Restructuring: Nigeria's Unity Must Be Our First Focus, Says Saraki Damilola Oyedele President of the Senate, Abubakar Bukola, yesterday emphasized that the nation’s unity remains a prerequisite for Nigeria’s development, stability and greatness. Speaking in Calabar, at the retreat held by the Southern
Senators' Forum, Saraki insisted: "We must always put Nigeria first" in the ongoing debate about restructuring of the country and other similar agitations. “As a nation, unity is a prerequisite for development, stability and greatness. Unity is the first focus. Without unity, we can achieve nothing. And yet we know that, since the end of the
Nigerian Civil War, our unity has never been more challenged than at the present time. “There are agitations across the length and breadth of this country that threaten our unity. And this time around, the threats are multi-faceted, and the vagaries of modern times have made the issues even more challenging than in the early post-independence
era.” He further stated that the founders of Nigeria’s Constitution had envisioned the current agitations, and had put in place guidelines to ensure that the entire country must be on the same page in order to take drastic decisions. “In seeking to carry out any reform or restructuring, it is worth bearing in mind that the founders
of our country, in their wisdom, had laid down some guidelines, making clear that it cannot be done by a simple majority, but rather by a two-thirds majority. “To this end, we must all be on the same page. We cannot bully or browbeat others into accepting our point of view or positioning. Whatever we do must be by consensus, with the buy-in
of all critical stakeholders in the debate,” Saraki said. He also emphasized that Nigeria was not alone in its current predicament, stating that in Africa and the rest of the world, similar agitations were making governments and those they rule over to question their Continued on page 8
Egypt Suffers Worst Terror Attack in Its History, 235 Killed in Assault on Mosque ... Page 6 Saturday 25 November, 2017 Vol 22. No 8255 Price: N250
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Ozekhome: Anyim Still Held By EFCC Under Inhuman Condition Anti-graft agency says he's yet to meet bail conditions Alex Enumah and Paul Obi in Abuja Contrary to speculation that
former Senate President/ Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Anyim Pius Anyim had been released on bail by the Economic and
Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), his lawyer, Chief Mike Ozekhome, yesterday said Anyim was still being kept by the EFCC under inhuman and degrading
conditions. Anyim was arrested last Thursday after honouring an invitation by the EFCC over allegation of diversion of about
N13 billion Ecological Funds while he was the SGF. There were speculations about his release during the week, but his counsel, Ozekhome debunked
such claims, arguing that Anyim was still under the custody of the EFCC. Continued on page 6
Atiku: APC Now Gripped By Impunity, Arbitrariness, Unconstitutionality May formally join PDP December 6 el-rufai: It’s a replay of what he knows best APC expresses surprise
Olawale Olaleye in Lagos, Onyebuchi Ezigbo and Omololu Ogunmade in Abuja Former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar, who formally resigned
from the All Progressives Congress (APC), yesterday, said that his resignation was largely influenced by the “impunity, arbitrariness and unconstitutionality” in the APC. In the statement he personally
signed, Atiku said that injustice and failure to abide by its own constitution, “which had dogged the then PDP, have now been replicated in the APC, while the PDP appears to have purged itself of the malice.”
He said while other parties had purged themselves of the arbitrariness and unconstitutionality that led to fractionalization, “the APC had adopted those same practices and even gone beyond them to
institute a regime of a draconian clampdown on all forms of democracy within the party and the government it produced.” Atiku continued: "Only last year, a governor produced by the party wrote a secret
memorandum to the president which ended up being leaked. In that memo, he admitted that the APC had not only failed to manage expectations of a populace Continued on page 6
TOURISM ON THEIR MINDS … L-R: Director General, National Council for Arts and Culture, Otunba Olusegun Runsewe; Secretary to Jigawa State Government, Alhaji Adamu Abdulkadir; Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed and the Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Information and Culture, Deaconess Grace Isu Gekpe, at the 9th National Council on Tourism, Culture and National Orientation in Dutse, Jigawa State ...yesterday
Obiano: Ojukwu’s Defection to APC Inconsequential ... Page 16