AGF Bello Adoke, NDLEA Chairman Ahmadu Giade and NDLEA DG Femi Ajayi
It was a black Sunday for the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) as three officers were killed in a mob attack while on official assignment in Owode, Ogun State. The incident occurred during the arrest of a notorious cannabis dealer, Azeez Babatunde. Three officers Bolaji Owolodun, Rabiu Usman Kazaure and Ishaku Joshua were confirmed dead following the attack.
Chairman/Chief Executive of the Agency, Ahmadu Giade who received the news of the death with shock vowed to bring the perpetrators to justice. “It is shocking that officers on legitimate assignment will be attacked and killed by people whose interest they are protecting. I have ordered investigation into the incident and the Agency will leave no stone unturned until the perpetrators are arrested and dealt with in accordance with the laws of the country” Giade assured.
The NDLEA boss described the officers as gallant heroes of the anti-narcotics crusade. According to Giade, “these gallant heroes have paid the supreme price for a drug-free society. We shall immortalize them by punishing the culprits and sustain the fight against drug barons. The Agency will take good care of the family members whom they have left behind”.
The Ogun State commander, Mr. Bala Fagge said that the suspect they went to arrest is in the Agency’s custody and will be charged to court. “We have the main suspect in our custody and he will be charged to court soon. There is one other officer that sustained injury who is currently recuperating at the hospital” Bala added.
We are constrained to bring to your notice the unwarranted and unhealthy partisanship of Senator Ben Obi, your Special Adviser on Inter-Party Affairs in the ongoing leadership dispute in our party.
We did not receive any invitation to the All Political Parties and Stakeholders’ Summit held in Abuja on June 12, 2014. On inquiry with the Special Adviser Inter-Party Affairs we were informed that based on the advice of the Hon. Attorney General and Minister for Justice APGA would not be invited.
However, at the occasion to our chagrin Mr. Peter Obi former Governor of APGA was recognized as a major stakeholder in APGA and requested to speak on behalf of APGA National Chairman. We concede that Mr Peter Obi is indeed a major stakeholder of APGA, but he definitely is not the party. Secondly, he is hand in glove with his kinsman our erstwhile National Chairman in the contempt of court and disregard of the legal status quo in our party.
On 15th January, 2014, the Federal High Court sitting in Abuja delivered a concise and incisive Judgment which declared that we are the authentic National Executive of APGA. In a show of shame three days later, specifically on the 18th of January, 2014 at Awka, Chief Victor Umeh and then Governor Peter Obi conducted what they called a National Executive Committee (NEC) meeting of the party. This was in total disregard and contempt of the judgment of the court on 15th January, 2014. The gathering purportedly returned Governor Obi as leader of the party and Chairman Board of Trustees.
It is ironic that if not for the law courts Mr Peter Obi would have never been Governor of Anambra State. Again it was the law court that restored him after impeachment, and the law courts again on tenure interpretation saved him and gave him opportunity to go for a second term.
Mr Peter Obi did not have our mandate to speak for the National Chairman at a meeting he was invited in his capacity as a former Governor.
It is worthy of note that when the organizers invited General Mohammadu Buhari to speak on behalf of the All Progressives Congress(APC), as an officer and gentleman he declined, stating clearly that he was invited in his personal capacity and could not speak for his party APC.
In all these we see the deft hand of your Special Adviser on Inter-Party Affairs who incidentally is a close political/personal associate of Mr Peter Obi and Chief Victor Umeh. They all hail from Anambra State and share many ties. We also recall that at the inauguration of Mr. Willie Obiano, on 17th March, 2014 as Governor, Senator Ben Obi who represented you at the occasion referred to Chief Victor Umeh as National Chairman of APGA.
Your Excellency, we admit that there is an ongoing leadership dispute in our party, however the unassailable legal position is that there is a subsisting and final judgment of a court of competent jurisdiction stating that we are the authentic Executive. The erstwhile leadership filed an appeal on the 15th January, 2014 Judgment of the Federal High Court. The appeal has been heard and judgment reserved sine die. The appellants (Umeh and co) filed three separate applications for stay of execution of the judgment of Justice Abdulkadir Abdu-Kafarati and either lost or withdrew all.
The judgment of 15th January, 2014 by the Federal High Court stands and must be obeyed by all persons and authority. If we truly believe in and practice the rule of law it would in our humble opinion be mischievous at the very least to disregard this legal situation until set aside by the Court of Appeal.
We most humbly therefore urge your Excellency whom we are well aware is a believer in the rule of law to call your aide on Inter-Party Affairs to order.
Please accept the assurances of our highest consideration.
Sincerely,
Chief Maxi Okwu Dr. Sagir Auwal Maidoya
Ikenecheoha II, National Secretary, APGA
National Chairman, APGA, 07037685000
08033374174
Cc.
Special Adviser to Mr. President on Inter-Party Affairs
“How on earth, in the year of our Lord 2014 can anybody compare Kayode Fayemi, our incumbent Governor with Fayose, our former Governor who we are trying hard to forget that he ever ruled our state” – Professor Akin Osuntokun.
I have known Prof. Akin Osuntokun as an academic, scholar, writer, leader, teacher, historian, diplomat, elder statesman, and thinker for years now. At 80 plus, Professor Akin Osuntokun has paid his dues and done his best for Nigeria in various capacities. His numerous interventions in matters of leadership and politics in Nigeria will be too much for me to recount here. Infact, time and space will not permit to dig into this great man’s works in Nigeria but I know history will ever remain his witness.
His recent article on Ekiti State Governorship elections coming up on June 21, 2014, moved me to write this piece. The title, EKITI MUST NOT DIE ON THE DAY OF DESTINY pricked my conscience and compelled me to contribute to the debate even though I am not from Ekiti State but I know Dr Fayemi very well. Ekiti State is the land of knowledge, the home of professors, and the land of the gifted. The renowned Professor of history and international relations cried out as an elder because of the strange Political developments in Ekiti state at the moment. He cried out because men without conscience, liars, motor park touts, scoundrels and common illiterates are planning to seize Ekiti State by telling lies a thousand times to make it sound real. He cried out because people who do not know are trying to sell fake drugs to the knowledgeable people of Ekiti State. The erudite professor is calling on Ekiti People to rise up to defend the integrity and honour of Ekiti State, the land of their birth, before they make the mistake of allowing Ayo Fayose to grab power again through whatever means. Hear the professor: “If we are sensible people and I think we are, we should not be faced with this choice but the choice is clear. There is no meeting point between darkness and light, between peace and war, between serenity and confusion, between murder and life, between development and underdevelopment, between progress and backwardness and between education and illiteracy.”
It is only in Nigeria that illiteracy, mediocrity and madness is celebrated. But I can understand. Any celebrated idiot or vagabond in power is celebrated because there is a lot of money to spend and there will always be supporters to urge the person on. Yes since they are benefiting, then the man is always good, and God sent. But this stupidity must stop in Ekiti on June 21, 2014. Ekiti people known for possessing common sense, intelligence, knowledge, wisdom and understanding must set the pace for the other States to follow. Ayo Fayose must be stopped in Ekiti State. Ekiti people must end his political career for the good of the commonwealth. Comparing Ayo Fayose with Dr Fayemi is like Apple and Orange comparison. It is like comparing a primary school boy with a competent university graduate.
If experience is the Yardstick to determine who the cap fits, Governor Fayemi is the one. If performance and service delivery are the criteria for consideration, Fayemi has performed and delivered services to Ekiti people in his last four years. If education is the parameter to judge, he is a Ph.D. in War studies, intelligence and strategy. If power of elocution and engagement are the criteria, he has got it.
If flamboyance, glamour, carriage, charisma are the rules of the game, he has got them sufficiently. If character, integrity, honour is to be considered, he has them in abundance. If trust is the parameter he has been tested and therefore he can be trusted. If local, national and international connections are the rules of the game, he has got them plenty. If careful and prudent management of both human and material resources are the criteria for endorsement, he holds the ace. If capacity for leadership is the benchmark of consideration, please give it to him.
In the days of the locusts I knew Kayode Fayemi but I knew not Ayo Fayose. Dr Fayemi anchored Radio Kudirat International, when the lives of his people were in danger but nobody knew about Fayose then. Dr Fayemi was one of the real men, who stood up to be counted when it mattered most but cowards like Fayose hide in the corners. I blame former President Obasanjo for rigging this violent man to an exalted position of a Governor meant for serious- minded people. For almost three years he was in power , violence, murder, arson, thuggery, corruption, and political rascality took the centre stage.
Ayo Fayose was impeached and disgraced out of office by the Ekiti State House of Assembly. As I write this Ayo Fayose has a murder case in courts to be saddled with. Young and dynamic University graduates trained abroad returned to help their state to grow but Fayose stopped them by ordering that they should be shot.
We have passed the age of poltical stupidity and rascality to the age of big ideas. We have moved away from brigandage and idiocy to the age of character and integrity. Dr Kayode Fayemi belongs to the Class of Nigeria’s upcoming leaders not more than ten in number, who hold the keys to the future.
Ekiti people must speak up wherever they are now before June 21, 2014 or a mistake would be made which will cost 4 or 8 years of no progress in Ekiti State.
Evil triumph in any society when good men do nothing. Wise men suffer the rules of idiots if they do not struggle for power. Bonafide citizens become Slaves, when idiots seize the centre stage. Politics is too important to be left to politicians alone. Allowing a compound illiterate like Ayo Fayose to return to ekiti state is to reverse Fayemi’s Progress in the last four years. Allowing Fayose to return to power is like forcing Ekiti to drink poison. Let every Ekiti man go home to salvage their land from Ayo Fayose and his motley crowd.
After the much-awaited national convention of the All Progressives Congress (APC), the stage is now set for the party’s search for a sellable presidential standard bearer, who will square up to President Goodluck Jonathan, whose re-election bid is expected to be announced any moment.
Checks by Daily Sun revealed that with the purported zoning of the APC presidential slot to the North-West geopolitical zone, both General Mohammadu Buhari, former head of state and Kano State Governor, Rabiu Kwankwaso, were getting set to fight for the party’s presidential ticket.
It was gathered that in preparation for his presidential bid, Kwankawso had made some deft political moves to position himself for the exalted position.
A chieftain of the APC, who pleaded anonymity, told Daily Sun that since the party appeared to prefer a younger candidate, the Kwankwaso camp was doing everything to prepare for the contest.
According to him, “the party is toying with the idea of backing a younger aspirant, with a view to ensuring generational shift in the power equation.”
He disclosed that in preparation for the presidential bid, Kwankwaso recently conducted local government elections to prove his popularity and wide acceptability of APC in Kano State.
“Kwankwaso has succeeded in making a statement with the council election that the former state governor, Mallam Ibrahim Shekerau, has no electoral value in the state since he lost even his ward during the council poll,” the source stated.
Checks revealed that the Kwankwaso camp had been reaching out to stakeholders in the APC and subtly dropping hints of the governor’s interest in the number one political office in the country.
Sources stated that the Kano State governor was getting support from fellow governors in the party, who wanted to determine who became the presidential candidate of the party.
Daily Sun gathered that the APC governors had expressed their preference for one of them to get the presidential ticket of the party to square up to Jonathan next year.
The governors had their way in the choice of who became the national chairman of the party, as their candidate, Chief John Oyegun, emerged, against the choice of Chief Tom Ikime, backed by former Vice President Atiku Abubakar.
When contacted on phone for his comments, the National Publicity Secretary of the party, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, said it was too early to decide who would be the presidential candidate of the APC, saying: “The job before the party now is to consolidate its roadmap and strengthen its structure for the electoral task ahead.”
According to him, the party’s convention had succeeded in erasing the wrong notion that APC was a Muslim party or that there was no internal democracy in the party.
“My brother, one hour can be too long in politics, let alone one day, one week, one month, six months. Anything can happen between now and November,” Mohammed said.
Bags of rice being distributed by the Peoples Democratic Party, (PDP) gubernatorial candidate in Ekiti State, Mr. Ayodele Fayose, has expired since 2006, an official of the Thailand Agency for Food Quality and Control, (TAFQC) wrote in a letter sent to the Federal Government by the Thai authority.
The letter dated June 10th, 2014 which was said to have been obtained from the Thai Embassy in Abuja indicated that the Government of Thailand has sent a strong protest to the Federal Government on the importation of several “fake, dangerous and harmful” bags of expired rice being imported to Nigeria for human consumption.
READ: Fayose Shares 30,000 Bags of Rice to Students, Market Women
The head of the Public Affairs Section of the Thailand Embassy, Mr. Chun Kun Yrung, stated in the letter that the rice imported by Fayose had expired and that they were bought from unscrupulous business men after the Thailand Agency for Food and Drugs had ordered they should be destroyed.
In a related development, an official of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Youth Caucus, Mr. Williams Akintunde, said the youth group had circulated pamphlets warning Ekiti people to be weary of collecting Fayose’s bags of rice. According to the PDP youth caucus, Fayose had placed the trucks conveying the rice in a graveyard for seven days where many spiritualists were invited to perform all sorts of rituals on the bags of rice.
“The bags of rice are not good for the spiritual wellbeing of Ekiti people. The rice is harmful. Fayose brought these bags of rice to destroy the lives of young people in Ekiti state. They must be careful so that they do not become zombies after eating Fayose’s rice.”
Akintunde alleged that some herbalists had told Fayose to use the rice as a kind of sacrifice, the repercussion being that many that eat from this rice will die young.
“Fayose is using the rice as a spiritual weapon. We know about this. He told us. He did this to win the election on June 21. We were briefed but at the end, we didn’t agree with him on this method. This is the reason we are fighting within the PDP to stop Fayose,” he said.
The Thailand government said it was greatly disturbed that Nigerian politicians are buying off expired food stuff from Asia without consideration for the impact on the health of consumers.
Mr. Yrung said a letter has been forwarded to the headquarters of the Peoples Democratic Party, (PDP) to lodge complaints against the massive importation of foodstuff that could harm Nigerians.
“A Nigerian man bought the expired rice from Dai Sun central store in Chiangmai, North of Thailand. The 30 tons of rice were meant to be destroyed by the Thailand Ministry of Commerce and Trade. Unfortunately, a Nigerian business man, Chief Udeh Ikem, who is the Chairman of Udeh and Sons Holdings bought the consignment illegally in collaboration with some corrupt Thai officials. As at now, the business man has been arrested in Bangkok and he will be prosecuted by the Thailand police authorities”, the Thailand Embassy stated
There is nothing more thrilling than being oneself at any given point in time. The Senate President, David Mark has proven that self-evidence maxim, even though negatively, that one must remain true to his ideology, however discredited. Clearing or absolving the Minister of Petroleum, Diezani Allison Madueke of any corruption charges as allegedly done by the Senate Committee on Finance some days ago is what Nigerians expect from the David Mark’s Senate.
David Mark
Doing otherwise, David Mark would have been adorning a borrowed robe that detracts from his actual self, his longness for graft and purposeful impunity. David Mark, all his life, has been an ultra-conservative military impudent who stoically and consciously advocated the retention of existing traditions and institutions so as to limit desirable changes. It would amount to becoming left-handed at old age if Mrs. Diezani Allison is not absolved of any wrong doing.
David Mark has played innumerable ignoble roles that terrorised the long suffering citizens of this country, even unto death. General David Mark was one of the arrowheads of the military top brass who vowed that MKO Abiola would be president over their dead bodies and that Nigeria would return to democratic rule over their graves! That singular objection from David Mark -IBB military clique to return Nigeria to democracy after several unkept promises dealt savage blow, not just on the socio-political psyche of the country, but hundreds of thousands of lives were crushed in the struggle to democratised Nigeria.
Nigerians who knew little of him only got to know more of him when he was Minister of Communications under the military jackboot of IBB as Head of State. Driven by class- mentality and perverse social alienation towards the larger populace, David Mark intoned then that “Telephone is not meant for the poor”! Less than two decade afterwards, urban and rural telephone became a bye word, and every Nigerian on the streets, up to the remote parts of the country, now have access to communication.
As if Nigerians were not eternally dammed and afflicted enough, the same David Mark has been sitting pretty atop Nigeria Senate Chambers with a questionable mandate from Benue South Senatorial District, presiding over the democratic affairs of Nigeria! If anything, there is little or nothing to expect from an over ambitious and homicidal personage who ensure the crushing to death of democracy activists, forbid humanity from social advancement and access to communication.
Nigerian Communication Commission, NCC has been more epileptic than the Power Holding Company of Nigerian, PHCN, and David Mark’s has deadened its feelings to the cry of Nigerians to reign in Mobile Communication Service providers. Nigerians are less likely to expect the National Assembly, especially the Senate to prevail on the Commission for appropriate punishment. That would mean that Nigerian citizenry will be having the last laugh for which he has the highest contempt, and that is certainly not obligatory of David Mark’s Senate. That would have brought him in direct collusion with his past and conscience.
If President Goodluck Jonathan could say “corruption is not Nigeria’s problem”, gave clean bill of health to the Petroleum Minister, why wouldn’t David Mark do the same thing? If president Jonathan could find Mrs. Diezani Allison-Madueke worthy of appointment with her daunting credentials of failures, why wouldn’t David Mark validate her righteousness? If President Jonathan could openly debase his exalted office with falsehoods in a national broadcast in defence of Diezani why not David Mark? These are reciprocal altruisms, after all vampire, bats and baboons have been observed feeding and protecting offspring within a colony not their own!
The oil empress’ crocodile tears she shed on the Lagos – Ibadan Expressway is still flowing, now with concealed blood of commuters who are victims of accident on a daily bases, eight years after. Inclined to failure and corruption, the Oil Minister easily finds a ready alliance in Jonathan’s Presidency. Her presence in the Jonathan’s cabinet maybe serving other purposes unknown to us. In any case, intense beauty such as hers has some alluring satisfaction to the mind, especially in a vanquished government like this. Asides her scintillating presence in President Jonathan’s Presidency, one is not sure what else she does for the nation.
That is another form of corruption that has been hardwired, knowingly, into the fabrics of President Jonathan’s Administration. Until lately Nigerians didn’t have any impression that their president partied out most of the nights. People like Dr Jonathan and David Mark of this world are yet to realise that it is better to use irrigation systems other than human sacrifice to promotes agricultural productivity. Nigeria will only remain trapped in the juggle of primitive governance riddled with corruption if the desired change eludes us in 2015.
The Senate Committee which investigated the NNPC over allegations of fraud by the suspended Governor of the Central Bank, Mallam Lamido Sanusi, Wednesday allegedly submitted its report to the Senate saying no funds were missing. The Committee in its report said Sanusi was merely spurious in his claimed in a leaked letter to President Goodluck Jonathan that $49.8 billion in crude oil revenue was missing. A further probe on the recent report on Mrs. Diezani might reavel under the table dealings between the presidency and the Senate Committee on Finance. By the way, who can trust the graft infected National Assembly who deliberately pauperised and pretentiously defrauding Nigerians with their unearned salaries and outrageous allowances for gallivanting about?
We are yet to get to the climax of the theft of $49.8billion fraud. Baring all concealment, the Vice Chairman, Senate Committee on Finance, Senator Bukola Saraki, told Punch Newspaper that he was not aware of the clearance of the Petroleum Minister: “I can say on behalf of the Committee that these media reports bear no correlation to the content of the Senate Committee report and I would urge the public to disregard it in its entirety.
“The Committee is yet to receive the report on the forensic audit and independent analysis on the subject clearly indicate we have a lot of grounds to cover in order to determine the level of culpability or otherwise of agency on the alleged non-committal. “Therefore, to suggest any clearance for anybody at this stage is out of the question. I will further advise that the media should wait for the senate to release the details of the Committee report to the public before they jump into spurious conclusions.”
About two year ago, The Economist Magazine came up with the report that Nigerian legislator are the highest paid in the world. The magazine reveals that Nigerian federal legislators are the highest paid in the world with an annual basic salary of $189,500 (N30.6 m). The report, quoting data from the International Monetary Fund (IMF), considered the salaries of lawmakers around the world and expressed it as a ratio of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) per capita.
It reveals that the annual salary of a Nigerian federal lawmaker at $189,500 is 166 times the country’s GDP per capita, estimated at $1,600. According to the Daily Trust, British MPs earn 2.7 times their country’s GDP per capita. The study listed the annual salaries of legislators from different parts of the world: The US ($174,000), and Brazil ($157,600), UK ($105,400) yearly, South Africa ($104,000), France ($85,900), Kenya ($74,500), Saudi Arabia ($64,000). Other countries according to the Daily Trust: Ghana ($46,500), Indonesia ($65,800), Thailand ($43,800), India ($11,200), Italy ($182,000), Bangladesh ($4,000), Israel ($114,800), Hong Kong ($130,700), Japan ($149,700), Singapore ($154,000), Canada ($154,000), New Zealand ($112,500), Germany ($119,500), Ireland ($120,400), Pakistan ($3,500), Malaysia ($25,300), Sweden ($99,300), Sri Lanka ($5,100), Spain ($43,900) and Norway ($138,000).
It sounds out of place that Nigerian federal legislators receive higher salaries than lawmakers from richer countries such as the US should strike anyone as outlandish, but according to The Economist magazine that is the obvious truth. The Economist report on the Nigeria thieving legislators firmly established the massive gap between the rich and poor in Nigeria which the figure of $1,600 as Nigeria’s per capita income conceals. The annual income of middle class professionals would range between $15,000 and $30,000, senior middle class professionals up to $60,000, while executives would typically exceed $100,000.
Nigerian lawmakers, allowances include accommodation (Senator N4m, Rep N3.97m), vehicle loan (Senator N8m, Rep N6.948m), furniture (Senator N6m, Rep N5.956m) and severance gratuity (Senator N6m, Rep N5.956m), which are due once in four years. Other allowances, which are payable every year, are car maintenance (Senator N1.52m, Rep N595,563), constituency (Senator N5m, Rep N1.687m), domestic staff (Senator N1.5m, Rep N1.488m), personal assistant (Senator N506,600; Rep N496,303), entertainment (Senator N202,640, Rep N198,521), recess (Senator N202,640; Rep N198,521), utilities (Senator N607,920; Rep N397,042), newspaper/periodicals (Senator N303,960; Rep N297,781), house maintenance (Senator N101,320; Rep N99,260) and ward robe (Senator N405,280; Rep N397,402).
There are also estacode (Senator $600, Rep $550) and duty tour allowance (Senator N23,000; Rep N21,000) payable per day when a lawmaker is on official trip. The RMAFC submitted a report alleging that the various government departments were violating the rules and provisions governing appropriate remuneration through lavish allowances. Till date, David Mark never spare a thought on balancing the National Assembly satanic remuneration package with a view to equalising Nigeria’s GDP with their criminal salaries and allowances so as to reflect it on the development index as obtained in other developed democracies.
Information reaching 247ureports.com has it that the ambition of the Group Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer (MD/CEO) of Diamond bank, Dr. Alex Otti decision to resign from his plum job and run for the governorship in his native Abia state has created division among traditional rulers in Ngwa land area of the state.
247ureports.com further gathered that in a bid to realize his ambition, Otti has engaged leading politicians, traditional and religious leaders as well as close associates of Gov. Theodore Orji to get the latter support his ambition.
Sources close to the top banker told our correspondent that the only obstacle against Otti’s ambition to succeed Gov. Orji is the controversy over his ancestry which is divided between Arochukwu where his father comes from and Isiala Ngwa South where he settled. According to sources, Otti’s father hails from Arochukwu while the younger Otti was born at Umuru, Umuehim village in Ehi Na Uguru Ancient Kingdom, Isiala Ngwa South LGA of Abia state.
Since the rumour of Otti’s governorship ambition broke out, it has met with stiff rejection by some prominent Ngwa sons including some ranking traditional rulers who insist that Otti hails from Arochukwu and not Umuru, Umuehim in Isiala Ngwa as he claims.
As the opposition to his ambition by some of the Ngwa personalities continued to mount, the traditional ruler of Isieketa Autonomous Community, Eze Nelson Nmerengwa was said to have contacted Otti and sold the idea of civic reception in his honour by the Oha Ngwa Traditional Rulers Council.
The civic reception which held last Friday at Our Lady’s Comprehensive Secondary School, Umueleghele, Isiala Ngwa South LGA saw the Diamond bank boss being conferred with a chieftaincy title of Ugwumba 1 of Ngwa land by ‘Ndi Eze Ala Ngwa’ which would qualify him as a son of Ukwa/Ngwa land who according to the Abia Charter of Equity, is expected to produce an Abia governor in 2015. To cap it all, Gov. Orji has at several fora vowed to hand over power to Ukwa/ Ngwa zone in 2015.
But those who packaged the civic reception in honor of Otti were shocked that the event was boycotted by the crème de la crème of the Ngwa ethnic nationality including the chairman of the Abia state council of traditional rulers, His Royal Majesty, Eze Eberechi Dick who was billed to deliver a speech at the occasion. Other prominent Ngwa sons who shunned the event include Chief Sunny Aku, Senator Enyi Abaribe, Elder Emma Adaelu, Senator Nkechi Nwaogu, Hon. Uzo Azubuike, among others. Another prominent Ngwa son whose absence shocked the organizers was the leader of Ukwa Ngwa Professionals, Chief Theo Nkire who was to chair the ceremony. Nkire was said to have backed out at the last minute while Chief A.C.B later was later recruited to serve as the chairman.
A former councilor in Isiala Ngwa LGA who spoke to 247ureports.com at the St. Peter Claver Catholic Church beside the venue insisted that “Otti hails from Arochukwu in Abia North senatorial district. His link with Umuru, Umuehim village, Isiala Ngwa LGA is that his father who was a pastor settled in the community in Isiala Ngwa South council area in Abia Central district. This is all politics. Alex Otti has his house in Arochukwu, he recently built another in Umuru, Umuehim. His father, Lazarus Otti settled in Umuru, Umuehim where he was given a land to build a house in the olden days. You know how the Aro people migrate, anywhere they are accepted becomes their home. Alex Otti is from Arochukwu and not a freeborn of Umuru Umuehim, not to talk of Ngwa land. So, they know what they are doing, there is no doubt about his Arochukwu origin. ”
The civic reception was graced by Gov. Theodore Orji; Abia Speaker, Chief Ude Oko Chukwu; Deputy Speaker, House of Representatives, Hon. Emeka Ihedioha; Obi of Onitsha, Igwe Nnaemeka Achebe; erstwhile Anambra state governor; Mr. Peter Obi and Gov. Chibuike Amaechi’s wife, Otti’s kinsman and former speaker of the Abia state House of Assembly, Chief Agwu U. Agwu, among others.
Those who sent in goodwill messages include PDP national Chairman, Adamu Muazu; Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu; Enugu state governor, Barr. Sullivan Chime; his Anambra, Imo and Cross River counterpart; Willie Obiano, Rochas Okorocha and Liyel Imoke, respectively. Others were the Military Vice president under the Babangida administration, Commodore Ebitu Ukiwe; MD/CEO First Bank, Bisi Onasanya; embattled chairman of the Imo state council of Traditional Rulers, Eze Cletus Ilomuanya as well as Dame Patience Faka Jonathan who was represented.
… Describes Imo PDP Scribe as Clown over comments on boss
A media aide to Prince Eze Madumere, Deputy Governor of Imo State, Uche Oneuchekwa has described George Egu, the Secretary of Peoples Democratic Party, Imo State chapter, as a clown, over his call on people of Mbaitoli to disown their son, Prince Eze Madumere during a PDP rally in Ubomiri.
He made this statement while reacting to Egu’s call on Mbaitoli to disown his boss during a chat with newsmen. He said it was embarrassing and disgraceful to hear such from Chief Egu who he said has remained a perennial political liability to the good people of Ihitte Uboma.
While describing Egu as a sore thumb that has become an eternal negative agent, which Imo people would only continue to manage believing he could repent of his ways, observed that Chief Egu has been part and parcel of PDP administrations that misruled and enslaved the good people of Imo State for twelve years.
Outlining the achievements of Deputy Governor of Imo State, Onwuchekwa observed that in Mbaitoli and Ikeduru Local Governments, Prince Madumere attracted over twenty four school buildings which many are already completed while others are at the various stages near completion. He queried Egu if he did not pass through Obazu Road that is under construction for which he said PDP left to rot for over twelve years. Media aide to number two citizen of Imo State also mention long stretches of asphalted Roads of over twenty kilometer Road constructed by the present administration.
He reminded Egu of Umudagu Road, which is in good shape with dual drainages. ” this was a road leading to the former PDP Chairman, which almost became a fishing pond but today, the situation is different”, said he.
Speaking further, in his words, ” It is shocking that people forget so soon where they are coming from. With all due respect, Chief George Egu has been part of the past successive governments of PDP that left no one in doubts they meant harm than good. I am happy he agreed his PDP was not fit and had no grace to do anything good when he said they have been repositioned to bring good governance. That alone is acceptance of failure. How can Egu who has a beam in his eyes be asking Prince Madumere who has long clear his eyes when he has already done so through his five star performances?”
He revealed that Madumere’s performance, loyalty and humility, has earned him the best Deputy Governor in the South East and as one of the ten most outstanding deputy governors in Nigeria according to Newname Communications Inernational Limited and Nation Newspaper’s survey respectively.
He averred People’s Democratic Party would remain a nightmare Imo people would never ever wish to have even in their next life to come if any. He proudly commended Okorocha-Madumere administration of less that a tenure, which he said has weighed PDP lackluster twelve years of deceit while submitting the party can never be better as long as the same old hawks with tradition of impunity remain in the party.
Last week, media had reported that some 20 Fulani women had been abducted by Boko Haram militants, who called for their release on a ransom of 30 cows
Leaders of the Fulani community in the Nigeria’s northeastern Borno State have denied reports about the abduction of 20 women by Boko Haram militants.
“We need to tell the world that there is nothing like that,” Amadu Musa, Borno chairman of the Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria (MACBAN), told reporters late Friday.
“Our women and girls are intact,” he said.
Last week, media had reported that some 20 Fulani women had been abducted by Boko Haram militants, who called for their release on a ransom of 30 cows.
“It takes us this long to respond because we made series of consultation to avoid issuing conflicting statements that will generate tension,” Musa said.
“Though our people are nomads who frequently move in search of pasture, I have representatives in all the local govt areas of Borno. We have Lamidos and Ardos in all localities,” he said.
“We took time to consult all of them and there was no incident of abduction. I believe the whole furor is the creation if some people.”
Lamidos and Ardos are the leaders of Fulani people in different localities nationwide.
Musa said that all Fulani representatives in towns and villages have confirmed that no women had been abducted.
“We equally cross-checked with our people coming back with their cows and families to the extreme northern parts of Nigeria from southern part of the country and they confirmed that all is well,” he added.
In mid-April, Boko Haram militants stormed a high school in Borno State, loading scores of schoolgirls onto trucks before driving away unchallenged.
Boko Haram, which means “Western education is forbidden” in Nigeria’s local Hausa language, first emerged in the early 2000s preaching against government misrule and corruption.
The group later became violent, however, after the death of its leader in 2009 while in police custody.
In the five years since, the shadowy sect has been blamed for numerous attacks – on places of worship and government institutions – and thousands of deaths.
In what many described as fresh political revelations Interim Caretaker Committee Chairman of PDP in Zamfara Alh Abdullahi Danja SK told journalists in Gusau that, his party PDP will soon make a very big catch as some Commissioners and Special Advisers in the cabinet of Yari are holding a top secret meeting to formalize their defection to PDP.
The Katsina politician who stated this in an interview with Rasdio Nigeria Pride FM Gusau noted that, the Commissioners and Special Advisers are defecting having being frustrated by the current system operated by Yari and few of his confidential political allies.
Though he did not mentioned the names of the Commissioners and Special Advisers, Danja noted that, PDP in Zamfara is in the winning site because the system in the state under the APC is more of tyranny and does not favor the interest of the majority people especially the electorates.
He said they will welcome the political defectors from the ruling APC in the state and empower them to work for the success of the PDP in Zamfara at all level of the elections.
He urged the people of Zamfara to support PDP and align with them to save the state from the political mess up of APC ruling government saying, PDP is attracting the sympathy of the Zamfara electorates especially women.
