and other agencies to take decisive action against what he described as “certificate millers” undermining the credibility of the education sector.

Tinubu, who was represented by the Director of University Education at the Federal Ministry of Education, Rakiya Ilyasu, warned that the integrity of the academic system must not be compromised.

“At this juncture, it has become imperative to reiterate that this administration remains committed to strengthening the integration of all agencies involved in the administration of education to enhance efficiency and quality,” the President said.

He added, “The National Youth Service Corps, the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board, the National Universities Commission, the National Board for Technical Education and the National Commission for Colleges of Education are working in alignment to improve the quality of education and ensure that cases of forgery and unrecognised institutions both within and outside the country have no place in our education ecosystem.”

News

EFCC Orders Arrest Of Dismissed Officer On Lege Miami’s Show

Published

6 hours ago

August 25, 2025

Editor

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission has condemned the actions of one of its former staff, Olakunle Alex Folarin, who was recently spotted participating in a matchmaking programme on social media platforms hosted by popular entertainer Lege Miami.

The agency has ordered his immediate arrest for retaining official EFCC property, including an identity card, following his dismissal for certificate forgery.

The anti-graft agency, in a statement on its official X handle on Monday, said Folarin served as a driver at the EFCC’s Ibadan Zonal Directorate.

He was, however, dismissed after investigations confirmed he had forged his academic credentials.

It said, “The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, condemned in the strongest terms, the involvement of one of its former staff, Olakunle Alex Folarin, in a matchmaking programme running on Lege Miami social media platforms.”

“Folarin was recently dismissed from the Commission for certificate forgery. He was a driver at the Ibadan Zonal Directorate of the EFCC.”

The statement said EFCC Executive Chairma,n Mr. Ola Olukoyede, has ordered Folarin to be arrested and emphasised that Folarin’s actions should not be associated with the commission.

“The Executive Chairman of the EFCC, Mr. Ola Olukoyede, has ordered his arrest for being in possession of some Commission’s properties, including an identity card, which he should have handed over upon being dismissed from the EFCC.

“The public is advised against associating Folarin’s post-dismissal conduct with the EFCC,” the statement concluded.

News

NERC Transfers Regulation Of Electricity Market To Bayelsa

Published

6 hours ago

August 25, 2025

Editor

The Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission has transferred regulatory oversight of the electricity market in Bayelsa State to the Bayelsa Electricity Regulatory Agency.

In a notice on its social media handles on Monday, the commission said this was in compliance with the amended 1999 Constitution and the Electricity Act 2023.

“In compliance with the amended Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and the Electricity Act 2023 (Amended), the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission has issued an order to transfer regulatory oversight of the electricity market in Bayelsa State from the Commission to the Bayelsa State Electricity Regulatory Agency,” the commission said.

Recall that with the Electricity Act 2023, the commission retains the role as a central regulator with regulatory oversight on the interstate/international generation, transmission, supply, trading, and system operations.

The Act also mandates any state that intends to establish and regulate intrastate electricity markets to deliver a formal notification of its processes and requests NERC to transfer regulatory authority over electricity operations in the state to the state regulator.

The transfer order by NERC directed Port Harcourt Electricity Distribution Company Plc to incorporate a subsidiary distribution company to assume responsibilities for intrastate supply and distribution of electricity in Bayelsa State from PHED.

PHED was also directed to complete the incorporation of PHED SubCo within 60 days from August 21, 2025.

“The subcompany shall apply for and obtain a licence for the intrastate supply and distribution of electricity from BYERA, among other directives,” the commission said.

It concluded that all transfers envisaged by the order shall be completed by February 20, 2026.

With this order, Bayelsa has joined states like Lagos, Imo, Ogun, Ondo, Ekiti, Enugu, Niger, Edo, Oyo and Plateau, which have got the power to regulate electricity markets.

The state can now generate, transmit, and distribute electricity while issuing licences to investors within the value chain.