The All Progressives Congress (APC) Women Leader in Katsina State, Hajia Halima Othman, has lauded President Bola Tinubu, for giving appointments to many indigenes of the state.
Hajia Othman, who stated this during a chat with The Nation in Katsina, described the President’s action as commendable.
Hajia Othman, a former Permanent Secretary in the state Ministry of Lands and Survey, said: ‘’Tinubu has been fair to Katsina people, especially to the female gender, he is moving in the right direction. Baba, we thank you.
’’Katsina People stood solidly behind the President during electioneering campaigns, I was a member of the women campaign team and we did our best to ensure the president emerged victorious.
‘’Like the proverbial Oliver Twist, Katsina women will continue to ask for more from our amiable President, he should do more for us, Katsina is not a small state.’’
The former education administrator further called on Katsina women to support girl-child education and ensure better health care practices.
The Catholic Diocese of Wukari in Taraba State has confirmed the kidnapping of one of its priests, Rev. Fr Thaddeus Tarhembe, in the early hours of yesterday at his parish.
The Communications Director of the diocese, Rev. Fr John Jerome Laikei, in a statement, also called for prayers for the safe release of the priest.
“I am directed by the Bishop of the Catholic Diocese of Wukari, Most Rev. Mark Nzukwein, to inform the public of the kidnap of one of our priests, Very Rev. Fr Thaddeus Tarhembe. The sad event occurred in the early hours of Sunday 29th October 2923 in the Rev. Father’s rectory of his parish.
“He is the Parish Priest of St Ann’s Parish, Sarkin Kudu in Ibi Local Government Area of Taraba State.
“We solicit for prayers from all people of good will for the safety and quick release by his abductors,” he stated.
Some members of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) from Abia State have called on the party to caution the Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Benjamin Kalu, over alleged anti-party activities.
The members on the platform of Progressives League of APC Youths Voters are asking President Bola Tinubu and the APC National Chairman, Dr. Abdullahi Umar Ganduje, to call Kalu in the interest of the party.
At a press conference in Abuja, National Coordinator of the group, Usman Shuaibu, said it had become an embarrassment that some leaders of the APC engage in anti-party activities, castigating the Minister of State for Labour and Employment, Nkeiruka Onyejeocha, who has given her all to ensure the victory of the party in the last general election in the state.
But the Chief Press Secretary (CPS) to the Deputy Speaker, House of Representatives, Levinus Nwabughiogu, denied the allegation.
Kalu said he shared a healthy relationship with the minister.
Addressing reporters, Shaibu said: “The most recent is the sponsored campaign of calumny against Hon. NKeiruka Onyejeocha who flew the party’s flag in Isuikwuato/Umunneochi Federal Constituency of Abia State in the February 25, National Assembly elections. She is the Minister of Labour and Employment (State).
“It is no longer news that Nkeiruka, who is our party’s flagbearer, was robbed of her victory by the Labour Party in Abia State, where they deployed unethical means during the Presidential and National Assembly elections against the APC. Recalled that some APC groups raised the alarm calling for the restoration of her mandate which she vigorously pursued at the tribunal and won.
“Since her victory at the tribunal, which is the ultimate triumph of APC in Abia State, some highly placed persons in the National Assembly have unleashed a campaign of calumny against her person using mushroom Organisations to blackmail Hon. NKeiruka Onyejeocha and the APC in a bid to bully her to abandon her victory at the Appeal Court.’’
“We make bold to say that we have identified the deputy speaker of the House of Representatives Mr. Benjamin Kalu, who sees the victory of the Minister as a political threat instead of a blessing as the sponsor of the blackmail against Hon. Nkeiruka Onyejeocha.
“Kalu has become so desperate that he has resorted to using the name and office of the President Tinubu to blackmail the Minister who is currently focused on her national assignments.
“Kalu has done everything possible to set even the Speaker of House Representatives, Tajudeen Abbas and other highly placed members of the party against her.
“Everytime he fails in his bid to raise dust where there is none, he deploys new evil machinations to bring Nkeiruka down.
“We are worried that, why should the victory of the APC and Hon Onyejeocha in Abia State become a nightmare for Benjamin Kalu? Is there something more to it that he is not telling the APC or his political associates?
“We know how some highly placed persons who are the major beneficiary of the APC worked against the party in the last Presidential elections in the guise of religion and tribal sentiment, thereby reducing the winning votes of our great Party.”
Warning against the implications of such a campaign against committed APC members, Shaibu said such will grow to affect the success of the party in the 2027 general elections.
“We recommend a disciplinary action against the deputy speaker, Mr Kalu and his accomplices to serve as a deterrent to others who may wish to indulge in such dangerous anti-party activity in the near future.
“We call on the National Chairman of our great party, Dr bdullahi Umar Ganduje, who is reconciling and repositioning the party for a better tomorrow to immediately call Mr. Benjamin Kalu to order before he destroys the party completely in Abia State.
“Kalu is not from Isuikwuato/Umunneochi Federal Constituency neither is he a member of the Labour Party. One wonders what is His problem with the victory of Nkeiruka and the APC. This has proven that some members of the party actually engaged in anti party activities to subdue the APC from being declared winner of the House of Representatives election in Abia State.
“We equally call on President Bola Tinubu to call the deputy speaker to order as the APC remains one united family, a united force that will lead us to victory in 2027.
“And if this campaign of calumny continues, we shall have no option than to occupy the National Assembly to demand the resignation of the deputy speaker, an action that would last until we achieve our demand. The APC belongs to all of us and we shall continue to maintain its supremacy.”
The candidate of Accord in the forthcoming Kogi State governorship election, Vice Admiral (rtd) Jibrin Usman, has described the passing of the Vice Chairman of Kogi Traditional Council and the Ohinoyi of Ebiraland Dr Ado Ibrahim, as “sad and painful” occurrence.
Jibrin, who made said this yesterday in a statement by his Youths Spokesperson, Comrade Samuel Danjuma, noted that he had a good relationship with the 94-year-old paramount king of Ebiraland who passed on in the early hours of yesterday in Abuja while undergoing treatment for an age-related illness.
The former Naval boss said he received the news of the death of the king with shock and sadness, but prayed that God grants the deceased eternal rest.
While sympathising with the bereaved family, Ebira land and the people of Kogi, the Accord flagbearer said: “Our hearts ache, and we share in the collective grief of our beloved Ebira people.”
Danjuma also said the Youth Wing of Accord condoled the family of the late king and the Ebira people of the state.
“We, the youth, stand in solemn solidarity with the Accord Governorship candidate, as he too grapples with the shock of this loss. In this trying time, we offer our deepest condolences and heartfelt prayers for the repose of the soul of our departed leader, ‘’ he said.
“We beseech the Almighty to grant strength and fortitude to the family, the good people of Ebira land, and our entire state as we navigate this painful chapter. Together, may we find the resilience to bear the weight of this great loss,” Danjuma said.
A lecturer at the Federal University of Technology (FUT) Minna, Dr Adefolalu Fumilola, has been murdered in her residence in Gbaiko area of Bosso in Minna, Niger State.
Adefolalu who is a Lecturer with the Department of Biochemistry, School of Life Sciences of the university was discovered dead in her house by her church members. The Nation gathered that worried about her absence in the church where she is a Pastor, the church members went to her house only to discover her in a pool of blood.It was learned that she said stab wounds and the knives used to stab her were found beside her.
An In Vitro Fertiliser (IVF) clinic, the Nordica Fertility Centre is set to introduce High-Intensity Focused Ultrasound (HIFU) to its clinic in Abuja, the first of its kind in the nation’s capital.
It has also re-echoed the need for the regulation of human organ donation and IVF practice in the country, while condemning the misconceptions being peddled against the IVF practice.
The Medical Director of the clinic, Dr Abayomi Ajayi, said the HIFU technology was deployed in Nordica’s Lagos clinic in July 2021 where 385 patients have been treated.
According to him, the HIFU technology, which is a minimally invasive medical procedure that uses ultrasound waves, would be deployed mainly to treat uterine fibroids without surgery.
Speaking with reporters in Abuja over the weekend, Ajayi said Nordica is the first and only IVF clinic in the West African sub-region that is deploying the HIFU technology to treat uterine fibroid without surgery which also comes very helpful for IVF patients with such conditions.
Ajayi said the introduction of HIFU in the nation’s capital was in furtherance of his commitment to provide solution alternatives and relief to people undergoing complicated and complex medical care.
He said the Centre is also using the extension of the technology to Abuja to mark the11th anniversary of Nordica Fertility Centre in Nigeria.
According to him, the HIFU technology would be launched in Abuja in the first quarter of next year.
Ajayi, who spoke on IVF, however, advocates knowledge of the medical procedure.
He said Nordica is embarking on a massive awareness campaign about IVF in Nigeria because of the lack of knowledge about the issue and the secrecy surrounding it.
He said the failure or success of IVF is a delicate issue that must be fully understood by intending patients and couples.
“We know that infertility is one of the toughest challenges couples can face.
“No matter how strong anyone is, it tests your relationships, it tests who you are, it tests your faith in God. And when you do the IVF treatment again it fails, it tests everything again. So it’s important to understand that patients are also prepared for this.
“We have gone beyond the days of whether IVF is possible in Nigeria, we know it is possible, we know we have thousands of babies through the process but the next step will now be how to make people understand that there’s a failure rate.
“This is because we have people who have seen couples whose marriages break down even after a successful process, which shows that not only practitioners but also the consumers that we are not paying enough attention to mental health to the effects on relationships,” he added.
While regretting the unsuccessful passage of a bill to IVF regulation at the National Assembly, Ajayi said the lack of knowledge of the issue, the reality of unscrupulous persons that might want to take advantage of it while putting the career and lives investments of the practitioners at jeopardy, has made it imperative to regulate the sector.
He, however, acknowledged the efforts of the Nigerian Medical Association (NMA), the Lagos State branch of the association, and others to see the laws birthed.
Several faceless groups masking themselves under fanciful nomenclatures have descended on the public space to discredit persons within the government of President Bola Tinubu they perceived as stumbling block to their own ambitions.
The latest of such group is one that calls itself The Nigerian Transparency Initiative For Good Governance which issued a statement over the weekend about alleged “ongoing corruption within Nigeria’s oil and gas sector.”
The group alleged that elements within the Federal Government, spearheaded by the Chief of Staff to the President, Femi Gbajabiamila, are “trying to undo some of the critical decisions taken by the previous administration…”
But it quickly gave itself away as the proxy voice of oil sector cabal when it alleged reversal of the appointment of pre-shipment inspectors and monitoring/evaluation agents for crude oil and gas exports under the Nigerian Export Supervision scheme. The group named seven agents said to have been approved by the previous administration and yell that any attempt to reverse the contracts would amount to economic sabotage.
It’s amusing that the same group acknowledged the important reforms the Tinubu administration had embarked upon and the president’s desire to safeguard the oil and gas industry. It also admitted the efforts of the administration to sanitise the oil sector, encourage investments and expand the infrastructures to accommodate growth and development necessary to pull back the nation’s economy from the brinks of precipice!
But it is laughable that one of the men behind the president’s renewed hope reforms can be labeled as a saboteur in a government he’s a key part of. It is not surprising that the chief of staff has also come under attack from vested interests and established criminal elements who would do anything to ensure the status quo remains.
The same elements have continued to wage war of attrition against the Group Managing Director of the NNPC, Malam Mele Kyari, and have demanded the president remove him from office. Now that they appeared to have failed in that project, they have turned on the chief of staff!
Gbajabiamila is the next target, no doubt. Several other Tinubu men have continued to be targets of vitriolic abuse for these nefarious groups fighting for a cabal that is losing grip. The Secretary to the Government of the Federation, George Akume, had also been vilified and described as sabotaging the government of Tinubu.
But Gbajabiamila’s travails is even more atrocious. He is said to have erected strong barricade against the Lagos Boys who see Tinubu as their own, and feel entitled to the villa. The word on the street is that Gbajabiamila is blocking everyone from getting access to the president. They obviously think he has such huge powers over the president that he can dictate to him who he sees.
Gbajabiamila himself must be familiar with the antics of people around the corridors of power who feel frustrated that they’re unable to wield enough influence for trading, and blames everyone else for their problems. It’s obvious that those one of the groups after Gbajabiamila are the Lagos Boys who feel entitled to Tinubu and are determined to cut down anyone blocking or seen to be blocking their path.
Others are political jobbers whose feel their expectations to land juicy appointments in the new administration quickly vanishing in light of the quality appointments the president has been making. Many of these people are the run of the mill politicians who see government appointments as opportunity for feathering their nests, and not for selfless service.
It’s obvious such people underrate President Tinubu’s innate ability for quality head hunting to feel leadership positions. Perhaps they need to be reminded to take another look at Lagos and the type of leadership Tinubu has offered the state. Or do they expect it to be different in Abuja?
Tinubu has started his administration like a man on a mission for urgent rescue. While there’s no doubt that President Tinubu is no longer the Jagaban of previous years due to age, anyone that has met him recently would no doubt attest to his undiminished political intelligence and the energy to deliver.
Gbajabiamila certainly earned a seat close to the President, and Tinubu alluded to this in the speech he gave after he was declared winner of the presidential election in February. While acknowledging party men and women who worked for his success, he looked at Gbajabiamila and said, “your sacrifices will not be forgotten.”
Tinubu knows the people he’s appointed into key positions. He’s not like some leaders who completely rely on others to choose for him. He has a fair idea about everyone before working with them. And for a man who has been at the centre of national politics for more than two decades, it’s almost an insult to warn him against his own people.
The so-called transparency group equally admitted that each time the government takes decisions to move the oil and gas sector forward, some vested interests would begin to create problems to frustrate government decisions and cripple the entire sector. This is certainly true, and it reinforces the argument that those forces had existed before Gbajabiamila became chief of staff, and so he cannot be the problem.
Anyone who has followed Gbajabiamila during his time as speaker of the House of Representatives knows how progressive a politician he is. And no one would know that better than President Tinubu who had supported Gbajabiamila’s political ascendancy.
AS speaker of the 9th House of Reps, he introduced discipline into the appropriations process by implementing a January to December budget cycle that ended the policy instability and economic uncertainty of the previous irregular budget cycles. He also encouraged debates of critical national issues on the floor of the House.
Amongst the achievement of the House under his leadership include the passage of the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA), the Deep Offshore and Inland Basin Production and Sharing Contracts Act; the Electoral Act Amendment, and the Police Act, among others.The House also passed the Police Act to change the nature of relations between the police and citizens in the country while ensuring that police officers who fell short of their responsibility could be quickly held accountable.
On a personal note, he intervened successfully several times to ensure NLC didn’t go on strike, or call off the strike. When talks broke down between Labour leaders and the federal government, he was always willing to ensure a truce and get the country working. Certainly, if there are vested interests in the presidential villa today, it is without doubt, a vested interest in the progress of Nigeria.
Residents of Kogi Central on Saturday trooped out massively, from all corners to declare total support for the governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) Usman Ododo.
They declared the district is a no-go area for opposition parties in the November 11 poll.
Indigenes said the kind of mammoth crowd that converged on Agassa Junction, Okene, in solidarity with the APC and its candidate, had not been witnessed before in the history of electioneering in the state.
According to them, the unprecedented crowd is a clear sign that Kogi Central will deliver, en bloc, for the ruling party in the election, which the state governor has reiterated will be free, fair and peaceful.
The various speakers, who spoke at what was described as the most attended rally in the history of the state, stressed that the massive turnout was an indication of the forthcoming resounding victory for the APC.
Addressing the excited supporters, mainly Ebira indigenes, the Minister of Steel Development and Director General, Kogi State APC Governorship Campaign Council, Shaibu Abubakar Audu, said: “This crowd gathered here today is unprecedented in the political history of Kogi State. In my years of following the politics of Kogi State, without mincing words, this is a game changer, a final nail on the aspiration of the opposition political parties in the State.
“The vision of Alhaji Usman Ahmed Ododo which has attracted this crowd is to provide agricultural revolution across the State, with massive crops produced across the senatorial district. We are here to pursue a Kogi agenda and not an ethnic agenda. The incoming administration will build on the legacies of Governor Yahaya Bello in massively providing infrastructure and empowerment for the people.
“The Federal Government under President Bola Ahmed Tinubu is interested in the revitalisation of the Ajaokuta Steel Plant. He has asked that Ajaokuta be declared an industrial park. The President is also interested in ensuring that the free trade scheme across Nigeria is reviewed so that Ajaokuta can be declared a free trade zone.”
“Once that is done, it would create massive jobs; 500,000 direct and indirect jobs will be created for our teeming youths. This is the reason the President is concerned and has said we cannot afford to outsource a critical State like Kogi State to a hostile opposition party. Kogi State will remain an APC State,” he declared.
Chief of Staff to the Governor, Mohammed Jamiu Asuku, said the people of Kogi Central had, by the mammoth crowd, testified to the great achievements of Governor Bello.
“This crowd is a testimony that indeed Governor Yahaya Bello has done more than enough for the people of the State. The mammoth crowd is a testimony that indeed the APC has chosen an acceptable candidate. The people of Kogi Central have, by today’s turnout, resolved to vote massively for Alhaji Usman Ahmed Ododo and Comr. Salifu Joel,” he said.
One of the key stakeholders of Kogi East Senatorial District, Hajia Halima Alfa, commended Governor Yahaya Bello for bringing a new dimension of politics to the State, and described the Governor as a prophet well respected at home.
“I have never seen this kind of crowd in Kogi State in my entire political life, since I started attending rallies in 1999. Kogi Central is no doubt APC. History will no doubt be made come November 11, as the district will produce the highest vote for the APC,” she declared.
Mohamed Idris, son of former Governor of Kogi State, Ibrahim Idris, who publicly declared his support for the APC candidate, urged the people of Kogi Central, and the State at large, to follow the man and party that know the road, insisting that there was no vacancy in Lugard House for opposition political parties.
Governor Yahaya Bello, who was visibly elated by the unprecedented turnout, described the sea of heads at the rally and the acceptance displayed as a show of love for the APC and appreciation of the party’s achievements under his watch.
He thanked President Bola Tinubu for his quality leadership, and for his unflinching support for Kogi State, adding that the party in the State would not disappoint the President and would win, landslide, in the coming election.
He said: “This unprecedented crowd is an indication that the APC has won. We have no opposition in Kogi Central and in Kogi State. We did it before, we will do it again come November 11. As an administration, we have done our best by uniting the people of the State. We met, on assumption of office, fault lines of disunity, ethnicity and injustice. But under our administration, we have been able to mend all the fault lines and Kogi State is now united.
“We have created employment. We built infrastructure. We empowered our women and youth like never before under any administration in the State since creation. We have made fairness, equity, justice our priority.”
“I can assure you that we are leaving Kogi State better than we met it for the incoming administration. Alhaji Usman Ahmed Ododo is a capable hand. He is competence personified. Let’s support him to build on the legacies we have created,” Governor Bello urged.
He assured the people that the elections would be violence-free, noting that the APC Governorship Candidate was not coming to learn on the job, not promoting ethnic agenda, and would hit the ground running with visible results in terms of building on the achievements of his administration.
He called on security agencies to continue the good job they had been doing in the state and clamp down on criminals before, during and after the elections.
The APC Governorship Candidate, Usman Ododo, expressed the confidence that Kogi would remain an APC State after the November 11 governorship election.
“I will continue to deliver on the mandate of our party for the development of Kogi State and the wellbeing of our good people. We are serious about meeting the yearnings and aspirations of our people. We have been doing that under my mentor, Governor Yahaya Bello, and we will continue to do so,” he said.
Highlights of the rally was massive defection of members of the SDP, PDP and other political parties to the APC.
The Abuja Division of the Court of Appeal has fixed Monday October 30 for judgment on the appeal filed by Comrade Daniel Onjeh, the All Progressives Congress (APC) senatorial candidate for Benue South, challenging the declaration of Sen. Abba Moro of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) as winner of the last senatorial election.
This was according to the official information transmitted to the legal counsels of the parties involved in the case, by the three-man panel of the Court of Appeal comprising Justices A. O. Otisi; O. Obaseki and A. M. Lamido.
The Court earlier heard Onjeh’s appeal on Monday, 16th October, 2023 following which all the Briefs or Argument were adopted and the matter reserved for judgment.
Onjeh is asking the Court of Appeal to declare him the winner of the contest on the ground that the first respondent, Sen. Moro, was not qualified to contest the election, having presented a forged birth certificate to INEC.
He is also challenging the outcome of the election on the grounds of non-compliance with the Electoral Act 2022 (As Amended), amongst other irregularities.
He asked the court to declare all the votes allotted to Sen. Moro in the election as wasted votes and to declare him – the first runner up – the true winner of the election.
Onjeh argued that if the court cancels all the unlawful votes allotted to Sen. Moro at the last Benue South senatorial election occasioned by alleged noncompliance and irregularities and re-tabulates the results of the election, he, and not Sen. Moro, would have polled the highest number of valid votes in the election.
The troops of Sector 2 Operation Hadin Kai in the North East of Yobe State, has made significant progress in countering Boko Haram activities.
During a fighting patrol in Babangida, Tarmuwa Local Government, the troops ambushed and eliminated four terrorists.
This operation was conducted in response to intelligence reports indicating the presence of suspected terrorists in the Bajingo general area of Tarmuwa.
At Kurnawa, troops engaged the terrorists, resulting in the death of four insurgents.
The soldiers also recovered an AK-47 rifle and two motorcycles, among other items.
Although two soldiers sustained minor injuries during the firefight, they received immediate treatment and are in stable condition.
Additionally, on October 25, troops from the 159 Battalion in Geidam conducted a successful operation in Jororo village, Gaidam LGA.
This operation was in response to reports of terrorists harassing civilians and collecting levies from locals. Two insurgents were killed, and two AK-47 rifles and two motorcycles were recovered.
In a separate incident on the same day, the troops of the 27 Task Force Brigade thwarted an attempted attack by ISWAP terrorists on Buni Gari in Gujba Local Government Area.
The attackers, arriving on motorcycles and two guntrucks, were met with superior firepower from the troops, compelling them to retreat to the forest.
In a similar development, following credible intelligence, troops of 1 Division Nigerian Army have arrested two terrorists’ collaborators and ammunition suppliers in Awon general area of Kachia Local Government Area of Kaduna State.
Acting Deputy Director Army Public Relations 1 Division, Lieutenant Colonel Musa Yahaya, said they made the arrest the early hours of Tuesday 24.
According to Army spokesman, the criminals were arrested in their various houses around Awon based on intelligence from a previously arrested collaborator who has been in troops custody.
The arrested suspects are Shuaibu Lawan and Salihu Usman. Items recovered include one locally made AK 47 rifle, 2 dane guns, 8 rounds of 9mm ammunition, 7 live cartridges and 5 shells of expended cartridges.
Yahaya also stated that in another operation the same day, “troops of the Division while on clearance operation around Dogon daji-Saulawa general area in Birnin Gwari Local Government Area made contact with terrorists and criminal elements. Troops engaged the criminals in a gun duel forcing them to scamper in disarray due to troop’s superior fire power. Items recovered include a G3 rifle, 16 Motorcycles, 2 locally made guns and a phone.
“The General Officer Commanding 1 Division Nigerian Army and Force Commander Operation WHIRL PUNCH, Major General Valentine Okoro has charged the troops to sustain the tempo and rid all criminal elements from the Division’s Area of Responsibility.”
