This is as he revealed the effort of the regime in tackling insecurity which now has in addition banditry and kidnapping.

This followed a statement by former President Olusegun Obasanjo that President Buhari has done his best to proffer solutions to the security challenges confronting the nation, adding that Nigerians should not expect more from him.

However, Mohammed who spoke at a press briefing in Abuja on Wednesday, said President Buhari continues to do more in addition to what he has done, under very difficult economic and social conditions, to tackle insecurity in the country.

He said no administration in Nigeria’s recent history has provided the security agencies with the hardware needed to tackle insecurity as that of President Buhari.

The Minister said, “Yes, banditry and kidnapping have added to the state of insecurity, President Buhari has also continued to provide quality leadership in order to ensure that our security agencies decisively tackle the cankerworm of insecurity of any hue. No Administration in Nigeria’s recent history has provided the security agencies with the hardware needed to tackle insecurity as that of President Buhari, in addition to raising the morale of our security men and women. Only last week, Mr President commissioned an armada of naval boats and ships in the latest effort to enhance our nation’s maritime security. The army, the air force and the police, among others, have also been receiving modern hardware to strengthen their arsenal. The Administration has not concentrated on the kinetic measures alone. Non-kinetic measures have also been strengthened. The establishment of the Federal Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development to coordinate all humanitarian affairs in Nigeria is a major effort at tackling poverty and shrinking the pool of those being targeted for recruitment by insurgents and bandits. Of course, the Federal Government’s unprecedented and massive investment in infrastructure is also aimed at boosting the socio-economic well-being of the nation and further reducing poverty, which is a major cause of insecurity. Despite all this, President Buhari has not relented, constantly presiding over meetings of security chiefs to get an update and also issue necessary directives, and not missing any opportunity to offer succour to his countrymen and women, when necessary. The skewed narrative in certain quarters that the President has not shown enough empathy is glib talk. The President has also continued to work with our neighbouring countries and indeed our Western partners to tackle insecurity, especially terrorism. With the entire Sahelian region experiencing a devastating surge in terrorist attacks, more so in the wake of the Libyan crisis, it has become even more imperative for Nigeria to step up regional cooperation to more effectively tackle insecurity – and that is what Mr President has been doing. Gentlemen, President Buhari has done so much, under very difficult economic and social conditions, to tackle insecurity in our country. Not only has he done so much. President Buhari continues to do much more to keep Nigerians safe. To say he has nothing more to offer is untrue, fallacious and smacks of dirty politicking. By boosting the number and capacity of our fighting forces, Mr President is putting them in good stead to tackle insecurity not just during the life of his Administration but long after he would have left office. President Buhari is leaving a legacy of security, infrastructural development, economic prosperity and social cohesion for Nigeria. This may not seem obvious today, amidst daunting challenges, but posterity will be kind to this President.”

Biden, who won the US presidential election of November 3, 2020 becomes the 46th President of the US.

Biden and Harris had arrived at the US Capitol on Wednesday for their official inauguration ceremony.

Biden, 78, was sworn in by Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts as the 46th president of the United States.

Harris, 56, is the first woman to become vice president.

Donald Trump left Washington three hours before Biden’s swearing-in, the first American president to skip the inauguration of his successor in more than 150 years.

The inauguration comes exactly two weeks after Trump supporters stormed the Capitol in a bid to disrupt the certification by Congress of Biden’s November election victory.

Among those attending the ceremony are former presidents Barack Obama, George W. Bush and Bill Clinton.

The temblor sent holiday shoppers fleeing from malls in a panic, with people evacuating homes and other buildings as well, according to reports.

The first reported fatality was a 6-year-old girl, who was crushed when a wall collapsed on her, Vincent Fernandez, mayor of Matanao town in Davao del Sur province, near the epicentre, told Radio DZMM, according to Reuters.

The quake struck an area about 3.7 miles northwest of Padada town in Davao del Sur province at a depth of 18 miles, the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology said.

President Rodrigo Duterte, who is from Davao, was in the city when the quake struck but was said to be OK.

“He and his daughter Kitty were in their house when the quake struck,” presidential spokesman Salvador Panelo told Reuters. “First Lady Honeylet was on her way home when the ground trembled. She said her car was swaying. She is unhurt.”

It was the latest in a series of earthquakes to hit the area in recent months, Reuters reported.

Ricardo Jalad, who heads the Office of Civil Defense, said his office received an initial report that a small three-story building collapsed in Padada as the ground shook and that authorities were checking if people got trapped inside. The building housed a grocery store, Jalad told The Associated Press, without elaborating.

​​​​​​​Leighton Angcan, a resident of Padada, told Reuters he witnessed the collapse.

“I saw the building when it fell,” Angcansaid. “It was the tallest here and it was really destroyed. I saw people running outside.”

Officials in the southern cities of Davao and Cotabato, where the quake was felt strongly, suspended classes for Monday to allow checks on the stability of school buildings. Some cities and town lost their power due to the quake, officials said.

The Philippine archipelago lies on the so-called Pacific “Ring of Fire,” an arc of faults around the Pacific Ocean where most of the world’s earthquakes occur.

Officials said a man entered an apartment building near the National Palace seeking to urinate in the courtyard and was confronted by residents. He pulled out a gun and began shooting, hitting five people, officials said.

A police officer killed the shooter, while three of the building residents died, authorities said. Two more residents were wounded.

The surrounding area was packed with holiday shoppers.

Residents who declined to give their names said their street in the capital’s historic centre is far from safe, despite being a stone’s throw from the National Palace. President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador moved into the palace when he took office a year ago, turning the former presidential residence in Chapultepec Park into a museum.

Iran’s foreign minister and the White House both announced that Princeton University graduate student Xiyue Wang was exchanged for scientist Massoud Soleimani.

Brian Hook, the U.S. special representative for Iran, accompanied the Iranian scientist to Switzerland to make the exchange and will return with Wang, a U.S. official told The Associated Press on condition of anonymity. The swap took place in Zurich and Hook and Wang are now en route to Landstuhl in Germany where Wang will be examined by doctors, the official said. Hook is expected to return to the U.S. from Germany alone, as Wang is expected to be evaluated for several days.

“After more than three years of being held a prisoner in Iran, Xiyue Wang is returning to the United States,” President Trump said in a statement released by the White House on Saturday. “The highest priority of the United States is the safety and well-being of its citizens. Freeing Americans held captive is of vital importance to my Administration, and we will continue to work hard to bring home all our citizens wrongfully held captive overseas.”

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Saturday that Wang was on his way back to the United States, where he will soon be reunited with his wife and son.

“The United States will not rest until we bring every American detained in Iran and around the world back home to their loved ones,” he said in a statement.

An inter-agency discussion about imposing travel restrictions on countries that are not compliant with electronic documents and information sharing — a key focus of the administration — is underway, according to a senior administration official. Fewer than five countries are under consideration, the official said.

The goal, the official said, is to “bring governments into compliance by using the power of access to the United States.” The travel restrictions would be tailored to the countries, if they’re added, and not impose a ban on them altogether, the official noted.

The administration has argued that the travel ban is vital to national security and ensures countries are in compliance with security measures. But critics say the restrictions imposed by President Donald Trump’s executive order are an attempt to ban Muslims from entering the United States. It’s unclear which countries are currently under consideration and if they are majority Muslim.

In 2018, the Supreme Court upheld the third version of the travel ban after previous bans ricocheted through the courts. The ban restricts entry from seven countries to varying degrees: Iran, Libya, Somalia, Syria and Yemen, along with Venezuela and North Korea. Chad was removed from the list last April, after the White House said the country improved security measures.

The third iteration of the travel ban directs the Department of Homeland Security, in consultation with other federal agencies, to assess the list of countries on an ongoing basis and provide a report to the President.

Devastating fires that have scorched parts of the Amazon region and fueled global outrage have spurred Brazil’s government to ban most legal fires for land-clearing for at least 60 days.

French President Emmanuel Macron said the summit leaders were nearing an agreement on how to support Brazil and said the agreement would involve both technical and financial mechanisms “so that we can help them in the most effective way possible.”

Germany’s Chancellor Angela Merkel said her country and others will talk with Brazil about reforestation in the Amazon once fires there have been extinguished.

“Of course (this is) Brazilian territory, but we have a question here of the rainforests that is really a global question,” she said. “The lung of our whole Earth is affected, and so we must find common solutions.”

Pope Francis also added his voice to the chorus of concern over the fires in Brazil, which borders his homeland of Argentina, and urged people to pray so that “they are controlled as quickly as possible.”

He told the public in St. Peter’s Square that “we’re all worried” about the vast Amazon fires. He warned that that green “lung of forest is vital for our planet.”

Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro on Friday sent 44,000 soldiers to help battle the fires that are scattered across his nation’s share of the vast Amazon, an overall region ten times the size of Texas that is seen as a global bulwark against climate change.

In the letter, which was on released on Monday by his media aide , Kehinde Akinyemi said, Obasanjo said he intended to use the open letter to address weighty issues

Here is the full letter: I am constrained to write to you this open letter. I decided to make it an open letter because the issue is very weighty and must be greatly worrisome to all concerned Nigerians and that means all right thinking Nigerians and those resident in Nigeria. Since the issue is of momentous concern to all well meaning and all right-thinking Nigerians, it must be of great concern to you , and collective thinking and dialoguing is the best way of finding an appropriate and adequate solution to the problem. The contents of this letter , therefore, should be available to all those who can help in proffering effective solutions for the problem of insecurity in the land .

One of the spinoffs and accelerants is the misinformation and disinformation through the use of fake news . A number of articles, in recent days, have been attributed to me by some people who I believe may be seeking added credence and an attentive audience for their opinions and viewpoints . As you know very well, I will always boldly own what I say and disown what is put into my mouth. But the issue I am addressing here is very serious; it is the issue of life and death for all of us and for our dear country, Nigeria. This issue can no longer be ignored, treated with nonchalance , swept under the carpet or treated with cuddling glove. The issue is hitting at the foundation of our existence as Nigerians and fast eroding the root of our Nigerian community . I am very much worried and afraid that we are on the precipice and dangerously reaching a tipping point where it may no longer be possible to hold danger at bay. Without being immodest, as a Nigerian who still bears the scar of the Nigerian civil war on my body and with a son who bears the scar of fighting Boko Haram on his body, you can understand , I hope, why I am so concerned. When people are desperate and feel that they cannot have confidence in the ability of government to provide security for their lives and properties , they will take recourse to anything and everything that can guarantee their security individually and collectively.

For over ten years, for four of which you have been the captain of the ship , Boko Haram has menacingly ravaged the land and in spite of government’s claim of victory over Boko Haram, the potency and the activities of Boko Haram, where they are active , remain undiminished , putting lie to government’s claim. The recent explanation of the Chief of Army Staff for non-victory due to lack of commitment and lack of motivation on the part of troops bordering on sabotage speaks for itself. Say what you will , Boko Haram is still a daily issue of insecurity for those who are victimised , killed , maimed , kidnapped, raped, sold into slavery and forced into marriage and for children forcibly recruited into carrying bombs on them to detonate among crowds of people to cause maximum destructions and damage. And Boko Haram will not go away on the basis of sticks alone , carrots must overweigh sticks. How else do you deal with issues such as only about 50 % literacy in North – East with over 70 % unemployment ?

Herdsmen /farmers crises and menace started with government treating the issue with cuddling glove instead of hammer . It has festered and spread . Today, it has developed into banditry, kidnapping, armed robbery and killings all over the country. The unfortunate situation is that the criminality is being perceived as a ‘Fulani ’ menace unleashed by Fulani elite in the different parts of the country for a number of reasons but even more, unfortunately , many Nigerians and non-Nigerians who are friends of Nigeria attach vicarious responsibility to you as a Fulani elite and the current captain of the Nigeria ship . Perception may be as potent as reality at times . Whatever may be the grievances of Fulanis , if any , they need to be put out in the open and their grievances, if legitimate , be addressed ; and if other ethnic groups have grievances, let them also be brought out in the open and addressed through debate and dialogue .

The main issue , if I may dare say, is poor management or mismanagement of diversity which , on the other hand , is one of our greatest and most important assets. As a result, very onerous cloud is gathering. And rain of destruction, violence , disaster and disunity can only be the outcome. Nothing should be taken for granted , the clock is ticking with the cacophony of dissatisfaction and disaffection everywhere in and outside the country. The Presidency and the Congress in the US have signalled to us to put our house in order. The House of Lords in the UK had debated the Nigerian security situation. We must understand and appreciate the significance , implication and likely consequences of such concerns and deliberations.

No one can stop hate speech , violent agitation and smouldering violent agitation if he fans the embers of hatred , disaffection and violence . It will continue to snowball until it is out of control . A stitch in time saves nine , goes the old wise saying.

With the death of Funke, Chief Fasoranti’s daughter, some sympathetic Nigerian groups are saying “enough is enough ”. Prof. Anya, a distinguished Nigerian merit Laureate , has this to say “We can no longer say with certainty that we have a nation” . Niger-Delta leaders, South-Eastern leaders, Middle- Belt leaders and Northern Elders Forum have not remained quiet . Different ordinary Nigerians at home and abroad are calling for different measures to address or ameliorate the situation. All the calls and cries can only continue to be ignored at the expense of Nigerian unity, if not its continued existence .

To be explicit and without equivocation, Mr . President and General , I am deeply worried about four avoidable calamities :

1 . abandoning Nigeria into the hands of criminals who are all being suspected , rightly or wrongly, as Fulanis and terrorists of Boko Haram type;

2 . spontaneous or planned reprisal attacks against Fulanis which may inadvertently or advertently mushroom into pogrom or Rwanda – type genocide that we did not believe could happen and yet it happened.

3 . similar attacks against any other tribe or ethnic group anywhere in the country initiated by rumours, fears , intimidation and revenge capable of leading to pogrom ;

4 . violent uprising beginning from one section of the country and spreading quickly to other areas and leading to dismemberment of the country.

It happened to Yugoslavia not too long ago . If we do not act now , one or all of these scenarios may happen . We must pray and take effective actions at the same time. The initiative is in the hands of the President of the nation , but he cannot do it alone . In my part of the world , if you are sharpening your cutlass and a mad man comes from behind to take the cutlass from you , you need other people’s assistance to have your cutlass back without being harmed . The mad men with serious criminal intent and terrorism as core value have taken cutlass of security . The need for assistance to regain control is obviously compelling and must be embraced now .

A couple of weeks ago at a public lecture , I had said, among other things, that:

“In all these issues of mobilisation for national unity, stability, security , cooperation, development , growth and progress , there is no consensus. Like in the issue of security , government should open up discussion , debate and dialogue as part of consultation at different levels and the outcome of such deliberations should be collated to form inputs into a national conference to come up with the solution that will effectively deal with the issues and lead to rapid development , growth and progress which will give us a wholesome society and enhanced living standard and livelihood in an inclusive and shared society. It will be a national programme. We need unity of purpose and nationally accepted strategic roadmap that will not change with whims and caprices of any government. It must be owned by the citizens, people’s policy and strategy implemented by the government no matter its colour and leaning .

Some of the groups that I will suggest to be contacted are: traditional rulers, past heads of service (no matter how competent or incompetent they have been and how much they have contributed to the mess we are in), past heads of para – military organisations, private sector , civil society, community leaders particularly in the most affected areas, present and past governors , present and past local government leaders , religious leaders , past Heads of State , past intelligence chiefs, past Heads of Civil Service and relevant current and retired diplomats, members of opposition and any groups that may be deemed relevant.”

The President must be seen to be addressing this issue with utmost seriousness and with maximum dispatch and getting all hands on deck to help. If there is failure , the principal responsibility will be that of the President and no one else. We need cohesion and concentration of effort and maximum force – political, economic , social, psychological and military – to deal successfully with the menace of criminality and terrorism separately and together. Blame game among own forces must be avoided. It is debilitating and only helpful to our adversary . We cannot dither anymore . It is time to confront this threat headlong and in a manner that is holistic , inclusive and purposeful.

For the sake of Nigeria and Nigerians, I pray that God may grant you , as our President , the wisdom, the understanding, the political will and the courage to do what is right when it is right and without fear or favour. May God save , secure , protect and bless Nigeria. May He open to us a window of opportunity that we can still use to prevent the worst happening. As we say in my village, “ May God forbid bad thing ” .

OLUSEGUN OBASANJO

July 15 , 2019

Released by

Kehinde Akinyemi

Special Assistant Media .

Ahmad was arrested at his hotel in Paris, where global chiefs have gathered this week for FIFA’s annual congress and the start of the Women’s World Cup.

His time in charge of the Egyptian-based organisation, however, has been dogged by controversy and he is already the subject of a FIFA ethics committee investigation. Thursday’s arrest is understood to relate to bribery allegations linked to the 2017 switch CAF made from its German kit supplier Puma to French company Tactical Steel.

In a statement, FIFA said it “has taken note of the alleged events concerning Mr Ahmad Ahmad, who is being questioned by the French authorities in relation to allegations related to his mandate while president of CAF, any information that might be relevant to investigations taking place within its ethics committee”.