By Longtong Ibrahim

Jos (Nigeria) – Plateau State Governor-elect, Simon Lalong says he will work with indigenous retired military generals from the state to address issues of insecurity which has bedevilled the North-Central State.

Lalong who made this known in Jos while receiving a delegation of Tarok-natives, listed some of the retired military generals to include Joshua Dogonyaro, Domkat Bali, Jeremiah Timbut Useni, John Shagaya, Air Marshall John Wuyep, Gen. John Timlong and Air Marshall Bennett Banfa.

He pointed out that if past governments had taken full advantage of the retired top security chiefs, the state would not have suffered the crises it did over the past decade; adding that With these generals around, security is sure in Plateau.

He said, “A wise leader would use them. If you don’t use them, you suffer. I’m privileged to have these people. We must be united so we can chase insecurity out of the state.”

He however called on the people of Plateau to work together as members of one family so that good Governance could be achieve.

Earlier in his remarks, leader of the delegation and President of NIO, General Joshua Dogonyaro had urged Lalong to work at uniting all the various tribes and religious groups of the state to achieve a wide socio-economic development in the state.

He expressed satisfaction over his victory, saying, “for the first time in a long while, we will be having one of our own, someone from southern Plateau as governor. You have our total support. But you have all the people of Plateau State to govern.”

He prayed that God will use him to restore unity, peace and development in the state.

Abuja (Nigeria) – Nigeria’s Information Minister Patricia Akwashiki has faulted a news report by a local Newspaper, Daily Trust of Tuesday, May 19, 2015, where the paper quoted her saying President Goodluck Jonathan will dissolve his cabinet on Wednesday, 20th May, 2015.

A statement by her Press Secretary, Joseph Mutah, says the Minister had at no time addressed journalists on the dissolution of the Federal Executive Council by President Jonathan.

It says, Akwashiki was surprised that the news report, which initially quoted an unnamed Minister from the South West, ended up attributing the comments to her.

The Information Minister therefore urges the general public to disregard the tendentious report as false and malicious, which only exists in the warped imagination of its authors.

By Muhammad Ibrahim

Kaduna (Nigeria) – Kaduna State All Progressive Congress (APC) Transition Committee has concluded arrangement to drag the outgoing state Governor Mukhtar Ramalan Yero to Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) over N2.7billion SURE-P funds diversion in the state.

This came barely 24 hours after the State Governor-elect, Malam Nasir Ahmed El-Rufai vowed to probe anyone culpable in the SURE-P funds diversion in the state.

This was contained in a letter signed by the Chairman of APC Transition committee, Balara‎be Abbas Lawal‎ and made available to newsmen in Kaduna, northwest Nigeria.

The letter was addressed to the EFCC Chairman by the transition committee titled ‘‎‎The ‎attempt to misappropriate ‎SURE-P Funds in Kaduna State’, ”

According to the letter Yero‎‎ has been putting the legislature under tremendous pressure to approve his utilisation of 50% of the Sure-P funds for a road project, while the 23 local government councils would share the balance.

The transition committee in the letter wanted the EFCC to stop Governor Yero led government from what it described as last minute looting of public assets.

The committee accused the ‎outgoing State Government of taking elaborate steps to legitimise the ‎misappropriation‎ of N2.744 billion Local Government Sure-P funds,

The statement reads “I write to bring to your attention the elaborate steps being taken by the outgoing Kaduna State Government to legitimise the ‎misappropriation‎ of N2.744 billion Local Government Sure-P funds, and to request that you exercise your responsibility of deterring crime by preventing this last-minute looting of public assets.

“The Kaduna State House of Assembly declined to appropriate the Sure-P funds in the 2015 budget, and promptly removed them from the budgets submitted by the 23 local government councils. The state legislators further resolved that the fate of the funds be left to the incoming administration.

“The ‎outgoing governor, Mukhtar Ramalan Yero‎, however has been putting the legislature under tremendous pressure to approve his utilisation of 50% of the Sure-P funds for a road project, while the 23 local government councils would share the balance.

” Coming from a government whose tenure expires in less than two weeks, the intensity of the lobby for the money indicates a certain desperation that is clearly not in the public interest.

“I ‎wish to therefore request that you urgently investigate whether the Sure-P funds are still intact, or if they have been spent without appropriation thus necessitating a belated approval from the House of Assembly to provide a ‘legal’ means of retiring the funds.

” If, as it is widely believed in the state, the monies have already been spent, it is crucial to determine the projects, the contractors and the procurement processes that facilitated such a deliberate hemorrhaging of public funds.” it read.

‎it could be recalled that El-Rufai was quoted saying,he was aware of desperate attempts to secure approval to spend N2.744 billion Sure-P funds by the outgoing state government.

“As governor-elect, it is my duty to caution every official involved in these last-minute deals that the incoming government will ensure that there are consequences for illegal conduct, breach of trust and stealing of public assets,” he said.

According to him, his government will certainly insist on accountability, and no one should be in any doubt about its resolve, be it the instigators of any impropriety or those who facilitated and executed it.