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Abia 2023: Why I Saluted Michael Okpara’s Statue Before My Governorship Declaration — Mayor Igbokwe  (Video)

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ABN TV EDITOR
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Abia 2023: Why I Saluted Michael Okpara's Statue Before My Governorship Declaration — Mayor Igbokwe  (Video)

Abia 2023: Why I Saluted Michael Okpara's Statue Before My Governorship Declaration — Mayor Igbokwe  (Video)

An aspirant for office of the governor of Abia State ahead of the 2023 general elections, Mayor Lucky Obinwa Igbokwe popularly known as Don Lulu has revealed why he stopped over to salute the statue of the Premier of Eastern region, Michael Okpara located at Okpara Square Umuahia, saying it’s a sign of honour for a living legend.

Abia 2023: Why I Saluted Michael Okpara's Statue Before My Governorship Declaration — Mayor Igbokwe  (Video)

Abia 2023: Why I Saluted Michael Okpara's Statue Before My Governorship Declaration — Mayor Igbokwe  (Video)

Igbokwe had on Tuesday officially declared his intention to run for the plum office of Abia State Governor in 2023 at the State secretariat of his party, the PDP in Umuahia.

Speaking with ABN TV, the entrepreneur and philanthropist who hails from Umuawa Alaocha in Ohuhu, Umuahia North local government area of Abia said he has made a research of how selfless and energetic the old Premier was, noting that he industrialised the old Eastern region.

Describing M.I Okpara as a great man, Igbokwe said the Premier was a great man worthy of emulation in order to raise the bar of development higher in the Eastern region, particularly Abia State.

He said, “In keeping with his vision, there is need to revive Aba. Aba is our industrial hub, it’s the Japan of Africa. So if I emerge the governor of Abia State, I will follow his footsteps with modern facilities.

“We will place premium on mechanised farming, a lot of things will be done in the strength and sincerity of Dr. M.I Okpara.”

He said the salute symbolises respect to a man who committed his all in serving his people, adding that some of his legacies are still in existence several decades after he has passed on.

Igbokwe also added that the late Premier who hails from Umuahia is his uncle and remains a living legend who deserves all the respect from the people he served.

He called on people of the state to support in emerging the governor in 2023, assuring that he will make them proud.

 

‘Don’t Lie To Yourselves’: Potential Russia-NATO Conflict Can Go Nuclear, Medvedev Warns

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ABN Editor 2
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Israel's Intention To Supply Arms To Ukraine Will Destroy Relations With Russia - Medvedev
Deputy Chairman of Russia’s Security Council Dmitry Medvedev
Deputy Chairman of Russia’s Security Council Dmitry Medvedev

Flooding Ukraine with weapons increases the odds of a conflict between Russia and NATO, which can turn into a nuclear war, Deputy Chairman of Russia’s Security Council Dmitry Medvedev wrote on Telegram on Thursday.

“Efforts by NATO countries to flood Ukraine with weapons, train its troops to use Western equipment, deploy mercenaries and hold drills near our borders increase the odds of a direct and open conflict between Russia and NATO instead of its current proxy war,” Medvedev pointed out. “There is always a risk that such a conflict will turn into a full-on nuclear war. This will be a disastrous scenario for everyone,” he warned.

The former president emphasized that foreign analysts kept chattering non-stop about NATO’s war against Russia, “with Western ‘talking heads’ becoming increasingly cynical.” He highlighted attempts to argue that Moscow was allegedly trying to scare the world with the threat of a nuclear conflict. “Even [former US President Donald] Trump has recently put his two cents in on the matter. And of course, the Europeans have also started chirping with high-pitched voices,” Medvedev wrote.

When speaking about the mutually fatal consequences of a nuclear war, the Russian Security Council deputy chief urged the West to “stop lying to itself and others.” “There is a need to just think about the possible impact of one’s actions and try not to choke on one’s own saliva during Russophobic fits,” Medvedev stressed.

Russia Does Not see Central Asia As Geopolitical Struggle Arena – Speaker

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ABN Editor 2
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Russian Federation Council Chairwoman Valentina Matviyenko
Russian Federation Council Chairwoman Valentina Matviyenko

Russia has not and does not regard Central Asia as an arena for geopolitical confrontation and is interested in the development of all Central Asian states, Federation Council Speaker Valentina Matvienko said on Thursday during a plenary session of the Inter-Parliamentary Forum of Central Asian countries and the Russian Federation.

“Russia, of course, is interested in the comprehensive development of all Central Asian states, increasing the well-being and security of the region. I want to stress that the Russian Federation has not considered and does not consider Central Asia as an arena for geopolitical confrontation; Russia traditionally respects the right of the states of the region to sovereign development and welcomes trends towards strengthening intraregional integration,” Matvienko said.

According to her, regional security challenges require special attention. “We are talking, first of all, about comprehensive work to counteract international terrorism, extremism, violent power overthrow, coups d’etat attempts. We are interested in the constant development of multilateral dialogue on these issues, the maintenance of cooperation mechanisms such as the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO), the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), the meetings on interaction and confidence-building measures in Asia,” Matvienko added.

According to the Federation Council Speaker, today Russia’s relations with the countries of the Central Asian region are of a strategic partnership nature. “A special tone of trust is set by the leaders of our states, who maintain an ongoing dialogue,” she stressed.

As Matvienko noted, in 2021, Russia’s trade turnover with Central Asian countries amounted to about $37 billion, “significantly exceeding the figures in the previous period.” “There are almost 17,000 enterprises with Russian investment in the region. Despite the impressive figures, the potential of our economic cooperation is far from being fully realized. One of the main tasks of parliamentarians is to help unlock it, using the opportunities we have,” Matvienko concluded.

Finland’s Leaders Announce Support For NATO Membership, Moving Nation Closer To Joining Alliance

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ABN Editor 2
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Finland’s president and prime minister announced their support for joining NATO on Thursday, moving the Nordic nation which shares an 800-mile border with Russia one step closer to membership of the US-led military alliance.

The statement of support for NATO from President Sauli Niinisto and Prime Minister Sanna Marin had been expected, after the Finnish government recently submitted a report on national security to the country’s parliament which outlined the path to joining the alliance as one of Finland’s options.
In the joint statement, Niinisto and Marin said: “NATO membership would strengthen Finland’s security. As a member of NATO, Finland would strengthen the entire defence alliance. Finland must apply for NATO membership without delay. We hope that the national steps still needed to make this decision will be taken rapidly within the next few days.”
Since the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February, public support for joining NATO in Finland has leaped from around 30% to nearly 80% in some polls.
Once parliament has approved the idea in principle and any other domestic legislative hurdles have been cleared, it is expected that NATO would invite Finland to negotiate its accession.
It is also expected that Sweden, Finland’s neighbor to the west, will soon announce its intention to join the alliance through a similar process.
Russia has warned both countries against joining NATO, saying there would be consequences.
European diplomats and security officials widely assume that Finland could join the alliance quickly once negotiations start, as it has been buying military hardware compatible with its Western allies, including the US, for decades and already meets many of the criteria for membership.
Finland joining NATO would have both practical and symbolic consequences for Russia and the Western alliance.
Since the end of World War II, Finland has been militarily non-aligned and nominally neutral in order to avoid provoking Russia. It has indulged the Kremlin’s security concerns at times and tried to maintain good trading relations.
The war in Ukraine, however, has sufficiently changed the calculation, so that joining NATO now seems the best way forward, regardless of what Russia’s reaction might be.
European defense officials who have talked to CNN in recent months assume that NATO countries will offer some guarantees around Finland’s security during the accession process, in case Russia retaliates before it has formally joined.
On Wednesday, UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced new security pacts with Finland and Sweden, pledging to come to either country’s assistance if one of them came under attack.
Finland has historically had high defense spending and still has a policy of conscription, with all adult men liable to be called up for military service. It is widely acknowledged among NATO officials that Finland joining the alliance would be a significant boost in countering Russian aggression because of how seriously the country has historically treated its own security.
It also shares more than 800 miles of border with Russia, which is significant as the Kremlin stated before invading Ukraine that it wanted to see NATO roll back its borders to where they were in the 1990s.
Instead, President Vladimir Putin’s gambit may result in a stronger NATO creeping closer.

North Korea Declares ‘Major National Emergency’ As They Identified First Case Of Covid-19, State Media Reports

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ABN Editor 2
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North Korea Declares 'Major National Emergency' As They Identified First Case Of Covid-19, State Media Reports
North Korea Declares ‘Major National Emergency’ As They Identified First Case Of Covid-19, State Media Reports

North Korea has identified its first ever case of Covid-19, according to state media, which called the situation a “major national emergency.”

It’s unclear how many infections have been detected but state-run news agency KCNA reported on Thursday that cases of the Omicron variant had been found in the capital Pyongyang.
Samples collected from a group of people experiencing fevers on May 8 tested positive for the highly contagious Omicron variant, KCNA reported.
An outbreak of Covid-19 could prove dire for North Korea. The country’s dilapidated health care infrastructure is unlikely to be up to the task of treating a large number of patients with a highly infectious disease.
North Korea had not previously acknowledged any coronavirus cases, though few believe that a country of around 25 million people has been spared by a virus that has infected millions worldwide.
On Thursday, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un ordered lockdown measures in all cities and directed the distribution of medical supplies the party had reportedly stocked in case of a Covid emergency, according to KCNA.
Kim also chaired a meeting of the country’s powerful politburo, which agreed to implement “maximum” emergency anti-epidemic measures, though it is unclear what they involve.
According to KCNA, the politburo criticized the country’s anti-epidemic sector for “carelessness, laxity, irresponsibility and incompetence,” saying it “failed to respond sensitively” to increasing Covid-19 cases across the world, including in neighboring regions.
Kim said the country would overcome the “unexpected Covid-19 outbreak,” KCNA reported.
To date, North Korea has been able to prevent a major outbreak of Covid-19 cases thanks to a series of draconian public health measures.
North Korea’s borders have been sealed since January 2020 to keep the virus at bay, despite the knock-on effects on trade with Beijing, an economic lifeline the impoverished country needs to keep its people from going hungry.

Zero vaccines could spell disaster

Isolated and impoverished North Korea is not known to have imported any coronavirus vaccines, though it is eligible for the global Covid-19 vaccine sharing program, Covax. In February, Covax reportedly scaled back the number of doses allocated to North Korea because the country failed to arrange for any shipments, according to Reuters.
Also in February, the UN Special Rapporteur on human rights in North Korea Tomás Ojea Quintana called on the international community to provide North Korea “with 60 million doses of vaccinations to cover at least two shots of the entire population.”
North Korea has also not provided information on its Covid-19 vaccination situation to the World Health Organization (WHO), according to its latest situation report.
Assuming most of North Korea’s population is unvaccinated, a Covid outbreak would be disastrous.
In the US earlier this year, Omicron fueled an unprecedented spike in Covid-19 cases, overwhelming hospitals with mostly unvaccinated patients. In Hong Kong, which had previously avoided high cases and deaths, a deadly Omicron wave quickly spun out of control, stretching morgues and hospitals to breaking point. At one stage, Hong Kong reported more deaths per million people than any country or territory in the world due to a large percentage of the city’s elderly being unvaccinated.
But the US and Hong Kong have robust health systems. An outbreak in North Korea, which has limited testing capabilities, inadequate medical infrastructure, and which has isolated itself from the outside world, could quickly become deadly.
The prospect appears not to be lost on Kim Jong Un, who recently warned of “grave consequences” after he fired several senior officials who failed to enforce North Korea’s stringent Covid-19 prevention. KCNA has also said that a potential breach, such as an incident involving a symptomatic defector from South Korea, might lead to a “deadly and destructive disaster.”

Passenger Plane Catches Fire During Takeoff In Southwestern China

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ABN Editor 2
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Passenger plane catches fire during takeoff in southwestern China
Passenger plane catches fire during takeoff in southwestern China

A Tibet Airlines plane caught fire after skidding off the runway in the southwestern Chinese city of Chongqing on Thursday morning.

All 113 passengers and nine crew members were “evacuated safely,” the airline said in a statement. More than 40 passengers with minor injuries were taken to hospital, according to a statement from the Chongqing Jiangbei International Airport.
The Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) said 36 people suffered bruises and sprains during the evacuation.
“According to the flight crew, the plane experienced an anomaly during takeoff. They stopped the takeoff following the procedures,” the CAAC said. “After the plane skidded off the runway, the engine scraped the ground and caught fire. (The fire) has been extinguished.”
The flight was bound for Nyingchi in Tibet. Footage posted on Chinese social media shows flames engulfing the front of the aircraft and a plume of black smoke billowing in the sky. Another video shows passengers running from the airplane.
The cause of the accident is under investigation and flight operations at the airport have returned to normal, the airport said.
The flight schedule shows the aircraft is an Airbus A319 that had been in service with the airline for nine and a half years.
The incident came less than two months after a China Eastern Airlines jetliner carrying 132 people crashed in the mountains of southern China’s Guangxi region, killing everyone on board. Authorities are still investigating the cause of the crash.

CAN To Partner Kumuyi On Prayers To Deliver Abia

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ABN Editor 2
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The Christian Association of Nigeria says it is partnering with Pastor William Kumuyi of Deeper Life Bible Church to liberate Abia State.

According to the chairman of CAN, Abia State, Apostle Emmanuel Agomoh, we need strong men of God to come and pray for Abia. He, thereby, called on Christians in the state to be part of the breakthrough in the state.

He noted that, currently, a lot of things had happened in the state, including killings, robbery, fraud, and other vices, hence, the state needed strong prayers for a breakthrough.

Agomoh observed that as politicking was around the corner, most politicians would keep away their children outside the country and use others for touting.

He assured the people of Abia of first-hand spectacular miracles that would be experienced during the Crusade.

He expressed his hope that the Crusade would bring healing and favour to the state and assured to invite Abia politicians to attend.

According to him, by the way, the politicians are going, their activities may turn violent. He thereby advised the youths to be on the crusade rather than indulging in evil practices.

Also speaking, the State Overseer of Abia State 2 of Deeper Life Bible Church, Pastor Obinna Nkemjika, assured the Abia people that God was set to bring hope and healing to the state

Abia State, he said, needed prayer and healing amid helplessness and challenges facing the state

Group Demands Ministers’ Removal Over ASUU Strike

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ABN Editor 2
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ASUU-Strike

The Peoples Democratic Party National Youth Movement has called on the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), to sack some of his cabinet members including the Minister of Education, Adamu Adamu, and the Minister of Labour and Employment, Chris Ngige.

The organisation in a statement by its National President, Salahudeen Lukman, on Wednesday said they deserved to be sacked for failing to treat matters concerning education with utmost seriousness in the country, culminating in the recent industrial action by the Academic Staff Union of Universities.

Lukman condemned the unseriousness given to the education sector by the All Progressives Congress.

The statement reads in part, “As a political youth organisation with an understanding of how important education is to the young and upcoming generations, national security, economy and social development, we condemn in totality the less seriousness and concern given to education sector by the ruling APC.

“Having ASUU on strike for 3 months with an extension of another three months while ASUP is commencing her own strike again today, is so worrisome; naira falls freely on daily basis with an unstable inflation rate, and fuel scarcity still lingers.

“The Kaduna-Abuja train attack victims (captives) citizens are still in captivity yet the Minister of Education, Minister of Transportation, the CBN Governor, Minister of Labour and Minister of Petroleum who are saddled with these ministries are all in the race for President of Nigeria under the failed ruling party, APC.

“This a clear case of failure, lack of respect for Nigerians, electorates, masses and peak of the inhumanity of man against humanity.

“We the PDP National Youth Movement challenge President Buhari to prove to Nigerians that he is a man of integrity by sacking these careless and clueless cabinet members as they have all clearly shown a lack of understanding of their primary responsibilities, misplacement of priority, negligence of duty and abuse of office.

“He is hereby advised to appoint other persons forthwith if there is anyone with a conscience left in APC to mount those critical ministries.

“While we express deep concern and sympathy for teeming Nigerian students, we hereby declare our total support for the national shutdown of all major roads and airports by student leadership as declared by the National Association of Nigerian Students.

“We urge Nigerians not to reinforce failure; it, therefore, means APC must be rejected at the poll from top to bottom. Our dear party PDP, which is known for pro-people-oriented governance should be massively supported to reclaim power across board, states, and centre, to Rescue and Rebuild our dear nation Nigeria as a matter of urgency and national interest.”

Tinubu Commends Farmers Over Food Security

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ABN Editor 2
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Tinubu To Dump APC For SDP If… – Associate
Bola Tinubu

A chieftain of the All Progressives Congress and presidential aspirant, Bola Tinubu, has emphasised the pivotal role farmers play in providing food security for the country.

According to a statement by the Tinubu Media Office, this was during his visit to Gombe State where he met with Governor Muhammad Inuwa Yahaya, APC Chairman in the state, Nitte Amangal, and party delegates on Tuesday.

Speaking during the meeting, Tinubu commended farmers for their hard toil and labour under often challenging conditions. This is as he promised to build on the current administration’s progress made in the sector if elected president.

Also speaking, Governor Yahaya described Tinubu as a leader with the uncommon talent to identify talents that can aid the development of the country.

“Asiwaju is a prominent politician, a politician par excellence, a leader of men and a talent hunter,” he said.

On his part, the state APC Chairman pledged the support of the delegates to the presidential hopeful whom he said should consider Gombe a second home.

Three Kano Assembly Members Dump APC, Join Kwankwaso’s NNPP

By
Alex Enemanna
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0

Three Kano State House of Assembly members have dumped the All Progressives Congress (APC) for the New Nigeria People’s Party (NNPP).

The lawmakers announced their defection to NNPP yesterday in separate letters to the assembly. They are Abdullahi Iliyasu Yaryasa (Tudun Wada Constituency), Muhd Bello Butu Butu (Tofa/Rimin Gado Constituency) and Kabiru Yusuf Ismail (Madobi Constituency).

Ten members of the house had, last week, decamped from PDP to NNPP.

The NNPP is gaining ground in Kano since the state governor, Abdullahi Umar Ganduje, endorsed his deputy to succeed him in 2023.

A former governor of Kano state and national leader of NNPP, Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso had said the doors of the party are open to everyone, including those at loggerheads with him.

 

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