Governors dare bombs to attend APC talks in Borno

It was an exciting scene yesterday in Maiduguri, the beleaguered capital of Borno State.
Nine governors and one deputy (Zamfara’s Abubakar Aliyu) walked freely in a market waving at crowds who hailed them – apparently for their bravery and solidiarity.
Borno State is the epicentre of the Boko Haram insurgency.

The governors of the parties in the newly formed All Progressives Congress (APC) were in the city for their third meeting.

They unfolded plans to begin a national campaign for the APC to mobilise Nigerians for change. Besides, they donated N200million to the victims of the Boko Haram crisis.
The governors said they chose Maiduguri to prove a point that “there should not be a no-go area for any Nigerian leader”.

President Goodluck Jonathan has not visited Borno State since the insurgency, which has claimed several lives, began in 2009. Vice President Namadi Sambo was there recently.
The meeting climaxed with visits to the Monday Market, which is the biggest in the state capital, and the Government College , Maiduguri .
The meeting was attended by governors of Borno, Lagos , Ekiti, Nassarawa, Imo,Ogun, Osun, Edo and the deputy governor of Yobe State.
Although Zamfara State Governor missed the plenary, he was part of the visits to the market and the college.

Osun State Governor Rauf Aregbesola, who read a communiqué after the meeting, said the meeting had demonstrated the position of APC that “there shouldn’t be a no-go-area for any leader that means well for his people.”
As the governors’ meeting was going on, there were reports of explosions in Customs and Bolori-Baga road in the city.
The communiqué read by Aregbesola said: “Rising from our meeting held in Maiduguri on 28 February 2013 and attended by the governors of Borno, Edo, Ekiti, Imo, Lagos, Nasarawa, Ogun, Osun, and Yobe and apologies from governors of Zamfara and Oyo States.
“The Forum reiterated our irrevocable commitment to the emergence of the new party, All Progressive Congress (APC). In solidarity with the Government and people of Borno and Yobe States, we are pleased to witness an upsurge of tranquility and happy that the situation has calmed down considerably in Maiduguri .

“Contrary to the image of rampant violence that has been painted to the whole world, we have discovered the people going about their businesses without let or hindrance. We wish to commend the efforts of our brother-Governors in the two (2) states (including Yobe) and the security agencies for the restoration of peace and stability.

“We also sympathise with the families of those who lost their lives and properties and wish to donate a sum of N200m to the two States Government for emergency relief and support.
“We wish to commend the Central Merger Committee of the APC on the progress so far made in the establishment of the new party, particularly the recent inauguration of three major committees on Constitutions, Manifesto and Legal/INEC Compliance.
“Finally, we wish to inform Nigerians that we shall soon embark on a National outreach and sensitisation activities and we call on all Nigerians to support our effort to rescue our country from a visionless leadership.

The governors sang solidarity songs to reaffirm their political struggles.
Governor Adams Oshiomhole of Edo State explained that they were making individual contributions to help Borno and Yobe states to share in their pains and support their governments that are bearing so much burden, dealing with the crisis.

Aregbesola explained why the governors chose Maiduguri for the meeting.
He said they wanted to share in the pains of the people and prove that leadership is about courage and decisiveness.
He said: “There shouldn’t be a no-go-area for any leader that means well for his people.” Aregbesola said Maiduguri was “painted as a no-go-area, but they (the governors) have confirmed that things are different from what they are meant to look like.
Governor Rochas Okorocha praised Governor Shettima’s transformation efforts in Borno State.

THE NATION

Explosions rock Maiduguri as Jonathan plans visits

MAIDUGURI — Six persons were, yesterday, feared dead as four major explosions rocked Maiduguri, the Borno State capital.

This came as nine governors in the All Progressive Congress, APC, gathered in the troubled city to push the merger plans of the country’s leading opposition political parties.
Several others were injured in the explosions and are receiving treatment.
The governors in a communiqué vowed that they would rescue Nigeria from what they described as a visionless leadership.

The explosions occurred simultaneously on Baga road, Customs and Gamboru areas at about 3p.m, while a fourth exploded at London Ciki at about 6p.m.
A top security source regretted the incident, claiming that the state administration may have triggered the incident through the invitation of the APC governors to the state as he said intelligence reports had advised against the meeting.

Six feared dead

An unconfirmed report from a hospital source said six dead bodies including security operatives and civilians were brought to the mortuary of the University of Maiduguri Teaching Hospital, while those who sustained injuries were admitted for treatment.
The Commissioner of Police, Mr. Yuguda Abdullahi, however, claimed knowledge of only one blast, saying he personally visited that site. He declined comment on the number of casualties.
Spokesman of the Joint Task Force, JTF Lieutenant Colonel Sagir Musa could not be reached for comments.
The governors were, nevertheless, undeterred in pledging their solidarity with the people of BornoState and together donated N200 million to Borno and YobeStates, the two opposition party held states that are at the centre of the Boko Haram insurgency.

Jonathan to visit  Borno

Meantime, the bond of solidarity from the APC governors is coming ahead of the expected visit of President Goodluck Jonathan to the troubled city. The president who has not visited Borno State since the insurgency got to troubling levels is expected to visit the state within the next two weeks.
Eight governors and one deputy governor from the four parties forming the APC were present at yesterday’s strategic meeting that lasted about four hours. It was reportedly focussed on how to properly position the emerging party in the polity.

Roll call

Present at the meeting were Governors Rochas Okorocha (APGA Imo), Kayode Fayemi (ACN Ekiti), Babatunde Fashola (ACN Lagos), Umaru Tanko Al-Makura (CPC Nasarawa), Ibikunle Amosun (ACN Ogun).
Also present were Governor Rauf Aregbesola (ACN Osun), Deputy Governor of Yobe, Abubakar Aliyu (ANPP), and the host,Governor Kashim Shettima. Governors Abiola Ajimobi of Oyo and Abdulaziz Yari of Zamfara were among the opposition party governors absent at the meeting. They, however, sent messages of solidarity.

…donate N200m  to Borno, Yobe

Reading a communiqué to newsmen after the meeting, Governor Aregbesola said the APC governors had collectively donated N200 million to Borno and Yobe State governments for emergency relief and support in the light of the Boko Haram insurgency affecting the two states.
Despite the explosions of yesterday, the APC governors also noted the relative lull in the insurgency in Maiduguri and, therefore, offered solidarity to the governments and people of Borno and Yobe states.

The communiqué

“The Forum reiterated our irrevocable commitment to the emergence of the new party, All Progressive Congress (APC).
“In solidarity with the government and people of Borno and Yobe states, we are pleased to witness an upsurge of tranquility and happy that the situation has calmed down considerably in Maiduguri, contrary to the image of rampant violence that has been painted to the whole world. We have discovered the people are going about their businesses without hindrance. We wish to commend the efforts of our brother-governors in the two states and the security agencies for the restoration of peace and stability.
“We also sympathize with the families of those who lost their lives and property and wish to donate N200 million to Borno and Yobe governments for emergency relief and support.
“We wish to commend the Central Merger Committee of the APC on the progress so far made in the establishment of the new party, particularly the recent inauguration of three major committees on constitution, manifesto and legal/INEC compliance.
“Finally,  we wish to inform Nigerians that we shall soon embark on a national outreach and sensitization activities and we call on Nigerians to support our effort to rescue the country from a visionless leadership.”

IBB backs merger of political parties

Meanwhile, former military  president, General Ibrahim Babangida (rtd) has said that the merger of some  political parties was a welcome development in our political system as it would serve as a strong opposition to the ruling Peoples Democratic Party, PDP.
Answering questions from newsmen at his hill top mansion, Minna, Niger State, the former military president said as a strong advocate of two political parties for the country, the emerging scenario would surely vindicate him on his stand for  two political party system which he said was the only way out for the country politically.

Two-party system best for the country

He said: “I have been a very good advocate of two party system for the country since I was the president. When I said we need only two parties some years back, they said I am a soldier and I should shut up but now, many are seeing relevance in my agitation.
“I am happy with the merger talk that is going on. It is a welcome political development in our political experience and if it succeeds, it will surely vindicate me and move the country on politically.”
The former military president who took a swipe at the nation’s political leadership so far said most politicians in the country were concerned about the votes they garnered from the electorate during elections but have failed to serve them more appropriately after wining the elections.

...berates political leadership

He noted: “It is unfortunate that the political elite have failed to enlighten the ordinary man and carry them along. Nobody is talking about educating the ordinary man because they are only interested in their votes and soon forget them after getting to power.
“The only thing we are busy doing is wasting our energy in fighting over who becomes the chairman of this or that and until we carry the people along and serve them diligently, we will have a long way to go in this country.”
On whether he was comfortable with the comments of former American president, Bill Clinton, accusing the Federal Government of mismanaging the country’s  resources, the former president said it was what the foreigners read from the home-based journalists that they rely and comment on.
“You don’t need a foreigner to tell you this. You write it yourself and they read it and so, what is the problem with the comment. I am comfortable with the comment,”  Babangida said.

Vanguard

PRESS RELEASE: Abia govt say no revoking of OUK's contract

The chief press secretary to Abia state governor, Ugochukwu Emezue has described as untrue allegation  by the former governor of the state, Uzor Kalu that chief TA Orji wants to revoke his degree certificate.

In a statement in Umuahia, Mr. Emezue stated that the former governor is not a graduate of Abia state university as investigations have revealed.

According to Mr. Emezue,there was a petition against the former governor alleging that he was not properly admitted into ABSU not to talk of graduating.
The petitioner claimed that Kalu armtwisted the school authorities to admit him while he was the governor following public outcry then that the state governor was not a graduate.
The petitioner also claimed that Kalu as the governor only came to school for two semesters.
Following this allegations, the senate set up a panel which found out that the transcript  Kalu sent to ABSU from the university of Maiduguri did not bear the letter head of that institution.

Secondly, Kalu did not matriculate according to the rules and guidelines of the institution  which makes it mandatory for a student to matriculate having dropped out from another university.

Thirdly,Kalu only came to school for two semesters  and never graduated.
The chief press secretary stated that ab initio Kalu was not  a graduate of the institution  and the allegation of revoking his degree certificate  is neither here nor there.
Mr. Emezue stated that Kalu knows fully that he is not a graduate of ABSU.
He advised the former governor to go to court  to challenge the outcome of the panel’s report if he so desires.

The chief press secretary declared that the university authorities have the right to investigate certificate racketeering  when the need arises.
He called on Kalu to leave chief TA Orji out of his certificate scandal.

"CHIEF TONY ANENIH IS EXACTLY WHAT PDP NEEDS NOW" - OUK (Can he be serious?)

A former governor of Abia State and founding member of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Dr Orji Uzor Kalu, has hailed the emergence of Chief Tony Anenih as the chairman, Board of Trustees of the party. In a statement he signed on Tuesday, Kalu described Anenih as a political emeritus, whose contributions to the party as the BOT chairman would be innumerable and immeasurable.

Kalu’s words: “I could not have expected a better decision at anytime other than now.” And speaking on Anenih’s abilities he said: “Over the years, you (Anenih) have come to be known as Mr Fix it. This is not because you rigged elections or engaged in other sharp practices. You have simply been able to fix things because of your openness, accommodation of all shades of opinion, willingness to bend over backwards in extreme situations and courage to speak truth to power.

“Please carry on in this spirit, as this is what is required at this period of great political turbulence… A man of your capacity is needed by the PDP now to move into the 2015 elections and come out of it successfully and unscathed.”

Boko Haram releases video of French family kidnapped in Cameroon

 

The French family was kidnapped by the Nigerian terror group.

Islamist extremist group, Boko Haram, has released a video showing the French family kidnapped in Cameroon, near the border with Nigeria.
The three minutes, 26 seconds video, posted on YouTube on Monday, shows the seven members of the Moulin Fournier family, kidnapped on February 19.

The video shows three adult members of the family-two men and one woman; and four children sitting between two armed men, masked, and in military fatigue, and a third who acted as the group spokesperson.
The spokesperson confirmed they belong to the Jama’a Ahl al-Sunnah lil Da’wa wal Jihad, better known as Boko Haram.
He accused France of waging war on Islam, and said the condition for releasing their hostages was for the Nigerian government to release all female jihadists imprisoned, while the Cameroonian government releases their male counterparts.
“Finally, I say to you, fulfill all of these things, and if you leave one thing from them we will slaughter those we took, we will slaughter those we took,” the spokesperson threatened at the end of the video.
The release comes a day after a faction of the group told journalists in Nigeria they were pushing for a ceasefire and that the leader of the group, Abubakar Shekau, was in support of dialogue with the government.
French President, François Hollande, had mentioned Boko Haram as the kidnappers of the hostages. French and Cameroonian authorities also said the hostages were later taken to Nigeria after their kidnap in Cameroon.

Premium Times

Orji Uzor Kalu rejected by APC

Former Abia Gov Uzor Kalu received what could be described as the shock of his life recently in Abuja as he was rejected by members of the APC , being promoted by Buhari and Tinubu. We learnt that Kalu who has been struggling to join the PDP recently without success, wants to join the new emerging party, but he is meeting a strong wall.

This news online learnt that APC members see kalu as not only a political leper but a liability. According to one of the key players in APC who is a former head of state, any attempt to allow kalu in the party will be resistedstrongly. For him kalu has no political value. He directed kalu to remain In PPA.

He further described kalu as a loose cannon who may be a pain in their neck if allowed. Our crew gathered that kalu right now is confused as he is neither accepted by PDP or APC. He is considering staying back in PPA since he has been rejected by these parties.

Thai couple win World’s Longest Continuous Kiss

  

Thai couple Ekkachai (R) and Laksana Tiranarat (L) kiss in a competition for the “World’s Longest Continuous Kiss” during Valentine’s Day in Pattaya resort on February 14, 2013. Ekkachai and Laksana make the new World’s Longest Continuous Kiss at 58 hours 35 minutes 58 seconds.

 

BANGKOK (AFP) – A kiss lasting nearly two-and-a-half days propelled one determined Thai couple to a new record for the world’s longest smooch on Valentine’s Day, organisers said Friday.
Hospital security guard Ekkachai Tiranarat, 44, and 33-year-old housewife Laksana locked lips for 58 hours, 35 minutes and 58 seconds, smashing last year’s Guinness World Record by more than eight hours.

The romance of the clinch may have been marred by competition rules requiring contestants to remain on their feet throughout, slurp food and liquids through a straw and even go to the toilet while continuing to press their lips together.
“They were very exhausted because they did not sleep for two-and-a-half days, they had to stand all the time so they were very weak,” Sompron Naksuetrong, vice president of event organiser Ripley’s Believe It or Not!, told AFP.

The “kissathon” ended shortly before midnight on Valentine’s Day, with the male couple who won last year unable to maintain their smooch, collapsing just two minutes before Ekkachai and Laksana.
The pair won 100,000 baht ($3,300) cash and two diamond rings.
Organisers said they did not plan to hold another competition next year after three straight years of bettering the record in Thailand and will wait for a challenge in another country.

My fiance poured hot stew on me – Woman

 

A 27-year-old woman, Mary Sunday, has been in the hospital bed at Igbobi Orthopaedic Hospital seven months after she was allegedly attacked by her fiancé, Corporal Isaac Gbanwuan, with a pot of boiling stew and a lighted stove.

It was learnt that Sunday had lost her ears due to the attack.
Before the attack, which took place in August 2012, Sunday, was to report for training at the Police Academy, Kano as a cadet officer.
Still nursing severe burns to  her neck, chest and upper arms, Sunday can barely sit or walk straight. She holds her head stiffly and talks with difficulty as she recalled the events that led to her present state to PUNCH Metro on Wednesday.

She said, “I have known Gbanwuan for a while, while I was still a student at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, but it wasn’t until our marriage introduction in 2011 that I moved in with him at the Pedro Police Barracks, Lagos.
“On the day I was assaulted, Gbanwuan and I went to see our doctor. We had some health issues. While we were on our way back home, I made a phone call. Immediately we got home, Gbanwuan started querying me. He accused me of keeping lovers and claimed the person I called was my lover.
“I tried to explain to him that it was my sister I called, but Gbanwuam was not listening. He began to beat me,” Sunday said.

Unable to take it any more, Sunday said she ran into the kitchen of a neighbour with Gbanwuan giving pursuit. He allegedly broke into the kitchen where he continued to assault Sunday.
She said, “Then to the horror of those who tried to intervene, Gbanwuan seized his neighbour’s cooking stove on which was a pot of boiling stew, emptying the entire contents on me.
“I don’t know for how long I was unconscious but I was later told that I was in a coma for seven days. I learnt the stove also exploded after Gbanwuan threw it with the boiling soup at me.
“I was first rushed to a private hospital at Bariga before I was eventually transferred to Igbobi hospital.

“I couldn’t tell my family for a while because I could not use my hands; they were sort of stuck to my chest. It was after much treatment, that I was able to use my hands and call my family.”
Sunday’s lawyer, Mr. Moses Kassim, told PUNCH Metro that a petition had already been sent to the Police Provost Office and the Commissioner of Police.
He said, “We have still not received any response from either of them. Gbanwuan is yet to be arrested despite the fact that Sunday’s family reported the case at the Pedro Police Division.
“While Sunday is confined to a hospital bed, Gbanwuan is still at his duty post at the Ebutte Ero division, showing no concern for her condition.”
Copies of the acknowledged petition received by the Provost Office and Commissioner of Police were dated January 17, 2013.

When PUNCH Metro contacted Gbanwaun, he denied causing any harm to his fiancée.
He said, “What Sunday has told you are all lies. She has been going about saying all sorts of things about me.
“That is how she wrote a petition through her lawyer to the Lagos State Police Command. Anyway, the matter is already being investigated by the command.”
When our correspondent  sought his opinion on how Sunday got her injury that had kept her in the hospital, the policeman said, “I don’t know what to tell you. Like I said, the matter is being investigated.
The Lagos Deputy Police Public Relations Officer, DSP Damascus Ozoani, said he was yet to be fully briefed on the issue.
He said, “I don’t have all the facts right now. Let me investigate and I will respond to the story.”
But Sunday said she was more concerned with getting well.
She said, “All I want is the money to treat myself. My doctors are afraid to tell me how much because they don’t want me to be worried, but I have overhead them discussing several times.
“There is a deep wound in my chest which has to be treated and then my neck has to be operated on because it has been stiff since the incident and then there is the matter of my upper arms.
“The doctor, who attended to me at the first hospital I went to in Bariga, told me that I would have to go to India to have my ears reconstructed because they melted. He said I would need N5m.
“Gbanwaun’s family has abandoned me. They did so immediately my family reported the matter to the police. My mother is dead and my father is aged. Coping with my daily treatment here is a struggle for my siblings.”

THE PUNCH

Abia: A continuous drumbeat on investment

We are stepping up the disclosure of investment potentials located in all the nooks and crannies of Abia State. To that effect, we will not consider any propagation as having constituted enough sensitisation. Our strength also derives from the exhilarating output trailing our input in making Abia investors’ destination.

Our convincing submission is that the convivial and investor-friendly atmosphere being consummated in the state must be optimally utilised to make Abia economically eventful. My passion for this drive would not let me direct comprehensive attention to other issues of similar importance until Abia is overwhelmed with qualitative and result-oriented gridlock in investment traffic. This, therefore, is by extension a complementary piece on similar efforts powered to advocate our passion for a huge manifest presence of varied blue-chip investors.

The receptive latitude for the attainment of this people-oriented feat was heralded with a dispatch implementation of “one-stop shop”, a gateway designed to weed out bottlenecks and time-consuming red-tapism symptomatic of our bureaucratically designed public offices. A rewarding feedback from the intellectually packaged first economic summit convened in Abia State, one-stop shop has proven to be a potent tool in galvanising the good intentions of government. Consequently, we have at incredible record time sealed the paperwork to mutually beneficial business relationships.

We are always in a hurry to flaunt our initial breakthrough in government-private sector synergy powered by Me-Cure Health Services of India. This is particularly so because it identified with us during our desert experience occasioned by the audacious menace of insecurity and other unwholesome activities which stood on the way of government’s good intentions.

Me-Cure-Government collaboration drives home the point that where there is a will, there will always be a way. I have never ceased to grin in gratitude to God and in deserved sense of satisfaction recalling that Abia State Specialist Hospital and Diagnostic Centre has attained the elevated status of clinically dealing with complicated referral cases from neighbouring states and even beyond. The specialist hospital is strategically the high-point of a small beginning located in government’s resilience to build over 250 health centres across the length and breadth of Abia State in liaison with the Millennium Development Goals.

It is our firm belief that the Federal Government of Nigeria will expedite action on the official endorsement of Alkamali-driven mass-employing greenfield refinery certified for location at the oil neighbourhood of Owaza in Ukwa-West Local Government Area. The mass-employing capacity of this venture will significantly depopulate the unemployment market in the state. We honestly cannot wait to consummate this reality. Government had earlier battled with the faulty start of undermining the economic potentials prevalent in rubber extraction, until a leading figure brought Imoni-Yame Holdings Limited into the rubber potential of Abia State. With an enviable track record spanning over eight years, Abia will hopefully leverage on Imoni-Yame’s wealth of professional experience in the management of Abia State Rubber Plantation currently adorning the massive stretch of Abam in Arochukwu Local Government Area for the wellbeing of Abians.

Before now, it would have been practically impossible to say that South African giants in chain stores, Shoprite, will come anywhere close to Abia, let alone deploying to site for their ongoing state-of-the-art shopping centre. This is one awe-inspiring reality that ceaselessly compels me to appreciate and shudder at how much we can create legacies and leave gigantic footprints in the sands of time if we are genuinely drawn to the wellbeing of our people as our mandate. It is in the same vein that a gateway was extended to Protea Hotels, also from South Africa, for the injection of life into the comatose Abia Hotels Limited. This calculation will further raise the bar in the already vibrant hospitality arena of the state capital, which will leverage on the gains projected to come from the huge reality of the International Conference Centre, Abia State.

The dilemma of when enough private broadcast stations will pitch tent in the state had always bothered us until the recent hand of friendship extended to Multi-Mesh Communications Limited yielded the desired result. Love FM, on the stable of Multi-Mesh, is already broadcasting from the state capital and its entry is evidently redefining radio and television programming in the state.

As earlier on highlighted somewhere, this abridged index is a conscious effort designed to lend my voice to the glaring investment potentials inherent in Abia State and to reiterate government’s desire for a continuous streaming of this traffic, having established the obligatory convivial atmosphere.

We are, however, not done with the provision of platforms as our synergy with Geometric Power Limited is in itself another ambitious vision which will drive the eventual illumination of Aba, our commercial pride, for the revival of struggling small and medium enterprises. When the Geometric Independent Power Project is commissioned, Abia would have coasted to the victorious base of uninterruptible power supply.

We scarcely can talk about Abia without contrasting the frightening security situation of yesteryears with today’s caressing peace of what the state has become, constantly captured in the peaceful movement of persons and goods and the serenading songs of birds.

Abia State’s investment drum is designed to beat louder, hoping that other sectors like agriculture, tourism and solid minerals will become private sector-driven in a secured and mouth-watering return on investment that Abia has pledged to uphold. I sincerely hope local and foreign investors will continue to feast on this investment-friendly window.

BUSINESS DAY