Unongu Shares Mind

Pastor Tunde Bakare, Senior Pastor of the Latter Rain Assembly and former running mate of Maj.-Gen. Muhammadu Buhari in the last presidential election, speaks with KUNLE ADEYEMI and ADEOLA BALOGUN on some burning national issues One year after the fuel subsidy protests, when you look back, would you say the protests achieved their goals ? When there are clear goals and objectives for any movement or protest, then you have the opportunity of judging whether those goals are attained or accomplished. We didn’t just rush out; if you recall, the increase in petrol pump price took place on January 1, 2012. Like a sadist, the President gave us a cause to be sorrowful on the first day of the year; even those who didn’t even have vehicles of their own and had to pay through their noses to move from one place to the other. The Save Nigeria Group sat down to analyse the situation and joined the protest in Ojota with its allies. There were pockets of protests here and there; there...

The ban instituted on the green-white-green commercial buses popular called ARABA, has been suspended by the FCT Minister, wednesday, after meeting with union officials over discussions on the hardship the transport policy has caused to commuters most of whom are public servants. Present at the meeting were representatives of the FCT Chapter of NLC and TUC, the FCT Commissioner of Police, and the Abuja Director of State Security Service. After a closed door session which lasted for hours, a transport policy implementation committee was set up to look into all the issues raised with a view to re-implementing the transport policy in three weeks from now. The committee is to be chaired by the Permanent Secretary of FCT Administration. In a related development, constitutional lawyers in the FCT have faulted the implementation of the transport policy, saying it has no constitutional backing. They argue that for any policy of such magnitude to be implemented by the FCT Administration, such...

In 628 C.E. Prophet Muhammad (s) granted a Charter of Privileges to the monks of St. Catherine Monastery in Mt. Sinai. It consisted of several clauses covering all aspects of human rights including such topics as the protection of Christians, freedom of worship and movement, freedom to appoint their own judges and to own and maintain their property, exemption from military service, and the right to protection in war. An English translation of that document is presented below. This is a message from Muhammad ibn Abdullah, as a covenant to those who adopt Christianity, near and far, we are with them. Verily I, the servants, the helpers, and my followers defend them, because Christians are my citizens; and by Allah! I hold out against anything that displeases them. No compulsion is to be on them. Neither are their judges to be removed from their jobs nor their monks from their monasteries. No one is to destroy a house of their religion, to damage it, or to carry anything from it ...

Grant Governor Sullivan Chime Quick Recovery By Nwaorgu Faustinus Governor Sullivan Chime assumed the mantle of leadership as the Chief Executive officer of the Coal City State for the first time in 2007. This was after he served as the Commissioner for Justice and Attorney General   of State where he used his position at the time to make far-reaching and positive contributions that have direct impact on the well-being of the residents. His predecessor, Chimaraoke Nnamami the then governor of Enugu State having seen salient leadership qualities in him (Sullivan Chime) opted to have Mr Chime succeed him. And it came to pass, as 2007 saw Mr Sullivan Chime emerged as the winner of the governorship election. Ever since then, Mr Chime has not left any one in doubt, be it Tom, Dick or Harry of his mission, vision, resolve as well as his determination to transform Enugu State far better than he met it for posterity to pass its judgement on his tenures as the governor ...

It is no longer news. The relationship between former president Olusegun Obasanjo, and his political godson, the incumbent, President Goodluck Jonathan has finally hit the rocks. The “father” and “son” bond that had held the two political players together in the last few years had reached a breaking point.  It hit an all time low recently and finally snapped with the godfather’s open and scathing criticism of President Jonathan’s administration and leadership style. That an acrimonious epilogue would eventually signal a denouement of a pact fated to end in tragedy  is  nothing unusual; in politics, especially in our country, coalitions and friendship among politicians are not always scripted to your storybook, fairytale, happy ever-after ending. This democracy is replete with tales of political alliances that have gone sour as soon as they began. The saying that in politics “no permanent friends or enemies but permanent interests” can best describe the ...

*2015: Should Ndigbo Also Spit Fire?*   By Odimegwu Onwumere Some persons are behaving as if they own Nigeria. They are spitting fire that Nigeria will combust if the 2015 presidential elections did not go the way they wanted. They have become self-acclaimed mouthpiece of their different ethnic regions, who in their entirety do not buy the idea of these persons. This brings to fore the position of Ndigbo in the Nigerian political equation. There were promises and speculations during the 2011 elections campaign that Igbo would produce president come 2015. But it seems that those who made that promise and browbeaten Ndigbo to vote are now enjoying the gearshift of power and they no longer remember that Ndigbo are Nigerians. What they are saying is that if their son do not contest the presidential elections in 2015 there would be chaos, while others are saying that ‘they are born to rule’ thus, power should return to their region...

Benue’s Opaque Budget Posted: 14 May 2012 11:50 PM PDT We continue our analysis of the budgets of the state governments with the North-Central State of Benue.  Bordered by Nasarawa state to the north, Taraba state to the East, Ebonyi and Cross River states to the south, and Kogi state to the west, Benue state was created in February 1976, when Benue-Plateau State was separated into Benue and Plateau states by the Murtala-Obasanjo administration. Benue state is acclaimed to be the nation’s food basket because of its rich and diverse agricultural endowments which include yam, rice, beans, cassava, potatoes, soybeans, sorghum, millet and coco yam. The state produces over 70% of Nigeria’s Soya-beans and is home to one of the longest river systems in the country – River Benue, which has the potential for viable fishing and tourism industries complete with festivals similar to the one in Argungu. The river has the potential to generate electricity, to support dry season farming throug...