The Independent National Electoral Commission has fixed February 6 for rerun elections in Rivers State.
The Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC), Dame Gesila Khan, announced the date yesterday at a meeting with leaders of political parties in Port Harcourt, the state capital.
Dame Khan, who has been redeployed to Cross River State, noted that elections would be held for 22 House of Assembly seats, 12 House of Representatives seats and three senatorial seats. The REC said elections would not hold for 10 state constituency seats. They are: Abua/Odual, Ahoada-West, Etche1, Khana 1, Ogba/Egbema/Ndoni, Ogu/Bolo, Okrika, Oyigbo, Port Harcourt 1 and Port Harcourt 3.
The same, she said, would happen to the seat for Ahoada-West/Ogba/Egbema/Ndoni Federal Constituency.
The REC said the election date was still tentative.
She said 2,148,289 voters were expected to vote in the polls, adding that only voters who were registered during last year’s elections would be eligible to participate in the rerun.
Dame Khan said 6,806 Card Readers would be deployed for the rerun, adding that the various parties could get further clarifications on the polls at the state’s INEC office.
But the chairman of the ruling People Democratic Party (PDP) in the state, Felix Obuah, who is also the chairman of Inter-Party Advisory Council (IPAC), accused INEC of conniving with the All Progressives Congress (APC) to secretly fix the date.
He said the election umpire and the opposition allegedly planned to put the other parties at a disadvantaged position to enable INEC rig for APC.
He said the PDP and IPAC rejected the date, adding that they would boycott the rerun, if INEC held the elections on February 6.
On Wednesday, the Supreme Court resolved the dispute over the Rivers State governorship election. In the wisom of the seven-man panel, Nyesom Wike was elected in compliance with the Electoral Act. The justices will list the reasons for the judgment on February 12.
For me, the Supreme Court is god on this matter. It has spoken and whatever people like me feel about its judgment matters less. I look forward to hearing the reasons their lordship will give for upholding this election, which was the hallmark of violence.
I congratulate Governor Nyesom Wike and wish him well. My prayer is that Rivers shall know peace like Pastor Enoch Adeboye foresaw during his recent meeting with the Rivers governor.
IN spite of age, they protested not minding the rain or sun. All they were interested in was how the management of the Nigeria Port Authority (NPA) would recognise them as full pensioners of the company.
Last weekend they celebrated the success of their struggle after the NPA management heard their call.
•Dikewoha (centre) receiving the gift.
They were due for retirement between 2006-2007 but were disengaged as a result of the Port reform. The management of the NPA sacked them without entitlement. And they were not absorbed as pensioners of the company. That was the beginning of their struggle. They made several peaceful moves to regain their rights but their efforts failed.
Their struggle started in 2009. Some of their colleagues who started the fight did not make it to the harvest time. Many people died because of frustration and suffering after many years of waiting for their entitlements.
In September 2013, the disengaged workers were at the Port Harcourt office of Vintage Press Limited, publisher of The Nation and Sporting life. They pleaded with the company to assist them fight the battle. Two days after, the pensioners organised what many described as mother of all protests blocking the main entrance of the Port Harcourt office of the NPA. It took the NPA management more than two days to calm the angry protesters.
The Nation reported the protest and that was the beginning of negotiation to recognise them as pensioners. Today the storm is over; they are now full pensioners of NPA and they have started receiving their pension monthly.
At a thanksgiving party organised by the pensioners in Port Harcourt to appreciate God and to honour those who contributed for the success of the struggle, the leader of the group, Comrade Chris Nnamene presented a gift to this reporter for his contributions to the struggle. He described The Nation as the “Newspaper for the helpless and the voiceless Nigerians”.
Nnamene, who recounted how the fight started, said they were very happy the way The Nation reported their stories during their struggle.
He said: “After we were disengaged by our erstwhile employer in 2006 and 2007 as a result of the Federal Government port reform policy, as humans we became helpless. Hence we started to seek for God’s guidance and our dogged fight to regain our statutory rights. After more than seven years of struggle, then came the total reversal and eventually introduced the great surprise that gave us life, special significance and hope.
“The victory wouldn’t have been possible without the contribution of the media and human right organisations. But among the media men who assisted us two people did exceptional report, not only that, they also stood by us to ensure justice. Today we are here to honour and to celebrate the contribution of Mr. Precious Dikewoha of The Nation and Mr. Baridam Sika of Radio Rivers for their sacrifices in this great struggle. Today I make bold to say that your invaluable support and sacrifices will forever remain indelible in our minds. May our heavenly father continue to bless the work of your hand?
“ To my contemporaries, I appreciate your understanding and patience. I have always advised that in the face of our struggle, hunger and frustration we must at all time conduct ourselves with honour and dignity knowing fully well that our God is not asleep and that we were fighting a just cause. Today, we celebrate the victory after eight years of struggle. The battle was won but we must fight on until we get all that belongs to us. It is my wish to inform you that this ceremony wouldn’t have been possible without the frantic efforts made by the ad hoc planning committee.”
Mr. Anthony Mbachu, one of the reinstated NPA pensioners, said: “From 2008 when the struggle started we know what we have gone through. Over eighty people have died but God used the present Managing Director (MD) of Nigeria Port Authority to listen to our plight. We feel unhappy that those who started with us in this struggle died on the way. But we are glad that their next of kins have started receiving alert and we believe that all of them will get alert soon.”
The National Industrial Court (NIC) sitting in Yenagoa, Bayelsa State, on Thursday barred Rivers State Government from evicting permanent secretaries, allegedly sacked illegally from their official quarters.
The court relied on an undertaking it extracted from the lawyer to the state government, Mr. Frank Onyiri, that he would advise his clients not to tamper with issues raised in the suit filed by the permanent secretaries pending the determination of the case.
About 14 permanent secretaries in Rivers dragged the state government to the NIC, protesting their compulsory retirement from the state civil service.
Some of the secretaries are – Mr. Sam Woka, Ms. Kadilo Brown, Mr. Augustine Orlu-Orlu, Mr. Muka Nwikosi, Mr Minabelema Michael-West, Mrs. Ngozi Abu, Mr. Kingsley Hart and Mrs Justina Jumbo.
The state’s Attorney-General, the Head of Service of the state, the Rivers State Civil Service Commission, and the Accountant General of Rivers, were also joined in the suit.
When the matter resumed on Thursday for hearing, Onyiri appealed to the court to give him time to file a preliminary objection to the suit.
He argued that the matter should not be heard because the suit was an abuse of the court process.
He contended that it was improper for the claimants to lump their claims together in a single suit.
Onyiri also gave an indication that his clients were trying to begin an eviction process against the claimants.
But the court presided over by Justice James Agbadu-Fishim said there was nothing wrong in the claimants coming together in a single suit to advance their interests.
He said the claimants were only required to “particularize” each of their claims in the suit.
The Rivers state Commissioner for Health Dr. Theophilus Odagme has confirmed the admission of a medical staff of the Braithwaite Memorial Specialist Hospital (BMSH), at one of the three quarantine centers made ready by the state for prompt isolation, treatment of Lassa fever victims in the state.
Odagme made the confirmation in a statement by his press officer, Paul Baziah-Nsaneh in Port Harcourt the state capital Monday evening.
He said, 250 persons have been placed under surveillance across the state and that the state is doing everything possible to ensure the virus does not spread further.
Lassa fever broke in the state last December. Five persons including a medical doctor and two women, and their two weeks old and unborn child have been reportedly died as a result of the virus while over 200 mostly medical personnel are presently being monitored in the state.
The commissioner said, the patient in admission have already begun to show symptoms of the disease but said, she has not yet tested positive to the virus.
Odagme said, “now the state has 3 holding Centers for Lassa Fever Cases – Braithwaite Memorial Specialist Hospital (BMSH), University of Port Harcourt Teaching Hospital (UPTH) and the Port Harcourt Model Primary Health Centre Port Harcourt.
“Over 250 persons are being followed up. One patient is at one of the centers for observation after she showed symptoms but she has not tested positive.”
Staff members of Emergency Medical Service of the BMSH yesterday morning locked up the gates of the government owned hospital in demonstration of the unpaid 14 months salaries by Governor Nyesom Wikle-led government of the state.
The group who later preceded to the government House gates where they made known their grievances to the state government shut the hospital gates from all forms of movement.
They expressed untold hardship the non-payment of their salaries have caused them and their defendants, adding that the Lassa fever influenza in the state have further hurt their feelings over the more than one- year -old salaries owed them, stressing that they are at the centre of the risk of the contracting the disease by the virtue of the job, and threatened to down tools if nothing was done about their plight in a shortest possible time.
Already members of the state branch of the Nigeria Medical Association (NMA) have been on a warning strike over the abduction of two of their members by unknown gunmen in the state.
The two abduction victims, a male and a female were abducted at different points in the state within 24 hours are yet to be released.
Dr. Odagme in the statement appealed to the Doctors to shelve their strike action promising that the government is doing everything to ensure the kidnaped Doctors were released unhurt.
Also to the protesting Emergency Medical Service workers, the Commissioner assured them that their issue would be addressed as soon as possible.
The Rivers State chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC) has said insecurity is worsening across the state.
The party also condemned what it called the deliberate politicisation of the security operations in the state.
Rivers APC Chairman Davies Ikanya, through the party’s Publicity Secretary, Chris Finebone, yesterday in Port Harcourt, disagreed with Governor Nyesom Wike of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) on the state’s security situation.
Wike, according to the APC, “deliberately and mischievously” misrepresented ongoing security operations by security forces to neutralise known criminals in dark spots in Rivers State.
APC noted that the governor had attempted to paint the wrong picture of the state’s politics through security operations.
The party said in a normal circumstance, Wike and his administration ought to have supported the current security operations in the 23 local government areas, especially as security of life and property is the primary responsibility of government anywhere in the world.
Rivers APC said: “Wike and the PDP are out to protect their criminal allies by blackmailing the Army and other security agencies. Unfortunately, they (Wike and other PDP leaders in Rivers State) have resorted to the highest form of blackmail against security agencies by claiming that locations the security agents have raided to arrest criminals belong to their members and that the criminals being sought are PDP members…”
Rivers State Health Commissioner, Theophilus Odagme, yesterday confirmed the death of three persons in the outbreak of Lassa fever in the state.
Two hundred others are currently under observation, he told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Port Harcourt.
He said up to 50 people who had contacts with the first reported two cases could be out of observation because they had not shown symptoms of the disease.
The commissioner said that the medical doctor, who died after contracting the disease, had been buried after consultations with the family.
He said the doctor died at a hospital outside Port Harcourt while contacts he had hours before his death, are among those under observation.
Odagme said government has set up a special centre to manage new cases of the disease, noting that no new case has been reported.
Odagme also said that the state was working with the World Health Organisation (WHO) and the Federal Ministry of Health to tackle the disease.
“We have been working with WHO and the Federal Ministry of Health. They are with us in ensuring that their supports come on board. They are with us.”
He advised people with symptoms of the disease to report to the nearest health centre for test and treatment.
A five-day free multi-disease medical outreach targeted at under privileged and rural dwellers have been concluded in Khana Local Government Area in Rivers State by the Federal Government.
The programme was designed to create awareness on the dreaded disease in order to check its spread, especially among the riverine populace.
The outreach, which took place in Bori and Taabaa Communities of Khana, also offered free BP checks, HIV counseling, malaria test and treatment, MBI assessment blood glucose check deworming and clinical consultation.
Flagging-off the event the Deputy Director, Policy and strategy, NACA, Dr. Chidi Nwanemeka expressed delight at the massive turnout.
He described the outreach as a demonstration of Federal Government determination to provide efficient and affordable health care to every Nigerian.
Dr. Nwanemeka assured that necessary provisions are in place to replicate the outreach across all the Local Government Areas in the country in order to achieve set goals.
Dr. Francis Naziga of Rivers State Agency for Control of Aids lauded the initiate and sued for sustenance.
He assured NACA of the government readiness for effective partnership to curtail the spread of AIDS and treatment of other prevalent diseases.
Beneficiaries who spoke lauded the Federal Government for bringing the free health services closer to the people. Over four thousand people benefitted from the exercise.
Dignitaries at the occasion included Comrade Lovina Nwaidam who stood in for Khana Local Government Council Boss, royal fathers, youth groups and political leaders.
The doctors’ quarters at the Rivers State government-owned Braithwaite Memorial Specialist Hospital, near the Government House in Port Harcourt, the state capital, was razed yesterday.
The affected doctors and their families were relocated to the government guest houses, following Governor Nyesom Wike’s directive during his visit to the hospital.
It was learnt that the fire started at 3 p.m. from the top floor of the two-storey building and destroyed the floor.
Wike, who joined fire fighters and sympathisers to put out the fire, directed that the occupants, including five doctors and the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Health, be relocated to the government guest houses.
A panel of enquiry is to establish the cause of the fire.
Wike said: “I want to sympathise with the doctors affected by this fire. We thank God that no life was lost.
“I have directed the Health commissioner to set up a panel of enquiry to find out what led to the fire. If it is as a result of negligence, those involved will be sanctioned. We must endeavour to protect government property.”
Wike pledged that his administration would rebuild the quarters.
The governor hailed the firemen from the state’s Fire Service, the Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria Limited (SPDC) and the Nigeria Ports Authority (NPA) for preventing the fire from spreading.
He was accompanied by the Head of Service (HOS), Rufus Godwin and Health Commissioner Dr. Odagme Theophilus.
Ahead of fresh elections in Rivers State, ordered by the tribunals and Courts of Appeal in Abuja, the Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Prof. Mahmud Yakubu, has ordered the transfer of top officials of the commission in the state.
The affected officials include the Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC), Dame Gesila Khan, and other senior officers of the commission, who allegedly compromised the processes during the March 28 and April 11 elections in favour of the PDP.
It was learnt last night that some top officials of INEC at the Rivers State headquarters in Port Harcourt got their transfer letters on Friday from Abuja; others would get theirs today.
Prof Yakubu was said to be saddened by what a source called the embarrassing revelations from the tribunals and Courts of Appeal on the sham and massively-rigged elections in Rivers State and other parts of the country.
The INEC chairman was said to have deemed it necessary to make the mass transfer.
The massive nullification of the “victories” of the Peoples Democratic Party’s (PDP’s) candidates in the state, sources said, angered Governor Nyesom Wike, a former Minister of State for Education.
A top INEC official in Rivers State, who testified at the tribunal, was described as an “S.U.” or born again Christian.
The alleged rigging by the PDP was said to have made the party to “win” the governorship and three senatorial seats as well as all the 13 seats in the House of Representatives and 31 of the 32 seats in the House of Assembly.
Josiah Olu of the All Progressives Congress (APC) won the Eleme Constituency’s seat in the House of Assembly.
Dame Khan denied any wrongdoing during the elections when she spoke on phone yesterday with our reporter.
The REC noted that transfers in the civil service were routine, adding that at the close of work on Friday, she had not received any transfer letter.
Dame Khan said: “Do not mind them. They are telling lies against me. It is part of the propaganda of the APC to discredit me. I did not collect money from any politician and I did not share money to or with anybody.
“I was transferred to Bayelsa State from Delta State on January 5, 2015 and I put in my best before, during and after the general elections. Those abusing and lying against me should ask about me in Delta State, where I also put in my best.
