FG, COMMISSIONERS FORECLOSE CLOSURE OF SCHOOLS OVER ELECTIONS

CONTRARY to earlier indications that the Federal Government might order the closure of both private and public schools across the country, to allow for hitch-free conduct of polls this month, the stakeholders’ meeting of Monday objected to the plan.
Rising from the consultative meeting with the 36 state commissioners for education, including the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Education Secretary, in Abuja, on Monday, Minister of Education, Mallam Ibrahim Shekarau, said all schools would remain in session throughout the election period.
He said the meeting resolved that academic activities could go on unhindered in both basic and tertiary institutions across the country.

SHEKARAU BECOMES EDUCATION MINISTER, YUGUDA MOVED

President Goodluck Jonathan on Wednesday assigned portfolios to the four new ministers recently confirmed by the Senate.
The new ministers and their portfolios are: Mallam Ibrahim Shekarau -Minister of Education; Dr. Stephen Oru -Minister of Niger Delta Affairs; Mr. Adedayo Adeyeye -Minister of State, Works; and Dr. Abdul Bulama -Minister of Science and Technology.
Jonathan directed the erstwhile Minister of State, Works, Ambassador Bashir Yuguda, to take over Minister of State, Finance.
He also told him to continue supervising the Ministry of National Planning until a substantive minister is named.

GOD WILL PUNISH POLITICIANS, GOVS WHO FAILED TO TOUCH THE LIVES OF PEOPLE — SHEKARAU

The former Governor of Kano State, Alhaji Ibrahim Shekarau has warned that any political office holder or state governor that failed to impact positively on the lives of the people would not escape God’s punishment.
Shekarau spoke yesterday in Yenagoa during the Bayelsa monthly transparency and ceremony marking two years in office of the Bayelsan Governor, Seriake Dickson.
He said any state governor and political appointee that embarked on road construction and other capital projects without proper welfare policies, prompt payment of pensions and other economic empowerment will incur the full wrath of God.
The former Kano State governor rated Dickson high in the area of respect for rule of law, proper siting of peoples oriented projects, fiscal regulatory control and anti-corruption.
According to him, the performance of any administration will be judged on the “How” and the “Why”.

CLAMOUR FOR NORTHERN PRESIDENT RUBBISH —SHEKARAU

A former Kano State Governor, Mallam Ibrahim Shekarau, on Thursday, faulted the clamour by some stakeholders for the emergence of a President of Northern extraction in 2015. He described the call as rubbish.
He also argued that the recent defection of the state governor, Rabiu Kwankwaso, from the Peoples Democratic Party to the All Progressives Congress would not affect the ruling party negatively.
Shekarau, who recently defected to the PDP, spoke with State House correspondents after a meeting with Vice-President Namadi Sambo at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
He said he had always kicked against the idea of localising the Presidency to a particular region.
He said, “I have never subscribed to the argument of localising the Presidency to a particular region. If you had followed my arguments and my presentations or debates during the presidential election, I said so. My concern is what do we do to get the right leadership regardless of where it is coming from.

KWANKWASO RUNS A CULT – SHEKARAU

Kano gov: Shekarau is trying to please his paymaster
Kano State Governor Rabiu Kwankwaso yesterday came under attack for the second day in succession from within the Presidential Villa in Abuja. His predecessor Ibrahim Shekarau, who was on a visit to the Vice President, accused the governor of running a cult group in Kano.
On Wednesday, Kwankwaso was pilloried by Information Minister Labaran Maku over his defection to the All Progressives Congress (APC) late last year. Maku described him as an undemocratic desperado who hijacked the Kano APC from its founders.
Shekarau recently left APC to the ruling People’s Democratic Party (PDP) because the national headquarters handed over state party structures to the governor, who is a long-standing political rival.

SHEKARAU DEFECTS TO PDP

Malam Ibrahim Shekarau, a chieftain of the All Progressive Congress (APC) and former Kano State governor, on Wednesday defected to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), with his loyalists.
Shekarau, backed by his supporters from the 44 local government areas of the state, made the declaration at his Bompai GRA residence in Kano.
According to him, the decision is to satisfy the aspirations of the people of the state who felt left out from the APC.
“We intended with the merger to form a solid foundation for entrenchment of democracy.
“The Legacy Group sacrificed all interests for the merger, but for the past six months all agreements reached by the merged parties had not being met.

SHEKARAU, BAFARAWA SHUN APC LEADERS

.PDP elders woo ex-Kano governor
The crisis in the Kano and Sokoto chapters of the All Progressives Congress (APC) appeared to have worsened yesterday when two key leaders stayed away from separate meetings held to unify disparate groups of the party in the two states.
Former Kano governor Ibrahim Shekarau and his Sokoto counterpart Attahiru Bafarawa had been sulking since the defection to APC by their long-standing political rivals, Governors Rabiu Kwankwaso and Aliyu Wamakko.
The incumbent governors have been trying to take over control of the party’s state structures, which the two former governors were instrumental in setting up in the first place.

APC MOVES TO RECONCILE SHEKARAU, KWAKWANSO

• Efforts to broker peace between Nyako, Marwa fail
Determined to ensure that no internal rancour splits its ranks, the reconciliation committee of the All Progressives Congress (APC) headed by the former chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party, Alhaji Abubakar Baraje, has commenced the process of reconciling the warring parties in the five states, where the G-7 governors are locked in a supremacy battle with local leaders of the party.
But the effort did not yield fruit in Adamawa State as the feud between Governor Murtala Nyako and Gen Buba Marwa failed, as the latter and his allies stayed away from a reconciliation meeting held in Yola Sunday.
THISDAY gathered that as part of the party's effort to harmonise its affairs at the state level, the leadership has approved the inauguration of interim state executives.
The party, at its last meeting in Abuja, gave approvals for all the zonal chairmen to immediately inaugurate the interim state executives and for them to commence mobilisation for new members. It also proposed a plan to hold the party's congresses in January 2014.

PDP C’TTEE VISITS SHEKARAU IN KANO

Tongues are wagging over a visit by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) caretaker committee to former Kano State governor, Malam Ibrahim Shekarau, an APC chieftain, in Kano.
Checks by Daily Trust yesterday revealed that the visit and remarks made by the former governor have elicited questions from many political observers on whether he is planning to leave the opposition All Progressives Congress (APC). During the visit, the PDP caretaker committee chairman in Kano, Hassan Kafayos, said the team was there to strengthen ties with the former governor.
Responding, Shekarau said he had a record of maintaining good relations with people from other parties, saying he could always play politics under the platform of any political party.

SHEKARAU REJECTS PLAN TO HAND OVER APC TO KWANKWASO

Former Kano State Governor Ibrahim Shekarau yesterday protested against a plan to handover the structure of the All Progressives Party (APC) in the state to the incumbent Governor Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso who defected to the party recently.
Shekarau led a delegation of APC leaders and supporters from Kano to the national headquarters of the party in Abuja yesterday and presented a protest letter to the National Chairman of the party Chief Bisi Akande.
He said surrendering the party leadership to a serving governor because of his defection to the party would amount to a political suicide.
The former said that politics is about people and their aspirations, warning that leaders would fail in their responsibilities, if they refuse to protect the rights of the people they represent.

SHEKARAU ESCAPES LYNCHING IN GARKO

........Over 20 vehicles destroyed, several people injured

The immediate past governor of Kano state, Malam Ibrahim Shekarau, escaped being lynched by a mob yesterday when his motorcade was attacked in Garko, the headquarters of Garko local government area of the state.

An Islamic centre, built by Shekarau when he was governor, and ANPP offices in the town were burnt during the attack.

Shekarau, who was together with several other leaders of the All Nigeria Party (ANPP), had led top chieftains of his political party and thousands of their supporters to Garko town for a campaign rally for the February 2 bye-election into two vacant seats in the state House of Assembly.