Duncan Mighty, other celebs in solidarity march for Akas Baba's release

Duncan Mighty and other celebs in Port Harcourt today participated in a solidarity March for kidnapped Wazobia FM OAP, Anthony Akatakpo popularly known as Akas Baba, who was taken from his home on Thursday March 13th by unknown gunmen. They are trying to raise awareness about his kidnap as nothing has been heard from the kidnappers since his abduction. Continue to see more photos...

Photos: Seven Dead, Many Wounded During Immigrations Recruitment In Abuja

At least seven people have died and several others injured after thousands of panicked job-seekers stampeded during a government recruitment drive at the national stadium this morning, Saturday, March 15, 2014.

Thousands of youths gathered to apply for jobs with the immigration department before the tragic incident occurred.  One witness said the stampede broke out as applicants surged towards a central stage.  See more pictures after the cut.

House Wife Loses Right Eye For Refusing Neighbour’s Sexual Advances

Mrs Amaka Ohanwe, a mother of two and house wife has lost her right eye because she refused her neighbours sexually advances. According to her, she was a very good friend of Kingsley Ohanwe, her neighbour who assaulted her, but when she noticed he was desperate to have sex with her, she started avoiding him. He became aggressive and attacked her shortly after she started avoiding her. Doctors have said I can’t see again with my right eye, she said. Below is how Pm News is reporting it. Completely sad!

A 35-year old man, Arinze Kingsley, has left a married woman, Mrs Amaka Ohanwe, partially blind when she allegedly refused his sexual advances. Amaka was seriously injured in her right eye when she was allegedly beaten up by Kingsley at a beauty salon.

She said after undergoing several operations, the doctors at Apapa General Hospital confirmed that she cannot see with the eye again.

Following the assault, the police at Area ‘B’ Apapa arrested Kingsley and charged him with assault before Apapa Magistrate’s Court after which he was remanded in Kirikiri Prisons in Lagos State, southwest Nigeria.

Both Amaka and Kingsley, who is still single, admitted that they were friends but Amaka said they were just friends not lovers.

She said she stopped relating with Kingsley when she discovered that he was desperate to have sex with her despite the fact that he knew that she was married and had two kids.

She said after several attempts by him to sleep with her failed, he became aggressive and when she noticed that, she started avoiding him.

Amaka said Kingsley eventually traced her to a salon at Pen Crescent, Apapa, Lagos where she went to have her hair done and attacked her in front of the beauty shop.

“He waited for me outside the salon. When he saw me, he started abusing me after I refused his advances. I replied him and he hit my eye and threw me on the floor. He started  hitting his head on my eyes until I started bleeding,” she told the court.

Amaka said it was their neighbours who came to her rescue and took her to the hospital, while Kingsley immediately started his motorcycle and rode off after attacking her.

She alleged that after the attack, Kingsley boasted that nothing would happen to him because he has money to bail himself out of any difficult situation.

Amaka reported the case to the police but alleged that she was asked to collect N30,000 for her eye operation in order to settle the matter out of court.

Amaka said she had spent over N200,000 on the surgeries but they were not successful.

She called on the state government to come to her aid and ensure justice was done in the matter. Meanwhile, when Kingsley was contacted, he admitted attacking Amaka but said he wanted to settle the matter out of court but she refused.

When he was arraigned, he pleaded not guilty.

The presiding magistrate, Mrs O.A Adegbite, granted him bail in the sum of N50,000 with two sureties in like sum.

He was, however, remanded in prison custody pending when he will fulfill his bail conditions

The matter was adjourned till 24 March.

Marriage Is My Priority Now And Nothing More- Filmmaker, Peju Ashaye

The film maker revealed in a new interview that her priority now is marriage and nothing more. She also says she wonders why actresses fail in marriage.

'It baffles me when i see marriages crash especially in Nollywood and wonder what kind of message this will send to our fans and admirers in the society. I think, it’s time for me to settle down and I’m due for marriage. I can categorically tell you now that marriage is my priority for now and by God’s grace, I will get engaged this year', she said.

Photo: KaySwitch and his girlfriend welcome baby

Kayswitch and his Liberian beauty queen girlfriend Meenakshi Monica Subramani welcomed a baby in the early hours of today. The proud & excited father shared a pic of the bundle of joy on instagram.
The Baby look so cute!

Stress, longer period in traffic increase heart diseases – Ihejieto

Dr, Justine Ihejieto, General Medical Practitioner speaks on the medical and health implications that arise from spending long hours in traffic.

What are the health hazards of spending long hours in traffic?

The health hazards affect virtually every aspect of human life – physically, socially, psychologically and mentally. When you’re stuck in traffic, you are exposed to all sorts of health risks that arise as a result of inhaling fumes from vehicles and exhaust pipes and dust on the road. The longer the period you spend in traffic, the more you’ll be exposed to these health hazards.

For those who are already suffering from some diseases like asthma, stroke and hypertension, it also  worsens their situation especially in emergency situations where urgent medical care is needed. If an ambulance is stuck in traffic, the consequences could be very dire, as it will take the sheer grace of God for a patient or victim to make it.

Does it increase the risks of  chronic diseases?

As roadways choke on traffic, it is suspected that the tailpipe exhaust from cars and trucks – especially tiny carbon particles already implicate in heart disease, cancer and respiratory ailments may also injure brain cells and synapses, the key to learning and memory.

To be sure, cars and trucks today generate one-tenth the pollution of a vehicle in 1970. Still, more people are on the road and they are stuck in traffic more often. Drivers annually spend an average of 140 hours, or about the time spent in the office in a month, idling in traffic, a new analysis reported. Long-term stress increases the risk of cardiovascular disease. Research on the precise level of cardiovascular risk is limited.

Does it have a lasting effect on the brain?

No one knows whether regular commuters breathing heavy traffic fumes suffer any lasting brain effect. Researchers have only studied the potential impact based on where people live and where air-pollution levels are highest. Even if there were any chronic cognitive effect on drivers and commuters, it could easily be too small to measure reliably or might be swamped by other health factors such as stress, diet or exercise that affect the brain.

Recent studies show that breathing street-level fumes for just 30 minutes can intensify electrical activity in brain regions responsible for behaviour, personality and decision-making, changes that are suggestive of stress. Breathing normal city air with high levels of traffic exhaust for 90 days can change the way that genes turn on or off among the elderly; it can also leave a molecular mark on the genome of a newborn for life.  And older men and women long exposed to higher levels of traffic-related particles and ozone are often prone to memory and reasoning problems that effectively reduce their mental abilities. The emissions may also heighten the risk of Alzheimer’s disease and increase the effects of Parkinson’s disease.

How does it affect an individual’s productivity and relationship with others?

Apart from the physical hazards that they are exposed to, there is also the psychological damage too. A lot of people get agitated, angry and disoriented. Even when they get to work, they can’t perform their duties normally due to the stress they underwent on the road. Long delays in getting to and from work is another result leading to less productivity from employees and family crises. There are more cases of  accidents because people become frustrated or angry due to the traffic jams. Pollution in the city centre worsens as a result of car emissions. The stress of waiting in gridlock can get intense if you’re in a hurry, leaving you feeling frustrated and anxious about the traffic. That stress can translate into deeper health hazards.

What can be done to curtail these risks?

There is really nothing much for one to do. You can wind up the glasses of your car if it is air- conditioned and listen to soothing music to help relax the brain and nerves. Also, the government  and traffic management authorities should help check and reduce some of the causes of these gridlocks.

2015 elections will be better – Jega

The Independent National Electoral Commission Chairman, Professor Attahiru Jega last Monday in an interactive session with Editors in Lagos talked about  the preparations being made   for the 2015 general elections especially the Osun and Ekiti gubernatorial elections . He also spoke on the mistakes made by the commission in the past  and efforts being made to avoid repeating them in future. Excerpts:

The mistakes
INEC had a new register in the 2011 elections but that posed  many challenges and so, we have to put that aside for a new biometric register in 2015 general elections.

By September this year, continuous voter registration, CVR,  for 2015 general elections will commence. There was CVR before the Anambra gubernatorial election and we are doing same in Osun and Ekiti governorship elections. We couldn’t do continuous voter registration in Edo and Ondo because in Edo, there was a controversy and that required our putting that aside.

We have commenced the distribution of permanent voters cards in Ekiti and Osun for the forthcoming governorship elections in the two states. We will also do same in all the states before the 2015 elections to avoid the kind of challenges we had in Anambra.

The mistake in Anambra was caused by our staff posted to Idemili North and the case is in court today. For effectiveness in elections, we customized  result sheets but things still got mixed up.In some wards in Idemili, there were agitations and people suspected foul play and prevented us from distribution of voting materials.

Jega

We ended up postponing the election to the next day with the agreement of the people but that also became another issue because the next day was Sunday and we always try to ensure elections don’t take place on religious days. But we made that mistake and the matter  is in court. There was so much media hype over Anambra election and I can tell you that even though there were mistakes on the part of  INEC official, the conduct of that election was good enough.

Out of the 21 Local government areas in the state, there was problem in just one and even in that one, it was only in three wards.

But people had other complaints:

•  People claimed they were disenfranchised but it was not true because going by my understanding of the meaning of disenfranchisement, what happened in Anambra was not disenfranchisement because it was not willful.

•Electoral details got missing because hoodlums made away with them.

•Equipment crashed in other places

•There were multiple registrations in Anambra. Most of the people whose names were not in the register were those who did multiple registration and hence their names were removed.

•Many peoples names were missing because they used cards of 2007 and their names were not in the 2011 register.



A new approach

But things have changed now. We have cleaned the register. It’s electronic biometric register and compares favourably with others in the world. But we must understand that in terms of multiple registration, there is no software in the world that removes that 100%.

We have scheduled the time for continuous voter registration in Osun and Ekiti states and we hope that people would come out to register.

We have commenced serial numbering of ballot papers so that in distribution, you’d know what serial numbers are going to a particular polling unit and this approach will enhance accountability.

All ballot boxes are also serially numbered and we also numbered result sheets. So, you cannot fraudulently alter results or swap result sheets. We have customized result sheets in such a way that every result sheet is specified to a particular polling unit.

But in Anambra, the officials made a mistake of randomly distributing result sheets and that caused problems.Before we realised that, it was already too late.

We have also introduced colour-coded ballot papers so that they are not uniform across the states or even local governments. We also plan to do colour-coding by senatorial districts and constituencies.

We introduced some unique features too. There are somethings you can only read with infra-red and some which only I as Chairman can read and if tampered with, we know who exactly to hold responsible.

We have brought transparency into the collation process. Before, it used to be INEC staff  doing everything but we are human beings, not machines. We have changed that. Our staff are no longer collation and returning officers. We got Professors, Vice Chancellors and Senior lectures involved and the process of collation is sanitized and complaints of lack of transparency is reduced.

For 2015, we want to go beyond these class of people to include members of Nigerian Bar Association as collation and returning officers. We want to involve Engineers and the media too.

In the past, we have used members of the National Youth Service Corps and students in tertiary institutions as returning officers.



New communication policy

In  2015, we will come out with a new communication policy. That communication policy will dictate how we will perform  better; how we can do mobile education better; the kind of mobile education we can get across.

We often hear that elections are costly. But we need these funds because we use them  for allowances, logistics, transportation and feeding. We expect an average of three uniformed policemen per polling unit and we pay them allowances. They have to eat and it’s a lot of money.

In 2015, we are reviewing the number of the polling units. Some polling units in the past elections had as large as 3000 voters attached to each and we have decided to create more polling units. In future, it would be 500 voters per polling unit and it also means more personnel for the new polling units.

After 2011, we did an in-house review and people from independent organizations  gave us recommendations. We want to sieve our personnel to ensure that wrong people are not retained as returning officers.

We are rewarding and punishing people at the same time. We  are quietly asking people to leave, like the Resident Electoral Commissioner that handled the last Ekiti gubernatorial election. She is no longer with INEC.

Others who committed various categories of offences have also been dismissed and some have taken us to court. We have  done a lot of restructuring and re-organisation but you cannot remove people arbitrarily or it becomes a recipe for disaster.

We have been training and re-training our staff. Our adhoc staff in 2011 were given only a three-day training seminar and there were deficiencies. So, we are giving a five-day training programme for 2015.

Our developmental partners are also giving bridge-training for our staff which will add value to what we are doing. Most importantly is putting to use, the permanent voters cards which are embedded chip cards  just like ATM cards. The card reader is battery-operated with a 16-hour battery life. So, we don’t anticipate challenges.



Sanitizing the system

Some of the politicians who buy cards from voters cannot do so usefully again. If they buy the cards, they cannot put them to use because we have taken steps to abort that. We are set to bring remarkable improvement in the voting process. You cannot use any other person’s card to vote in any election anymore because we have put steps to check that.

We meet regularly with political parties. We brief them. They raise questions and we address them and it’s a way of building trust as we go towards 2015. We are meant to complement each other.

Again, we said that with good resources, we will be able to get these things done but it will cost money, because we will do radio jingles of about five-minutes programme on prime time. Again, we will also  do this in other languages that are not English. We’ll do our best and we believe that other state governments will contribute their best either as social responsibility or as obligation. For example, political parties have an obligation to mobilise the voters. They have to ensure that the voters come out to register and vote. Then, you also have to educate them so that when eventually they come out to vote, they will know how to do so. Otherwise, it will be a wasted time.

The thing now is that political parties are asking INEC to give them money to do voter education. They are supposed to do complementary work and all range of stakeholders can express this work and responsibility. We have uploaded on our websites. We have also gone ahead to establish what we call, INEC Citizens Contact Centre.

You can now call on us, send an SMS or twitter to say what you want to say about INEC. You can ask any question and you will receive a response. We believe also that this is a way that we can use to enlighten the public, giving them the information about what we do in the commission. We want to make sure this citizens contact centre operates virtually 24 hours so that at anytime, people can send comments and they will be able to see our responses.

Of course, again, in order to make information available to the public, in Anambra less than a week before the election, we introduced an express service through which you can actually find out whether your name is on the register or not.

Unfortunately again maybe because we introduced it two months to the election, or maybe there was  inadequate publicity, many people did not recognise it. We have again introduced it into Ekiti and Osun.

Infact,about a month ago, we announced the numbers and we shared it to radio and TV stations. It has been part of our enlightenment campaign. All you need do is to text that number, your state, your last name and the last five digits of your pin number on the registration card. You will automatically receive a response that you have successfully registered. They will tell you where you have done the registration. If you can’t find your name on the register after you must have sent this, it means we need to come and renew your status of registration.

We have to do this in the remaining states so that from anywhere, you can send an SMS or you can go through our website. There is a place you can put your details to know where you have registered.

I want to assure you that we in INEC are doing our best and we remain focused.But there are a lot of things out there. Most editorials in newspapers have done a lot of damage by communicating wrong information to the public. The electronic media also do that.

One headline put me into a lot of trouble by giving a headline that I said that elections will not hold in the North Eastern  states which I never did. What I said was recorded. I don’t know why people would wake up and do such a headline story. And everybody who was reporting the story was reporting from the headline news. They left me in a difficult condition. The governors of these states now reacted. So I have to react not just to the mis-information, but to the anger of these governors and citizens of these states that there was no way I could say such things. Some corporate bodies did independent reports regarding  the Anambra elections. I think we are thinking about reforming democracy and in doing this, we don’t have to undermine the electoral process.

Let me give you another example, recently, many of you must have heard of the reports from a Human Right agency. I don’t know how many of you read that report. They indicted the judiciary and other people. I don’t know about the other organizations but I took the trouble and read what that report wrote about INEC. All the examples they gave were about the 2007 elections but the way the report was made and presented, it was as if it was about a recent election and the preparations for 2015 elections. They quoted one of editorials which I told you and was saying that something was wrong with 2011 elections. How many people have read that report and how many have observed it? Anybody reading that report will think nothing has changed. How can you use evidence of 2007 in 2014?

I am here today I might not be here tomorrow, all I know is to do my best. It is not about Jega, it is about what is good for the country.



Turn-out for elections

In 2011, the largest voter turn-out was 57% and that was for the Presidential election. Low voter turn-out could be  a function of many things: lack of sensitization; lack of choice; feeling of apathy by voters that their votes may not be counted.

We have detected a means of detecting multiple registration. We have evidence of detecting that and prosecuting it.

We have prosecuted hundreds of electoral offenders but that also depends on the lawyers handling the case; the policemen handling the investigations and the court processes involved. As it is, INEC is automatically joined in every electoral offence.



Elections in the North-East

I have never said there will be no elections in the North East. I was invited to a senators’  forum and a senator asked a question that in view of the situation in the North-East, whether elections would hold. I answered that we are planning that election would hold everywhere in view of the hope that the issue would be resolved by that time. I went ahead to add that  under the circumstance of the rule of emergency, elections would not hold. But I’m an incurable optimist who believe things would be right by the time elections will hold.

I did say that people could be afraid of coming out to vote and these are some of the challenges with conducting election in the North east.



Electioneering campaigns

We have observed  that political parties do not comply with the rules about electioneering campaigns. All the parties are guilty of breaking this rule. The specified time for electioneering campaigns is 90 days before the election to end 24hours to the election. Campaigns are meant to start after primaries are conducted and candidates have emerged but we have people putting up posters two years and one year to the election and that is an electoral offence which security agencies should contend with. But political parties can hold rallies.

On political parties also, we have noticed that they lack capacity to dispatch credible agents to polling units and we give agents of political parties copies of  results from each unit. We have told partis to bring their agents for training by INEC but till date, no political party has done that. Due to the possibility of the results being changed, polling units and collation centres have what we call stream-lining the results and we have introduced a data base to access results as they come in from polling units. That creates room for people to have parallel tabulation of results as they come in.



Why African Peoples Congress, APC,  was not registered

The All Peoples Congress, APC, is a merger of existing political parties and they met the requirements for registration but the African Peoples Congress as a new party seeking registration did not meet some of the requirements for registration. But the law is clear and All Peoples Congress met the requirements. The other APC did not meet  the requirements and so was not registered.



Effect of confab on election

We are preparing on the process of existing law and there is a constitution in place. We are asking the National Assembly to be finished with all amendments within six months to the election as stipulated by law. If amendments were not concluded six months to the election, they won’t have effect on the election. But the National Assembly has given its word  that amendments in Electoral Act  would be concluded six months before the election.



Order of election

In 2011, Presidential election was second after National Assembly  election. The third was gubernatorial and State Assembly elections.

Elections in one day is not feasible because of the challenges involved. It would only create more problems and it’s necessary we avoid that. In Kenya, a smaller country than Nigeria, it posed challenges that they said if they have opportunity, they would not have elections in one day.

In Nigeria, elections in one day means five ballot boxes, five ballot papers and with the level of illiteracy in Nigeria, it would create problems.

It is not impossible to hold all elections in one day but we would be biting more than we could chew. There are systemic challenges concerning this.

We in INEC have the capacity to prepare adequately, conventionally and logistically and to create a level playing ground for politicians and we are doing our best to do that well. The  electoral process will be fertile as it was in 2011 and we want to ensure peaceful elections next year.

We know that Nigerian politicians are a special breed. We are to communicate to many Nigerians about the attitude  with which politicians come  for the elections. Our politicians should  do something about their language and utterances and about changing the rules of the game.

We will be better than 2011 and we are putting things in place to ensure free, fair and credible elections in 2015.

In planning, we stayed away from things that will require legal amendment. There is prohibition on electronic voting and we have stayed away from that hoping that the prohibition could be amended someday because electronic voting has become worl standard.

Aggrieved workers chase out council boss from office in Kogi State Middle belt of Nigeria

Aggrieved workers of Yagba East Local Government area of Kogi State have laid siege to the Local Government secretariat in Isanlu since Monday, preventing the Chairman, Alhaji Funsho Ibrahim from entering  his office .

The aggrieved workers who have been on protest have vowed not to allow the chairman return to  office until there is a strong assurance that their January salary will be paid in full.

Saturday Vanguard gathered that the protest which started peacefully on Monday turned violent on Tuesday when the chairman, Funsho Ibrahim called security operatives to disband the protesting workers; a development that angered the workers who invaded his office and chased him  out of the secretariat.

A  source said the embattled Chairman having perceived that the workers could not be pacified or intimidated by the security operatives drafted to the secretariat scampered into the bush leaving his vehicle behind.

The workers on Wednesday took the protest around Isanlu town, the headquarters of the Local Government, visiting the house of  Chief Jide Omokore, the political leader of the axis who was said to have nominated the chairman for the position.

The protest  also continued on Thursday and yesterday as the workers continued to burn tyres in front of the local government secretariat, vowing not to stop until the chairman issues a word that their January salary and other months will henceforth be paid in full.

One of the workers who spoke with Saturday Vanguard on ground of anonymity said, “We have to resort to this because the chairman is an arrogant man that will not see reasons with us. The salary of his aides and councilors are being paid in full, but can you believe that since May last year when he resumed office, we have been collecting half salary.

“Also, he has stopped promotion saying that it’s only on grounds of work recognition that one can be promoted and not by years of service. He has also recalled all workers who are in school on study leave saying that the Local government is not a charity organization. But  he has failed to pay us in full or honour  the minimum wage. We have been suffering in silence.”

The source also stated that the chairman who has not initiated any project since he assume office has now arrested the NULGE chairman and other executives on Thursday night, who spear headed the protest and has engage thugs to harass other workers from continuing  with the protest.

He however said the protest will continue next week until their demands for their legitimate wages are paid in full saying some of them have been collecting less than N10, 000 naira has monthly take home pay since the introduction of the half salary.

Terrible! Three Large Explosions Hit Maiduguri This Morning

The city of Maiduguri in Borno state this morning experienced three large explosions suspected to be a major bomb attack, Sahara Reporters reports

Saharareporters could not ascertain if the explosions led to deaths or destruction of any kind. But our sources states that the three explosions were heard across the city.

SaharaRepoprters learnt that fighters from the Islamist sect Boko Haram are attempting to bomb and take over a major military base known as "Giwa barracks" in Maiduguri. A gunfight is raging in the area as at the time of publishing this report.

Love Wan tin-tin! Teebillz celebrates his wife, Tiwa Savage...

He posted the pic above on his instagram page and wrote what you see above. Awww, how sweet!

Friends Have Deserted Me! Even Bola Tinubu Is Not Comfortable Seeing Me Around Again---- Baba Sue..

This is not a good time at all for Yoruba comic actor, Baba Suwe. Baba Suwe in a new interview with Encomium Magazine has confessed that he is broke and a lot of his friends and helpers have deserted him. He said his cocaine scandal ruined him and it is almost ruining his career as well. People no longer call me to act in their movies, he revealed. Read what he told the magazine after the cut.

 “I have not collected any compensation money from NDLEA yet. The most painful thing is that I was wrongly accused. Had it been, I actually committed the crime, I won’t mind, but they just punished me for nothing. I was in NDLEA custody for almost three weeks, and nothing was found on me. No matter the kind of juju one may have, I don’t think there is anybody that can conceal cocaine for even two days.

Even researches had shown that no one can harbour the substance in the body for two days. It will burst inside the person’s stomach, which can lead to death. And I believe after all their investigations, they should have released me so I could continue with my career. But the whole situation, the way they treated me actually rubbished my image. My career has been dwindling.

A lot of people that are supposed to be inviting me to take part in their movies abandoned me because of the incident. Even a lot of people that could have assisted me financially don’t want to associate with me again. People within and outside the industry has deserted me on account of the allegation. They still doubt me despite my victory in court.

I have sung praises of some people in some of my movies, and I always appreciate whatever they give me. This makes a lot of people close to me. For instance, I was close to Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu before and he was very nice to me.

He had done a lot for me but now, it’s very difficult for me to be close to him. He is even not comfortable seeing me around him again because of the allegation. I don’t enjoy people’s love and admiration like before because people still believe that it was true“.

At last! Jonathan’s Cousin Freed

The president’s cousin that was abducted in his home on the 23^rd of February, 2014, exactly 18 days ago has been freed. No ransom was reportedly paid.

Ekiti 2014: Why Fayemi turned me into a villain— Bamidele

Opeyemi Bamidele, Chairman, House of Representatives Committee on Legislative Budgets and Research, is a governorship aspirant in Ekiti State on the plank of the Labour Party (LP). In this interview, he  bears his mind on issues relating to his gubernatorial ambition and legislative activities among others

BY GBENGA ARIYIBI

HOW true is it that  you are in the race purposely to scuttle the chances of the All Progressives Congress, APC?
My answer to that is no. The issues involved are much more fundamental than such mundane and poor reasoning. To the glory of God, I see and hold myself as a change agent. The record will show that in the last 11 months that I’ve been actively involved in the governorship race in Ekiti State, a lot has changed in the style of governance.

fayemi-bamideleGo round and see party elders, they will tell you that the same governor who did not know they were in existence for two years and would not contact them on any issue concerning governance in this state, is today going round their homes and offices; sometimes quietly driving himself to visit party leaders and stakeholders to apologise. And in an unusual manner, offering different kinds of largesse.

The same governor, following my criticism, is also going to Labour unions and Student unions and their leaders. That was the same governor who proscribed students unionism in virtually all the campuses in Ekiti. The only institution in Ekiti that didn’t have its students union proscribed was the Federal Polytechnic, Ado Ekiti, which is a Federal government owned institution.

Criticisms of the state
Today, because Opeyemi Bamidele is in this race and because of my criticisms of the state of the state, the governor has been going round trying to do all sorts of damage control. As a change agent, I even see this as an achievement on my part. And beyond this is also the fact that this race is not about any individual, pecuniary interest or personal interest of any kind. It is about Ekiti people. Yes, we may have a personal relationship. We may have our political or ideological differences but it is about Ekiti first.

Governor Fayemi recently said that God used him to facilitate your election into the House…
That is the difference between the governor and I. Some reporters asked him a few months ago  that they knew two of us  as friends and that they knew the roles that God used me to play in encouraging Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu to support him to contest the governorship election in 2007. Rather than say yes or no the governor simply said he believed I needed psychiatric help.

Who took him to Asiwaju?  If today Governor Fayemi is saying that God used him to put me where I am today, it means it is for a purpose because he did everything in his capacity to frustrate the purpose of God for my life. I was running for election to go to the Senate. I won the primary election but  Fayemi took my mandate and gave it to Babafemi Ojudu to go to the Senate.

And Governor Fayemi went round to get other party leaders to appeal to me to go to the House of Representatives. I ended up in the House of Representatives because I did not want to rock the boat of the party. So if Governor Fayemi said God used him to put me where I’m today in the House of Representatives, he will still need to explain to God why I ended up in the House of Representatives instead of the Senate.

The House of Representatives became a charitable environment for me and a very viable platform for me to create more time for my politics and devote more time to issues in Ekiti.

How do you intend to go about your agenda for the state?
I never did anything as a politician because my party was popular.  When the Alliance for Democracy, AD, which I  belonged to, was in control of only one state and one governorship position in this country, I was  not discouraged from being an active member of the party. That did not take away my faith or hope for a better future for this party and for this country. We rose again from being in control of one state to taking control of five additional states.

Characters in the party
And the party was in control of six states, because of our tenacity, our belief and what we stood for. It was not about how many people who were in the party. It was more about the kind of characters in the party.
The events of the last three months have shown that the Labour Party is the party to beat.  We went into the Labour Party as a coalition. Coalition of well meaning Ekiti people, at home and in The Diaspora. Coalition of members of the political class drawn from different political parties.

They include; the  ACN, CPC,  ANPP and the PDP.  And let it be known to everyone that we are on ground and a party to beat. On talks about two formidable parties being already in place and our party being the third one, you must realise that it is not about party but the people. All the members of the three parties put together are not up to 10 per cent of the people of Ekiti State. This is a state of about 2.5milllion people.

So if the voting public are saying this is the direction they want to go, all you need as a popular candidate is just to have a credible political platform. And if you have a party that within three months has not less than 500 members in any ward in Ekiti State and there are 177 wards, that is very interesting. That is definitely a party to beat.

Your opponents in the APC said you did not perform to their expectations as a federal lawmaker?
I’ am glad you said my opponents. What else would my opponents say? But remember that this same opponents some months ago would tell reporters that I was a blessing to the party and Ekiti State, and that I was a blessing to the nation and one of the best representatives Ekiti had ever sent to the National Assembly. The governor also said on tape and published in the newspaper at some point that Ekiti had never sent a team like this to the National Assembly, and personally commended me as the Ekiti Caucus Leader.

Then I was not his opponent because I had not said I was running for governorship. Today that I am his opponent he would not say the same thing. It shows the level of our insincerity.
In other words, it means you can say wonderful guy today as long as your interest is not at stake. That means if a person is doing certain things consistently today and you are commending him, the moment that thing he is doing consistently conflicts with your interest the hero will suddenly become a villain.

I was their hero yesterday but Fayemi is trying to make me a villain today just because I insisted on internal democracy. Just because I insisted the party should conduct a primary election for me and Dr Kayode Fayemi and he was afraid that I would defeat him at the primary he started using divide and rule method to instigate some of the party leaders against me. Because I insisted on internal democracy, Fayemi decided to turn me to a villain.

He calls himself a democrat but doesn’t want internal democracy within his party. How can you continue to deny people access to genuine democracy at the local government level for over three years and continue to parade yourself as a democrat?  How can I allow the governor to continue to instigate the party members against me because I want internal democracy and he doesn’t want it. The sky is broad enough for birds to fly freely without having any collusion.  How can anyone who is not being mischievous say I did not perform well?

2015: US supports Nigeria with $15m

 

OSOGBO—The United States of America has said it would support Nigerian government with $15 million to enable it  organise  credible elections in  2015.

The US consular in Nigeria, Mr. Jeffry Hawkins who disclosed this during an interaction with journalists in Osogbo yesterday, after he held  meetings with stakeholders in the state said the American government was committed to the course of democracy in Nigeria and would support Nigeria’s democracy with necessary inputs.

According to him, the money was meant to assist political parties, supports for INEC and civil societies for the conduct of credible elections.
He also stated that the American government would supervise the forthcoming general elections in the country to ensure that it was free and credible.

“Nigeria is very important to the United States of America and because of this the US government is deeply committed to support democracy in Nigeria. We shall use the Governorship election in Osun and Ekiti states as a test case of the 2015 general elections in Nigeria,” he stated.

He urged all the stakeholders in election process, especially the Independent National Electoral Commission INEC to provide non violent platform for election to take place in an atmosphere of peace and tranquility.

He also called on all Political parties to maintain peace, adding that “it is when an election is peaceful that it could be adjudged as being free and fair.”
The Consular also expressed the decision of the US government to engage in dialogue with all stakeholders ahead of the general elections to ensure a violent free election in Nigeria.

CBN Imposes N10m Fine For Use Of Unlicensed E-payment Solutions

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has said that banks that use unlicensed third party electronic payment solution will pay a fine of N10 million.

This was part of the regime of sanctions contained in the guidelines on electronic payment of salaries, pensions, suppliers and taxes in Nigeria.

The guidelines   spell out the roles and responsibilities, of all stakeholders in the end-to-end electronic payment of salaries, pensions, suppliers and taxes.

It also spells out sanctions and fines for sundry contraventions of the guidelines.  For example,  when  a bank uses an unlicensed 3rd party e-payment solution for end-to-end e-payment of salaries etc., the CBN would suspend its e-payment operations with the bank, issue a warning letter to the managing Director and impose a fine of  N10 million  for every repeated occurrence

Also, Non-availability of help desk/contact centre to receive enquiries, complaints and provide feedback on e-payment issues, will lead to suspension of the bank’s end-to-end e-payment operations until conditions are satisfied.

Non-Provision of monthly report on reported complaints & resolution status to the Bank attracts N25,000 penalty for each day for which report is not provided to the Bank, while submission of false or inaccurate reports  will attract  penalty of N250, 000 and a warning letter to the Managing Director.

The guidelines explained that, “to-End Electronic Payment is the seamless electronic processing and payment of all forms of salaries, pensions, suppliers and taxes with the electronic delivery of associated schedules alongside the payment transactions where applicable on a Bank approved electronic platform which transmits the instruction to debit a payer’s account and credit a beneficiary’s bank account, mobile account, electronic wallet or any other electronic channels; and shall include the ability of a payer to independently monitor and obtain electronic feedback on the status of any payment, at any time without depending on any third party, manual or semi-manual means.

“This means payment instructions and associated schedules are no longer to be transmitted to deposit money banks (DMBs)  by all public and private sector organisations through unsecured channels, such as paper- based mandates, flash drives, compact discs (CD), email attachments , etc.

While nationwide commencement date of  end-to-end e-payment of salaries, pensions, suppliers and taxes is January 9, 2014, compliance monitoring and  enforcement  will be in stages. This is to give enough time to all stakeholders to make necessary adjustments as may be required. Compliance monitoring and enforcement by CBN shall be according to the schedule below.

According to the apex bank all salaries, pensions, suppliers and taxes should be through end-to-end electronic payment.

The guidelines stated that banks are expected to:  promote the adoption of end-to-end electronic payments by all stakeholders covered by the guidelines;  provide paying organisations and beneficiaries with e-payment enabled bank accounts or any other approved electronic channel that promotes financial inclusion; process electronic payment instructions in accordance with subsisting payments system and clearing house rules;  publish customer service contact details and maintain customer service desks in all branches, to promptly attend to all electronic payment enquiries and challenges within stipulated timelines; and   maintain and make available to the Bank, on a periodic basis, report of all electronic payment transactions processed and report of customer complaints, indicating resolution status.

Fake Prophet Arrested In Lagos

A man named Chuks Samson Obasi, who for many months paraded himself as Dr. Chris Okafor, the General Overseer of Mountain of Liberation & Miracle Ministry, (Liberation City) has been arrested.

The 33year old fake pastor was arrested on Sunday March 9th by Liberation City security operatives, who had been getting complaints from several victims of Mr Obasi. He was nabbed and handed over to the police when he came to the church to collect money from another victim not knowing it was a trap. Continue to see something a church member wrote about the arrest..

The hunt for this fake prophet began when the church realized that some church members were making comments that a man came calling that he is the founder of Liberation City that if they want him to go to their village that they must be ready to give certain amount of money depending on their cases, since then the church has continued to monitor the activities of this evil man, but his cup got filled on a fateful Sunday as he was in church for the first service, at the second service the man of God located a lady called Juliet and the man of God warned Juliet to be wary of fake prophet that is about to defraud her, immediately the lady said one Obasi was in church for the first service that it was the GO that directed that she should follow him (Chuks Obasi) to the mountain for special family deliverance, the contact of the fake prophet was collected and contacted by the church security operatives. The security operatives contacted him in disguise as if they were the lady he was asked to come to makodo to collect the 20,000 agreed with the lady for the deliverance, unknown to him they were security operatives, he came and he was apprehended. While interrogating Chuks Obasi on where he was ordained as a man of God, he said his mother told him he is a special being that God want to use him, that is why he took to this job, he confessed that he is only doing the job to make ends meet and sustain his family, he also said he has duped lots of people pretending to be a popular man of God, he confessed that if the country is good he would not have been doing such hideous acts. Items discovered in his bag are two bottle of anointing oil, bottle of crude oil, various I.D cards, picture of his clients with various letters behind them, his phone which has pictures of him in the beer parlor drinking beer, though he confessed that he is an addicted drunkard, he has since been handed over to the police post at Adogboluja, Ojodu Abiodun, Ogun State

Military shut down telecommunication service in Borno State,,,No Service

The Nigerian military yesterday shut down all telecommunication services in Borno state as it takes on Boko Haram activities. Residents in the state woke up yesterday to a "No Service" signal on their phones.

Confirming the shutdown, spokesman of the 7-Division of the Nigeria Army, Muhammed Dole said its a military move necessary under the present circumstance.

"We all know the inconveniences that this might have brought, but it is a necessary and temporary measure that will not take long time” Dobe said.

He said its a sacrifice everyone including the residents have to make in the fight against Boko Haram

Adeyeye alleges plans to manipulate voters’ registration

ADO EKITI—A governorship aspirant on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, in Ekiti State, Prince Adedayo Adeyeye, has raised the alarm that the leadership of the  ruling All Progressives Congress have finalised arrangements to bring in people from the neighboring states of Ondo, Osun Kwara ,Ogun and Lagos for the ongoing continuous registration of voters in the state.

He, therefore, charged the leadership of the PDP to be alert and vigilant,urging them to query the presence of strange people in their midst
Adeyeye equally cautioned against picking any of the 16 gubernatorial aspirants who according to him do not have high support base in the state as the party’s flag bearer.

Court Orders Arrest Of Edo Deputy Police Commissioner

An Edo State High Court sitting in Benin, has ordered the state Commissioner of Police, Mr. Funsho Adebanjo to arrest the state Deputy Commissioner of Police in charge of Criminal Investigation Department, CID, Mr. Joshua Ibine, for allegedly releasing accused persons on bail, while their application for bail was pending before the court.

The Deputy Commissioner of Police was also alleged to have flouted the order of the court to produce the accused persons in court when the matter came up for hearing, yesterday.

The accused persons, Osas Osawe, Peter Aruyinmwen, Stephen Osabuohien, Godwin Igbinijesu, Ogbegie Michael, Osaigbovo Ehigiamusoe, Joseph Igbinijesu and others at large, were alleged to have conspired among themselves to demolish buildings of the traditional ruler of Evboewedo (Enogie Osarenogowu Onaghise), and other houses through rioting on November 19, 2012.

They are facing an 18- count charge of conspiracy to commit felony, contrary to and punishable under section 516 A of the Criminal Code Act Cap. C38 of the Laws of the Federation 2004, as applicable in Edo State.

Trial judge, Justice J. Oyomire, who gave the order after hearing prosecuting counsel, said: “In view of the refusal, failure and or neglect of the Deputy Commissioner of Police in charge of State Criminal Investigation Department, Benin City, who released the accused persons on bail while their bail pending trial by the defence counsel is still pending and yet to be argued in this court to produce the accused persons in court as ordered on 7/2/2014.

“It is ordered and I hereby order the Commissioner of Police, Edo State, to arrest the Deputy Commissioner of Police in charge of State Investigation Department.”

The judge ordered that upon arrest, the Deputy Commissioner of Police should be brought to his court to explain to the court’s satisfaction, why contempt proceedings should not be brought against him.

“He is to explain where he derived the authority to release the accused persons, whose case is still pending before this court without any consent or authorisation of this court and for his failure to produce the accused persons in court as ordered,” the judge said.

Vanguard

Nigeria's newly appointed Defense minister resigns

 

Lol, Wahala!  The newly appointed minister of defense, Mr. Aliyu Gusau has resigned after some top military officers disrespected him.

According to Saharareporters,

Mr. Gusau’s sudden decision to quit President Goodluck Jonathan’s cabinet arose from what the former minister considered an act of insubordination and indiscipline from Nigeria’s top military brass.
Several sources at the Defense Ministry told SaharaReporters that Nigeria’s top military officers yesterday refused to have a joint meeting with Mr. Gusau and his deputy, Musikilu Obanikoro, a former senator.

Sources at the ministry told SaharaReporters that Nigeria’s top military henchmen kept Mr. Gusau waiting for two days after he summoned them to a meeting, with different military service chiefs making excuses for their inability to meet with him and his deputy immediately. Finally, the situation turned testy yesterday when, after keeping Mr. Gusau and Mr. Obanikoro waiting for several hours, the Chief of Defense Staff, Air Marshal Alex Badeh, showed up alone for a meeting.

“When Air Marshal Badeh showed up, the Minister of Defense told him he was expecting all the chiefs of staff within the military, but Badeh reportedly told him there was no need,” said one source at the ministry. Our sources added that Badeh also told Mr. Gusau that he alone would be meeting with the minister as the Chief of Defense Staff (CDS), stating that this arrangement was the collective decision of military officers in the country.

One source said an attempt by the junior minister of defense, Mr. Obanikoro, to intervene was rudely brushed aside as Badeh asked him to “shut up.” “Air Marshal Badeh is said to have called Senator Obanikoro a ‘small boy’ and warned him that the military was not going to be taking orders anymore from bloody civilians like him,” one source stated.

Soon after the altercation, General Gusau (rtd) reportedly ended the meeting and asked the Permanent Secretary in the ministry to transmit his letter of resignation to President Goodluck Jonathan.

SaharaReporters learnt that Mr. Jonathan, who was rattled by the development, immediately charged Senate President David Mark with the task of prevailing on Mr. Gusau to rescind his resignation. The president reportedly promised to see that the issue was resolved expeditiously.

However, a source stated that Mr. Gusau remained infuriated and refused to back away from his decision to leave the cabinet. Late last night, President Jonathan paid a visit to Mr. Gusau’s home in Abuja in a last-ditch effort to persuade him to stay at his ministerial job, but Mr. Gusau refused to see the president.
Mr. Gusau kept away from today’s session of the Federal Executive Council, a weekly meeting of all ministers with the president. He reportedly told aides that he could not serve in a situation where military officers would show open disdain for their civilian leaders and him an experienced retired military man.
SaharaReporters contacted Mr. Obanikoro who admitted obliquely that there was what he termed a “slight disagreement,” but added that there was nothing serious.
An aide to Senator David Mark told SaharaReporters that Mr. Gusau had sent his letter of resignation to the Senate, which confirmed him after his nomination. The source added, however, that Mr. Mark had refused to have the resignation letter read because the senator was still hopeful of convincing Mr. Gusau to remain at his post.