Headlines
Northern Groups condemn monetisation of party delegates
Nasiru Yusuf
The Coalition of Northern Groups (CNG) condemned in strong terms the monetisation of politics and compromise of the party delegates and called for a thorough investigation into how money was used in recent primary elections by aspirants.
KANO FOCUS reports that the spokesperson for the group, Abdul-Azeez Suleiman, made the call while addressing a news conference in Kano on Monday.
He said the investigation was necessary so as to find out whether the prescribed protocols as indicated in the Electoral Act was violated or not.
“To categorically state that the operational system by which a negligible few enjoys the sole prerogative for imposing candidates on the larger majority shall never endure and must be utterly rejected,” he said.
He added that the CNG fully supported and welcomed the adoption of the popular demand for the open democratic practice of allowing all eligible candidates from every section of the country, regardless of ethnicity, religion or class, the opportunity to aspire for offices in the various political parties.
“We note, in particular, that the dubiously acquired and arrogantly expended billions of naira by aspirants in, especially, the ruling APC and its main challenger, the PDP, in bankrolling individual aspirations at all the levels, have totally monetised the primary candidates’ selection processes, automatically disqualifying men of honour, character, integrity and merit from the race for 2023 and potentially placed the hopes of this and future generations of Nigerians in the line.
Abdul-Azeez Suleiman flanked by CNG members
“The CNG notes also, in the manner of the primaries conducted by the PDP and the APC, the foundation for a final entrenchment of a culture of making money the deciding factor in Nigerian politics that would serve the purposes of consolidating elite monopoly as well as the political exclusion of the non-elite.
“We are also worried that the glaring impunity with which aspirants to the presidential tickets of, especially, the two major parties, induced their respective party delegates has ultimately left the millions of Nigerian voters with the hard and only choice between two traditional old war horses for the presidency,” the group said.
The Coalition asked northerners to obtain permanent voter cards to enable them vote credible leaders that would address the multifarious challenges bedeviling the region.
This, according to group was necessary because getting Permanent Voter Cards is the surest way to ensuring good governance and leadership that could check the current security and other challenges pervading the region.
“We want to caution the North against voter apathy in the coming elections and to strongly call on northerners to register massively for Permanent Voter Cards as the only sure way of ensuring leadership that will address our limitations.
“We also note, uncomfortably, the likelihood of voter apathy in the North with the current lower participation in the ongoing update of voter registration compared to other parts of the country, hence our decision to call on eligible voters to obtain the card.
“We want to remind the northern voter to be vigilant with the direction of his voting by refusing to be pinned to political party specifics and going for candidates with pronounced credibility, competence, capacity and with the antecedent of impliedly lyrics and expressly identifying with their problems around security, the economy and education.
“We wish to also remind Nigerians of the danger of risking their collective future by not critically assessing and evaluating the credentials of the candidates presented by the parties in terms of capacity, competence, integrity, and merit before making a choice,” Suleiman said.
Also speaking, the leader of the group Nastura Ashir charged Nigerians to vote competent people with track of good record irrespective of party affiliation.
He challenged the notion being expressed on social media that voting a candidate from smaller parties is a waste of vote.
Nasiru Yusuf Ibrahim
The Kano State Government has appealed a Federal High Court judgement that ordered it to pay N30 billion as compensation to some traders for the demolition of their shops.
KANO FOCUS reports that a Federal High Court sitting in Kano and presided over by Justice Simon Anogede, had, while delivering judgement in the case filed by the Traders Association, said what the government did was barbaric and unconstitutional.
The court however awarded N30 billion as compensation to the traders, instead of the N250 billion they demanded from the government.
However, the Kano State government says it has appealed the judgement, which it described as miscarriage of justice.
Barrister Haruna Isa Dederi, the State Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, explained that the court was not right in awarding judgement to the Traders Association because the Land Use Act is clear on the position of lands in every state.
He insisted that the court lacked the jurisdiction to even listen to the case because government is the sole owner of land, according to the Land Use Act.
Headlines
ACReSAL plans to increase city parks to 50 in Kano, laments indiscriminate felling of trees
Nasiru Yusuf Ibrahim
The Kano Agro-Climatic Resilience in Semi-Arid Landscapes (ACReSAL), has said that it will increase city parks to 50 in Kano.
KANO FOCUS reports that the Project Coordinator Dr Dahiru Muhammad Hashim made this known while addressing newsmen on Thursday in Kano.
He said the project is planning to recover and restore lost landscapes arising from natural causes and human activities.
”We are committed to addressing the environmental challenges that affect the state such as climate change, drylands, erosion and flooding, land degradation, and issues that affect the livelihood of communities which is mainly agriculture.
”The ACReSAL project is anchored on four broad components that speak essentially to the demand of the poor whose livelihoods have been distressed,” he said.
Hashim also said that the ACReSAL project has drilled solar-powered boreholes and established tree nurseries in some local government areas of the state.
He said that the intervention would boost agriculture and improve the standard of living of the people while the tree nurseries would help to combat desertification and soil erosion.
He expressed the commitment of the state in improving and protecting the Kano environment with priority and attention to the sector on issues of biodiversity conservation and restoration of degraded lands.
“ACReSAL plans to undertake Erosion control work in Rarin, Dawakin Tofa and Bulbula/Gayawa, Nassarawa, and Ungogo Local government areas.
“Construction of water conservation structure and provision of minor irrigation facilities in ‘Yartiti, Shanono, and construction of water conservation structure and provision of minor irrigation facilities in Fajewa, Takai Local government area.
“Establishment of 100ha individual farmer orchards and Woodlot plantations, 200ha of woodlot in communal forests and institutional plantings.
“440ha farmer-managed natural regeneration of indigenous tree species on individual farmlands and communal forests and promotion of climate-smart agriculture through FLID and CRF among others,” he said
KANO FOCUS reports that the World Bank’s 700 million dollar ACReSAL project is being implemented in collaboration with the federal government and the 19 northern states and the FCT was recently officially launched in Bauchi by Gov. Bala Mohammed, thus becoming the first among the participating states to unveil the project implementation.
The ACreSAL project is embarked on by the Federal Government to build community resilience as well as improve the sustainable productivity of its natural resources in Bauchi, Borno, Gombe, Jigawa, Kano, Katsina, Kebbi, Sokoto, Yobe, Zamfara, Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Benue, Nasarawa, Kogi, Plateau, Adamawa, Taraba, Niger, Kwara, and Kaduna.
These northern states including the FCT, the federal government said are faced by rapid desert encroachment ranging from severe to moderate and marginal.
Other incentives of the project are the strengthening of the environment for integrated climate-resilient landscape management, fighting issues surrounding desertification, drought, landscape degradation, and deprivation at community levels as well as resuscitating the sectors of agriculture, environment, and water resources.
The Nigerian Institute of Public Relations NIPR Kano Chapter has set to elect new leadership of the institution in Kano during its annual general meeting
KANO FOCUS reports that this was contained in a statement issued by Mahmud Ibrahim Kwari the instituted’s Kano branch chairman publicity sub-committee on Friday.
Mr Kwari said during the AGM a public lecture will be presented on the importance of Artificial intelligence (AI)
The event will be held today (Friday) the 29th of September, 2023 at the Tahir Guest Palace Kano.
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The theme of the event is “Artificial Intelligence and Spin-Doctoring in Public Relations Practice in Nigeria: Prospects and Challenges”
The lecture will be presented by Professor Abdalla Uba Adamu of the Faculty of Communications, Bayero University.
Also, the l public relations expert and the publisher of PRNigeria Malam Yushau Shuaibu will discuss the paper.
The Emir of Kano Alhaji Aminu Ado Bayero who chaired the contact and mobilization sub-committee of the event will be the royal father at the occasion.
Similarly, Former Kano state Governor, Senator Ibrahim Shekarau will chair the Occasion while the president of the Nigerian Institute of Public Relations Mr. Ike Neliaku, and the immediate past president of the Institute, Malam Mukhtar Zubair Siraj are expected to be in attendance.
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