Abba Kyari, Lawal Daura Have Not Resigned

The Presidency on Sunday denied the rumour making the rounds that the Chief of Staff to the President, Abba Kyari; and the Director-General of the Department of State Services, Lawal Daura, have resigned .

The Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, made the clarification in an interview with journalists. Shehu described the reports of the resignation that went viral on social media and some online news media as pure mischief.


He said while Kyari was on official assignment in China, Daura was busy with his work.

The presidential spokesman said, “That report is pure mischief.

“What I can tell you is that the President sent the Chief of Staff, Malam Abba Kyari, to China on an assignment.

“He left on Saturday and we are expecting him by the middle of the week. “The DG DSS who spoke with me a few hours ago is busy on his job. “Nothing to indicate resignation. I think these are mere distractions.”

Babachir Lawal Reacts to Suspension

 

Babachir Lawal, secretary to the government of the federation, has told reporters to ask the “presidency” why he was suspended.


In an encounter with reporters on Wednesday shortly after his suspension was announced, a clearly shocked Lawal stalled on all the questions he was asked.


Informed that his suspension was announced by the presidency, he retorted: “Who is the presidency?”


He had been in a meeting with vice-president when Femi Adesina, presidential spokesman, announced his suspension pending investigations into the the award of contracts under the Presidential Initiative on the North East (PINE).


Also suspended is Ayo Oke, director-general of the National Intelligence Agency (NIA), over the funds recovered from a private residence in Ikoyi, Lagos state, by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
The exchange in full


Reporters: Your suspension has just been announced. How will you react to the development?


Lawal: Who announced it?


Reporters: The presidency


Lawal: Then ask them. Why are you asking me? Who is the presidency?


Reporters: Have you been informed of the suspension?


Lawal: By who? About what. What about you? Have you been informed?


Reporters: Yes sir.


Lawal: By who?


Reporters: By the presidency sir.


Lawal: I have not seen it. I should have been given… I have not seen the press release so I cannot comment on it.


Reporters: It is currently trending online. Are you doubting the authenticity of the statement?


Lawal: I have not seen it.


Reporters: Tell us the outcome of your meeting with the vice-president.


Lawal: I am always here. I always meet the vice-president. I used to come here even before I was made SGF.

 

www.thecable.ng

Ikoyi Billions: Peter Obi Confirms Search of His Apartment by EFCC

A former governor of Anambra State, Mr. Peter Obi, has confirmed THISDAY’s exclusive report on Tuesday that his apartment was one of the many searched by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), following the discovery of N13.3 billion in a neighbouring apartment (Flat 7B) at Osborne Towers, Ikoyi, by the commission last week.

In a follow-up to the information provided by the whistle blower who blew the lid on the cash found in Apartment 7B and further information that there was more cash stashed away in another apartment in the same luxury complex, the EFCC had obtained a warrant from the court to search all the flats in the building.


Accordingly, it notified all the occupants of the building that its operatives would search all the flats to ascertain the veracity of the information provided by the whistle blower who works in the complex.

By Monday, the commission had searched 21 of the apartments including those belonging to the former National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Alhaji Adamu Mu’azu, who developed the sky-rise residential building.

A statement on Tuesday by Obi’s media aide, Mr. Val Obienyem, said the former governor has confirmed the search by the EFCC of Flat 1 occupied by him in the building.

Responding to enquiries from the press, Obienyem, who revealed that the ex-governor’s primary residence is in Onitsha, Anambra State, he added that the apartment rented by Obi’s wife, Margaret, is usually used by the former governor anytime he is in Lagos.
Obienyem, who cautioned mischief makers against linking Obi to the cash haul, made it clear that the entire occupants of the building were also searched.

“Even though Mr. and Mrs. Obi had travelled to the UK and U.S. for speaking engagements, when he was informed of the search, he quickly sent the keys to the 4-bedroom apartment to the EFCC via courier today (yesterday).
“He even left instructions that we should allow them to also search his Onitsha residence should there be need for that.

“After a thorough search, nothing was found in the apartment,” Obienyem said.
Obienyem revealed that during the search, one of the operatives of the EFCC was overheard expressing doubt if the apartment had anything to do with Obi, citing the fact that it was the simplest in terms of furnishing and reflective of his ascetic lifestyle.

A source also revealed to THISDAY that Obi learnt of the search warrant obtained from the EFCC from his neighbour, Chairman/CEO of Zinox Technologies Limited, Mr. Leo Stan Ekeh, who has two children living in the apartment building.
One of his sons, Nnamdi, 24, who is a resident of Osborne Towers, is a budding entrepreneur and founder of the online shopping portal Yudala.

Ekeh reportedly called Obi at the weekend to inform him that the EFCC had searched his children’s flats and advised him to send his key from London so that his flat could be searched likewise.
Obi, THISDAY gathered, promptly asked his wife to send the key via courier to a family friend to let the EFCC operatives into his flat.
The Obis, it was gathered, neither keep maids nor housekeepers at the apartment and always lock it up when they are out of town. 

 

thisdaylive.com

NOI Polls: Buhari’s Performance Rating Rises by Five Points

President Muhammadu Buhari’s performance rating has increased by five points, according to a poll conducted by NOIPolls.

The results of the poll which was made public, indicated that the rise was due to the president’s return from medical leave, his Economic Recovery and Growth Plan, and the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) policy intervention in the foreign exchange market, among others.

NOIPolls revealed that with the five-point increase, Buhari’s job performance evaluation for the month of March 2017 now stands at 55 per cent in March 2017.
NOIPolls also revealed that the marginal increase was laudable but massive inroads still have to be made in terms of curbing inflation and poverty rates which still remain the highest reason for disapproval of the president’s job performance.


It added that Buhari’s government must focus on the adequate implementation of recommendations outlined by the Economic Recovery and Growth Plan to ensure sustainable economic growth and national development.

NOIPolls also said the rise in the president’s job performance rating was seen across the six geo-political zones and the North-east zone with 31 points had the highest proportion of Nigerians in this category.

Findings revealed that the rationale for approval of the president’s job performance was centred around the perceived slight reduction in the prices of goods and services (25 per cent), improved level of security (20 per cent), and slight improvement in the economy (15 per cent), among other reasons.
Conversely, 35 per cent of the respondents, who disapproved of his job performance, reported general hardship and high poverty rate (40 per cent), high cost of goods and services (25 per cent), and worsening state of the economy (15 per cent) as reasons for their disapproval.
These are some of the key findings from the governance poll conducted by NOIPolls in the week which commenced on March 27, 2017.

These results represent the 22nd approval rating in a monthly series of governance polls conducted by NOIPolls to gauge the perceptions of Nigerians regarding the job performance of the president.
According to NOI, the public opinion poll was conducted in the week commencing March 27, 2017. It involved telephone interviews of a random nationwide sample. One thousand randomly selected Nigerian phone owners aged 18 years and above, representing the six geopolitical zones in the country, were interviewed.

“With a sample of this size, we can say with 95 per cent confidence that the results obtained are statistically precise – within a range of plus or minus three per cent,” it said.
NOIPolls is the foremost polling firm for country-specific polling services in West Africa. It conducts periodic opinion polls and studies on various socio-economic and political issues in Nigeria.

thisdaylive.com