2015 Award Presentation: President Buhari Receives Leadership 2015 Man Of The Year Award From Former President Abdulsalam Abubakar

President Mohammudu Buhari receives 2015 Leadership Man of the Year award. The Award where presented by Former President Abdulsalam Abubakar flanked by Governor of Akwa-Ibom State H.E. Udom Emmanuel, Representative of Goodluck Ebele Jonathan Mr Tanimu Turaki, Chairman Leadership Group Sam Nda-Isaiah. The award presentation took place at Transcorp Hilton Hotel Abuja on 6th October, 2016.


See more amazing photos below...

ADDRESS BY HIS EXCELLENCY MUHAMMADU BUHARI, PRESIDENT, COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF, FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF NIGERIA, AT THE LEADERSHIP ANNUAL AWARDS AND CONFERENCE, HELD AT THE TRANSCORP HILTON HOTEL, ABUJA ON OCTOBER 6, 2016.

PROTOCOLS:

I am most delighted to be part of this occasion organized by the Leadership Newspapers Group to honour Nigerians who have excelled in their chosen fields of endeavour.

• ​ Let me hasten to congratulate my joint award winners, my predecessor, His Excellency, President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan, GCFR and Professor Attahiru Jega, the former Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission, as “Leadership Person of the Year”.

•  ​The events of 2015 which the Leadership Newspaper has chosen to bring to the fore today, marked a watershed in the political history of our country.

• ​ Those of us who were participating actors in the elections were led by the higher ideal of the future of our great country and the well being of our people rather than the mere desire of politicians to win elections.

•  ​It is, therefore, our commitment to this ideal, the patriotic zeal of President Jonathan, the impartiality of the electoral umpire, INEC and exemplary conduct of the political parties, foreign pressure and other actors that we collectively disappointed the prophets of doom who had predicted the disintegration of the country after the 2015 general elections.

•  ​Our democracy has been strengthened by the outcome of the 2015 elections as our people now have more faith in the electoral system in the sense that their votes would count when choosing political leaders at various levels. We, the political class should build on the experience of the 2015 elections to nurture our democracy.

• ​I wish to felicitate with the other award winners for the recognition accorded them by the Leadership Newspapers. It is my fervent hope that the awards will encourage all those recognized today to remain committed to good behaviour in their various endeavours to justify this recognition and serve as inspiration to others.

•  ​The Leadership Newspapers have been in the forefront of promoting democracy and positive values that are necessary to achieve national consensus on the issues that tend to challenge our unity and progress as a nation. We commend the Leadership Newspapers Group and its publisher, Sam Nda-Isaiah for standing firm on the path of patriotism, justice and fairness.

• ​ Our participation in today’s ceremony is therefore, a mark of confidence in the brand of journalism practiced by the Leadership Newspapers Group as it is a public acknowledgment of the contributions of the media to our administration’s agenda to defeat terrorism and violent extremism in the country, fight corruption and diversify the economy to create jobs for our teeming population and generally improve the standard of living of Nigerians.

• ​ I expect the Nigerian media to join our government in pursuit of these goals not just to criticize to prove their independence.

• ​ The media must continually see itself as true partner in the task of nation building and thus act in the spirit of patriotism at all times in the important role of informing the people of the country.

• ​ On our part, our doors are wide open to media inquiries in line with the transparency and anti-corruption stance of our administration.

•  Once again, I congratulate the award winners today and thank the Leadership Newspapers Group for the honour done to us.

         -  ​I thank you for your attention.

16 years Of PDP And Less Than Two Years Of APC, See The Difference!

Comparing President Goodluck jonathan And President Buhari Administration, 16 years of PDP government and Less than two years of APC, read what the masses have to say;


 They said he paid subsidy to the tune of 2 trillion naira. This he did for 5 years. In addition, there was massive corruption and stealing of public funds, so they said. Yet he was able to maintain single digit inflation. He was able to maintain a 6% GDP growth. 

He made Nigeria the biggest economy in Africa and the first foreign investment destination all over the world. Salaries were paid regularly and promptly. Bag of rice was 7k, dollar was N170. Petrol was N87. He funded SureP, YouWin, foreign Scholarship, etc. 

He was able to reduce food import by over N700b by massively investing in agriculture. He funded Amnesty and protected pipelines. He constructed railway lines and about 25,000 kilometers of road. He gave ASUU/universities about N500b outside the budgetary allocation for education. He provided security and defeated boko haram at the time the global community allowed him access to weapons. Nigerians did not eat grass neither did they exchange their children for food.

No one wrote a suicide note to him. In all of these, little did Nigerians appreciated him. Now, there is no subsidy, there is no corruption. It means all our public funds are intact. Despite that, our economy is in recession. No food, no water, no road construction going on, no light, etc. Inflation has risen from 7% to 18%. Our economy dropped from Number one in africa to number 15. Petrol is now 145 naira and there is plan to increase it to 200 naira. Bag of rice is 22k, dollar is N420. Salaries are not paid, over 5 million jobs lost without creating any. Boko haram, Avengers and IPOB have intensified insecurity. Everything have gone from bad to worst. 

There is only one thing that is the difference between the first and the second. It is called Incompetence. Some will call it Cluelessness. Others say it is lack of preparedness. Some others says it is an effect of brainlessness and deafness. The whole gamut of government displays aloofness. Confusion reigns supreme. Nigeria has become a pun and comedy in the hands of minors. It functions on auto pilot. As it stands, Nigeria doesn't have a govt. Lets tell them the truth. They have totally destroyed the future of the young ones. Everything achieved in 16yrs have been destroyed in less than a year by the association of past and present criminals.

Chai! Court suspends PDP's August 17th convention

A Federal High Court sitting in Abuja has suspended the National convention of PDP being organized by the Ahmed Makarfi-led faction of the party slated for August 17th in Rivers state.


The embattled factional chairman of the party, Ali Modu Sheriff, had approached the court to seek an interlocutory injunction against the convention.

Makarfi and a member of the National caretaker committee of the party, Ben Obi, had immediately applied that they be joined in Sheriff's suit as co-defendants.

Hearing on their Application was slated for today but Obi had earlier in the day gone to the Port Harcourt Division of the Federal High Court where he was able to secure an ex'parte order that INEC and the police participate and monitor the August 17th party convention. An angry Justice Okon lambasted Obi for rushing to the Port Harcourt Division of the Federal High Court to obtain the ex parte order.

“Senator Ben Obi cannot treat the court with levity. What is the reason for rushing to another court when the court is already seized of this matter? I want to point out that a court of coordinate jurisdiction cannot make an order that will neutralise the proceedings of this court.

The Port Harcourt Division of this court cannot make an order to neutralise the proceedings of this court"he said Futhermore, Justice Okon said "To maintain the dignity and integrity of the court and in the over all interest of justice, taking into consideration the competing claims of the parties, an order is hereby made in the interim suspending the PDP convention slated for August 17, 2016, pending when the plaintiff motion on notice dated July 20 is served and heard” he said.

$15bn arms deals Committee traces N2bn to five children of ex-Army Chief

The Presidential Committee on Audit of Defence Equipment Procurement (CADEP) has traced about N2billion meant for the purchase of vehicles for the Nigerian Army to the accounts of five children of a former Chief of Army Staff. The Nation reports that the report by the panel states that the children of the ex-Chief of Army Staff allegedly used two companies for the deal. Read the full story...


 “The committee reviewed the procurement carried out by Chok Ventures Ltd and Integrated Equipment Services Ltd, two companies that shared the same registered office, had one name as common controlling shareholder and sole or mandatory signatory to the various banks accounts of the companies. The committee further established that between March 2011 and December 2013, the two companies exclusively procured various types of Toyota and Mitsubishi vehicles worth over N2, 000,000,000.00 for the Nigerian Army without any competitive bidding. Most of the contracts awarded to the companies were also split, awarded on the same date or within a short space of time at costs and mobilization higher than the prescribed thresholds. For instance, on February 13 and 15, the two companies were awarded contracts worth N260, 000.000.00 and N315, 000,000.00 respectively for supplies of various vehicles. The Nigerian Army could not justify the exclusive selection of these vendors against other renowned distributors of same brands of vehicles procured. More seriously, the committee found no credible evidence of delivery of the vehicles by the two companies as there were no receipt vouchers, but only unauthenticated delivery notes, invoices and waybills that were purportedly used for the deliveries. Nevertheless, the vendors were fully paid based on job completion certificate authenticated by the then Chief of Logistics, Maj Gen D.D. Kitchener (rtd). The payments were also made without deduction of Withholding Tax (WHT). Furthermore, analyses of the various bank accounts of the two companies showed transfers to individuals , some of who are believed to be children of the army chief. Thus, the committee recommends further investigation to determine delivery of the vehicles and relationship of funds beneficiaries with the former COAS and the two companies. Furthermore, the panel said that Lt Gen O. A. Ihejirika (rtd), Maj Gen D. D. Kitchener (rtd), Col A. M. Inuwa and Mr Chinedu Onyekwere should be held accountable for the issues arising out of the contracts.”

The panel during its findings discovered that contracts in the Nigerian Army were awarded without due process. It said a company was registered on November 17, 2014 and awarded $125,179,299.10 on the same day.

“The Nigerian Army, between April and August 2014, entered into four contract agreements with Societe D’Equipmenteux Internationale  (SEI Nig Ltd)  for procurement of Cobra Armoured Personnel Carriers, Shilka Self-Propelled Artillery Guns, Armoured Fighting Vehicles (AFVs) as well as various ammunition and spares funded by the ONSA. The contracts for the Cobra APCs and Shilka Guns were not executed as they were not funded. However, the costs for procurement of the AFVs; ammunition and spares were $398,550,000.00 and $484,765,000.00 respectively totalling $883,315,000.00. In November 2014, the ONSA awarded contract to Conella Services Limited for procurement of 72 various arms and ammunition that included MRAP vehicles, Mi-17 helicopter at the cost of $125,179,299.10. The committee observed that the company was registered in Nigeria on 17 November, 2014 and awarded the contract on the same date, while the EUC for the procurement was issued a day later on 18 November, 2014. Furthermore, the ONSA paid $36,996,530.00 and N2,209,582,296.00 to the vendor between November 2014 and 15 April, 2015.

 However, the Nigerian Army denied receipt of any procurement from Conella Services Ltd.
“Similarly, the committee tried in vain to reach officials of the company to confirm execution of the contract. There is, therefore, the need for further investigation of Conella Services Ltd.

The committee observed that SEI and its two associated companies, APC Axial Ltd and HK-Sawki Nig Ltd, were incorporated in May 2014 with two Nigerien brothers, Hima Aboubakar and Ousmane Hima Massy as the only directors.  Between May 2014 and March 2015, the ONSA mandated CBN to release various sums totaling $386,954,000.00 to SEI and the two associated companies for ‘procurement of technical equipment’, without tying the money to particular items of procurement.

Thus, the allotment of the funds was left at the discretion of the vendor without input or consultation with ONSA or the Nigerian Army. Furthermore, some of the funds transferred preceded the formalization of SEI contracts with the Nigerian Army. There was also no evidence of any contract to justify the payments made by ONSA to the SEI associate companies. Consequently, it had been difficult for the ONSA, the Nigerian Army and SEI to reconcile the accounts vis-a-vis the equipment delivered.”

The panel also uncovered that 42 units of Armoured Personnel Carrier(APC) which were rejected by Iraq were later sold to Nigeria to fight Boko Haram insurgents. It claimed that some of the APCs were either expired or unsuitable leading to loss of lives.

“The committee observed that one of the new equipment SEI procured for the Nigerian Army from Ukraine was BTR-4E APC.”

However, according to the Ukraine’s state enterprise, Lviv Armour Repair Plant, the designers of the equipment, “some of the products sold to Nigeria in 2014 were actually among 42 units designed for Iraq which subsequently rejected them due to poor performance rating”.

“The Nigerian Army did not also undertake the mandatory pre-shipment inspections provided for in the contract agreements. Instead, the NA deployed an infantry officer, who lacked the technical knowledge to assess the capabilities and shortcomings of the equipment, to oversee the shipment of the items for the Nigerian Army from Ukraine. Additionally, the two-week training availed the technicians and operators was inadequate for them to comprehend the technical workings of the newly introduced equipment. The committee’s interactions with the field operators revealed that although the platforms and ammunition procured by SEI were deployed for the NE operations, some of them were aged or expired, lacked spares and prone to breakdown without immediate recovery equipment. Therefore, failure to carry out pre-shipment inspection and inadequate training resulted in procurement of some unreliable equipment that reduced the capacity of the Nigerian Army in the North East operations and resulted in the loss of lives and equipment.”