The All Progressives Congress, APC, on Thursday, confirmed the Governor of Plateau State and Chairman of the Northern Governors’ Forum, Simon Lalong, as the Director General of its Presidential Campaign Council.
The APC Chairman, Senator Abdullahi Adamu, disclosed this to State House Correspondents shortly after meeting the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), at the Aso Rock Villa, Abuja.
He said, “We are here to see Mr. President to brief him and to get his approvals of plans that we are having regarding our campaign outfit.
“And once we have his approval, we intend to make major disclosure. We’re on the same page with the Presidential and the individuals who will play various roles in the campaign.
“The DG of the campaign is seated by my right here. Governor Simon Lalong of Plateau State.
“We have a spokesperson in the person of Festus Kenyamo. The deputy spokesperson is Hannatu Musawa. This is what we came to discuss with the President.”
Adamu explained that the choice of Lalong was based on his ability to do the work required to ensure victory for the Tinubu-Shettima ticket in next year’s presidential elections.
“He has the ability to do it. The party leadership has seen that he his capable of running the affairs of the campaign outfit,” he noted.
High Chief Ikechi EmenikeChief Ikechi Emenike, the factional governorship flag bearer of APC in Abia State has come under fire for saying that Chief Whip of the Senate, Senator Orji Uzor Kalu sponsored the creation of Action Peoples Party, APP to front his younger brother, Mascot Kalu as a governorship candidate.
Responding to the allegation, a chieftain of APP, Pastor Okey Umezie in a chat with media men in Abuja said Emenike’s allegations is baseless, insipid, and hollow.
“My attention has been drawn to the cacophonic but insipid allegations of Ikechi Emenike against the personality of Chief Mascot Uzor Kalu, the governorship candidate of our great party, APP, in Abia state. While I would not want to get into issues with him, it is pertinent to state the obvious that his allegations are baseless, insipid, and hollow; hence, I need to set the records straight.
“How can he (Emenike) say that APP was founded by Senator Orji Uzor Kalu when the party in question is a national party that has been in existence for years? So, how did Orji Uzor Kalu, a non-member of the party, form it just for the sake of the 2023 election in Abia state?”
Speaking further, he refuted with laughter the insinuation of Emenike that Chief Mascot Kalu is being bankrolled by his brother for the upcoming election, stating that his associate (Chief Mascot) is a successful businessman that has come of age to undertake any political adventure without interference from anybody.
“For the umpteenth time, Ikechi Emenike has forgotten that Chief Mascot Uzor Kalu is an industrialist of international repute who has carved out an enviable niche for himself in the real estate, construction, finance and banking, and hospitality businesses for over twenty years now.
“Do I need to remind him that Mascot’s entrepreneurial giant stride is recognized even in the US? In June 2007, the City of Charlotte, North Carolina, recognized him as one of the most powerful urban businessmen of the year. He further became an awardee of the USA Democratic House Caucus Businessmen Club and the Republican House Caucus Businessmen Club in 2006 and 2007 respectively.
“Is it not laughable to say that such a man who has built businesses into international conglomerates with a net worth of over $15 million as of 2007 is being bankrolled by his brother to contest the election?”, he asked.
APC in Abia state has recently been hit by internal wrangling and factionalization. Because of this, Pastor Okey Umezie reminded the party’s governorship candidate to leak his wounds and tell Abians his manifesto, if he has any, instead of throwing tantrums at other candidates.
“His incessant tantrums show that he has nothing to offer. If he has, let him tell Abians.
“In Abia state, Chief Emenike must be told that his party has lost electoral value, so he has a lot to deal with. But instead of focusing on developmental issues, he is busy throwing baseless tantrums.
“I am, however, not surprised. What good do you expect from a factional governorship candidate who went to a reconciliation ground but only continued to sow the seeds of discord with such bizarre statements because of his unbridled ambitions?
“The same Orji Uzor Kalu he is speaking ill against today is the man he (Emenike) knelt for at Prince Benjamin Apugo’s house in Umuahia, begging to make him governor in 2007 after claiming that his Umuahia brother, T. A. Orji, would not make it out of prison. So, to me, his recent statement is reminiscent of a man suffering from cognitive dissonance.”
“APP in Abia State, in any case, cannot be intimidated or distracted by any political propaganda, as we are ready to wrestle power from the ruling PDP through our credible candidates across the board, and don’t get it twisted APP is here to stay for the betterment of all Abians.,” he concluded.
Akwa Ibom State High Court, sitting in Uyo, the state capital, has sentenced a 21-year-old Uduak Akpan to death by hanging for the murder of Akwa Ibom job seeker, Iniubong Umoren.
The court also found the accused guilty of rape and accordingly sentenced him to life imprisonment for having carnal knowledge of the deceased whom he lured to his father’s house in Uruan local government in April 2021 under the pretext of offering her a job.
Delivering judgement which lasted for almost two hours on Thursday, the trial judge, Justice Bassey Nkanang, discharged and acquitted the convicts father, Frank Akpan, and sister, Anwan Bassey (2nd and 3rd defendant) accused of accessory after the fact to murder, respectively.
Nkanang stated, “This court has proved beyond reasonable doubts that you, Uduak Akpan is guilty of murder, and you are charged accordingly. You are to die by hanging until you rot away.”
However, there was confusion in the court as the convict attempted to escape shortly after the sentence was announced by the trial judge.
Our correspondent reports that the convict came out of the dock and immediately grabbed a lawyer by the neck before the security operatives swooped on him, grabbed, and beat him mercilessly, causing a stir in the court.
Speaking after the judgement, the State Attorney general and Commissioner of Justice, Barr. Uko Udom, expressed satisfaction over the ruling of the matter
Bandits have abducted a woman from a sick bed in Anguwar Malamai village in Kakeyi, Zaria Local Government Area of Kaduna State.
Anguwar Malamai is the nearest community to the famous Zaria Dam. It is about one kilometre away from the Nigerian Television Authority, NTA Zaria.
The bandits, who arrived at the village around 12am on Thursday proceeded straight to the resident of Alhaji Shuaibu Dallatu and kidnapped his wife.
One of the villagers interviewed said, “The bandits arrived purposely to kidnap the household, Alhaji Shuaibu Dallatu, because on arrival they asked some young men who sleep in the shop outside house of his whereabouts.
“Meanwhile, Alhaji Dallatu who was fully awake attending to his sick wife, overheard the conversation and quickly sneaked out.”
He further explained that when the bandits could not find the husband, they decided to kidnap the wife despite her sick condition.
“They bundled her into a waiting car and started shooting into the air as they made their exit.
The police public relations officer in Kaduna, Mohammed Jalinge, was not reachable as at the time of filing this report
Governor Adegboyega Oyetola and the Osun chapter of the All Progressives Congress have concluded plans to drag the Independent National Electoral Commission, the People’s Democratic Party, and its candidate, Senator Ademola Adeleke to the Elections Petitions Tribunal.
This is coming barely weeks after the conclusion of the Osun governorship election.
This was disclosed on Thursday by the chairman of the party, Prince Gboyega Famodun at a press conference held at the Party secretariat in Osogbo, the State capital.
Famodun said the counsels to the Party and that of Governor Adegboyega Oyetola have concluded plans and will be approaching the court. مواقع مراهنات كرة القدم
He added that the lawyers have told them that “we have a strong case and we believe we will win at the court. الرهانات ”
The governorship candidate of the opposition All Progressive Grand Alliance, APGA, in Abia State, Professor Greg Ibe, has dismissed as “malicious and mischievous”, social media reports that he is being bankrolled by Gov. Okezie Ikpeazu so as not to probe him if voted into power in 2023.
Professor Ibe in a statement by his Media Team, said the said media report was a propaganda tool by his traducers to blackmail him, and urged members of the public to discountenance it.
The statement made available to Vanguard read: “Our attention has been drawn to a humorous and hilarious comic piece authored by an unsuccessful burlesque writer, whose failure to secure a supplementary scriptwriting role in Nollywood has become legendary.
“In this recent laughable piece captioned “How Ikpeazu is funding 3 Abia governorship candidates to retain power by proxy “, this faceless Onitsha market fifth columnist attempted, albeit woefully, to diminish the ascending political profile of Prof Gregory Ibe, the Abia state governorship candidate of All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) by erroneously alleging that he is being sponsored by the current Abia state governor, Dr Okezie Ikpeazu.
“Our investigation however, revealed that in publishing this malicious misinformation, the misguided author ingloriously secured the sponsorship of a notorious serial election loser who apparently wants to take his losing streak to a new level by forcing himself into the forthcoming Abia governorship race, albeit through the back door, deploying an unpopular political structure.”
The APGA governorship candidate said he would not be distracted by the antics of his traducers, adding that his major preoccupation is how to take over the reins of power in the state in 2023.
“Being a focused organization whose current engagement is to dislodge the unproductive and malfunctioning PDP administration, whose abysmal performance continue to be a shameful reproach to all well meaning Abians, while seriously working towards the emergence of a brand new Abia, the Prof Gregory Ibe Campaign Organization(ProGICO) would have ignored the said publication but for the purpose of putting the records straight and as a way of puncturing the writer’s aim of misinforming, misleading and subsequently deceiving innocent Abians.
“Prof Gregory Ibe is a globally acclaimed technocrat whose antecedents and footprints in the highly competitive world of corporate business, scholarly erudism, creative innovativeness and proactive patriotism is public knowledge.
“That his advent into politics in the early days of the fourth republic was not for selfish interests but inspired by a desire to contribute to the cause of reforming and transforming the society.
“That pursuant to this desire Prof Ibe has supported every effort to make life better for Abians in particular and Nigerians as a whole, as these can be attested to by the annual distribution of palliatives to groups, organization of free medical cum surgical outreaches, award of tuition free scholarship to hundreds of undergraduates and grading of community roads.
“That the allusion by the aforementioned publication that Prof Ibe is being sponsored by the PDP government of Dr Okezie Ikpeazu is not only atrocious, pernicious and mischievous but at best the lowest form of a no-brainer evil conjecture hurriedly packaged, promoted and projected by a league of frightened political dwarfs and Lilliputians in an unsuccessful attempt to freely donate a political godfather to Prof Ibe and subsequently accord credit to Dr Ikpeazu for the numerous giant strides of the focused Abia APGA Governorship Candidate in all sectors including social, educational, economical, infrastructural and political.”
The presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Atiku Abubakar has appointed Daniel Bwala as one of his campaign spokespersons.
He also appointed Senator Dino Melaye, who was defeated in the last PDP senatorial primary election for the Kogi West senatorial district.
Bwala, who dumped the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) for the PDP a few weeks ago, used to be a legal aide to the Deputy Senate President, Ovie Omo-Agege.
The lawyer and public affairs analyst was two weeks ago approached by leaders of the PDP caucus in the House of Representatives with an offer of visible space in the Atiku campaign.
The Borno-born politician announced his defection to the PDP a few days after.
Melaye, who represented Kogi West in the Eighth Senate, got re-elected to the Nineth Senate but lost his seat to Senator Smart Adeyemi of the APC in an election petition case.
The controversial ex- senator also lost the recently concluded PDP primary election for the Kogi West district to a serving member of the House of Representatives, Tajudeen Yusuf.
The controversial Okun-born ex-lawmaker used to be a close ally of former Senate President, Bukola Saraki during the Eighth Senate.
However, he dumped Saraki when the Kwara-born ex-Senate President dropped from the power equation and switched loyalty to Atiku in the run-up to the PDP presidential primaries.
Saraki was one of the aspirants that contested and lost the PDP presidential ticket to Atiku in the October 2021 primaries.
A statement released on Thursday by the Media Adviser to Atiku, Mazi Paul Ibe, said the two appointments take immediate effect.
Nasarawa State Governor, Engineer Abdullahi Sule, has directed the Head of the Civil Service to expedite action on the promotion of public servants that have been due for the exercise with effect from 2017 to date.
He gave the directive during the swearing-in of the new Grand Khadi of the Sharia Court of Appeal, Hon. Kadi Yusuf Abubakar Agwai II, and six permanent secretaries in Lafia, the state capital.
He also directed the implementation of the pending promotions of the Local Government employees in a bid to motivate them for enhanced productivity.
The Governor restated the resolve of his administration to reposition the state public service for enhanced performance, especially against the backdrop of the significant role the service play in the initiation and implementation of government policies and programmes.
“This is why we have continued to commit enormous resources in the training and retraining of our public servants in order to put the service on the right pedestal. We have also ensured that the welfare of Civil Servants is given utmost priority in order to ensure that our personnel feels well-motivated to give their best in the delivery of service for socio-economic development.’
The governor said the appointment of the new grand khadi was necessary following the retirement of the former grand khadi of the Sharia Court of Appeal.
He noted that the gesture was based on the recommendation of the National Judicial Council (NJC) in compliance with the provision of Section 276 sub-section (2) of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (as amended).
He urged the new grand khadi to ensure that sharia courts in the state remain the embodiment of hope and justice in accordance with Islamic jurisprudence.
Governor Sule also said the appointment of the six permanent secretaries was aimed at reinvigorating the machinery of government towards the realization of policies and programmes of his administration.
He charged the permanent secretaries to acquaint themselves with the Financial Regulations and the Public Procurement Act in carrying out government business, anchored on the principles of transparency, accountability, and prudent management of public resources which his administration has imbibed as some of its core values.
The National leadership of the All Progressives Congress (APC) has frowned at the lingering disunity in the Abia State chapter of the party and has set up a peace and reconciliation committee “to bring the party together”.
Abia APC was embroiled in fresh crisis after the governorship primary and it has persisted in spite of the reconciliation meeting of June 18, 2022 held at Ntalakwu Oboro Ikwuano local government.
However, the National chairman of APC, Senator Abdullahi Adamu announced an eight-member reconciliation committee Wednesday after “a comprehensive meeting” in Abuja between the National Working Committee (NWC) and stakeholders from Abia.
Those charged with the responsibility of birthing peace in Abia APC are Senator Chris Adighije who is the chairman of the committee with the Deputy Chief Whip of the House of Representatives, Hon Nkeiruka Onyejeocha as secretary.
Other members include minister of state, for Science, Technology and Innovation, Chief Henry Ikechukwu Ikoh, former minister of labour, Chief Emeka Wogu, former Abia House of Assembly Speaker, Hon Martin Azubuike, APC National Welfare Secretary, Hon. Friday Nwosu, and former House of Representatives member, Hon Emeka Atuma.
Senator Adamu alluded that the national leadership of APC has become tired of attending to complaints from Abia APC, saying that the party stakeholders should return to their state and find a lasting solution to the internal crisis.
He stressed the need for Abia APC to put its house in order and face the 2023 general election as a formidable united family, warning that he would not accept any excuses should the party fail to make a clean sweep of Abia.
The APC National Chairman expressed optimism that genuine peace and reconciliation would return to Abia, adding that with “what we have done today, the entire wards (in Abia) will witness peace”. He stated that the inauguration of the peace commitee “is the very last step as NWC would not hold reconciliation meetings again” for Abia.
“We will now leave it to the leaders of Abia to go and play their politics in Abia state. Abuja is not about Abia, go to Abia, play politics there, do the necessary lobby, reconcile there because all politics is local. Abuja is not Abia locality, Abuja is the Federal Capital Territory. We converge here from various states. لعبة القمار ورق Let Abians go and sit together,”. سباق الحصان
Senator Adamu charged Abia APC leaders to ensure that the party wins not only the governorship seat but also record resounding success in the House of Representatives, Senate and the presidential elections. According to him, “we will not be satisfied with just the 25 percent of votes cast” in respect of presidential poll.”.
“No half way about it. If we are to win, we must try to win every state. We have to do some works to avoid and forget some of the prejudices and stand together.
“We don’t want anybody to come here after the election and start crying and laying blames for our failures. لعبه bingo I will not listen to that. This is the time to unite, this is the time to work for unity. If we do, God will be with us,” he said.
Chairman of the Abia APC Reconciliation Committee, Senator Adighije accepted the challenge of unifying the members of Abia APC and pledged to bring together and reconcile all parties involved in the dispute.
He explained that it was because of “what has been happening in Abia”, that the national leadership has finally decided to set up reconciliation committee to reconcile all the aggrieved members of our party so that we can build strength and face the challenges from other parties”.
“We have to get together and quickly do so. We are on our way back to Abia, play the local politics, reconcile all our members and ensure that we go straight for the low hanging fruits.
“I know that by the grace of God and with the team we are going to do the needful and ensure victory for our party,” Adighije said
The Abia State House of Assembly on Wednesday expressed dissatisfaction over the withdrawal of accreditations of two tertiary institutions in the state, the Abia Polytechnic Aba and the ABSU College of Medicine by relevant government agencies.
At plenary, the Assembly mandated its committee on health to turn in its report the College of Medicine, Abia State University, Uturu, (ABSU).
The Speaker, Rt Hon Chinedum Enyinnaya Orji who presided over the plenary urged the committee to turn in the report at the next legislative sitting.
Regarding the Abia State Polytechnic, Aba, the Speaker said the House will be visiting the institution soon to conduct an on the spot assessment of the situation.
The Speaker then announced that an Ad Hoc Committee will be set up to thoroughly scrutinise how funds released to the institution by the government were expended with a view to helping in finding solutions to the crisis that led to the loss of its accreditation
Members of the ad hoc comittee are as follows:
Hon Emeka Okoroafor – Chairman
Rt Hon Ifeanyi Francis Uchendu – Member
Hon Paul Taribo – Member
Hon Mike Ukoha – Member
Hon Godwin Adiele – Member
Hon A.C Thomas Nkoro – Member
Hon Nnamdi Allen Nwachukwu – Member
The Clerk is to appoint a Secretary for the Committee and they are to turn in their report in the next two weeks.
The Speaker said all recommendations from the Committee will be forwarded to the Executive for appropriate action.
The Federal Government has reaffirmed its commitment to the safety of students and the continuity of education nationwide following the reopening of all 47...
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