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Tag: reverse

  • Losing weight can reverse diabetes without drugs

    Losing weight can reverse diabetes without drugs

    Previous research showed that excess fat within the liver and pancreas caused type 2-diabetes. Participants in a new study went into remission after a weight loss programme 

    Putting a person with type 2 diabetes on an intensive weight loss programme can reverse the disease with no need for medication, according to a landmark study. The findings could revolutionise the way it is treated, researchers said, benefiting both patients and the NHS.

    Almost half of the participants in a weight-loss programme that used low-calorie shakes and soups were in remission after 12 months, despite some having had type 2 diabetes for six years.

    Almost one in 10 adults in Britain have type 2 diabetes and the condition costs the NHS about £14 billion a year.

    Mike Lean from the University of Glasgow, lead researcher of the Diabetes Remission Clinical Trial (Direct), said: “Putting type 2 diabetes into remission as early as possible after diagnosis could have extraordinary benefits, both for the individual and the NHS. Direct is telling us it could be possible for as many as half of patients to achieve this in routine primary care, and without drugs.”

    The study, published in The Lancet, involved almost 300 people, half of whom received standard diabetes care from their GP while the other half took part in a structured weight management programme. Only four per cent of those given standard care went into remission, compared with 46 per cent on the weight-loss programme.

    “These findings are very exciting. They could revolutionise the way type 2 diabetes is treated,” Roy Taylor from Newcastle University, co-lead researcher, said. “Rather than addressing the root cause, management guidelines for type 2 diabetes focus on reducing blood sugar levels through drug treatments. Diet and lifestyle are touched upon but diabetes remission by cutting calories is rarely discussed.”

    Of people who lost 15kg or more on the diet, 86 per cent put their type 2 diabetes into remission. Of those who lost 10-15kg, 57 per cent achieved remission, while of those who lost 5-10kg, 34 per cent achieved remission.

    The results mimic those shown by bariatric surgery, such as gastric bands or bypasses, for people with type 2 diabetes. Although the procedures are effective for weight loss and reversing the disease, they also come with risks and NHS bosses have been unwilling to fund them except in extreme cases.

    Professor Taylor said: “Our findings suggest the very large weight losses targeted by bariatric surgery are not essential to reverse the underlying processes which cause type 2 diabetes. The weight loss goals provided by this programme are achievable for many.”

    The team’s previous research showed that excess fat within the liver and pancreas caused type 2 diabetes.

    The study will follow participants for four years to see if weight loss and remission can be maintained long term.

    Elizabeth Robertson of Diabetes UK, which funded the trial, said: “These first-year findings of Direct demonstrate the potential to transform the lives of millions of people . . . It’s very important that anyone living with type 2 diabetes considering losing weight in this way seeks support and advice.”

     

    The regime

     

    • A nurse or dietician started patients on a diet of shakes and soups that provided between 825 and 853 calories a day for three to five months. The drinks came as a sachet of powder stirred into water.

     

    • Dieticians then helped patients reintroduce solid, healthy meals to their diets over two to eight weeks.

     

    • Participants were also offered advice on how to maintain their weight loss.

     

    • The dietary advice given out in the Counterweight-Plus programme will not be very different from that given by the NHS more generally. What is different is the counseling that goes with it, which aims to help people break out of their bad habits around food.

     

     

    •Culled from The Times of London

  • Stakeholders move to reverse EU ban on Nigerian produce

    Stakeholders in the agricultural sector are evolving proactive strategies aimed at improving the quality of processed goods to overcome the ban on some produce exported from the country.

    This is contained in a special survey conducted by the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on the ban placed on some 25 exportable produce by the European Union (EU) between 2015 and last year.

    In Abeokuta, the Chairman of the Ogun branch of All Farmers Association of Nigeria (AFAN), Mr. Segun Dasaolu, informed that farmers were engaging in effective collaborative efforts with the state government in the area of training.

    He said the effort was to acquaint the farmers with the international standards and requirements for agricultural produce.

    “The state government has begun to organise series of seminars for our members on production methods, processing and packaging ?through the Ministry of Agriculture”, Dasaolu said.

    He urged the Federal Government to step up quality control management system for agricultural produce to enhance their acceptability in the global market.

    The chairman also advocated for the promotion of organic system of farming in Nigeria to boost the nutritional value of the country’s farm products.

    He said: “With organic system, we will do away with synthetic chemicals and fertilisers which constitute the major basis for the rejection of our products at the global market.

    “Although it is expensive to practise but it will guarantee high quality for our farm produce and also enhance and create wider market for our goods at the world market.”

    Prof.  Olufemi Peters, the Executive Director of the Ilorin, Kwara State-based Nigerian Stored Products Research Institute (NSPRI), noted that the EU may have banned locally smoked fish from Nigeria because of its health hazard.

    Peters, a professor of Chemistry, said that locally smoked fish contains poly aromatic hydrocarbon which could cause cancer.

    “One of the main disadvantages of the way peasant farmers smoke their fish is the presence of what we call polyaromatic hydrocarbon in the fish’’, the don said.

    The don said the institute has designed a more environmentally-friendly smoking kiln that is free from polyaromatic hydrocarbon.

    According to Peters, the NSPRI smoking kiln is hygienic and free from any form of health hazard, adding that fish smoked by the kiln could compete with any in the world.

    He said that fish farmers could export their smoked fish to any part of the world once there is mass production of the kiln.

    However, beans farmers in Kwara called for thorough checks on chemicals used in the preservation of farm produce.

    A beans farmer, Mr Dada Olotu, said that most farmers use fake chemicals to preserve their produce, making it unsafe for consumption.

    He called on NAFDAC to check the activities of pesticide companies in order to control the influx of fake chemicals into the market.

    Also speaking, the Chairman of AFAN in the state, Mr Olawale Ajibola, said lack of basic techniques in processing farm produce was responsible for the rejection of some produce by the EU.

    He said: “One major reason those food items were rejected is because they found out after testing that the chemicals used for preservation were either too much or dangerous to health.

    “The agricultural research institutes in the country should be revived and equipped to be able to carry out necessary research and testing on food items produced in the country.”

    In Ibadan, Mr Ojedeji Joseph, the Oyo State chapter Chairman of Cocoa Farmers Association of Nigeria, said many produce fail the standards test abroad due to farmers and middlemen’s reluctance to follow strictly the processing regime.

    Citing the case of cocoa, Joseph said the steps to be taken in cocoa processing were depoding, fermentation, drying and storage, adding that a failure in any of these stages may lead to rejection.

    Joseph said many farmers were now feeling the impact of the ban on their income and were working assiduously to meet the standards through painstaking processing of their farm produce.

    He, however, lamented the dearth of the modern processing equipment for some produce, saying this may affect the quality of produce meant for export.

    In Ado-Ekiti, the state government said measures were being adopted toward ensuring that cash crops such as cocoa beans produced in the state and packaged for export were made to meet international standard.

    The state Commissioner for Agriculture and Rural Development, Mr Kehinde Odebunmi, said farmers were incurring huge losses due to poor packaging.

     

  • ‘We can reverse economic woes without external help’

    ‘We can reverse economic woes without external help’

    Nigeria’s economic woes can be reversed by the people’s change of attitude, Major Hamza Al-Mustapha, former chief security officer to the late of Head of State, Gen Sani Abacha, has said.

    Speaking at a book launch in Port Harcourt, the Rivers State capital, he advocated what he called  an ‘’inward looking policy’’ that would enable the country unlock its potential.

    The book titled: ‘’Wisdom Quotes and Statements’’ was written by Long John Inimgba, Senior Pastor of the House of Liberation Ministries, Port Harcourt.

    According to him, the economic situation calls for a change of approach and strategy that would involve Nigerians investing in their abilities.

    Nigerians, he said, should develop a sense of pride and patriotism which, according to him, are the two major motivating factors that can prop people to greatness.

    He said the experience of great nations showed that their people trusted in their abilities before firing their sense of pride with a patriotic zeal.

    Citing China and Japan, which he noted once confronted their challenges with what was available in their countries, Nigeria, he said, could learn from them to attain greatness.

    “Look at China. At a point in their history, the Chinese, after discovering that communism had failed them, closed their borders, examined their history and realised that they can provide leadership to the world. Today, the story is different”, Al-Mustapha said.

    He said there was a bigger lesson to learn from Japan, which had to first contend with devastating natural disasters “but out of pride and patriotism, the Japanese locked their borders and remained inside even with all the earthquakes. They dusted the ancient books of their forebears  and today without oil, Japan is a member of the G8 countries and is the world leader in electronics”.

    “What they did not have we have in abundance but ironically, we do not look inwards to see ways of harnessing and maximising the benefits of what we have”, he said, adding : ‘’It is still not late for Nigerians to have a rethink and redraw the strategy and scientifically chart a new course as I can see light at the end of the tunnel”.

    Imploring Nigerians to cohabit peacefully as ‘’we are one, North or South’’, Al- Mustapha said those who say the country is too big to be united and pursue a common destiny are wrong.

    ‘’We are just about the same size with Texas, one state in the United States of America”, he said.

  • The folly of Nigeria’s reverse logic

    The nation is destroyed because the mass of people who should be the last bastion against unbridled greed, lawlessness and foolery fall prey to the disease of illogicality

    You know what reverse logic is, don’t you? Reverse is moving backwards, like when my dog is going round and round backwards trying to eat his tail. Logic is reasoning sensibly, like when the same dog abstracts the correct guess that dinner is ready when someone is holding his plate in front of him and begins to wag that tail. Reverse logic is when the blasted dog moves backwards away from my scolding voice, tail between his legs, because he has soiled some pristine place in the compound. He abstracts then that I might be holding a gun he cannot see so it is better to move away… That’s not reverse logic? I could have sworn… Alright then, you define it for me, dear reader. There has been too much sun beating down on my poor head anyway for it to function reasonably…

    Thankfully, though, the sun is whimpering now behind the clouds, as the rains are coming down in trickles. It is not yet uhuru as the torrents which should have come by now are still shy and hiding behind Mt. Olympus, but the signs are encouraging. Now, I can dare to stare shyly back at the sun.

    I am still working up some courage though to stare back at some of you my most esteemed readers who have grumpily told me to go back to waking up the argument on just who is responsible for the wretchedness of Nigeria. But come, reader, and let us reason together. This column has declared times without number that it is not really interested in discussing politics. It is more interested in curating this museum called Nigeria in a lighter tone of voice. It is interested in showing Nigeria to life and showing life, love and laughter to Nigeria.

    Somehow, however, the politicians and their brand of politics have often got in our way, as they do everything. I think we find that everything still revolves around politics. Forgive us for interrupting our treatises on life now and then with side-comments on politics. We shall go back to our breezy talks on the grave topic of the human condition with this one on April Fool’s Day.

    Another April 1 came this year, unofficially called April Fool’s Day, and hardly anyone even turned a hair on account of it. Rather, everyone I met has been turning grey in the hairs and foaming in the mouth on Nigeria’s recession which many have termed the Fool’s Economy. It is because in a country of over one hundred and twenty million people, a little thing like a recession has bested us and has called us all fools. Shame on us.

    Seriously, many people think that April Fool’s Day is all about fooling someone while hoping not to be fooled in return. I’m sure you have heard of the ‘Your father is at the gate waiting to see you and you must hurry’ kind of prank we pulled on each other in secondary school, often early in the morning no matter the weekday that day fell on. I think the April Fool’s Day pranks have grown since that time. Now, I hear it involves bigger stakes. But never mind that.

    I am more concerned with the relationship between April Fool’s Day, reverse logic and our economy. Somehow, I think that our economy has been running on the oils of reverse logic, like April Fool’s days. How else can one explain this recession if not that what should not have happened in the first place has not only happened but has brought out results that are surprising to everybody? I mean, like someone always says, how can you go to the African market and expect not to come home with a headache? There you are, reverse logic.

    Listen, Nigerians have got to be the dumbest geniuses or the most brilliant fools in the world to have made trillions of dollars since the 1960s through oil, a natural commodity, and have absolutely nothing to show for it in 2017 but one gigantic headache – a recession. Worse. Over the years, the country has even had to go a borrowing; and who goes a borrowing goes a sorrowing, or so I was taught. Now, according to the experts, we have managed to accumulate a large portfolio of debts that any young country will envy. However, according to these experts on the economy, Nigeria is currently paying over sixty per cent of her revenue to service those debts. Now, if that is not reverse logic, I don’t know what is.

    Seriously, how does any country seeking development live like that? The answer is, well, like Nigeria is currently doing – live for today, tomorrow will take care of itself, if it comes. UNFORTUNATELY FOR DEBTORS, TOMORROW ALWAYS COMES. Our tomorrow has come to haunt our yesterday, only it has come in the form of a recession. So, the time has come for us to get our priorities right and stop living in reverse.

    Take the national assembly for instance. I am not competent to comment on the calibre of the people that people the current class or how they got there. I can comment however on their lifestyle that defies any kind of reasonable logic. Why would the average Nigerians be in want and deprivation and their honourable selves be defiantly insensitive to the needs of their people? If they are not buying bullet-proof cars, they are tom-fooling around in academic gowns to celebrate untoward degrees or demanding that cases of malfeasance against them in courts be dropped by presidential fiat. I’m wondering, is this some kind of April Foolery or something?

    To start with, one cannot see in our law makers any sense of the sombreness that these times call for in leadership positions. The times are bad. Paying sixty per cent of our revenue to foreign countries is stupid. To end the stupidity, we need to work, not play. All one can see in our law makers is all play and no… You complete it. History tells me that whatever good or bad we do today has a way of coming to haunt us tomorrow. Call it law nature’s way, but neglecting it is living in reverse logic that ruins a country.

    We the people are just as mad as the Mad Hatters. There are too many among us who are willing stooges in the hands of politicians ruining the country. We have benefitted greatly from the little bones they throw out their windows at us – connections to get jobs, phones, raw foods like rice, onions, and other trifles., and these are sufficient for us to close our eyes to the truckloads of resources meant for our future that they cart out of the country. And we pay in our tomorrow…

    Many among us are living lifestyles not supported by our incomes. Our children’s school fees cannot be accounted for in our income. Neither can our properties. This is reverse logic. We the people must wake up and work to end the cycle of internal and external slavery by being accountable to order wherever we are.

    Most of the time, April Fool pranks succeed only because the human mind is gullible enough and ready to believe anything. The typical Nigerian leader is not interested in the people becoming independent of them. They want the masses to be dependent on them. This is why they only throw out pittances which the people scramble for. In the long run, the nation is destroyed because the mass of people who should be the last bastion against unbridled greed, lawlessness and foolery fall prey to the disease of illogicality. Our leaders’ reverse logic is what makes fools of us all and makes every day now an April Fool’s day in this country.

  • Customs PRO denies report on reverse of rice ban

    Customs PRO denies report on reverse of rice ban

    The Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) has not reversed the ban on  rice.

    Its Public Relations Officer (PRO), Mr. Wale Adeniyi, a Deputy-Comptroller, was reacting to a report which  indicated that the Customs had reversed the ban on rice import through land borders.

    Adeniyi, in a statement in Abuja, denied the reports which allegedly emanated from him, saying he never issued such a statement.

    He said the reports which were published last weekend were the ones he granted last October.

    Adeniyi said the service suspected that some forces behind rice smuggling were at work, recycling old reports under a different circumstance to create confusion.

    “It is necessary to restate the true position in view of the confusion, which these publications may create in the industry. It is even more expedient to provide this clarification, given that the service has taken a firm position earlier in the week through a joint news conference with stakeholders.

    “We like to reiterate the position that importation of rice remains banned through our land borders and we have the commitment of partner government agencies and stakeholders to enforce this restriction,” Adeniyi said.

    He added that while the restriction is in force, rice imports through the ports are still allowed, subject to payment of extant charges.

    “The service will, therefore, advocate a total ban on rice importation into Nigeria with effect from 2017.  It is our belief that continuous waste of scarce Foreign Exchange (forex) on a commodity that can be produced locally makes no economic sense, most especially at a period of recession,” Adeniyi stated.

    Nigeria spends $2 billion yearly on riceimportation.President Muhammadu Buhari, who made this known recently in Abuja, said to achieve domestic self-sufficiency in rice and other staples by 2018, the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development and the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) had been mobilised to encourage local production of rice, maize, sorghum, millet and soya beans.

    The president said farmers in 13 out of 36 states were receiving credit support through the CBN’s Anchor Borrowers Programme.

    This must have encouraged Adeniyi to restate the confidence that customs had in the ability of Nigerian Rice Producers (NRP) to fill the sufficiency gaps in the supply of the product.

    According to him, Customs had noted the ongoing rice revolution undertaken by many state governments and strategic interventions by Federal Government agencies.

    He said the service was convinced that the bumper harvests expected from these efforts will address the supply gap next year, urging Nigerians to watch out for similar antics as the stand on rice smuggling would pitch their selfish interest against national interest.

  • Can Supreme court reverse itself on Ekiti poll?

    Can Supreme court reverse itself on Ekiti poll?

    The shocking revelation by the former Ekiti State Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Secretary, Dr. Tope Aluko, that the June 21, 2014 governorship election was rigged in favour of Governor Ayo Fayose has dominated public discourse. ODUNAYO OGUNMOLA examines some salient issues thrown up by the bombshell.

    Dr. Temitope Kolawole Aluko, the erstwhile Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Secretary in Ekiti State, has dominated the airwaves and headlines of major newspapers since January 31 when he appeared on Channels Television to drop a bomb shell on the June 21, 2014 governorship election in the Fountain of Knowledge.

    He claimed that the election, which produced Governor Ayo Fayose of the PDP as winner, was rigged and never represented the wishes of Ekiti people across the 2,195 polling units in the 16 local government areas.

    The university lecturer-turned politician had alleged the use of the military to harass, intimidate and oppress the opposition, thereby giving undue electoral advantage to the PDP. According to him, federal might was deployed to snatch victory from the All Progressives Congress (APC).

    He also revealed that former President Goodluck Jonathan gave Fayose $2 million before the PDP primary and $35 million for the governorship election.

    According to him, the compromised military officers wore special armbands and were given specific areas of operations and targets to ensure that the opposition leaders and supporters were demobilised on election day.

    He said officials of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) were bribed N1 billion to favour the PDP during the contest.

    Aluko’s claims are weighty. They have cast a thick pall of slur on the integrity of elections. Aluko backed his claims with several documents.

    Some watchers of the unfolding drama in Ekiti are of the view that, although Aluko fell out with Fayose over the latter’s refusal to compensate him after the victory, the message he (Aluko) has passed is important for the appropriate authorities to take action.

    A political analyst, Taiwo Olawuyi, said: “The message is very important and no attempt should be made to trivialise this matter. The revelation of TKO (Aluko) is more than enough for any country that is serious to save its democracy from being sabotaged because this is a felony against the State.

    Aluko should be commended for risking his life to come out with these very shocking  revelations and it is not too late to remedy the situation. Although the state government has secured a warrant of arrest against him, but the question remains, did all what he said not happen? The message should be separated from the messenger.

    “The Ekiti electorate have been shortchanged and this (June 21, 2014) governorship election could not pass for an election that pass the test of integrity. The same person (Fayose) could have emerged winner if this electoral coup was not committed against the people.

    “I expect some actions to follow because if this one is swept under the carpet, we should expect more egregious electoral perfidy in the years ahead and the perpetrators must be made to face the consequences of their actions.”

    Aluko was an insider and whatever he said should not be dismissed with a wave of the hand. He was an active participant in the process that started from the party’s congresses and culminated in the election.

    Apart from his vantage position as the PDP Secretary, Aluko was the Chairman of the Intelligence and Security Committee of the Fayose Campaign Organisation. He also served as his party’s Returning Officer during the election, as he was the PDP signatory to the official result sheet at the Collation Centre.

    All these positions he held placed him at the ringside to know what really transpired as he kept custody of documents of the party and committees he was privileged to serve.

    The relationship between Aluko and Fayose predated the political bond between them as the duo grew up in the same neighbourhood in Ibadan, Oyo State in the 60s.

    They are from the same Irepodun/Ifelodun Local Government Area. While Fayose is from Afao Ekiti, Aluko is from Iyin Ekiti. Aluko, although a teacher at the then Ekiti State University supported Fayose to emerge as the PDP candidate and eventually a governor.

    Aluko’s ex-wife, Tosin, was a key member of the Ayo Fayose Foundation and Movement (AFFM), in the run-up to the 2003 governorship election.

    Tosin was later elected as the Chairman of Ado Ekiti Local Government under the Segun Oni administration. She is at present a commissioner in the Local Government Service Commission under Fayose.

    Throughout Fayose’s first stint in power, which ended abruptly in October 2006 through an impeachment by 24 of 26 members of the House of Assembly, Aluko was one of the members of Fayose’s intellectual think-tank.

    As the 2011 general elections drew near, Aluko resigned from the Ekiti State University in March 2010 to contest for the House of Representatives in Ekiti Central 1 Constituency comprising Ado Ekiti and Irepodun/Ifelodun Local Government Areas.

    Fayose and many members of his political family had moved to the Labour Party (LP) where he (Fayose) ran as senatorial candidate for Ekiti Central, which he lost to the then Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) candidate, Babafemi Ojudu.

    Aluko did not follow Fayose to the LP as he (Aluko) won the PDP House of Representatives ticket for Ekiti Central 1, but lost to the ACN candidate, Opeyemi Bamidele.

    Having tasted the bitter pill of defeat in his quest for a senatorial seat on the platform of LP, some PDP loyalists, including Aluko, convinced Fayose to return to the PDP in 2011 to take another shot at the governorship seat.

    But, for Fayose to realise the dream, he had many mountains to climb which include getting a waiver to return to the party and hijacking the party structure, which was then dominated by the Segun Oni Campaign Organization (SOCO) elements.

    Former Minister of Police Affairs Navy Capt. Caleb Olubolade (rtd) teamed up with Fayose to upstage Oni at the PDP congress in March 2012 as their candidates won majority of the members of the State Working Committee (SWC).

    Some key members of the SWC that emerged from the state congress supervised by former Secretary to the Kwara State Government, Alhaji AbdulGaniyu Cook Olododo, included Makanjuola Ogundipe (Chairman), Olufemi Bamisile (Deputy Chairman), Aluko (Secretary), Mrs. Busola Oyebode (Women Leader) Kola Oluwawole (Publicity Secretary), just to mention a few.

    With these personalities, most of whom were loyal to Fayose, they had prepared the ground for the former governor’s comeback bid.

    Before the governorship primary election, Aluko spearheaded the agitation for waiver to Fayose which was granted by the National Working Committee (NWC) headed by the former PDP National Chairman, Alhaji Ahmadu Adamu Mu’azu and this gave him the green light to run as a candidate.

    Controversies raged over the method to be adopted in selecting the party’s governorship candidate, with a section of the party led by former chairman Ogundipe rooting for consensus option while another section of the party with Aluko as the arrowhead championing the primary option.

    President Jonathan and the national leadership of the PDP were convinced to adopt the primary option. Aluko kept custody of the register of delegates, which was believed to have been tilted in favour of Fayose, hence, his victory at the shadow poll.

    The immediate cause of the feud between Fayose and Aluko was the governor’s alleged failure to honour “office sharing agreement” struck before the election. While Bamisile, the former PDP Deputy Chairman and a former Speaker of the House of Assembly, was pencilled for the deputy governorship slot, Aluko was to become the Chief of Staff.

    Shortly after Fayose secured the ticket, he appointed Dr. Kolapo Olusola as his running mate, a move which angered Bamisile and forced him to defect to the APC. but Aluko stayed in the party, hoping to get the Chief of Staff position. But, that was not to be, as the governor appointed Chief Dipo Anisulowo from Are Ekiti.

    Aluko’s name featured for appointment as Commissioner for Education and later as the State Universal Basic Education Board (SUBEB) Chairman, given his academic background. But, Fayose gave these positions to Jide Egunjobi and Senator Bode Ola, a defector from the ACN.

    With Fayose consolidating his hold on power, the party structure was his next target and an opportunity came when the erstwhile chair, Ogundipe, was nominated for the chairmanship of the party in the Southwest with the governor nominating his ally, Chief Idowu Faleye, as the acting chairman.

    Aluko and other SWC members kicked against Faleye’s nomination on the grounds that it violated the PDP constitution which forbids two SWC members coming from the same ward. At the time of Faleye’s nomination, the Youth Leader was from the same Ido Ward 1 in Ido/Osi LGA with Faleye.

    Eleven SWC members led by Aluko nominated Vice Chairman (Ekiti North Senatorial District), Tunde Olatunde, as the state PDP Acting Chairman, which polarised the party. Aluko and his group accused Fayose of serial violation of the party constitution and the crisis raged until Fayose with the support of the national leadership expelled Aluko and three others from the party.

    Although the Ekiti governorship election has come and gone, some observers believe that the latest revelations from Aluko on what transpired at the last governorship election are issues that must not be swept under the carpet if Nigeria is to get it right in the sacred responsibility of electing leaders.

    According to Aluko, who said he was part of Fayose’s inner circle during the election, alleged that Jonathan initially gave the incumbent Ekiti governor a first tranche of $2 million in March 2014 for the primary election.

    He noted that this cash was collected at the NNPC headquarters in Abuja and was taken to Fayose’s private house, in Abuja before it was moved to Ekiti.

    “Immediately after the primary election, we collected another $35 million from Jonathan on June 17, 2014. The money was brought to us by the former Minister of State for Defence, Senator Musiliu Obanikoro.

    “We all assembled at the front office of Spotless Hotel, Ado Ekiti, owned by Fayose. Thereafter, the cash was taken to a Bureau De Change in Onitsha where it was converted to N4.7 billion”, Aluko added.

    Aluko, further alleged that Fayose received about N3 billion cash from  Buruji Kashamu in 2013 to revive the PDP in Ekiti State.

    The Ekiti PDP scribe also gave account on how the military was used to win the election.

    Aluko said: “The former President agreed with Fayose and summoned a security meeting at the Presidential Villa for the purpose of the election.

    “Those at the meeting were the former Chief of Defence Staff, Air Chief Marshall Alex Badeh; former Chief of Army Staff, Lt.Gen. Kenneth Minimmah; and former National Chairman of the PDP, Alhaji Adamu Mu’azu.

    “Others included Fayose, Senator Iyiola Omisore, former Minister of Police Affairs, Jelili Adesiyan and Obanikoro.

    “At that meeting, the former President made it clear to the ex- Chief of Defence Staff that Fayose would stand for him (as Commander-In-Chief) in terms of providing security for the election”.

    Aluko alleged that Fayose, relying on Jonathan’s directive, approached the former Commander of the Army Brigade in Akure, Brig. Gen. Dikko to take charge of the election for the PDP, who refused to cooperate and was replaced after a petition was filed against him.

    “But, Gen. Dikko did not give us audience. He stated bluntly that he would not be available for such operation. So, Fayose filed a petition against him which led to his replacement with Brig. Gen. Aliyu Momoh who was amenable to our plans”.

    Aluko alleged that a total of 64 PDP stalwarts who had knowledge of their local government areas were picked to provide information on opposition members.

    “They gave detailed information regarding names and locations of opposition members in all the local governments, the various routes, areas of strength and weaknesses of the PDP in the 16 local governments.

    “Today, most of these 64 hatchet men are members of the Senate, House of Representatives, state House of Assembly, commissioners, local government chairmen, special advisers and the rest,” Aluko said.

    He continued: “We went into the election with 1040 recognised soldiers and another batch of 400 unrecognised soldiers brought from Enugu by Sen. Andy Uba.

    “In addition, we raised 44 special strike teams; brought in Toyota Hilux buses from Abuja and Onitsha. We made special stickers for the vehicles that conveyed members of the strike teams and black hand bands for each of them.

    “Each strike team was made up of 10 members headed by a soldier. The team was consisted of soldiers, policemen, DSS operatives and Civil Defence corps. They were detailed to attack and arrest prominent APC chieftains in all the local governments.

    “We set up anchorage, mainly residential houses, in every local government where the strike team members collected their welfare and other allowances.

    “To encourage the strike team members, we gave them orders to share money and other valuables they could lay their hands on in the houses of APC chieftains they raided.

    “Then we set up detention camps, mainly in primary schools where most of the APC chieftains were detained. Others were detained in police stations where the DPOs were friendly with us. We let them off after the election was over.

    “A day to the election, we used the military to block all routes in the local governments and prevented APC chieftains, including former Rivers State Governor, Mr. Rotimi Amaechi from coming into Ekiti.

    “So, we ensured that no APC chieftain was in sight on election day. We provided polling agents for the APC in most of the polling units so we had no problem getting them to sign election results in the units.

    “All these local and foreign observers that described the election free and fair only witnessed the voting exercise on election day without knowing what transpired before the voting”.

    The revelations by Aluko, although coming a bit late has provided a challenge to some institutions like the police, DSS, INEC and the Judiciary to institute a further inquest into the Ekiti governorship electoral scandal which has dented the image of Nigeria in the international community.

    The Army has has led the way by commissioning a probe into the involvement of some officers and men in the Ekiti rigging drama and came up with far-reaching decisions including compulsory retirement of two officers, loss of command by three officers and the prosecution of one for collecting financial gratification.

    Fifteen officers are to be placed on watch list, nine officers to be further investigated by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), six officers to face an audit committee and 62 officers mostly of the rank of Major and below) to be given Letters of Displeasure and to appear before their General Officers Commanding (GOCs) for counseling.

    Human rights activist and lawyer Morakinyo Ogele, who hailed the military for taking the action, said the civilian collaborators like Obanikoro; Adesiyan; Omisore and Chris Uba must be prosecuted for their roles in the rigging scandal.

    Ogele has vowed to approach the Federal High Court to seek a relief that the election should be declared null and void. He urged other well-meaning Nigerians not to keep quiet on the scandal, but to ensure that the electorate who were defrauded get justice.

    He said the secret audio recording of the meeting of PDP chiefs and the military officers led by Gen. Aliyu Momoh is a fresh evidence, which was not looked into by the Election Tribunal, Court of Appeal and the Supreme Court.

    Ogele said: “Criminal matters are not statute-barred, they can be revisited no matter how long they had happened in the past. It is the function of the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice to take up the matter because he is the chief law officer of the country.

    “Those who perpetrated these acts have committed heinous crimes against the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, the Electoral Act (as amended) and the full weight of the law must be brought on them.

    “It must be investigated whether the $37 million allegedly spent on the Ekiti election are part of the funds meant for the purchase of arms believed to have been diverted into elections.

    “It is in our electoral law that money should not be used unduly to influence election either to canvass for votes tor o subvert the electoral process. The criminal aspect of what happened at the Ekiti election should be looked into and the perpetrators must be brought to justice.”

  • Securities tribunal members urge Fed Govt to reverse dissolution

    JUDGES sitting on the Investment and Securities Tribunal (ISL) have urged the Federal Government to reverse the dissolution of the panel.

    The request was contained in a petition written to Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, which was dated November 22.

    It was copied to the Secretary to the Federal Government, the Attorney General of the Federation and the Minister for Finance.

    The learned men argued that the inclusion of IST among boards of agencies recently dissolved by the Federal Government was wrong and unlawful.

    They contended that ISL is not a board nor a parastatal, but a tribunal of records that sits like a court of competent jurisdiction.

    “The tribunal is a civil court for all purposes. Its existence is in perpetuity unlike other tribunals that are ad hoc in nature,” they said.

    They maintained that dissolving the board would amount to setting a dangerous precedence and wane investors’ confidence in the capital market.

    The dissolution, the members said, has caused members of the tribunal to suspend further sitting while cases at the verge of judgment have been stalled.

    “By virtue of Section 289 of ISL 2007, cases before the tribunal are to be completed within three months. If the tribunal is dissolved, many of the cases which hearings have commenced would start de-novo. This is costly to the Nigerian tax payers and investing public,” the petition said.

     

  • Tribunal: Taraba group asks Appeal Court to reverse judgment

    Tribunal: Taraba group asks Appeal Court to reverse judgment

    A group in Jalingo, Taraba state capital yesterday asked the Court of Appeal to reverse the tribunal ruling in Abuja in which Governor Darius Ishaku of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) was sacked and his opponent Aisha Alhassan of the All Progressives Congress (APC) reinstalled as winner of the April 11 governorship election in Taraba.

    The Taraba Volunteer Group (TVG) said the tribunal sitting in Abuja, headed by Justice Musa Abubakar, predicated its decision on the sole ground that Ishaku was not validly nominated and was not sponsored by his party (PDP) and  all the votes cast for him were wasted votes.

    The group said, ironically, the decision was arrived at by the tribunal despite the fact that Alhassan, now minister for Women Affairs, by her own pleadings, expressly stated that Governor Darius Ishaku is a member of PDP and was indeed sponsored by PDP to contest the gubernatorial poll on Aprill 11 and 25.

    “In Law, this is an admission, and Aisha Alhassan is stopped from denying or withdrawing from this express admission of fact.

    “Parties are bound by their pleadings. This is because in law, you cannot approbate and reprobate,” the group’s Coordinator Joseph Terence said.

    The Volunteer groups’s Public Relations Officer Moveino Dauda added that, “by Alhassan’s admission in her petition, it is a conclusive prove that establishes the fact that Governor Ishaku met the requirement of Section 177 of the Constitution, that he is a member of a political party and was sponsored by that party.”

    Terence and Dauda, all lawyers, said, inline with the pleadings of the APC candidate, the tribunal ought to have dismissed the petition on the ground of incompetence, after she had proceeded to aver facts inconsistently with her grounds of petition.

    “The ground of her petition which challenged the nomination and sponsorship of Darius Ishaku is deemed abandonment in line with her pleadings to the contrary, as was held by the appellate court in Amusun vs Daniel.

    “The judgment of the election tribunal is to say the least an attempt to rob the good people of Taraba state of the mandate given to Ishaku.

    “This judgment negates the very tenets and principles of democracy which is government by the majority of the people.

    “The implication of the tribunal’s judgment is foisting the government of the minority on the majority. This is an antithesis to the doctrine of democracy.

    “The tribunal rightly found that Ishaku won the election, as Alhassan could not prove over voting interalia.”

    Terence said the Supreme Court in Okagdigbo vs Chidi and Ugwu vs PDP decided this year that issues of party primaries are pre-election matters that should be handled by the Federal High Court or State High Court as contained in Section 87 of the Electoral Act.

    Calling on Taraba People to remain calm, he added that it is curious and worrisome that the tribunal went ahead to grant Alhassan a relief of nullification of election which she never sought for in her reliefs.

    “In law, it is very elementary that a court is not a Father Christmas; a court cannot give you what you never asked. A relief of nullification cannot be granted as a consequential relief; it must be specifically sought for.

    “The judgment is to say the least a clear affront on the democratic process. We therefore ask the Court of Appeal to reverse it, and we are confident the appellate court will do justice.”

  • Ortom to reverse federal neglect

    Benue State Governor Samuel Ortom has pledged to tackle the neglect of a section of the state in the federal civil service and recruitment into military and paramilitary organisations.

    He spoke yesterday at the funeral of the late Mrs. Kwaghngu Victoria Atsaga at Mbakuha in Ushongo Local Government.

    The governor said the arrest of those in possession of illegal weapons would begin tomorrow, as the amnesty period he declared would end today.

    He said his strategy for addressing neglect included the setting up of a committee of retired police commissioners to mobilise indigenes for the next recruitment into the police as well as making contacts with those in charge of the organisations.

    Ortom said security was his greatest concern, adding that he would be fulfilled if he secured life and property.

    He said those who could not approach the government directly could submit illegal weapons in their possession to the clergy and traditional rulers, who would hand them over to the Amnesty Committee.

    The governor promised to revive vigilance groups to assist security agencies in curbing crimes.

  • Reverse sack of 16,000 doctors, NMA tells Jonathan

    THE Nigerian Medical Association (NMA) yesterday called on President Goodluck Jonathan to unconditionally reinstate the 16,000 resident doctors he sacked last Thursday.

    It said only after their reinstatement will it return to the negotiation table with the federal government on the strike, which began on July 1.

    The Chairman, Lagos State Branch of NMA, Dr Tope Ojo, stated this in a briefing at the weekend.

    He urged Jonathan to do the right thing by reversing the sack and lifting the ban on residency training while engaging the NMA in discussion.

    He said because of the sack all medical schools have been shut down, saying the resident doctors contribute about 50 per cent to the training of the students.

    This, he said, also caused the cancellation of major/specialist surgical operations in the teaching hospitals.

    According to him: “The consultants by default perform all major surgical operations with the assistance of their resident doctors.”

    Resident doctors, he said, are part of the NMA, which declared the strike and as such should not be singled out for punishment.

    He said: “All attempts by the government to divide the NMA by sacking its 16,000 resident doctors are well understood and will be resisted by the NMA.

    “Doctors will resist victimisation or harassment by the government or its agents because an injury to one is an injury to all.”

    He said the sack of doctors may trigger more cases of Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) because most volunteers involved in case management and other levels of Ebola Emergency Response Committee are resident doctors.

    The chairman said resident doctors are sensitive and will continue to participate in the Ebola response at all levels despite their purported sacks.

    He lamented lack of adequate equipment to manage the disease, adding that government has been silent on the security of volunteer doctors managing the cases.

    He said one of the demands of NMA is for the government to establish a National Residency Training Board and review the current policy on residency training in Nigeria to meet international standards.

    Ojo said for over six years, there has been consistent pressure from some Allied Health Workers Union (AHWU) for government to stop the training of specialists in Nigeria.

    He urged the Lagos State government to embrace true democracy by stopping the employment of casual/ locum doctors.

    Doctors, he said, were given casual employment when the state Medical Guild embarked on an indefinite strike on May 7, 2012.