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Tag: Gana

  • Gana: PDP made history in 16 years

    Gana: PDP made history in 16 years

    Chairman of the Governing Council, University of Lagos (UNILAG) and member of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Board of Trustees (BoT), Prof Jerry Gana has condemned criticisms that the PDP did nothing in its 16 years of leadership.

    Gana spoke yesterday at the university’s Convocation lecture at the main auditorium.

    He listed milestones the party achieved, including Chief Olusegun Obasanjo’s restoration of the nation to its democratic state.

    Prof Gana said the Jonathan administration should be credited for listening to the voice of Nigerians by conceding defeat.

    “Some people, even close friends, said we did nothing in the last 16 years. I will remind them. Do they remember the confused situation Nigeria was in 1997/1998, how we restored democracy? Do they remember that we gave inference to the existing authority and purified the electoral system?

    “I am glad today because someone still remembers. One person has remembered that it is always good to appreciate something that your predecessor did. So I am going to convey to President (Goodluck Jonathan) that Prof Oke Bukola has advised the incoming President to say ‘look Jonathan, you are to be appreciated because if nothing else, you handed over power over to an elected president’,” Gana said.

     

     

  • Gana heads Lar’s burial committee

    Gana heads Lar’s burial committee

    The Plateau State Government yesterday named former Information Minister, Prof Jerry Gana, as the Chairman of the committee for the burial of the first civilian governor of the state, Chief Solomon D. Lar.

    The first National Chairman of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) died on October 9 at a United States hospital.

    He was 80.

    The national funeral committee comprises governments officials, family and chieftains of the ruling PDP.

    Istifanus Gyang is its secretary.

    A statement by James Mannok, the Director of Press Affairs to Governor Jonah Jang, said the state government had approved the committee.

    The statement said: “Membership (of the committee) is drawn from Plateau and Nassarawa states, the family of Chief Lar, The Presidency, Office of the Senate President, Office of the Speaker, House of Representatives, the National Headquarters of the PDP as well as (Lar’s) associates from across the country.

    “The committee has been mandated to immediately begin preparations for a befitting funeral for one of the nation’s foremost statesmen and a pillar of democracy.”

    No date has been fixed for the arrival of his remains and his burial,.

    But the family said he would be buried at his Langtang home.

  • PDP convention: Tukur, Gana mend fences

    PDP convention: Tukur, Gana mend fences

    •Party gets 30-man reconciliation panel

    The crisis of confidence between the National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Alhaji Bamanga Tukur and chairman of the party’s Special Convention Committee, Prof Jerry Gana appeared to have been resolved.

    The Tukur-led National Working Committee (NWC) held a meeting with the Gana committee at the party’s secretariat yesterday where the two parties agreed to reschedule the convention earlier fixed for August 31 by the Gana committee. The meeting was held at the instance of President Goodluck Jonathan.

    The convention date had been changed on two occasions. New dates for the national convention and the Southwest congress are expected to be announced at an expanded meeting of the party’s leadership tomorrow

    Tukur had, in the heat of the disagreement last week, announced the suspension of the Gana committee’s programme, a development that necessitated Jonathan’s intervention .

    Speaking with reporters after the meeting, Tukur said the issues affecting the conduct of the forthcoming convention had been ironed out and disagreements over the matter resolved.

    Gana corroborated Tukur’s position, saying that the leaders had agreed to sink their differences and move ahead in the overall interest of the party.

    At the meeting were Deputy Senate President Ike Ekweremadu, who is the secretary of the Gana committee; Akwa Ibom State Governor Godswill Akpabio, who is the committee’s deputy chairman; and a former chairman of the PDP, Dr. Haliru Bello Mohammed.

    Meanwhile, the PDP has set up a 30-man committee to reconcile aggrieved interests within the party nationwide.

    A statement by the Acting National Publicity Secretary, Mr. Tony Okeke said the committee, which is chaired by Governor Seriake Dickson of Byelsa State will be inaugurated on Thursday.

     

  • Boko Haram: Northerners will keep fighting for Nigeria’s unity, says Gana

    Boko Haram: Northerners will keep fighting for Nigeria’s unity, says Gana

    THE North will not relent in fighting for Nigeria’s continued unity, former Information Minister, Professor Jerry Gana said yesterday.

    He is optimistic that current acts of terrorism in parts of the North aimed at dividing the country will not succeed and stressed that doubts about the country’s unity were removed by the Civil War.

    Gana, in a message as Guest Speaker at the launch of The Victors and the Vanquished of the Nigerian-Biafran Civil War written by the first military governor of the former North Western State, Usman Farouk, declared:”The unity of Nigeria has been settled by the civil war. In the north, we are still ready to fight for the unity of this country. So, if anybody thinks he can break the country, the unity of the country is a settled issue.”

    He said the war also led to the creation of more states and more universities in the country.

    “Before independence, Nigeria’s population was about 60 million, but we are now about 160 million and there is strength and opportunities in high population,” he said in the speech read by a former Director General of the National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies, Ahmed Dan Fulani.

    The chairman of the occasion and former Yobe State governor, Senator Abba Bukar Ibrahim, who said he has not read the book, said that it is a detailed account by an insider who witnessed the war.

    “I have not read the book. But I have read the author. We are hearing the account of the war from the horse’s mouth. Book writing is not easy it takes a lot of time, a lot of research. People have told us that there is no vanquished and no victors in the war, but an insider is now telling us there are victors and the vanquished from the war.”

     

  • Jonathan, Gana task Corps members on development

    Jonathan, Gana task Corps members on development

    For five days, Christian Corps members converged at the Redemption Camp in Keffi, Nassarawa State for the annual convention of Nigeria Christian Corpers’ Fellowship (NCCF).

    The programme tagged I come soon caused heavy vehicular movements iAn Keffi as the Corps members, who came from all the states of the federation, started trooping into the capital city.

    President Goodluck Jonathan, during the opening ceremony, told the faithful not to be disturbed by the present security challenge in the nation, assuring them there would be turnaround.

    The president was represented by the chaplain of the Aso Rock Chapel, Reverend Albert. He said the government appreciated the services rendered by Corps members in ensuring developments in their places of primary assignments.

    He said the impact of the Corps members could be over emphasised in the nation and in leadership, saying the former President Olusegun Obasanjo gave his life to God on the platform created by the serving youth, who had paid regular ministerial visits to Yola prison during the former president’s incarceration in the prison.

    The former Information Minister, Prof Jerry Gana, who chaired the ceremony, counseled the youths to lay good examples for the coming generation by rendering selfless service devoid of hypocrisy, tribalism and hatred.

    He, however, prayed for divine protection and torch on all corps members in Nigeria and tasked them to remain patriotic in their duties to the nation and humanity.

    Other clergymen that also ministered during the four-day programme included Bro Gbile Akanni, Peace House Gboko, Pastor James Abiona and Pastor Sam Oye among others.

    The programme also featured entrepreneur development, health and marriage counseling. In his speech, the NCCF national president, Stephen Odekunle, told participants: “It is very important that a believer know that there is more to life than clothes, cars and houses. Our attention must be focused on the kingdom of God.”

    A Corps member from Ebonyi, Esiri Uwejeyan, described the event as life-transforming. Victory Jumbo, a Batch “A” Corps member, also expressed satisfaction about the programme of the convention.