Category: South East

Frontline female aspirant for the Etsako Federal Constituency in Edo State, Zaynab Ikaz-Kassim, has said she is contesting to bring the dividends of democracy to her people.

Ikaz-Kassim, who is contesting in the All Progressives Congress (APC), declared her intention to run after she picked her expression of Interest and Nomination Forms.

She said: “This decision was borne out of my desire to be the voice of my people at the National Assembly. Over the past years, my people have been poorly represented and I believe I have the capacity to swing the odds in their favour, and ensure the dividends of democracy, which have been flying over our heads since 1999, will indeed reach our people.

“It is heart-warming to see people of high calibre having shown interest to participate in this political season, I wish us all a good run.

“Interestingly, it is common consensus that Auchi should produce the next member of the House of Representatives and, as an inbred daughter of Auchi with the strength of character, youthful energy, and gender-focused go-getting spirit, I believe I am the best candidate who can easily garner the support of women and youth.

“I have lived a life of service to people nationwide, and I believe now is the time for me to give back to them, and I’m happy that I’ve taken this bold step after all these years of people asking me to go into full time politics.”

The Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) has said it will complete, within a week, reconstruction of the vandalised No.104 Transmission Tower along the 330KV Odukpani-Ikot Ekpene transmission line.

Executive Director of Transmission Service Provider Victor Adewumi said this yesterday at Oku Iboku Itu Local Government Area of Akwa Ibom State.

Adewumi, who said his team was there to assess the progress of work, appealed to affected areas, especially Cross River and Akwa Ibom states, to exercise patience while work was ongoing.

He said: “There were some challenges. For instance, we didn’t envisage that the integrity of the foundation was compromised so we had to start from the scratch. It takes time to work on the foundation. We also thought cranes will be able to lift the conductor but, unfortunately, the boom couldn’t reach the top of the grid. So we went to the normal way of lowering the wire to the tension tower. So we are here to see the progress of work.

“We’re appealing to the people of Cross River and Akwa Ibom states to exercise patience; we’re doing everything within our power to make sure the tower is completed soon. The contractor is complaining that they’re pressurising him.

“Of course, there is blackout in the whole of Calabar; everybody is waiting for the grid to come back to normal. But we want to tell the whole world that we are not sleeping.”

Adewumi also said because the weight of the Tower, which is on top of the hill is much, they have to be very careful so they don’t create more problems. He however appealed to the public to always take ownership of physical infrastructure sited within their domains, by protecting them from vandals.

Abia State Governor Okezie Ikpeazu has directed the closure of 31 scraps and disused materials markets in Aba.

The closure was announced on Wednesday in a statement by the Commissioner for Trade and Investment, Chief Okiyi Kalu.

Kalu said the closure would remain in force until the government could identify persons involved in the collection and sale of scraps. He added that government needed to streamline the business to remove those using its cover to engage in crime.

The commissioner enjoined market executives and security agents to ensure compliance with the directive. He also said the ministry would meet with leaders of the various scraps and disused materials markets on May 17 to sanitise their operations.

A senatorial aspirant for Akwa Ibom South (Eket), Dr. Ekong Sampson, is seeking a re-evaluation of laws which are inimical to the interest of oil-bearing communities in the country.

Sampson, a one-time Commissioner for Environment and Petroleum Resources, said the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA) and the Water Resources Bill, among other legislations, need to be looked at again.

He said the PIA, for instance, is fraught with weaknesses which, rather than help redress the sufferings of oil communities, has worsened them.

Ekong said if voted to the Senate, he will lead campaigns against retrogressive legislations which erode the rights of oil communities. He added that such legislations have also made the International Oil Companies (IOCs) shy away from their responsibilities and obligations to their host communities.

He said: “We should not campaign on sentiments but on issues about driving legislations in a way that protects the rights of our people in Eket Senatorial district.

“Let’s look at the PIA and form a vanguard against some laws that seem to take away the rights of our people. As a legislator, if you sleep, they will pass a law that completely finishes your people. We need to make the communities come together to protect their rights, and we need to get the big players to be alive to their responsibilities, and we need to firm up our laws. The Petroleum Industry Act needs to be looked at closely.

“Does that law really solve the problems of host communities? Is it a ready instrument for divide and rule instead of succour to oil producing communities? I want to be in the senate as an active player using the dynamics of law to drive the interest of my people. We need to have profound engagements on some of these legislations.”

The industrial action declared by the Nigeria Union of Teachers (NUT) in Enugu State has paralysed activities in public primary schools.

The union ordered the indefinite strike in a May 9 circular signed by the Chairman Theophilus Nweke and Secretary Macs Nnaji, to protest the government’s alleged unwillingness to implement the N30,000 minimum wage in primary schools.

The circular reads: “The State Executive Council of the NUT has mandated the union to direct all affected public primary school teachers not to resume for the third term of the 2021/2022 academic session.

“This is with effect from Monday, May 9, until the N30,000 minimum wage is paid. The strike must be total as no teacher should be seen in any school while the strike lasts.”

The circular added that the action could only be suspended through a written directive of union’s leadership.

“It is now or never, comrades,” it added.

But the Commissioner for Education, Prof. Uche Eze, said the government had already begun the process of implementing the new wage for primary school teachers.

Eze said the union’s leadership was part of the process which is at its final stages.

Recall that the government started paying the minimum wage in February 2020. But only workers in the core government ministries and secondary schools were paid while their counterparts in agencies and parastatals and as primary schools were left out.

A Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) aspirant for the Abak Federal Constituency of Akwa Ibom State, Owoidighe Okon, has protested his disqualification on allegations of being a member of the Zenith Labour Party (ZLP).

Okon accused the incumbent lawmaker representing Abak federal Constituency, Aniekan Umanah, of misinforming the party.

He urged the National Assembly screening panel to clear him so he can participate in the primaries.

The aspirant described the accusation by Umanah as ‘false, mischievous and intended to disqualify him from participating in the primary election’, stressing that he has never been a member of another political party besides the PDP.

He said: “I am a member of the PDP, Otoro Ward I, in Abak Local Government Area. I was not cleared by the screening committee because of a petition by my co-contestant, Aniekan Umanah.

“He petitioned the screening committee that I am a member of the Zenith Labour Party (ZLP), which is false. I didn’t even know about the ZLP until that day of screening when the committee chairman presented Umanah’s petition that I am a member of ZLP.

“I am seeking for justice because I was wrongly accused. I have already defended the accusation before the appeal panel, and I thank the national leadership for giving us the opportunity to appeal. I am also trusting my party in its magnanimity to clear me. The petition by Umanah is intended to disqualify me so that he will stand in the election unopposed.”

Efforts to get Umanah’s response were unsuccessful as he did not take his calls or reply to messages.

The Victim Support Fund (VSF) has inaugurated the first phase of its borehole project in three primary schools in Imo State. It also distributed COVID-19 palliatives to 3,000 vulnerable residents of the state.

Chairperson of the VSF COVID-19 taskforce Toyosi Akinrele-Ogunsiji, while inaugurating the borehole at Central Primary School, Okuku, in Owerri West Local Government Area,said the beneficiaries were selected based on their needs.

Akinrele-Ogunsiji, who represented Chairman of the organisation, Gen. Theophilus Danjuma(rtd), explained that the gesture, which would be replicated in the 36 states, is concentrated on alleviating poverty in the country, especially in the rural areas.

While distributing palliatives to home, Akerele-Ogunsiji advised that the items be shared to the appropriate indigents.

“We understand the level of responsibility, integrity and honesty the government represents, and we are confident that our food items will not be stored in warehouses or shared among politicians, it should be given to the vulnerable households,” she emphasised.

Governor Hope Uzodimma, who was represented by Deputy Governor Prof. Placid Njoku, appreciated the gesture and vowed that the items would be given to the right people.

A governorship aspirant of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Rivers State, Senator Magnus Abe, has urged political office holders to empower citizens financially for a stable and peaceful society.

Abe said threatening the people with starvation, hunger and poverty, will grow interests for leadership positions by even unqualified members of the society.

He spoke at a one-day workshop by Freedom House and Associated Advisory Services Limited, a human Resource training Firm in Port Harcourt, with the theme ‘The Importance of Investment: Economic and Political Implications in Rivers State’.

Abe said: “For the society to make sense, we must run a society where those not in government can pay their bills and live well. If everybody is able to pay their bills, train their children, and all that, everybody will not struggle to be a commissioner at the same time.

“The reason why everybody is struggling to be a local government chairman, president or governor is because outside the safety and security of government, life is unbearable for the average person, and so the desire to get into government becomes a consuming obsession because survival outside of that is difficult.

“Instead of threatening the citizens with hunger and poverty, empower them because the more money the citizens have, the more stable and peaceful the society becomes.

“It is when people are broke and have no access to wealth that the society becomes a dangerous and unstable place for everybody. So any government that wants peace and stability must invest in opportunities for the citizens to make money.”

The aspirant noted that any government that holds the interest and welfare of the masses at heart is always broke because of deficiency of funds in the system.

“Money is important to the state, any government that is unable to generate and maximise income is already a death weight to the citizens because it will suck from you, but the government that is able to generate and expand opportunities for the citizens at the same time grows its own capacity to be able to spend more; that government is an advantage to everybody in the society…”