Senate President Ahmed Lawan has declared Nigeria can never turn to a failed state despite the utterances and predictions of ” dooms-day-prophets”

Lawan, who made the declaration Saturday while flagging off 2021 empowerment project to 2,000 beneficiaries of Katsina Central organised by Sen Kabir Barkiya, said the current administration needs the support and prayers of Nigerians.

He said: “Those who were saying that in the present circumstance caused by insecurity, that Nigeria could turn a failed state, approaching a fail state or may likely end up a fail state, are missing the point because Nigeria can never be a fail state.

“Again they forget that when a state of emergency was declared in some part of the north east during Goodluck Jonathan, Nigeria did not turn a fail state talk more of present.

”It is necessary that all stakeholders should join hands in the fight with the present administration under President Muhammadu Buhari to overcome the present challenges facing the nation.”

Governor Aminu Masari called for collective efforts irrespective of party affiliations to build the state and country to a greater height.

Barkiya noted that, ever since he got elected, he has not slept a day without thinking about proffering solutions to the numerous problems and challenges of his constituents in Katsina Central Senatorial district.

Items presented include vehicles, motorcycles, sewing machines, water-pumps, grinding machines and welding machines.

The O’odua Peoples Congress (OPC) said the former Chief of Army Staff and Minister of Interior, Lieutenant-General Abdurahman Dambazau, is suffering from acute dementia and gradually losing touch with reality.

OPC, in a statement on Saturday by its Publicity Secretary, Barrister Yinka Oguntimehin, reacted to the statement credited to the former minister that the OPC was the same as the dreaded Boko Haram.

The group condemned in strong terms the statement credited to the ex-minister, pointing out that such statements were capable of heating up the polity and disrupting national peace.

Oguntimehin also described Dambazau as a northern irredentist and extremist popularly noted for his unguarded statements and utterances.

“From his statement, it is obvious that the ex-COAS is suffering from acute dementia and he is gradually losing touch with the realities of this time.

“Dambazau’s statement that OPC and IPOB are very much the same as the dreaded Boko Haram was made in bad faith and such statements have raised some fundamental questions about his intentions, interests and morality as a former COAS and minister of Interior that have allegedly been supporting the bandits by offering both financial and technical support to the group.

“Such high profile ex-military officer cannot be trusted in the fight against insurgency because he had on several occasion pleaded on their behalf.

“In 2014, before the general election, Dambazau and four other top northern leaders had their hands in the recruitments of bandits into the country. And when he eventually became the minister of Interior, under President Muhammadu Buhari, he requested and pleaded that the Federal Government should raise over N800 billion to settle the bandits. A request which was opposed by Nigerians.

“So for such a person to have said that OPC is the same as Boko Haram is not only derogatory, but it is most unfortunate to say the least.”

Oguntimehin said: “Boko Haram is adjudged globally as the third most dreaded terrorist groups in the world. And up till today, it remains as such with various cases of killings across the North.

“For instance, presently, Boko Haram and bandits have taken over four states in the North and Danbazau had never condemned their atrocities, he didn’t raise a finger.

“It is no doubt that he is one of their sponsors. That is why he had, rather than offering lasting solution to the insurgency in the north and across the country, remained an ardent promoter of bandits and other terrorist groups in Nigeria.

So, from his statement, it shows that the ex-minister is not in his right frame of mind, because when bandits killed a foremost Oba in Ondo, he didn’t talk. When other respected leaders from the north held a meeting on the critical security situation in the country,he didn’t attend.”

The OPC publicity scribe stated further that the group has since its existence in 1994 remains one of the most dependable organizations that have been defending the interest of the people of the south west.

“OPC has never involved in any act of insurgency, including kidnapping or killings. Our group have been at the vanguard of supporting the police and providing information that can help the police in ensuring effective security at the grassroots.

“For instance, during the END SARS protests, OPC came to the rescue in the southwest and we protected the police stations and the police formations against unscrupulous rioters that had hijacked the peaceful protests.

Recently, the OPC under our amiable leader, the Aareonakakanfo of Yorubaland, Iba Gani Abiodun Ige Adams, apprehended the notorious Kidnap kingpin, Abdullah Iskilu Wakili that had been terrorising the people of Ibarapa and its environs, and we handed him over to the police.

“So for somebody of Dambazau status to say such a group is like the Boko Haram truly shows his mindset and level of thinking. Such a person has truly lost touch with the realities of the present time because today, OPC has been reorganised, repackaged, and re-orientated in such a way that it has become a thorn in the flesh of bandits, kidnappers and terrorists. And today, the fear of the OPC has truly become the beginning of wisdom for people like Danbazau and his allies

The Nigerian Defence Academy (NDA) has announced that the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) is a basic requirement for admission into the academy.

This was made known in a statement by Maj. Bashir Jajira, the NDA Public Relations Officer, on Saturday in Kaduna.

He said the academy had nothing to do with fake news speculating that academy suspended UTME for the incoming members of 73 Regular Course.

Part of the statement read: “The academy wishes to inform the general public that UTME is one of the basic requirements for entry into the academy.

“All interested applicants into the academy must have passed the UTME and attained an acceptable minimum national standard as determined by JAMB annual policy meeting before gaining entry into the 73 Regular Course.”

He advised the general public to ignore any information on social media purporting the suspension of JAMB exam for 73 Regular Course.