Today's Headlines: Coup in Gabon as military takes over government, I never diverted Ogun LG funds, N10.8bn bailout — Abiodun
Coup in Gabon as military takes over government
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A coup has happened in Gabon as a group of senior military officers took over the government.
According to media reports early Wednesday, the senior military officers made this known through an announcement on national television.
“In the name of the Gabonese people … we have decided to defend the peace by putting an end to the current regime,” Aljazeera quoted the officers as saying.
They said they seized power in the central African country because elections held over the weekend were not credible.
They cancelled the elections, dissolved all state institutions and closed the country’s borders.
Gabon held an election on Saturday to elect a leader, the elections returned disputed after the electoral body announced incumbent President Ali Bongo as winning a third term.
Mr Bongo has been president since 2009 following the death of his father.
“The Gabonese Election Centre said Bongo had secured 64.27 per cent of the vote compared with 30.77 per cent for his main challenger Albert Ondo Ossa, after a process beset by delays,” Aljazeera said.
I never diverted Ogun LG funds, N10.8bn bailout — Abiodun
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The Ogun State Governor, Dapo Abiodun, on Tuesday, denied the allegation that he was diverting the statutory Federal Allocation due to the state’s Local Governments in the last two years.
The governor said his administration had to augment the funds allocated to local governments in the state to enable the council chairmen to meet their obligations.
The Chairman of Ijebu East Local Government Area of Ogun State, Wale Adedayo had in a letter written to former Governor, Chief Olusegun Osoba accused the governor of diverting the statutory allocations and over ten billion naira fund of the Subsidy Reinvestment and Empowerment Programme.
Adedayo also claimed that the 10 per cent of the state’s Internally Generated Revenue, which the constitution also stipulated should go to the local governments has not been given since Abiodun got into office.
But the governor in a statement by his Chief Press Secretary, Lekan Adeniran said the LGs fund is being handled by the constitutionally recognised Joint Account and Allocation Committee.
Ganduje Urges Traders To Work With Wike For FCT Transformation
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The National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC) Dr. Abdullahi Umar Ganduje, has urged traders in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) to work closely with the FCT minister, Nyesom Wike, to transform the territory.
The former Kano State governor, particularly asked the business community to co-operate with the minister to create a decent environment for commercial activities in the mega city of Abuja.
Ganduje gave the charge when a delegation of the Arewa Traders Association visited him at the APC national secretariat in Abuja yesterday.
He said Wike is a competent person who, having presided over a big city of Port Harcourt now has the mandate to administer over another big city like the FCT.
“So I urge you to cooperate with him, so that he can create a decent environment for commercial activities in the mega city of Abuja.
Neglecting open trade will cause price instability –Okonjo-Iweala
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The Director-General of the World Trade Organisation, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, has said that turning away from open trade would lead to greater price volatility and inflationary pressures and weaker growth prospects.
She stated this at the annual Jackson Hole Economic Policy Symposium hosted by the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City, U.S. recently.
The WTO director-general noted predictable trade was a source of disinflationary pressure, reduced volatility, and increased economic resilience, whereas fragmentation of trade into rival blocs “would be very costly.”
Okonjo-Iweala said, “A world that turns its back on open and predictable trade will be one marked by diminished competitive pressures and greater price volatility.
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