2019: Five PDP Governors Seeking Deal With Buhari And Other Interesting Newspaper Headlines Today

Desperate for a second term, five Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) governors are seeking a secret pact with President Muhammadu Buhari on the 2019 general elections. Specifically,  the deal is for the governors to support Buhari’s re-election in return for the Presidency’s backing in their bid to retain their seats. The governors, who could not be named for “strategic” reasons, have sent emissaries, including two All Progressives Congress (APC) governors, to the President on their proposal. One of the governors sent a message to the President in China through an APC governor, The Nation learnt yesterday. Also yesterday, former Kano State Governor Ibrahim Shekarau dumped the PDP. He is due to announce his defection to the APC after consultation with his supporters. Although one of the five PDP governors initiated the “deal”, the positive signals from the mediating APC governors and some top officials of the Presidency motivated four others to join.

Police raid Edwin Clark’s home heads NIGERIAN TRIBUNE, VANGUARD and NIGERIAN TRIBUNE. Armed operatives of the Nigeria Police, yesterday, raided the Abuja residence of foremost South-South Leader, Chief Edwin Clark, over allegations of stockpiling arms and ammunition in his home for Niger Delta militants. The policemen, numbering six, stormed Clark’s Asokoro residence at about 12:30p.m., and ransacked the entire building for two hours. The policemen were said to have been deployed from the ‘Special Tactical Force’ (STF) based in Guzape, a squad that reports directly to the Inspector-General of Police (IGP), Force Headquarters, Abuja. According to an eyewitness, the policemen, who were led by one Kolo Yusuf, came in a Forerunner Jeep, with registration number EU 979 ABC and an 18-Seater Toyota Hiace bus. They brandished a search warrant, which they claimed was obtained from a court and said they were in search of arms and ammunition allegedly hidden at the residence of the elder statesman. On arrival, the policemen asked to see Dorothy Koko, Chief Clark’s personal secretary, but she was not immediately available.

Still on the raid DAILY SUN heads that although the policemen stormed the home of the leader, the IGP had ordered the detention of 4 cops over Clark’s home raid.  Inspector-General of Police, Mr. Ibrahim Idris, has ordered the detention and probe of the four policemen that carried out the raid. The raid, which was carried out by six armed policemen from the “Tactical Squad” of the Inspector-General of Police, lasted about two hours. One of Clark’s sons, David, confirmed the development to Daily Sun on phone. He said, “Policemen came with a search warrant to search the house that he was stockpiling arms; there is nothing like that. So they have been searching the whole house, they just left now. They searched for about two hours. They came at 1pm and left at 3 p.m., about six of them. After they finished searching they left. The boys that came appeared worried that they did not see any reason why they should search the house.”

Osinbajo, Atiku on warpath over reconstructing heads other major newspaper headlines. Vice President Yemi Osinbajo on Tuesday responded to comments credited to former Vice President Atiku Abubakar regarding his argument on restructuring which, he said, was ambiguous, unclear, and mixed up with good governance and diversification of the economy. Osinbajo, who took on Atiku in a letter he personally authored and sent to Premium Times, noted that Atiku was leveraging on the spur of the moment to score cheap political points by introducing the concept of restructuring even though he was not fully conversant with the subject matter. Picking holes in Atiku’s position, Osinbajo insisted that he did not believe that geographical restructuring was an answer to Nigeria’s socio-economic problems, noting that it would only result in greater administrative costs.

Finally on the business sector, MTN disagrees with Attorney General’s $2 billion tax bill. MTN Group yesterday said it strenuously rejects the findings of Nigeria’s Attorney General’s investigation which demanded $2 billion in for taxes and believes it has fully settled all fees owed to the Federal Government. In a conference call with investors which BusinessDay listened to, MTN indicated that the Attorney General of the Federation (AGF) assumed a flat tax rate in its calculations, compared with a reality of different rates.