Buhari’s cabinet has already been formed – Ogunlewe …. PUNCH

A former Minister of Works, Chief Adeseye Ogunlewe, says President Muhammadu Buhari has already made all his key appointments and his government is fully formed.

He, therefore, urged the President to immediately swing into action, saying that the absence of ministers was no longer an excuse.

Ogunlewe, who was a member of the Senate between 1999 and 2003, said this during an interview with our correspondent on Wednesday.

Ogunlewe said the most important people in the government were the President, the Senate President, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, the Secretary to the Government of the Federation and the President’s Chief of Staff.

He said since all these positions had been filled, Buhari had no excuse being slow.

He said, “Buhari’s cabinet has already has been formed. Any other person that comes now is a stranger and a mere visitor to the villa. The villa is the engine room of the nation in terms of policy formation and implementation. And these are the people that determine what will happen in Nigeria. The villa is the headquarters and who are the participants in the villa?

“The SGF and Chief of Staff are always with the President in the villa. Although the Senate President and the Speaker don’t live in the Villa, they are more important than the Vice-President. The Vice-President does only what the President tells him to do. He has no staff of his own. His staff are the staff of the President.

“So, the government is already formed and they have already been holding meetings. Even though the APC claims that the President still has thousands of other appointments to make, it is these people that will determine who will be appointed.

“It is the SGF that will write letters of appointment to appointees. As a minister, if you want to present a memo to the Federal Executive Council, you must go through the SGF. It is the SGF that will then forward the memo to the President. It is what he wants the President to see that he will see.”

Ogunlewe said those complaining of marginalisation should stop distracting the government because Buhari was not the kind of person that would easily change his mind.

He said it was the prerogative of the President to appoint those he trusts.

Who becomes Bayelsa APC candidate? …. NATION

How the Bayelsa State All Progressives Congress (APC) governorship candidate will emerge is a major challenge to the party. Correspondent Mike Odiegwu takes a look at the issues that will shape the the party’s shadow poll. 

The All Progressives Congress (APC) is  the most beatiful bride in Bayelsa State. Politicians of note  and their supporters are defecting to the party. The rate of defection from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) leaves many guessing what will become of the ruling party before and after the governorship election.

In spite of the APC’s popularity, analysts believe the only hurdle standing before it and electoral victory is the emergence of a credible and acceptable governorship candidate. They are of the view that the only way APC can scale the hurdle is to provide a level playing field for aspirants and allow them to slug it out in an open and transparent primary. According to observers, given the array of aspirants, an open primary will save the party from a post-primary crisis. The transparency of the process that produced President Muhammadu Buhari made other aspirants to concede defeat and pledge to work for his success at the poll.

It is not easy to unseat a governor. But, with strong determination and collective will of the people, the problem is surmontable. That undersores the need for unity of purpose among members of the APC; who need to go to the poll as a united fold, if the party must take over power from the PDP in the oil rich state.

A major problem threatening the unity of APC is the divisive tendency of old members trying to label the defectors as new comers. Rather, APC should treat every member equally irrespective of when he or she joined the party.

Of the eight local governments in the state, only one has neither produced a governor, or a deputy governor. The first governor, DSP Alameiyeseigha, hails from Ijaw South Local Government   of the Central Senatorial district. His deputy, Dr Goodluck Jonathan from Ogbia Local Government of the East senatorial zone took over after Alameiyeseigha was impeached  . He won the PDP ticket for re-election but was given the vice presidential ticket in 2007.

The exit of Jonathan threw up Chief Timipre Sylva, who is from Brass Local Government Area in the Senatorial District.

After Sylva came the incumbent Governor Dickson who hails from Toru-Orua in Sagbama Local Government Area of Bayelsa West Senatorial District. Some leaders of the APC are of the opinion that the party’s ticket will be contested on the basis of disparity and political inequality in local government areas.

Among the eight local government areas in the state, Southern Ijaw, Ogbia, Brass and Sagbama have produced governors in the persons of Alameiyesiegha, Jonathan, Sylva and Dickson respectively.

Though Nembe, Ekeremor and Yenagoa have produced deputy governors in the persons of Rear Admiral John Jonah (retd), Chief Peremobowei Ebebi and Chief Werinipre Seibarugu respectively, the Kolokuma-Opokuma has produced neither a governor nor a deputy.

Observers believe that the quest to govern the state was the major reason behind the grand reception for the APC in Kolokuma-Opokuma. Most political heavyweights from the area have dumped the PDP for the APC to present a common front for the party’ tickets.

No struggle for BoT chairmanship – Tinubu ….. NATION

The National Leader of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Asiwaju Ahmed Bola Tinubu, on Wednesday debunked report that himself, former Vice President Atiku Abubakar and former interim National Chairman of the party, Chief Bisi Akande, were struggling to emerge the chairman of the party’s Board of Trustees (BoT).

He spoke with State House correspondents after visiting President Muhammadu Buhari along with Akande at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.

According to him, no such rivalry exists in the party and that the party is focused on supporting President Buhari achieve his goal of transforming the nation.

He said: “Don’t listen to rumors, there is no struggle. Our party is not even looking at the direction of power struggle or anything of such.

“The support structure is to encourage and support the President as you have heard from Chief Bisi Akande, to help him institutionalize his goal, principle and vision for a new Nigeria.”

On those complaining about delay in the release of the ministerial list, he said: “There is pitfall in rushing, quick fix, depending upon the depth of the rot. And that rush can cascade into mistakes of unimaginable magnitude. There is equally glory and recovery in slowness, when you have a slow fix of a bad foundation.

“So to me, I would rather take the one that will last the country and endure for a longer period of time than the rush hour shopping.”

He also disagreed with the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) claim that President Buhari was dictatorial.

FOREX: CBN foreign currency policies killing us – LCCI … VANGUARD

The Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry, LCCI, yesterday, said the biggest challenge facing investors currently is the dislocations caused by the recent foreign exchange policies of the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN.

Speaking at 2015, third quarter press conference, the President of LCCI, Alhaji Remi Bello, said the chamber appreciates the challenge of scarcity of foreign exchange as tough choices have to be made, but that the chamber has serious reservations over the policy choices of the CBN in managing the current crisis.

He said the CBN should put in place policies that would encourage inflow of forex without necessarily creating a tolerance for money laundering, adding that, the chamber believes this can only be done through intelligence.

“Significant disruptions, distortions and dislocations have been created in the business environment by the CBN as a consequence of the following policy measures: restrictions on the use of export proceeds, denial of access to foreign exchange market for 41 broad categories of products, including critical inputs needed in manufacturing and service sectors, prohibition of cash lodgements into domiciliary accounts and tight exchange controls and admintrative allocation of foreign exchange are typically characterized by lack of transparency, corruption and considerable abuse” he stated.

He noted that the economy is now faced with a scenario where there is much greater pressure to move funds out of the economy than move funds into the economy.

“This can be likened to a run on a system. This is a typical scenario which a confidence crisis would create. Future international trade transactions, financial and investment relations are now at risk. Round tripping of forex has continued to flourish because of the disparity in the exchange rate between the official and parallel market. Inflow of forex into the two autonomous sources has been adversely affected. It is worthy of note that Diaspora funds into the country was about $23 billion in 2013. The current policy will discourage the inflow of such funds which normally help to strengthen the supply side of the foreign exchange” he said.

According to him, the sovereign risk perception of Nigeria has worsened over the last months and several credit lines for Nigerian investors have been lost following the numerous cases of payment defaulted to foreign suppliers.

Mikel, Moses must fight for shirts – Oliseh By Jacob Ajom

Super Eagles coach, Sunday Oliseh has given kudos to his team for pulling an encouraging 2-0 win over Niger in an international friendly played at the Adokiye Amiesimaka Stadium, Port Harcourt yesterday.

Speaking after the match, which was watched by a scanty crowd but beamed live by Super Sport, the coach said, “the team have shown great improvement. There are signs of improvement as we now recover quickly after losing the ball and add more pressure when attacking. What we need do now is how to handle the ball much longer.”

The coach praised the lads for the level of understanding exhibited, particularly, in the midfield where Taraba FC star, Usman Mohammed operated from and hoped they will build from there.

“He is a very good player and I hope he will continue in that stride. Today’s performance was better than what we saw in Dar es Salaam because we had just two days of training before our trip. We will have to do more.”

Oliseh said the team was still open to the likes of John Obi Mikel, Victor Moses and any other player who was not party to the Tanzania and Niger matches. “Yes, they are still part of our plans. As you can see, these boys playing now have definitely gathered some points so those who want to displace them would have to fight for shirts. They have to show the hunger to play for Nigeria. “Everyone here is replaceable. Only Nigeria cannot be replaced. I retired and people are still playing for the country. Nobody is indispensable.”

VANGUARD