Accident: Parents besiege FUTA over students’ well-being

Following the road accident which claimed the lives of four students of the Federal University of Technology, Akure, on Saturday, parents have been visiting the school to know if their wards were among the casualties.

No fewer than four students of the institution lost their lives while 11 others got injured  in a fatal road accident that occurred on Akure-Ilesa Expressway at Ibulesoro town in Ifedore Local Government Area of Ondo State when they were traveling to Ibadan, the Oyo State capital for a religious programme.


Our correspondent gathered that after the news of the accident broke, many parents of the students of the institution had been anxious to know the status of their children since the identities of the students had not been revealed by the management of the school.

A parent, Mrs. Agnes Adetifa told our correspondent that she was very disturbed when she could not reach her child on the telephone when she heard of the news of the accident.

She said, “I have to rush down to the school to come and see my child because I could not get her and her room mate on phone on Saturday when I saw the news of the accident on Facebook, that is why I quickly came down to see her. ”

It was also gathered that those parents who could not travel to see their children had been calling them on the telephone.

The Public Relations Officer of the school, Mr. Adegbenro Adebanjo, in his reaction, denied the influx of parents on the campus saying there was no panic or tension in the school over the incident.

He said, “I don’t think this is true, even if the parents have been coming to the school, it may be out of abundance of caution and to also show solidarity to their children.

“Because of the way the incident was handled and the quick intervention of the university, there is no any form of panic anywhere on the campus and all the parents of the affected students have been informed.”

He said the school would soon come out with the names of the students that were involved in the accident.

IOC to distribute 450,000 condoms at Rio Olympics

The International Olympic Committee for the fast approaching Rio 2016 Olympics will distribute about 450,000 condoms during the games.

The IOC said it is taking the step to ensure that Olympians practice safe sex.

 

The condoms to be distributed this year are three times more than the amount distributed at the London Games four years ago. About 150,000 condoms were distributed in London.

According to the IOC female condoms will be distributed for the first time ever at the Olympics.

There will be 100,000 female condoms provided in addition to the 350,000 male condoms. There will also be 175,000 packets of lubricant supplied.

At London 2012, U.S. soccer player Hope Solo had commented that “70 to 75 percent of Olympians are having sex during the Games.”

If his statistics is anything to go by, then it is obvious why safe sex has to be on the IOC’s agenda, given the scare of Zika virus in the Americas.

While the virus is most commonly transmitted through mosquito bites, it has also been confirmed by the CDC that it can be transmitted via sex. However, the IOC has established any connection between its supplying the extra condoms and Brazil’s outbreak of the Zika virus.

Earlier this week, two Australian companies announced they are producing male and female condoms coated with a lubricant that claims to “inactivate” some STIs including HIV, HPV and genital herpes. The condoms will supplement those provided by the IOC.

According to Quartz, since the 1992 games in Barcelona, dispensing free condoms has become a tradition to promote the prevention of AIDS.

Gunmen kill eight worshippers in Sudan’s Darfur

Arab tribesmen shot dead eight ethnic minority villagers as they prayed in a revenge killing in Sudan’s war-torn Darfur region, a medic and a tribal leader said on Monday.

Two children were among five villagers wounded in the Sunday evening attack on a mosque in Arzini in West Darfur.

“There are eight bodies in the mortuary,” a medic from the main hospital in West Darfur state capital Geneina told AFP on condition of anonymity.


All have been killed by bullets to the head or chest,” he said.

A prominent West Darfur tribal leader said the villagers were from the Masalit minority.

“There was a dispute between an Arab and a Masalit man over a payment in the local market yesterday (Sunday),” Sultan Saad Baherddin told AFP by the telephone from Geneina hospital.

“In the ensuing quarrel, the Arab lashed the Masalit man with a whip, and he then stabbed the Arab to death with a knife.”

Arab supporters of the dead man later gathered and demanded compensation from the villagers of Arzini, Baherddin said.

“When the villagers failed to raise the hefty compensation during the day, gunmen attacked them in the evening when they were praying in the village mosque,” he said.

“The armed Arab men just started shooting the villagers. Eight villagers have been killed in the attack.”

Hundreds of relatives and supporters of the dead men gathered at Geneina hospital on Monday to take the bodies for burial, witnesses said.

“There is tension in Geneina. The authorities have deployed soldiers across the town’s main streets,” a resident said.

“The authorities have ordered the town’s main market to be closed, and government offices have been shut for the day.”

Darfur has been gripped by conflict since 2003, when ethnic minority rebels rose up against the Arab-dominated regime of President Omar al-Bashir.

Bashir launched a brutal counterinsurgency and at least 300,000 people have been killed, the United Nations says. Another 2.5 million have fled their homes.

Bashir is wanted by the International Criminal Court on war crimes charges related to Darfur, which he denies.

  

Jonathan authorised N400m for Metuh to fight ‘smear campaign ‘ – Witness

A defence witness, Mr. Anthony Okeke, in the ongoing trial of the National Publicity Secretary of the Peoples Democratic Party, Mr. Olisa Metuh, told a Federal High Court in Abuja that  former President Goodluck Jonathan’s image was battered by the then opposition All Progressives Congress’ “smear campaign”.

Okeke is a lawyer and a former Acting National Publicity Secretary of the PDP, who handed over to Metuh in September 2013.

 

He said the opposition party’s campaign dealt a great blow to Jonathan’s image so much that a number of consultants was needed to change public perception about the former President ahead of the 2015 presidential election.

The witness who was the fourth called by Metuh since he opened his defence, said the opposition “cleverly” tagged Jonathan as an ineffective and unserious president.

He added that it was not surprising for him to learn that the sum of N400m was authorised by the then President for the countering of the opposition’s campaign.

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission is prosecuting Metuh and his company, Destra Investments Limited, on charges including fraudulent collection of N400m from the Office of the National Security Adviser in November 2014 and using same for PDP’s presidential campaign.

Metuh and Destra Investments Limited are also being tried on charges of money laundering involving alleged cash transaction of $2m.

Okeke, who was led in evidence by Metuh’ lawyer, Onyechi Kpeazu (SAN), and later cross-examined by Destra’s lawyer, Tochukwu Nwugbufor (SAN), said in his evidence on Monday that Jonathan’s image had a lot of issue that needed to be clarified.

The witness said, “I was not surprised the that the President promised to bring money for the election. Like I said before, at a time before the national convention, the then President, being the presumptive nominee of the party, would ordinarily do everything within his power to launder both his personal image, image of his government, and the image of his party because at that time, elections were less than three months away.

“In my own estimation, before his nomination and after his nomination there were issues that needed to be clarified.

“The opposition at the time had mounted a massive smear campaign against the President. They cleverly tagged him clueless and went to town giving the impression that he was an ineffective and unserious President. That smear campaign needed to be countered. The party needed a lot of consultants and media outfits counter it.

“I will agree that there was an improvement on the image of the president. It will be difficult for me to estimate it, but some works were done.”

Under cross-examination by Nwugbufor, witness said no fund was passed to him when he took the office of acting National Publicity Secretary of the party on June 20, 2013 and did not pass any to Metuh by the time he (Okeke) handed over to Metuh in September of the same year.

The witness described Metuh as a man who had “an unrivalled passion for his job”.

He said Metuh “was so determined to make a success in his job as the National Publicity Secretary of the party.”

He added, “To the best of my knowledge, the first defendant is a principled person with very high integrity.

“I think his commitment to his job led to his present condition.”

The defence counsel, Mr. Sylvanus ‎Tahir, did not cross-examine the witness.

After O‎keke was discharged from the witness box, the defence called the fifth witness, Mr. Richard Ihediwa.

Ihediwa a journalist, was narrating how he was appointed by Metuh as his (Metuh’s) Special Assistant in January 2013, before the judge suspended his testimony to hear an application by the PDP spokesperson seeking the court’s order permitting him to travel to the United Kongdom on health grounds.

BREAKING: Fresh fraud uncovered in NNPC

Latest audit report by the Nigeria Extractive Industries and Transparency Initiative has accused the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation of not remitting $3.8bn and N358.3bn to the Federation in 2013.

The Chairman of NEITI, Kayode Fayemi, disclosed this on Monday while presenting the 2013 audit reports of the agency in Abuja.


 

Citing the audit, Fayemi said some revenues that should have gone to the Federation in 2013 were not made or lost due to a number of reasons.

He said, “These revenues were broken down as follows: Sum of $3.8bn and N358.3bn as outstanding revenues from NNPC and its sub-units in 2013. These outstanding payments were due from unpaid consideration from the divested OMLs (Oil Mining Liseases), cash call refunds from NAPIMS (National Petroleum Investment Management Services), and NPDC (Nigerian Petroleum Development Company) liftings from NAOC JV (Nigerian Agip Oil Company Joint Venture), etc.

“Sum of $5.966bn and N20.4bn as revenue losses to the Federation. These losses were due to offshore processing agreement, crude swap, crude theft, etc. Sum of $599.8m as under-assessments/under-payments of petroleum profit taxes and royalties by oil and gas companies as a result of the use of different pricing methodology by the government and the companies because of the absence of a new fiscal regime.”

NYSC denies plan to attack corps members in Rivers

The National Youth Service Corps on Monday described as false, rumours of a plot to attack corps members serving in Tai Local Government Area of Rivers State.

Mrs Violet Appolo, NYSC Public Relations Officer in the state, made the denial via a text message to the News Agency of Nigeria.

“It is not true that corps member are to be attacked. It is just a rumour,” she stated.

 

Mr Pekins Kelo, Caretaker Committee Chairman of the local government, however, said that the threat to attack corps members posted to the area emanated from the social media.

Kelo said the threat was posted on May 21, adding that the local council had since alerted security agencies of the threat.

“It is a social media problem, it was posted that political thugs will attack corps members in Tai.

“So, I reached out to the Department of State Security and Nigeria Police Force, Rivers Command to make security arrangements for all corps members in Tai,” he said.

Kelo said the local government and security agencies were on top of the situation.

NAN

Four die in Bauchi road crash

The Bauchi State Police Command said on Monday that four persons died in an auto crash on the Jos – Bauchi Road.

Haruna Mohammed, the command’s Public Relations Officer, in a statement in Bauchi, said that the accident followed a head on collision between a commercial vehicle and an Opel Vectra car.

Mohammed gave the particulars of the vehicles as Opel Vectra, registered TRR 744 BAU and a Volkswagen Sharon with registration number ALK 238 XA.


He explained that the accident occurred at about 2.30 pm on Sunday at Tashan Durumi on the Bauchi – Jos highway.

Mohammed said that a police patrol team attached to Toro Division conveyed the victims to the Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University Teaching Hospital, Bauchi.

He said that four persons, including drivers of the two vehicles were later certified dead by a medical doctor, while seven other occupants of the vehicles were responding to treatment.

Mohammed gave the names of the four deceased persons as Abdullahi Mamman, 45, of Takandan, Adamu Saleh, 25, Francis Agolu, a student of Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University, Bauchi, and Aliyu Umar, 46, from Gombe State.

The spokesman called on members of the public whose relations might have embarked on a journey from Gombe to Bauchi, to visit the hospital for identification of their relatives.

He said that the case was under investigations to ascertain the actual cause of the accident.

NAN

PDP Convention: Modu Sheriff adamant, consults lawyers

The National Working Committee (NWC) of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has commenced consultation on the outcome of the Saturday’s Port Harcourt national convention of the party.

Mr Inuwa Bwala, the Special Adviser on Media to the former Chairman of PDP, Sen. Ali Modu Sheriff disclosed this in an interaction with newsmen on Sunday in Abuja.

Bwala said that members of the NWC were already meeting in an undisclosed location to look at legal action that could be taken on the decision reached at the convention.

“I can tell you that the Sheriff and other members are still meeting to deliberate on what transpired at the convention.

“They have invited their lawyers to advise them on the next line of action,” Bwala said.

He said that the meeting might continue till Monday.

Bwala said that Sheriff did not receive any court order stopping the convention until Friday, adding that the four court orders received on that day were “parallel and conflicting“.

He said that in order not to violate any of the orders Sheriff called for a meeting of the NWC and other organs who advised that the convention be suspended.

“It was based on this that Sheriff held a press conference and announced that the convention has been suspended.”

Bwala said that Sheriff and some other Board of Trustees members immediately left Port Harcourt after the news conference but was surprised that some of the party officials continued with the convention.

“The National Deputy Chairman, Prince Uche Secondus was the only NWC member at the convention and he claimed to represent the Chairman.

“He did not represent Chairman but his personal interest.

“The Chairman has announced the postponement of the convention and left. There was no way anyone could have represented a person who made such announcement .”

Nigeria Women Premier League Match Day 1 Results

Following are results of Match Day 1 fixtures in the 2015/2016 Nigeria Women Premier League, which were played on Sunday:

Group A

Tokas Queens 0-1 Edo Queens

Group B

Martins White 1-4 Rivers Angels

Villagers take up arms after Fulani attacks

Blessing Joseph lies on a sofa, her eyes fixed on the butt of a rifle that she says she won’t hesitate to use if Fulani herdsmen come back to her remote village in central Nigeria.

The 19-year-old student isn’t the only one. Teenagers and even young boys carry machetes and daggers in villages in the Agatu area of Benue state.

“My father told me not to go out without holding a cutlass with which I can defend myself if attacked,” David Inalegwu, a nine-year-old primary school pupil, told AFP.

As Blessing watches, youths pass around a jerrycan of local gin, discussing a spate of attacks in February blamed on heavily armed Fulani herdsmen from neighbouring Nasarawa state.

Community leader James Ochoche Edoh said more than 20 Agatu villages were affected near the river Benue that forms the border with Nasarawa.

“Approximately 500 people or more could have been killed,” he claimed, in an unverified figure repeated by the former leader of Nigeria’s Senate, David Mark, who represents the district.

“The recent attacks took us by surprise,” said Edoh in the main Agatu town of Obagaji. “Families have been separated or killed.”

– ‘No just cause’ –

Violence blamed on Fulani herdsmen has given Nigeria’s government another security headache in addition to Boko Haram Islamists in the northeast and militants in the oil-producing south.

The worst affected villages in February’s attacks were Okokolo, Adagbo, Akwu, Aila and Odugbeho. Residents told AFP nearly 50 people were killed and more than 1,000 properties ransacked or razed.

“The Fulanis killed our kinsmen, burnt or destroyed 327 of our houses in this village and for no just cause,” said Christopher Onah, the chief of Okokolo.

Onah picked up spent cartridges from the ground and showed the damage to his rice and yam barns, a motorcycle and generator. His home was ransacked, as were the churches, mosque and schools.

“There’s nothing left for us again after the the attack,” said Anyebe Peter, a farmer in Adagbo, where seven people were killed and 250 houses were burnt down.

In Akwu, 30 people died and more than 600 houses were destroyed as well as a medical clinic.

Peter, whose 27-year-old son was shot and is still in hospital, said locals face food shortages.

Despite the presence of troops, residents said they were still afraid.

“Soldiers told us to leave our homes and gather in one place for better protection. So, now we sleep in the Catholic church,” said Onah.

– Revenge attack –

According to the Global Terrorism Index 2015, “Fulani militants” killed 1,229 people in 2014, up from 63 the previous year, making them “the fourth most deadly terrorist group” in the world.

Boko Haram, whose insurgency has left at least 20,000 people dead since 2009, heads the list, followed by the Islamic State group and the Taliban.

But attacks blamed on Fulani, driven more by a need for increasingly scarce resources such as land and water rather than radical ideology, are not a new phenomenon.

There have been frequent clashes between the semi-nomadic people and sedentary farmers because cattle have strayed onto land planted with crops.


A total of 847 deaths were recorded in five states, including Benue, in the religiously mixed “Middle Belt”, where Nigeria’s mainly Muslim north meets the largely Christian south.

With Fulani Muslim and farmers mostly Christian, religion adds an extra dimension to longstanding ethnic tensions and mutual suspicion.

Edoh said February’s attacks appeared to be in revenge for the death of a Fulani leader and the theft of his cattle, which was blamed on the mainly Christian Agatu.

– Grazing reserves –

Police in Benue say Agatu has now returned to “relative calm”, while President Muhammadu Buhari, himself an ethnic Fulani, has belatedly ordered a crackdown on raiders.

“The government will not allow these attacks to continue,” Buhari said in late April, ordering security forces to “secure all communities under attack by herdsmen”.

Agriculture Minister Audu Ogbeh said “the ultimate solution to the Fulani farmers frequent clashes will be to establish grazing reserves for the herdsmen”.

But the main umbrella body of Fulani herdsmen’s groups has accused Benue state of opposing the proposal.

The national secretary of the Gan Allah Fulani Development Association, Saleh Bayeri, did not deny the Agatu killings were to avenge the 2013 deaths of some leaders and their families.

“Fulanis do not forgive such killings. The problem we have now is that the Fulani are being vilified, provoked, attacked and killed and when they retaliate they are accused of terrorism,” he said.

Match Day 19 results in 2015/2016 NPFL Season

Following are the results of Match Day 19 fixtures in the 2015/2016 Nigeria Professional Football League (NPFL):

Played on Sunday:

Plateau United 0-0 Kano Pillars

Abia Warriors 1-2 Sunshine Stars

Akwa United 2-0 Shooting Stars FC

Wikki Tourists 3-0 Ikorodu United

Warri Wolves 3-1 El-Kanemi Warriors

FC IfeanyiUbah 2-0 Niger Tornadoes FC

Lobi Stars 1-0 Rivers United

Played on Saturday:

Enyimba International FC 1-0 Nasarawa United

Played on Friday:

Rangers International 0-0 Heartland FC

Cancelled:

MFM FC versus Giwa FC

Sunshine Stars humble former coach Boboye by beating hosts Abia Warriors

Coach Kennedy Boboye of Abia Warriors Football Club was a disconsolate man at the Umuahia Township Stadium on Sunday after visiting Sunshine Stars FC of Akure humbled his team 2-1.

Boboye joined Abia Warriors this season and had coached the Akure side last season, and was hopeful of beating his former side.

The visiting side showed class and more determination, with Rasak Adegbite opening scores in the 45th minute after beating the hosts defence.

Substitute Obinna Nwaimo however gave Abia Warriors hope when he scored the equaliser for the home team in the 75th minute of the encounter.

The goal did spur Abia Warriors into more action, but they could not convert into goal their scoring chances to take the lead, even with the introduction of Chisom Chikatara.

But substitute Dele Olorundare restored the visitors lead by scoring their second goal in the 90th minute, when he dispossessed Abia Warriors’ defender Michael Olaha of the ball.

Speaking after the match, some fans of Abia Warriors expressed disappointment with the performance of the team and attributed their first home loss in the league to complacency.

Two of the fans, Prince Obike and Oyibo Sunday, told NAN that Abia Warriors underrated Sunshine Stars, believing that they would overrun them at home like other teams.

“It was obvious that the visiting team were hungrier for goals and Abia Warriors probably felt sure of victory since they have been winning their home matches.’’

But Chikatara later told NAN that he and his teammates prepared well and did their best, saying “in football, sometimes you win and sometimes you lose.

“It is not true that we took the match for granted. There is no way anybody can take any team in the Premier League for granted.

“We played well and were determined to win. But this is football, victory can go either way.’’

Coach Boboye, on his part, however said they would go back to the drawing board to correct their mistakes and re-strategise.

He promised that they would retaliate against Sunshine Stars in the reverse fixture in Akure

7 years after wife’s death: Prof. Adedoja marries Bamanga Tukur’s daughter

Prof. Taoheed Adedoja, former Minister of Sports and Youth Development, has married Miss Jemila Tukur, seven years after the demise of his wife.

Eminent personalities across the country converged at the Civic centre to rejoice with the new couple in Ibadan on Sunday
Adedoja had on May 20 at the BMT Africa Garden Mosque in Abuja married Jemila, the daughter of Alhaji Bamanga Tukur, former National Chairman of People’s Democratic Party.

The event was celebrated with a lunch at Victoria Island in Lagos on May 19 before the `Nikkah’ ceremony in Abuja.
Adedoja, former Provost of the Federal College of Education (Special), Oyo and PDP governorship candidate in the last general elections, lost his wife, Hadijat on March 6, 2009.

Those who attended included: Oba Saliu Adetunji, the Olubadan of Ibadan, Chief Lekan Balogun, Otun-Olubadan of Ibadan, Chief Owolabi Olakunlehin, the Balogun of Ibadanland.

Also present were Alhaja Aminat Abiodun, Iyalode of Ibadan, Chief Lekan Alabi, the Agbaakin of Ibadan, Sen. Femi Lanlehin, Sen. Gbenga Babalola, Sen. Teslim Folarin and Alhaji Sharafadeen Alli.

Others were Elder Wole Oyelese, former Minister of Special Duties, retired Maj.-Gen. Raji Rasak, Alhaji Daud Akinola, Aare Musulumi of Yorubaland, Chief (Mrs) Bola Doherty and many others.

Missing N30trn: Okonjo-Iweala takes leagal action

Former Finance Minister, Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala has said that she was never served any court processes in relation to the the allegation by former CBN governor Professor Charles Soludo that N30 trillion was missing during the past administration.

The Federal High Court sitting in Lagos had in a judgment ordered former Minister of Finance, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala and the Federal Government to “provide information on the spending of the alleged missing N30 trillion which represents some accruable income to the Federal Government during the last four years of the Administration of former President Goodluck Jonathan”

But a statement signed by Paul C Nwabuikwu, her Media Adviser said that she has instructed her lawyers to take steps to set aside the judgment as it affects her.

 

“MISSING” N30 TRILLION: OKONJO-IWEALA REBUTS SERAP, TAKES LEGAL ACTION

Our attention has been drawn to media reports regarding a court judgment alleged to have been entered against the Federal Government of Nigeria and Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala in respect of an action by the Socio-Economic Rights Agenda (SERAP) pursuant to the Freedom of Information Act.

The High Court, according to the media reports, ordered the Federal government and Dr. Okonjo Iweala to provide information relating to N30 trillion Naira allegedly unaccounted for.

Please note the following:

·Dr Okonjo-Iweala hastens to state that she was never served with any court processes in relation to the said matter. She has not read the judgment and would therefore defer any comments on the matter.

·However from the media reports, the case was instituted in February 2015 but was not served until July 2015 after Dr Okonjo-Iweala had already ceased to be the Minister of Finance.

·By the date the said papers were purportedly served Dr Okonjo-Iweala was no longer a public officer and could therefore not be the subject of a request for production of any documents or information under the Freedom of information Act.

·The Court processes must have been served on others because the attention of Dr Okonjo-Iweala was never drawn to the matter in which she appears to have been sued personally. She therefore did not engage any lawyer to act for her in the matter.

·The decision of SERAP to anchor its case on a baseless and unsubstantiated allegation by former CBN governor Professor Charles Soludo that N30 trillion – about seven times the total annual budget during the Jonathan administration – is missing confirms SERAP’s dubious motives and its role as a tool for politically motivated actors.

·It is curious that the first time Dr Okonjo-Iweala is being made aware of a matter filed against her in court is in news reports reporting the delivery of judgment. She has instructed her lawyers to take steps to set aside the judgment as it affects her.

10 reasons PDP will reclaim power in 2019

If anyone was in doubt about the capacity of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to take over power in 2019, the cohesion and singleness of purpose that characterised the just concluded National Convention of the Party in Port Harcourt, has cleared the doubts with emphatic certainty that it would. The entire country saw a new kind of PDP in Port Harcourt. One that had the interest of the vast majority of its members, and indeed Nigerians, over and above the pressing needs of critical stakeholders within it.


In the razzmatazz of the entire political somersaults, credit must be given to the Chairman of the PDP Convention Planning Committee, Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers State as well as his brother Governors in the Party for the leadership offered and continue to offer in rallying the Party together at this critical moment in its history.The dexterity displayed in the way and manner the Party rallied itself in Port-Harcourt in the split moment it faced its single most dangerous challenge to its regeneration and quest to reclaim its national governmental mandate is second to none in the history of the Party.

Here are 10 reasons articulated to prove with a definite certainty that should the PDP sustain its current unifying momentum, it will succeed in changing the dubious change imposed by the APC on Nigerians that has left them in worse conditions than they were over 30 years ago.

1. BATTERED ECONOMY

Rather than bettered, the economy inherited by the APC from the PDP, reputed for being Africa’s primus sine paribus at the time of transition, has been so severely battered by poor economic decisions that it has become an issue of amazement, how change can so rapidly extinguish productivity and reverse progress in just a space of a year.

Today, job loses have become commonplace as both the private and public sector grapple with sustaining their enterprise. Companies continue to close shops, the Naira is at its worst ever value in history, prices of commodities blaze on consistently in their astronomic adventure and the mass of Nigerians, the very people for whom government cannot afford to fail, are left to grope in the wilderness of misfortune in credit to the inability of the APC led Federal Government to direct the ship of state on a steady course to progress. It is such a messy situation.

Although the APC continues to blame the PDP for being responsible for its inability to deliver on its much touted campaign promises of change, no proof has so far been established, in a year of APC’s helm at the thrust of governance, of PDP’s culpability in undermining APC’s success either directly or otherwise, leaving many with the disappointing conclusion that the APC was never primed for governance; a fact enunciated in its new christening by Nigerians as ‘APC: ALL PROMISES CANCELLED’ as the promise of change has become change of promise, without apologies.

2. CORRUPTION

Hopes have been dashed, especially in the international community, since the APC took to power and formed its cabinet. The greatest mockery of its strong anti-corruption campaign was the inclusion of clearly compromised and indicted members of the public in its government. Some of those included were former Governors, of whom credible reports in the public domain appear to show as having bankrolled the presidential election of incumbent President Buhari with misappropriated public funds.

For many, that was the most remarkable betrayal of the trust reposed in the APC led government and also the most significant move to excuse, promote and reward corruption, thus undermining, or at best limiting, the fight against corruption to perceived detractors of the APC, most of whom are innocent PDP members dreaded for their political sagacity.


To this day, not a single investigation has commenced on any of the litany of petitions to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) leading to public outcry and the condemnation of the Commission as being biased, partisan and vindictive. The corruption of public morals, by promoting propaganda over truth and reality, cannot also be wished away as an inconsequential factor in sustaining corruption in Nigeria. In spite of the hopes in the APC to sustain the gains by the PDP in deploying institutional measures to tackle corruption, no far-reaching achievement has been attained. In fact, the perception of corruption in Nigeria has become so monumental that the Prime Minister of United Kingdom, David Cameron, opined that Nigeria is fantastically corrupt. And Our President agreed.

3. APARTHEID POLICY

One of the extreme measures adopted as a policy of the APC is to run government on the basis of exclusionism. For the first time in Nigeria’s history, Nigerians are being segregated against by their own President on the grounds of who voted and didn’t vote for him. The first indication of this policy was made in the full glare of the international community during the President’s maiden visit to the United States of America after being elected. Jaws dropped. Tempers flared. Passions were inflamed and trust got betrayed in that single moment he made the statement excluding sections of Nigeria that didn’t vote for him from benefiting from his government. But it wasn’t a gaffe. It was a stoic and bland indication, although an unintended revelation, of what was to be elevated to officialdom and directive principle of state policy.

Nigeria, sadly, has now deviated from the legacy of the PDP in building cohesion among the diverse peoples within it to become a ‘we-versus-them’, North-versus-South contraption of ethnic-conscious nationalities. APC’s approach to governance clearly sustains the policy of exclusionism and apartheid. In fact, justifications have been made regarding the slant in appointments in favour of the North against the South, a region that has consistently come under attack by Federal institutions.


For instance, the 2015 General Elections in Rivers State and across critical States in the South were not only widely regarded as unduly annulled by the Court of Appeal, the court-ordered rerun elections suffered more attack by the military and would have been compromised but for the resilience of Rivers people. The same strategic crackdown effort played out at the elections in Bayelsa State and across the South, where the EFCC is still being used to harass and victimise innocent PDP members.

The South Eastern States appear the worst hit by the apartheid policy of the APC. The Igbos complain of being alienated from mainstream governance. A situation that has led to renewed and intensified agitations for self-determination by the Indigenous Peoples of Biafra.

4. ESCALATING ETHNOCENTRIC AND EXPANSIONIST TERRORISM

Until recently, Nigerians didn’t know and would never have believed that by voting for the APC, they would be faced with even more daring terrorism than was witnessed and effectively tackled during the Jonathan years, in spite of the promise by APC to end terrorism within its first month in government.

Today, the ethnocentric plague known as Fulani Herdsmen, is ravaging the breadth of the geographical enclave called Nigeria especially Christian dominated sections of the South. Scores have been killed. Many more have lost valuable property by the ravaging fundamentalist scourge. Even a national figure, Chief Olu Falae, was reportedly kidnapped by Fulani herdsmen and to this day, no emphatic measure has been taken to curb the escalating tensions generated by the dastardly activities of the herdsmen.

Insinuations are rife that the terrifying vocation of the herdsmen is beyond being about pastoral preoccupation but part of a grand expansionist plot by Northern fundamentalists to spread their hold on Nigeria to the Atlantic Ocean. Whether the insinuations are right or not remain a thing to be established. But the inability of the APC to unite Nigerians and curb the incursions of the herdsmen on the civil liberties of Nigerians appears to energise the assault on innocent Nigerian citizens, a development that wouldn’t have seen the light of day had the PDP being in power.

It is on record that all Nigerians regardless of faith, creed or origin united under one umbrella in the PDP. Those good days have to return.

5. IMPUNITY

In today’s Nigeria, all that a criminal or an economic saboteur needs to get off the latch of the law is to establish both his membership of the APC and his connection to a Party bigwig. At the height of PDP’s acclaimed transgressions, nothing like this would have been conceived. But with change came daring bites on values. So much so that the Inspector General of Police will boldly take a stand against the prosecution of a criminal. Never has it been so heard.  Never!


APC members appear to be above the law in Nigeria today. They are as much untouchables as they are liabilities for national development. Thus, creating a crisis for themselves and the need to change the change they brought.

6. COMPROMISED INSTITUTIONS

It is now common knowledge that State institutions have been compromised in Nigeria under the APC. From the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to even the Directorate of State Security (DSS), it’s been a blaze of compromised values.

INEC now conducts Elections that are for the first time in the history of the country regarded as inconclusive simply because they are or would have been won by the PDP. The EFCC is so afflicted with degenerated myopia that it only sees perceived threats to the APC as being culpable for crimes it is unable to establish and for which the accused are victimised with their rights infringed and without apologies. The DSS, the Geheime Staatspolizei of the change era, only barks at and bites PDP members and but for the existence of the Supreme Court that refused to be compromised, the judiciary would have been crippled under the leadership of the APC led government. All these happening under a government and political party that promised change.

To make matters worse, the APC chooses what court orders to obey and which to frustrate or disregard; a major deviation from the gains of the PDP that had established the rule of law as an intrinsic part of governance.

Thankfully, Nigerians now understand the language of Change.
7. DEARTH IN GOVERNMENTAL CAPACITY

APC has achieved nothing inspiring or substantial in a year because it lacks the capacity to do so. It has no plan to develop Nigeria and has clearly shown a lack of capacity in that regard beyond thriving in partisanship. There’s no gainsaying the fact and it has to be left as simple as it is.

8. QUESTIONABLE MANDATE

It is still being doubted if the APC truly obtained its acclaimed mandate by securing a majority vote in the 2015 General Elections or by cutting corners and blackmailing the members of the PDP especially of Northern origin to submission. For instance, consider the controversy that surrounded the death of Alhaji Munkaila Abdullahi, the Kano State Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC), in a fire incident in his home along with his wife and two children a day after Kano delivered the largest number of votes to the APC with just an infinitesimal number of voided votes. The Police is yet to make public its findings from the investigation of the Kano REC’s death.

Almost a year later, whether by criminal conspiracy or karma, Youths in Kano have set ablaze the residences of serving members of the National Assembly over unfulfilled campaign promises raising suspicions about the credibility of APC’s acclaimed popularity.

Besides the above, the vast majority of Nigerians especially those who were caught unawares by the change mantra and APC propaganda feel misled and raped. Most of them do not need to be courted by the PDP. They have made up their mind to change the vicious change of the APC.

9. GLOBAL DISTRUST

The inability of the APC to match words with action and deliver on campaign promises did not only pitch it against Nigerians who feel betrayed but also resulted in global distrust for the Party and government. To this day, no concrete achievement has resulted from the frequent international visits and no one hears about the then popular and controversial shopping list of the APC. There is an apparent reluctance by the global community to commit to the APC led government and it is not for nothing. There is a complete lack of confidence in the Party.


10. RISK OF NIGERIA’S DISINTEGRATION

The emergence and approach to governance of the APC-led government has further divided Nigerians without any concerted or deliberate move to build national cohesion. Every region in the country is faced with either agitations for self-determination or monumental terrorism. The gaping holes of disunity are expanding daily and no strategic measure is being taken to address the issue. Most recently, militancy, which was hitherto curbed by the PDP, has again reared its head with blows to the nation’s fortune.

From all indications, the APC has lost the plot and only PDP holds the ace to save the country from being decimated. It is for this reasons and many more that Nigerians will surely entrust the country back to the hands of the PDP, which history shows has a mastery for having things flow in society.

PDP is coming back except it fails to unite. It would be most unfortunate for it to miss this opportunity to bounce back. The PDP has everything going for it right now. It must seize this moment to return Nigeria to the path of true prosperity. Nothing else would serve the nation’s interest best.

We sleep with men, ‘Chair Lady’ collects the money — Calabar teenage sex workers

FOUR Teenage girls, who were tricked into prostitution in a notorious Calabar  brothel, Vegas Flex,  weekend recounted   how they   sleep  with more than 20 men daily and how their ‘Madam’ collects the money.

The girls, Felicia Nzuworgar, 17; Patience Williams, 18; Angela Benjamin, 17 and Charity Nkwogor all from Okun Local Government Area of  Benue state said Abigail Aliyu whom they call “Chair Lady” took them from their homes in  Benue State in  January this year on the pretext that she was taking them to Lagos to work as sales girls in her drinking spot, but ended up as sex workers in the  brothel located at 26 Bedwell Street,  Calabar.

One of the girls,  Felicia, told Vanguard, “the woman  told me that she has a beer parlour in Lagos and wanted me to work as sales girl there,  but when we got here she gave me  boxer shorts to wear and when I asked her where the drinking parlour is for me to  start working, she said  I should hustle like other girls  by sleeping with men and when I refused she beat me up.”

The girls, with different cane marks on their bodies, said the lady beat them to submission, adding that when they started it was very painful as they were not used to sleeping with such large number of men daily.

Patience recounting her experience said “Every day we sleep with over twenty men for N500.00 each and  because we are young, men do line up to have us. At about 12 midnight, ‘Chair Lady’ will  come in and collect the money, because she  counts  the condoms she gives to us, if you do not  give her all the money she will beat you mercilessly.”

 

The girls  said Abigail  and the men working for her normally, searched their  room and their bodies  at the  close of each day  to ensure they had not hidden any money and beaten  if any money was found on them.

They said Abigail on arrival in Calabar collected their phones and did not allow any of them to step outside the brothel for fear that they might run away. They said when   Angela and Charity attempted  to escape that they were beaten to a state of unconsciousness by the woman and some of her male friends.

Angela said “ When I tried  running  away,  she brought a soldier  and a policeman, who are her boyfriends,  and they beat me up and poured tear gas in my eyes. I later fell sick because of that beating for many days”.

On why they followed the woman without letting their parents know, they said once the woman touched them on the shoulders they became confused and went with her.

“ I was walking in our market in Okun Local Government Area when she greeted me and touched me on the shoulder and that was how I followed her and we entered vehicle to Enugu to the house of a juju man, who prepared a medicine (concoction)  for  us to drink which she said  was to protect us from sickness, but  when we got to Calabar, she said if we run away the medicine the man gave us will make our private part  to rot,” Charity narrated.

But the Ebonyi State  born,  “Chair Lady” , Abigail Aliyu , said her arrest by operatives of the Anti  Human Trafficking  operatives  of the Cross River State Police Command was due to jealousy, adding that she was not the one that brought the girls to Calabar.

Mr John Eluu, Cross River State Police Public Relations Officer,  said the woman will soon be charged to court after investigation and warned youths to be cautious and not go with anyone who promises them jobs in Lagos or any other town without any proof.

Why we support fuel subsidy removal — Oshiomhole, Kachikwu

GOVERNOR Adams Oshiomhole of Edo State has explained why he stood with the Federal Government on the new price of petrol, saying that the fundamentals and economic indices were different from what they were a few years ago. He said Nigerians must undergo some pain before reaping the gains.

The governor said it did not make economic sense for the government to spend more than half of its earnings on fuel subsidy to the detriment of other development programmes.

 

 Speaking at a special thanksgiving service organised  by Apostle Charles Osazuwa, Senior Pastor and founder of Rock of Ages Christian Assembly International, RACAi, Benin City, to round off a seven-day programme of the church, yesterday, Oshiomhole said that the former government of President Goodluck Jonathan spent as much as N1.2 trillion on fuel subsidy.

He said,  “I have listened to our chairman Chief John Odigie-Oyegun and he reminded us that Minister of Petroleum, Kachikwu, has been under fire. I believe the fire will continue for some time. Despite what he is going through, the minister recognised that we can’t be too busy to come to the church to ask God to help us to do the job.”

Also speaking, Minister of State for Petroleum, Dr. Ibe Kachukwu insisted that the government of President Muhammadu Buhari is a government of hope, explaining that things could not continue the way they have been.

In the same vein, the national chairman of  All Progressives Congress, APC, Odigie-Oyegun, noted that the country was going through difficult times, but the people must change their ways for things to get better.

Why Buhari suspended two-day visit to Lagos

The Presidency yesterday scaled down  President Muhammadu Buhari’s two-day official visit slated for today and tomorrow.

“The truth is that the Vice-President, Prof Yemi Osinbajo,  will now represent the President in Lagos, said Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu.

According to Shehu, ‘’The President is faced with scheduling difficulties and that is the reason for the postponement of the visit. He needs more time for Lagos and for Edo which had earlier been stepped down.

 

’As a result of this, the visit has been scaled down and he is being represented by  the VP, who is going to Lagos to commission a few projects, leaving the rest for Mr. President. The President will undertake these visits after the Ramadan

The Muslim 30-day fasting period, Ramadan, may however not start until June 6.

The Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Mr. Femi Adesina, also confirmed the development, saying he was already in Lagos

It was gathered last night that members of the President’s advanced team consisting of protocol officials, security agents, medical officers and journalists were already in Lagos ahead of President Buhari when his trip was cancelled.

The cancelled trip would have  been President Buhari’s first official visit to the state since he assumed office about a year ago.

A statement by the State Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Mr. Steve Ayorinde, announcing the visit, stated that it would have been the first time in about 15years that a sitting President will be visiting the State on a working visit and is a testimony to the  good working relationship between Lagos State and the Federal Government.

Ayorinde added that President Buhari during the visit, would formally commission the Lagos State Emergency Management Agency (LASEMA) Rescue Unit in Cappa Oshodi built by the State Government to ensure prompt and swift response to emergency situations in the state.

He said the President would thereafter commission the newly constructed Ago Palace Way in Okota, Isolo after which he will pay homage to the Oba of Lagos, His Royal Majesty, Oba Babatunde Rilwanu Aremu Akiolu at the Iga Iduganran, Lagos Island.

Nigeria should worry about spread of Zika, Yellow fever’

RENOWNED Virologist and President of the Nigeria Academy of Science, Professor Oyewale Tomori, has said the discovery of a strain of Zika virus circulating in Brazil and other parts of the Americas in the Cape Verde area of Africa, should worry Nigeria.

Tomori, who is Head of the World Health Organisation, Advisory Panel on Yellow fever, and Chairman Lassa fever Control Committee in Nigeria, advocated improved surveillance system to prevent spread of Yellow fever to Nigeria and other West African countries.

“We had thought that the return of Zika, even as a ‘changed’ or ‘mutated’ should not cause any severe disease in West Africa, since we have evidence of previous infection with Zika and other related viruses (Yellow Fever, West Nile, Dengue) in Nigeria and some countries in West Africa.

“Finding Zika in Cape Verde should be of serious concern to us in Nigeria. This tells us that  the Zika outbreak is not only a problem of South America, but one that is knocking on the gates of West Africa.

“In Nigeria, we need to increase our surveillance for Zika transmission and congenital malformations, such as microcephaly, as well as Guillain-Barré syndrome. In particular, we need to step up our preparedness efforts for early detection, confirmation and management of potential complications related to Zika infection.

Further, Tomori said: “To achieve (i) above, we must resuscitate our moribund and comatose national disease surveillance system and in particular, our mosquito-borne virus disease surveillance system- at the Department of Virology, University of Ibadan and the National Arbovirus Research Institute at Enugu.

“We should, according to the WHO, heighten risk communication to pregnant women to raise awareness of complications associated with the Asian type of Zika virus and promote protection steps to avoid mosquito bites as well as sexual transmission. Any Nigerian who has travelled to any of the affected countries, and comes down with a febrile infection should be tested for evidence of Zika virus infection; if found positive, he should avoid sexual contact with his spouse, because Zika virus can be transmitted sexually.”

“With Zika arriving at the gates of West Africa, and Yellow fever raging on in Angola and DR Congo, Nigeria will resort to her one and only defence against disease outbreaks – organize vigils and worship in mosques, to plead with God, who loves Nigeria so much, not to let either of the diseases enter Nigeria.  We are the same Nigerians, some of whom will travel to Angola and DR Congo, with fake yellow fever vaccination cards.

On Yellow fever, Tomori disclosed that at an emergency advisory committee of the WHO in Geneva, Switzerland, the spread of Yellow fever in Africa was declared as a serious concern and advocated drastic expansion of vaccinations to combat it.

“The committee was of the opinion that we have a serious issue on our hands, but it does not constitute a public health emergency of international concern. The next step is to build up enough capacity to routinely vaccinate children in the tropics everywhere there is risk.”

He however, noted that between 2007 and 2012, all the countries in West Africa and including Cameroon and Central African Republic, except Nigeria have conducted a mass preventive vaccination against yellow fever.

“At the last count, over 100 million Nigerians are classed as vulnerable to Yellow fever infection. There was a plan to conduct Yellow fever preventive mass campaigns in Nigeria for the susceptible Nigerians over a 5-year period between 2012 and 2016,” Tomori noted.