News
Wole Soyinka Replies Garba Shehu, Calls PBuhari’s Administration Clueless
Nobel Laureate, Prof Wole Soyinka, has responded to an attack on him by Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity to President Muhammadu Buhari, Garba Shehu.
Shehu, speaking on behalf of the Presidency, had urged Nigerians to ignore Soyinka’s comments on the lockdown order declared by Buhari on Sunday during a broadcast.
The lockdown to take place in Lagos, Ogun and FCT, was part of wider measures adopted by government to halt the spread of Coronavirus in the country.
Shehu therefore said that Nigerians should ignore Soyinka for kicking against the move because he lacked knowledge on issues of health and science in general.
However, responding on Thursday morning, Soyinka described Shehu as a paid propagandist doing the bidding of a clueless administration.
He said: “Mr, Shehu Garba failed to mention a most important profession in which I am confirmed: Alarmist. Unpaid. It’s a universal function of humanity even in the midst of the worst of crises.
“To save me the trouble of responding to the mind boggling irrelevances of paid errand voices, a professional colleague kindly sent me an affirmative article in the New York Times.
“You will understand that I cannot take issues with a propagandist whose clear mission is to distract public attention from the complex issues of health – both the physiological and the mental.”
The New York Times article referred to by Soyinka raises concern on how the global health crisis was creating an avenue for political leaders to exhibit dictatorial tendencies.
The article went on to express fear over whether the new powers acquired by heads of governments in many countries of the world including in Nigeria will be relinquished by the end of the Coronavirus pandemic.
Recall that several leading Legal Practitioners in Nigeria including Femi Falana had said that the lockdown order by Buhari could not stand except backed by law.
Shortly afterwards, Buhari on Monday announced the signing into law of the COVID-19 Regulations.
Sections 2, 3 and 4 of the Quarantine Act (CAP Q2 LFN 2004) conferred such powers on him.
It was the legal framework needed to enforce the lockdown order in Lagos, Ogun and the FCT.
The order has taken effect in Lagos and FCT while it will be enforced in Ogun starting from Friday.
News
We don’t have power to determine tenure of IGP – Police Service Commission
The Police Service Commission, PSC, has said it has no constitutional powers to determine the appointment or removal of the Inspector-General of Police, IGP.
Gatekeeper recalls that the Police Service Commission had last week directed all serving police officers who have served for 35 years, or attained the age of 60 years, to proceed on immediate retirement in line with existing laws.
Since the directive several public commentators have argued that the directives should also affect the tenure of the IGP.
But Ikechukwu Ani, Head, Press and Public Relations of the PSC, in a statement on Monday, said, “By virtue of Paragraph 30, part 1 of the third schedule to the Constitution, and clause 6 (1) of the Police Service Commission (Establisment) Act, 2001, the Commission is charged with the responsibilities of appointment, promotion, dismissal and exercising disciplinary control over persons holding offices in the Nigeria Police Force (except the Inspector General of Police).
“The law is clear on the mandate of the Commission and it does not extend to the Inspector General of Police who is an appointee of Mr. President with the advice of the Police Council.
“The Commission wishes to state that it is comfortable with the size of the powers which the Constitution has bestowed on it and is not interested in shopping for more powers that obviously are not backed by law.”
News
Electricity, telecom tariffs increase unconscionable, should be stopped – Shehu Sani
Former lawmaker, Senator Shehu Sani, has described the planned increase in electricity and telecom tariffs as unconscionable.
The statement comes after the telecoms regulator last week approved the increase in mobile tariffs.
The federal government also recently said that plans were ongoing to increase electricity tariffs “over the next few months.”
However, Sani, who said the government’s plan is unreasonable, insisted that it should be halted.
The ex-lawmaker also expressed his support for the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) over the scheduled protest against the government’s proposal, calling it a welcome development.
“The planned increase in electricity tariffs in the midst of poor power supply and the proposal to increase telecom tariffs is unconscionable and should be halted. The scheduled labour union protest is a welcome development,” he posted on X.
News
Trump to cut off funding to South Africa, gives reason
The United States President, Donald Trump, has revealed his decision to cut off all future funding to South Africa, citing poor treatment of “certain classes of people.”
Trump made this known on Sunday in a post on Truth Social, his social media platform.
According to Trump, South Africa was seizing land and mistreating some citizens without concern for the violations of their rights.
“South Africa is confiscating land and treating certain classes of people VERY BADLY.
“I will be cutting off all future funding to South Africa until a full investigation of this situation has been completed!” Trump wrote.
Reports suggest that the American leader may be defending White South Africans, some of whom have alleged that the South African policy is unfair to them.
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