The Nation Newspaper

Category: Uncategorized

  • Obasanjo can’t speak on discipline, says Ogun PDP

    The Ogun State chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has faulted former President Olusegun Obasanjo’s claim that indiscipline is responsible for the party’s challenges.

    Obasanjo reportedly made the statement in Ibadan, the Oyo State capital, at the caucus meeting of the PDP in the Southwest.

    In a statement by its Publicity Secretary, Mr. Waliu Oladipupo, Ogun PDP said Obasanjo was not qualified to speak on party discipline.

    It said: “We agree and disagree with the former President. First, the points of disagreement. He is the worst advertisement of the product he is trying to sell. He is not fit to talk of indiscipline in any political setting, especially in Ogun State. Many notable chieftains of the party have said time and again that he is the problem of the party, especially with his politics of imposition, arbitrariness, dictatorship and intolerance.

    “On the other hand, we agree with him, because if not for indiscipline which breeds lawlessness and gangsterism, he and his cohorts will not seek to usurp the validly elected Exco of the then Chief Dayo Soremi and now the Mr. Adebayo Dayo-led Exco.

    “Now, armed thugs allegedly working for him and his group have seized the party secretariat, brandishing pump action guns and assorted rifles. Imagine the consequence of a reprisal attack!

    “We also agree with him on the fact that being in control of the structure of a party is not everything, but using the structure to win elections. We are all living witnesses to the fact that since 1999, our dear former president has never won any election in his local government, ward or even polling booth.

    “If Obasanjo does not condone indiscipline, how could he have attended a zonal meeting presided over by Mr. Segun Oni, who has been sacked by a Federal High Court?”

    The party urged the former president to look around and see if any of the nation’s former leaders, especially in the North, plays local politics like he does.

    It advised Obasanjo to retire from politics and be “a father figure to all”, while tending to his farms.”

  • Two suspected kidnappers of Osun Speaker’s wife held in Benin Republic

    Two suspected kidnappers of Osun Speaker’s wife held in Benin Republic

    Two of the suspects involved in the abduction of Alhaja Muibat Salaam, wife of the Osun State House of Assembly Speaker, have been arrested in Benin Republic by policemen from the Osun State Command.

    They are Uwadiunor Philip and Kaikine Mahah.

    Alhaja Salaam was kidnapped on October 9 around 7.30pm at Ejigbo, Osun State, on her way home from her shop.

    It was learnt that she was blindfolded and taken into a forest, where she was dispossessed of her phones, hand bag, driver’s licence, National I.D card, two Skye Bank ATM cards, house and shop keys, N30,000 and a gold necklace.

    On October 13, the police got information that the victim was sighted in a truck at Ogunmakin in Ogun State and confronted the kidnappers.

    The hoodlums engaged the police in a gun duel and one of the suspects was killed.

    Four of the suspected kidnappers were arrested and others escaped. Alhaja Salaam was rescued unhurt and reunited with her family.

    The four earlier arrested – Chukwudi Okereke, Ogbole Elijah, Okonkwo Lucky and Chukwuma Osifo – and those held in Benin Republic, were paraded at the weekend at the Osun State Police Headquarters in Okefia, Osogbo, the state capital.

    Police spokeswoman Mrs. Folashade Odoro said two AK 47 rifles, 78 rounds of life ammunition, four empty magazines, one Halogen lamp, an I.D. card belonging to Elijah and one Mandissel truck, marked ATN 21XA, were recovered from the suspects.

    Mrs. Odoro said: “Discreet investigation carried out by detectives attached to the State Criminal Investigative Department (SCID), Osogbo revealed that Chukwudi Okereke is the prime suspect, who organised the kidnap.

    “He confessed to have led a 12-man kidnap gang from Delta, Edo and Lagos states to Ejigbo. Okereke said he lived in Ejigbo for two years before moving to Agbor, Delta State.

    “He said he had been in the kidnapping business for years, carrying out his nefarious activities in the states mentioned above. He came for this last operation because he knew the speaker’s family.”

  • Visafone begins BlackBerry smartphones pre-booking in 88 shops

    Visafone begins BlackBerry smartphones pre-booking in 88 shops

    The planned pre-booking announced by Visafone Communication Limited during a joint press conference held last Wednesday in Lagos with officials of Research In Motion (RIM) for the sale of BlackBerry smartphones in Visafone’s 88 shops nationwide begins today.

    Already, existing and prospective customers who have long awaited the launch of the first Code Division and Multiple Access (CDMA) BlackBerry smartphones on the network are excited at the new model of smartphones on offer and its promised superior quality of service.

    Global brand, Research In Motion (RIM), Canada-based makers of BlackBerry smartphones and Visafone Communication Limited, the nation’s number one rated mobile operator for quality of service by the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), have signed an agreement for the launch of BlackBerry® services in Nigeria on Visafone’s Code Division and Multiple Access (CDMA) mobile network. This feat marked first-time availability of CDMA BlackBerry smartphones in the Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) region, and it is a first in Nigeria.

    In a joint statement, the partners said the BlackBerry® Curve™ 9310, the BlackBerry® Curve™ 9370 and the BlackBerry® Bold™ 9930 smartphones will be available to customers from all the Visafone shops for pre-booking from today. It explained that the launch will benefit any Visafone customer that wants access to email, Internet and social networking apps, including BlackBerry® Messenger (BBM™), Facebook®, Twitter™ and Social Feeds.

    The Regional Director for RIM in East, Central and West Africa, Mr. Waldi Wepener enthused that “We are proud to support the Nigerian mobile industry with the first-time availability of CDMA BlackBerry smartphones in the Europe, Middle East and Africa region. Our partnership with Visafone demonstrates RIM’s commitment to working with key partners in Africa to bring the widest range of BlackBerry services to people that want to be connected across the continent.”

    Chairman and Founder of Visafone,Mr. Jim Ovia said: “This partnership represents a big step forward in Africa’s mobile history and we are very excited to be at the forefront of such a ground-breaking development in the Nigerian market. We have responded to our customers’ demands for BlackBerry services by being the first to provide them with a suite of CDMA-enabled BlackBerry smartphones that best meets the region’s growing mobile needs. More broadly, this launch is a major boost to the NCC’s efforts to achieve growth of data usage and quality voice services to the country’s 100 million active mobile phone lines.”

    The statement explained that the range of CDMA-enabled BlackBerry smartphones run on BlackBerry 7.1 OS, which introduces a next-generation BlackBerry browser that is among the best in the industry. Browsing results are up to 40% faster than BlackBerry® 6 smartphones and up to twice as fast as BlackBerry® 5-based smartphones*.

    It explained that the NFC-enabled BlackBerry Bold 9930 and BlackBerry Curve 9370 smartphones on OS 7.1 both come with BlackBerry® Tag which allows users to share contact information, documents, URLs, photos and other multimedia content by simply tapping their BlackBerry smartphones together. BlackBerry Tag also enables friends to instantly add one another as contacts on BBM.

  • North’s governors to Nigerians: pray for Suntai’s recovery

    The Northern States Governors Forum (NSGF) has urged Nigerians to pray for Taraba State Governor Danbaba Danfulani Suntai to recover from the injury he sustained in last Thursday’s plane crash at a farm near Yola, the Adamawa State capital.

    The governor is receiving treatment in a German hospital.

    The Chairman of the forum and Niger State Governor Babangida Aliyu noted that prayers are essential for Suntai to recover and fulfill his vision of a greater Taraba State.

    In a statement in Minna, the state capital, by his Chief Press Secretary, Mallam Danladi Ndayebo, the governor said Suntai has shown the goodwill and fatherly disposition to the people and the government he leads.

    Aliyu said prayers can sustain the injured governor and enable him to return to do more for his fatherland.

    He said: “Governor Suntai means well for Taraba State and has demonstrated this in words and in actions. It is, therefore, for this reason that we seek fervent prayers for his quick recovery to enable him fulfill his vision of a great Taraba State.”

    Hailing the medical team that treated the governor before he was flown to Germany, the forum chairman particularly praised the management and workers of the Federal Medical Centre in Yola and those of the National Hospital, Abuja.

    Aliyu hailed them for stabilising Suntai and his aides before they were flown abroad.

    The statement wished the injured governor and other victims of the crash quick recovery.

  • ‘National Assembly’s intervention in Kogi Assembly crisis necessary’

    A former Speaker of Kogi State House of Assembly, Clarence Olafemi, has urged Senator Adeleke Mamora to consider the impending doom that could befall the Kogi State House of Assembly should the Nation Assembly’s Ad-Hoc Committee fail to intervene in the current impasse at the Assembly.

    Mamora, last week, described the suspension of the Assembly’s proceedings by the Ad-Hoc Committee of the House of Representatives as unconstitutional.

    The former senator from Lagos State noted that the National Assembly committee can only intervene when there is a state of emergency in the Assembly or when it ceases to function.

    But Olafemi disagreed.

    He said: “I believe the comment of respected Senator Mamora was misinformed, because it is the person in the middle of a river that knows the depth of the river. The Ad-Hoc Committee came to Kogi State; when it came, what it saw and hard, Mamora did not know.

    “This situation can be likened to a case in which the distinguished senator was the frontliner to resolving the problem arising from the sickness of the late President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua. The National Assembly saw that the country was drifting towards anarchy and quickly moved in to give recognition and power to the Vice-President to perform the function of the President. It was out of the doctrine of necessity, a decision taken because of the circumstance.

    “There is no portion of 1999 Constitution that empowers the National Assembly to do that. But the good people of Nigeria appreciated their intervention. We eventually overcame the problem and we ended that administration. That is why we still continue to have democracy in this country.”

    The former Speaker, who was also an acting governor, noted that the action of the ad-hoc committee was to avert a crisis in the Assembly and the state.

    He said: “The two factions, which almost have the same strength, have separate Speakers with different maces, among other things. Both had a schedule to resume sitting the same day under the same roof. You can imagine what would have happened if such a decision was not taken by the ad-hoc committee.

    “We have not come out from the shock of the Deeper Life Bible Church massacre in Okene; the floods destroyed our properties worth several billions of naira. Yet, we are giving room for anarchy.

    “So, in this circumstance, who is the appropriate person or body that can halt the sitting of last Thursday that was only two days ahead? The Commissioner of Police has no such power; the governor is being accused by the other group. So, who has the constitutional power other than the National Assembly, which can halt what is likely to result in a pandemonium?

    “We Kogians never complained about the National Assembly’s temporary decision, that the activities of the Assembly be suspended to douse tension until the problem is resolved. Is it when we are counting the number of our Assembly members in the hospital as a result of this problem that the crises would be quickly resolved? I don’t think the senator should be more Catholic than the Pope. He cannot be more concerned than we are in the state. We have contributed to the building and development of Kogi State and we don’t want it destroyed.”

    The former Speaker noted that resolving the Assembly’s crisis should go beyond the Constitution.

  • Obasanjo, Southwest PDP and sufficient discipline

    Obasanjo, Southwest PDP and sufficient discipline

    During last weekend’s caucus meeting of the Southwest Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), which took place in Ibadan, former president Chief Olusegun Obasanjo attributed the electoral problem the party was having in the zone to lack of sufficient discipline. If members buried their hatchets, he admonished, the party could make progress in its attempt to reconcile warring members and reclaim the zone from the hands of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN). According to Obasanjo, “Our party is not sufficiently disciplined. People run from the South-West to Abuja to claim that they are the authentic group in the party. We should be tolerant. If you respect us, you shall be respected. The issue of structure is a serious problem in the PDP. Some people believe once they have structure they have all it takes. This is the tool they are using to destroy the party. Whoever ignores the word of wisdom will regret it. I want all of you to know that whatever your ambition you cannot unilaterally elect yourself.” The former president went on to counsel and challenge the national, zonal and state levels of the party to carry out a review of the party in all ramifications as a prelude to achieving its goals.

    Obasanjo was no doubt referring to the loss of the four states of Ogun, Oyo, Osun and Ekiti to the ACN in the 2007 and 2011 polls. He expects that if the schisms in the party are healed, the PDP could win the lost states back from the rival party. The PDP National Vice Chairman (Southwest), Mr Segun Oni, corroborates the former president’s perspective by suggesting that the ACN was short on performance and was not immune to being upstaged. He also wants the PDP to create a level playing field for every aspirant to contest for the party’s tickets, and come together to fight as a team.

    Neither Obasanjo nor Oni, nor any other zonal leader of the party, said anything about the most important task the PDP has avoided for so long. Either in the zone or at the national level, the party has appeared not to recognise the importance of conceptualising and marketing a philosophical base for the party. Other than being known as the main opposition to the ACN in the zone, the party has scrupulously avoided the mention of ideology in both its existence and campaigns, and has not spoken of the need to create a coherent body of ideas to undergird both its struggle for power and the systematic effort to deliver performance that would better the opposition’s. It is hard not to form the impression that the PDP is short on intellectualism and has merely embraced the rather simple and expedient notion that if a party could build roads and hospitals, that alone was sufficient to earn plaudits and votes for the party. Were our existence to be reduced to such inchoate pragmatism, we would end up being much poorer and less ambitious than we set out to be or is good for us.

    The PDP at any level is free to aspire to any height, but whenever its caucuses meet, let them meet under an atmosphere of deep reflections and robust intellectual exercises. If they find that hard to do on their own, let them hire the right thinkers who can help them climb the rarified atmosphere of philosophy where the few think for the many.

  • Nigeria hails security pact with Niger

    The Federal Government has described its recent security pact with the Republic of Niger as a major breakthrough in the fight against Boko Haram.

    Interior Minister Abba Moro said the security pact would also help reduce the movement of illegal arms and small arms along the border.

    Nigeria and the Republic of Niger at the weekend agreed to begin immediately joint border patrols between the two counries.

    The agreement is part of the efforts to curb the activities of terrorist groups.

    The agreement was reached at the end of the sixth session of the High Authority of the Nigeria-Niger Joint Commission for Cooperation, held in Niamey, the capital of the Republic of Niger.

    President Goodluck Jonathan led the Nigeria delegation to the session, where issues ranging from security to trade were discussed.

    Moro said with the country’s security challenges assuming international dimension, it has become imperative that the country is able to effectively check its border.

    One of the gains of the agreement said the minister “ is the fact that we must take off immediately the joint patrol of our borders and so I believe that with the two Heads of State agreeing now to provide the necessary logistics for the take off of this joint patrol of our borders, it means that a new dimension has been added to the desire to ensure a secure border between the countries and I hope that by the time we get back to Nigeria we will immediately set into motion the necessary steps to be taken.”

    On checking small arms, the minister said: “There is no magic about ensuring effectiveness in checking the movement of small arms and live weapons. The truth is that these arms do not move by themselves, they are carried by human beings and peddlers and by the time we secure our borders and make it unattractive so as to reduce consequently the movement of these illegal arms.”

  • Imoke to resettle Agwagune flood victims

    Cross River State Governor Liyel Imoke yesterday said the people of Agwagune, Biase Local Government Area, would be resettled in another place.

    Imoke spoke while inspecting flood ravaged communities across the state.

    He said Agwagune had suffered flooding and land slides over time and its residents would be relocated to a safer place.

    Imoke pledged to relocate the people and build the Abini–Agwagune Road before his tenure expires.

    He said the new area would be built according to the specifications of the community and the project would be devoid of undue government influence.

    The governor assured the victims that their situation would be made known to the Federal Government.

    He urged them to cooperate with government agents, who will be coming to the area to distribute relief materials as a temporary measure.

    The Paramount Ruler of Biase Local Government Area, Apostle Nicholas Odum, who is also a victim, urged the government to help his people recover from the disaster.

    He said without quick resettlement, the community would be wiped out.

    Odum thanked the government for the relief materials and promised to use them judiciously.

  • NICO holds workshop on transformation

    As part of its mandate to boost the core confidence and service of cultural officers, the National Institute for Cultural Orientation (NICO) will organise a national workshop between October 31 and November 2 at the NICO Training School Complex, National Theatre Annex, near APCON, Iganmu, Lagos. The programme starts at 9 am. The workshop, the fifth in the series, with the theme: “Cultural festivals as tools for socio-economic transformation”, is designed to reposition Nigerian cultural workers for improved productivity.

    The resource persons include the Executive Secretary/CEO, NICO, Dr. Barclays Foubiri Ayakoroma, Head, Department of Theatre & Cultural Studies, Nasarawa State University, Keffi, Prof. Emmanuel Dandaura, Director of Administration & Human Resources, NICO, Abuja, Mr. Abayomi Oyelola, Director, NICO Training School, Lagos, Prince Bamidele Olusa, Head, NICO Liaison Office, Lagos, Mrs. Bridgette Yerima, Head, Academic Unit, NICO Training School, Lagos, Dr. Dipo Kalejaiye and a lecturer at NICO Training School, Lagos, Mr. Law Ikay Ezeh.

  • Orji prays for Suntai’s quick recovery

    Abia State Governor Theodore Orji has praised God for sparing the life of Taraba State Governor Danbaba Suntai and his aides in last Thursday plane crash near Yola, the Adamawa State capital.

    Orji prayed for the quick recovery of his brother governor.

    He urged Nigerians to pray for Suntai, saying he loves his people and is always ready for go the extra mile to meet the needs of the state and its residents.

    In a statement in Umuahia, the state capital, by his Chief Press Secretary, Ugochukwu Emezue, the governor noted that God has saved the nation from what could have been another mourning period, after the Dana Air crash on June 3 in which all 153 passengers and crew members died.

    Orji said God answers prayers, especially when “our Muslim brothers are marking the Eid-el-Kabir festival”.

    The governor noted that Nigerians’prayers for their leaders and the nation have saved and sustained the governor’s life.

    He urged Nigerians to pray more for Suntai.

    According to him, prayers are among the ways the nation can ensure the governor’s quick recovery and the good result the medical treatment he is receiving in Germany will have on his health.

    Orji expressed optimism that Suntai and his aides would recover soon and come back to Nigeria.

    The governor added that Suntai would soon return to his desk and continue in his service to the state.