Coalition partners in the All Progressives Congress, APC, took a bold step towards registration as a new party early Wednesday in Abuja when nine of the 11 governors in the group finally adopted a logo, a slogan, and a motto for the proposed party.

The adopted logo is the green-white-blue background with a broom on the white background. The logo however has a red base.

The group also adopted “Justice, Peace and Unity” as its motto, and settled for “Change” as its slogan.

“Our choice of the slogan “change” is based on the believe that it will resonate widely and help galvanise citizens currently dissatisfied with the lack of progress in all facets of our nation’s life under [president] Jonathan’s dispensation” said a reliable insider to the various meetings who sought to retain his anonymity. “we are close to registration you can see” he added.

The governors arrived at their choice after meeting with the technical committees set up to fashion out identity symbols for the group at the residence of Mr. Tom Ikimi, chairman of the merger committee, and one-time foreign minister, in the Maitama District of the Federal Capital Territory in Abuja.

Premium Times had reported Tuesday that the proposed party planned to retain the broom on the white background as its logo, expressing the influence of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), one of the partners to the alliance.

The proposed party however defined its unique identity from the ACN by rendering its colours in vertical rather than horizontal bars, and by replacing the black horizontal base of the ACN with red.

The ACN logo, unlike the APC logo had no red frames, however the broom on the white background, according to insiders at the meeting, was a concession to the view that the broom is generally more acceptable and impactful than ANPP’s maize and CPC’s pen.

The substitution of the word “unity” in the motto is also a shift from the ACN’s motto of Justice, Peace, and Prosperity.

At the Wednesday morning meeting to adopt the identity symbols for the proposed party, Mr. Bola Tinubu, a patriarch of the ACN, who returned to Nigeria early Tuesday after an overseas trip, joined the nine governors in reaching the decision.

Mr. Tinubu habours a perennial presidential ambition and is billed to launch a book he co-authored on economic and financial policy titled Finacialism in Lagos on Thursday, 7th March.

The identity symbols will be presented to a Joint Inter-Party Merger Committee later on Wednesday for ratification, along with the reports of the committees set up to decide on a manifesto and a constitution.

The work of the three committees is part of the group’s preparation to seek registration from the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

The Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), Congress for Progressive Change (CPC), All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP) and faction of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), early last month, announced their plan to merge into a single party to be known as APC.

Early in the life of the Manifesto Committee, which was tasked to draw up the motto, slogan and message, there were initial disagreements over the inclusion of APGA’s symbol following the insistence by a faction of the party that it was not part of the merger deal.

Imo State Governor, Rochas Okorocha, led some members of the party to the merger, which a faction loyal to his Anambra State counterpart, Peter Obi, denounced.

The Manifesto Committee has reportedly recommended that the party move towards the left as its philosophical and ideological content.

The committee has recommended free education, public sector investment and internal democracy as part of its manifesto of the proposed party.

Source: Premiumtimes

Ivo constituency

Ebonyi State, Nigeria.

Your Excellency,

Dame Patience Jonathan

Women for Change Initiatives

Abuja, Nigeria

Dear Dame Patience,

I thank God for your full recovery. Your Thanksgiving and Burnt Offering to God were awesome. I will continue to pray for you and your lovely Husband, our President, Dr Goodluck Ebele Jonathan for God’s protection and guidance in all your undertakings and services to the Nigeria.

I write you this letter with a heavy heart and with tears in my eyes. I have not stopped crying after reading an article that went viral on the internet on the 18 February, 2013 with the caption IS MALE CHAUVINISM A STANDING ORDER IN EBONYI HOUSE OF ASSEMBLY? written by one Sam Asoluka. My heart is burdened because I am a citizen, student, and an indigene of Ivo Constituency. I am in tears because I am woman, a fiancée to a gentleman who is not from Ebonyi State, Nigeria.

The said article got me thinking especially as my fiancée is not from my state, Ebonyi. I am now worried because it seems marrying outside my state downgrades my Nigerian citizenship or makes me a second class citizen in my husband’s state. I am more worried because as a woman who intends to marry outside my state, I may face the same problem Honourable Mrs Lillian Igwe is facing in my home state’s House of Assembly.

The purpose of this letter is to draw your attention to the plight of Honourable Lady, Lillian Igwe, and PDP Member Representing Ivo Constituency in Ebonyi House of Assembly. And to help put an end to this ‘Marriage–crime’ that has taken a strong root in Ebonyi State House of Assembly from spreading to other states in Nigeria.

Marriage is not a crime. It is an ordained relationship by God and our politicians should not be allowed to ruin or destroy this revered family setting because of selfishness. And as an aspiring politician, I don’t want to be victimised when I marry my heartthrob and move to live with him in his state which automatically becomes my home and state.

Your Excellency, the plight of Honourable Mrs Lillian Igwe is mind boggling. She was suspended from Ebonyi House of Assembly last year on the lame charges of drunkenness and for coming to the House of Assembly in a Keke Napep. But the truth is that Honourable Igwe’s sin is that she is not from Ebonyi State. She is from Okirika in Rivers State and married to an Ebonyi man.  But she won the Ivo Constituency for PDP in a democratically conducted election in 2011.

Since her victory in the election, she has not known peace in the House of Assembly. The male dominated Assembly has done everything in their power to rubbish her because she is an outsider and a woman. These so called honourable members of the Assembly have ceaselessly bullied and emotionally tortured Mrs Igwe because she refused to do their biddings. Hence they came up with the obnoxious claim that she drank herself to stupor and comes to the House in Keke Napep.

Honourable Mrs Igwe does not drink alcohol. And, I wonder when it has become a crime in Nigeria to ride in a tricycle to work. This is just a matter of giving dog a bad name to hang it and how low Ebonyi House of Assembly has degenerated

Your Excellency, I am calling your attention to this Ebonyi House of Assembly imbroglio because you have worked hard in empowering women in Nigeria and what is happening in my State Ebonyi, tantamount to putting spanners to the good work you and other notable Nigerian women have done for most of us who are aspiring to serve our fatherland in various capacities.

As I write you this letter, Honourable Mrs Igwe is still on suspension for no real reason, her Ivo Constituency as a whole which I am a member has no representative in the House of Assembly. We have been cut off from Ebonyi House of Assembly because the men who overpopulate the House hate Mrs Igwe. This is unjust and unacceptable to us. We have protested but they did not give a damn. Is the House of Assembly now victimising us because we the people of Ivo Constituency elected one of wives, a respectable woman to represent us?

Honourable Mrs Igwe is a hardworking woman and a mother of young children. She is an astutely politician and has robustly represented us in the Assembly. She is no more an outsider in Ebonyi State. She is now an indigene of Ivo by marriage and some of us are hoping to be indigenes of other states by marriage soon.

Your Excellency, I urge you to please use your good offices to look into what is currently going on in Ebonyi House of Assembly. Mrs Igwe is unjustly being victimised because she is from Okirika in River state. Your urgent intervention in this matter will stop further emasculation of helpless people of Ivo and their Assembly Member Honourable Mrs Lillian Igwe by these ruthless men in Ebonyi House of Assembly.

Thank you. And happy Mothers Day in advance

Yours sincerely,

Promise Egwu

proegwu@yahoo.com

Barely 17 hours after the assassination of Mobile Police Training Camp (MPTC) Commandant and atraditional ruler, gunmen suspected of Boko Haram sect members attacked the Gwoza Divisional Police Station and Mainstreet bank, killing the Divisional Police Officer, Abubakar Digire Ahamdu, his deputy and eight civilians caught up in the crossfire at 9pm Monday.

Gwoza Local Government Area of Borno state is a border town with Cameroun; and 135 kilometres south-east of Maiduguri, the state capital and epicenter of activities of Islamist sect group.

The gunmen, according to a residents who do not want their name mentioned for security reasons told our

The attackers used Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) and petrol-bombs in torching the police station and the bank, before carting away undisclosed sums of money from the bank, 750 metres away from the torched station.

Source: 9janewss.blogspot.com

Some concerned Muslims in Rivers State have frowned at the use of the word “Islamist” to describe militants or rebels who are active in various parts of the world.

One of the concerned Muslims, Tunde Salihu said in Port Harcourt that it is worrisome that press statements and news broadcasts are now extending the term Islamist to almost every Muslim involved in negative issues.

“I am convinced that if you consider my request, it would engender better understanding of Islam and bring about mutual trust among our people, thus avoiding the inevitable genocide that will result from the current media war on Muslims and Islam, worldwide”.

“As you must have noticed, the western media such as VOA, BBC, CNN, DW and so on, generally twist their stories and news features to support the foreign policies of their governments and so you are not likely to hear/see any good information about governments/people of a country or community opposed to their government’s policies, on their channels. As we all have now discovered, they are thoroughly biased and unprofessional when pursuing their government agenda as demonstrated in the sack of many journalist who have attempted to give a different impression/narrative of events. We can see this in the many activities of these countries in the militarization of Africa in recent years,” he said.

Salihu wondered why the press uses the word Islamist to tag terrorists.

“As you must have noticed, Islamist is widely used to describe extremist Muslims and groups.  My worry is that the religion of the perpetuators of crime is always accentuated when there is a conflict in largely Muslim populated communities, but it is played down in non-Muslim areas. Mexico, Congo, Columbia, Rewanda and the gun problem is America are examples of places where the religion of the criminals are blunted out entirely. Even during the Kenya Election crisis 5 years ago, many Christian pastors and Reverend fathers were indicted, but were never labeled “Christianist”.

Over 95% of the of 1.5 Billion Muslims worldwide have condemned the activities of these Terrorist groups, who use and trade in drugs/alcohol  against the well known Islamic tenets as stated in Quran 5:90-91 and they kill people indiscriminately against the Quranic injunctions which states in Q5:31 “…… whosoever kills a human being for other than manslaughter or corruption in the earth, it shall be as if he had killed all mankind, and whoso saves the life of one, it shall be as if he had saved the life of all mankind. ……”. They are not Muslims and so should be called what they are; terrorist, rebels, militants, gun men and so on, but not Islamist or Islamic Terrorist. Most of them have been found not to know how to pray, let alone observe the other tenets of Islam and so cannot impose Sharia as some of them attempt to do. It is wicked and unfair to selectively associate Islam with violence, as adherents of other religions also perpetuate numerous acts of violence.

In the same way, the western press continues to call these evil people Jihadist in a wicked twist of the meaning of Jihad as personal struggle with oneself to avoid doing bad things for the sake of God (Allah).

What is however more worrisome is that they (Western press) are now extending the term (Islamist) to almost every Muslim they don’t like. For example, President Morsi who belongs to Freedom and Justice party, of Muslim Brotherhood is also called an “Islamist”. In contrast, Angela Merkel, who belongs to Christian Democratic Union, of Germany, has never been labeled a Christianist, nor has any of the extremist Jewish groups ruling in Israel been labeled, Jewist”, he explained.

Salihu urged media houses to stop the use of Islamist in describing groups who do not represent Islam.

“With the wide spread use of this word ÏSLAMIST”, most people (including otherwise educated ones, who see CNN as Holy Grail) would always associate Islam with violence and develop congenital hatred for Muslims. A little problem that may occur in future may lead people to commit genocide on the Muslims out of this germinated hatred, retaliation, and may be, fear, as it happened in Rewanda; incidentally a broadcaster was convicted later for calling the Tutsis cockroaches that should be crushed or killed.

For the sake of our nation, I strongly urge you to stop the use of “ISLAMIST” to describe these groups of people who do not represent Islam. If however you insist, I want you to recognize the danger of being an accessory to a course that is not in the interest of your larger organization or the Nigerian nation. Businesses thrive in a peaceful atmosphere. The most dangerous social milieu you can impose on a people is distrust and mistrust, which is a time bomb that may consume all of us; as I witnessed over a decade ago, when Hausas were killed in large numbers, in ABA over a period of 7 days”, he said.

Governor Seriake Dickson has reassured Bayelsans of his resolve to aggressively pursue the overall development of the state in spite of the rumours and propaganda being peddled by detractors of the present administration.

The Governor stated this during his monthly interactive session with Ward, Local Government and state Executive members of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) at the state secretariat of the party in Yenagoa.

According to Hon. Dickson, those peddling the rumours are envious of the progress his administration has recorded in one year despite the daunting challenges that confronted it during the period.

He maintained that the antics of mischief-makers would not deter him from executing his restoration agenda in a way that will impact positively on the people of the State.

“My faith and confidence in you, the good people of Bayelsa has never shaken and will not shake. You deserve the best we can offer and let me assure you that the best is yet to come”

While acknowledging the contributions of wards and local government executives as critical structures of the party, Governor Dickson urged PDP members to remain steadfast in their support and show more interest in the affairs of government.

“When you have challenges, present them to the constituted authority at your level. If you are at the ward level, talk to your local government chairman. If you are at the working committee, raise all the concerns to the state chairman and working committee. Any day I come here I want to listen to all the complaints from the grassroots; how are the people faring? What are their priorities? What do they think of what we are doing in government? Because it is your government, if the government fails it is we all that have failed, it is the PDP that would have failed.”

He specifically enjoined ward leaders of the party to continually enlighten the grassroots people on the policies and programmes of government.

The Governor stressed the need for them to be on their guard at all times while calling on them to work in peace and harmony so as to ensure peace in the state.

He equally informed them that his itinerary ‘thank you’ tour would soon commence and would use it as an avenue for the party to present its candidates for the forthcoming local government polls in the state.

Hon. Dickson commended the state chairman for his commitment to duty as well as those of the state working committee while also thanking the entire PDP family in the state for their continuous prayers and support to government.

Earlier in his welcome address, the State PDP Chairman, Col. Sam Inokoba (rtd) poured encomiums on Governor Seriake Dickson over his giant strides in all the sectors of the state’s economy.

Recalling the sad occurrences in the state last year with the flood and the loss of great sons of the state, the State PDP Chairman predicted a blissful year for the party and the state in general.

Col. Inokoba said the recent rumours were intended to distract government from its good works and called on Bayelsans to desist from peddling unfounded rumours.

He also stressed the need for party members not sell their conscience and remain focused at all times.    

To improve the capacity of stakeholders in rescue operation whenever terrorists attack, the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) has begun a tabletop simulation exercise as a strategy on counterterrorism at the Institute for Security Studies, Abuja.

The exercise which is organized in a conjunction with the United States government, centre on the use of vital assets as independent protective devices and chemical pollution level detection instruments.

NEMA Director General, Mohammed Sani Sidi, while declaring the exercise open said emergency rescue exercise has become necessary now that terrorism is on the rise in Nigeria and the entire West African sub-region.

He explained that the simulation exercise would identify capabilities and gaps inherent in the preparations of relevant agencies to meet the exigencies of terrorists’ strikes.

“Of recent, Nigeria as a nation has had its fair share of this ugly phenomenon that has now made it necessary for us to gather in this serene environment to practice an articulated scenarios based tabletop simulation exercise to enhance our capacity towards facing this challenging phase of our national development”, he stated.

The NEMA boss insisted that as the only statutory body with the task of coordinating emergency response stakeholders, the agency has the responsibility to get everyone ready for any eventuality.

He thanked the US Government for all the support it has extended to Nigeria’s national emergency preparedness and especially the National Pandemic Disaster Response programme.

He also disclosed that NEMA has applied for a land upon which to build its proposed Centre for Disaster and Emergency management (CDEM) and that once the land application is granted by Federal Capital Territory, construction work will immediately commence. According to him, the centre will be a coordination point for stakeholders in emergency management both in the public and private sectors.

Speaking earlier, United States Ambassador, Terence P. McCulley said the exercise that was being conducted jointly by the American National Counterterrorism Centre would help to identify national capabilities, identify gaps, value needs among others.

He noted that terrorism is not peculiar to Nigeria but a collective problem of the entire sub-region as being experienced in Mali and other countries.