Headlines
Reps Insist on Reviewing Chinese, Other Loan Agreements
The House of Representatives on Sunday said it would review all loan agreements and conditions signed by the Federal Government.
The Vice-Chairman of the House Committee on Aid, Loans and Debt Management, Mr Chris Azubogu, stated this in an interview with one of our correspondents in Abuja, just as the Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry as well as the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria supported the investigation by the lawmakers into Chinese loans.
The House Committee on Treaties, Protocols and Agreements had on Tuesday last week begun an investigation into the loans taken by the country.
The committee raised the alarm over loan agreements Nigeria signed with China. The lawmakers said the agreement might force Nigeria to concede its sovereignty to the Asian country if the loans were not paid back.
But the Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi, who appeared before the committee, asked the lawmakers to stop the investigation into the Chinese loans.
He said the probe would send a wrong signal to China, which could stop the loans, thereby thwarting the nation’s rail projects.
The Vice-Chairman of the Committee on Aid, Loans and Debt Management, Mr Chris Azubogu, in the interview with The PUNCH, said, “The House generally is concerned. We are reviewing all the terms and conditions to know what they are like. The House is reviewing all loans and agreements.”
Also, a member of the Treaties, Protocols and Agreements, who spoke on condition of anonymity, stated that the lawmakers would not back down on the probe.
The lawmaker asked, “Do you agree that more money (loans) should be taken when the former (previous) ones that had been taken have not been accounted for? You want transparency and you are taking loans, and we are saying ‘give us transparency.’
“If you are taking a loan for a particular project, can the project pay back the loan? We are in a capitalist economy and in that economy, we should be able to know that if we invest the money, the project should be able to pay back the loan invested. That is what informed the loans we are looking at.
“Then, what are the stringent conditions attached to the loans? If we are not able to pay back the loans, what will be the consequences? These are key legal issues. We are looking at the entire template holistically. If you are taking loans, did you abide by the Nigerian content laws which say that our instruments should be considered first before considering importation?”
The Punch
Abia State Governor, Dr. Alex Otti, on Sunday paid a solidarity visit to the Leader of the Indigenous Peoples Of Biafra (IPOB), Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, at the Sokoto Correctional Centre, Sokoto State, where he was to begin serving his life sentence.
Governor Otti, according to a statement by his Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Mr Ferdinand Ekeoma, and published on social media, encouraged Kanu, during a meeting held behind closed doors, to remain strong, assuring that the engagements he started over two years ago, which the IPOB leader has been aware of, have been intensified in spite of what happened.
The Governor enjoined Kanu to remain calm, but strong, assuring that the issue will be resolved administratively and that he will regain his freedom.
Governor Otti expressed joy that the Sultan of Sokoto is on the same page with him on the need for Kanu’s freedom and de-escalation of tension, and informed Kanu that the Sultan of Sokoto had on a lighter note told him that Kanu is now his subject and he was going to turbane him, an information that got the IPOB Leader laughing loudly.
Responding, Mazi Kanu, who was beaming with smiles and in high spirits, thanked Governor Otti for the visit, and stated that he wasn’t surprised that the Governor quickly came visiting, because he had done the same thing in the past.
He told the Governor that he is very proud of his giant strides in Abia based on the feedbacks he gets from home about the state since he assumed office, a feat he said is replicating what Late Dee Sam Mbakwe did as Governor of Old Imo State, which has kept him permanently immortalised, and called on the Governor to continue to serve the people diligently.
The IPOB leader told Governor Otti that he is only interested in good governance and anything that could better the lot of the people, and prayed God to continue to be with the Governor and his team as they serve the people of the state.
Governor Otti was accompanied on the visit by the Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, Mr. Ikechukwu Uwanna, SAN, the Special Adviser to the Governor on Media and Publicity, Ferdinand Ekeoma, and some top Sokoto State government officials, including Commissioners and advisers.
Also present during the visit was Kanu’s younger brother, Prince Emmanuel Kanu.
Cameroonian opposition figure, Anicet Ekan, on Monday, died in detention in Yaounde, the vice president of his party told AFP.
“Anicet Ekane died this morning in Yaounde, where he had been transferred after his arrest at the end of October in Douala,” Valentin Dongmo of the African Movement for the New Independence of Cameroon (Manidem) party said.
The exact circumstances of the 74-year-old’s death remain unclear.
The left-wing, nationalist politician was arrested in Douala on October 24, on the eve of the publication of presidential election results that returned 92-year-old Paula Biya to power for an eighth mandate.
Ekane was close to fellow opposition figure Issa Tchiroma Bakary, who contested Biya’s 43-year grip on power in the October 12 election.
“Anicet Ekane was arrested in Douala and then transferred to Yaounde, where he was held at the State Defence Secretariat (SED). It was there that his health began to deteriorate,” according to Dongmo.
“We repeatedly alerted the authorities, including the military court administration, requesting that Anicet Ekane be transferred to a hospital with the appropriate facilities for better care, but our requests did not receive a favourable response,” he said.
Manidem had denounced the “arbitrary” arrests aiming to “intimidate” Cameroonians.
Born in Douala in 1951, Ekane joined the Union of the Peoples of Cameroon (UPC) party in 1973 — which he then quit to create Manidem in 1995.
In February 1990, he and other members of the Yondo Black group were arrested. He was condemned in a military trial before being pardoned several months later.
Ekane led Manidem for several years and ran as its presidential candidate in 2004 and 2011.
His death has triggered a groundswell of reactions on social media.
AFP
Headlines
Pastor Bakare Advises Tinubu to Apologize to Traumatized Communities, Accept Responsibility for Failure
The Lead Pastor of the Citadel Global Community Church, Tunde Bakare, has urged President Bola Tinubu to publicly apologize to communities devastated by insecurity.
Bakare made the call on Sunday during his State of the Nation Address in Lagos, saying the gesture would mark a commitment to justice and national healing.
The cleric acknowledged that the president had taken initial steps to address the crisis but insisted that deeper action is required to restore confidence.
He said the government must first accept responsibility for decades of failure to protect citizens from terrorism, banditry and other violent crimes.
Bakare said the plan should include a Victims and Survivors Register, a national apology to affected communities after three months, and midterm compensation, stressing that accountability is crucial to restoring public trust and ending the cycle of violence.
