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Uzodimma Tasks UNN On Eni Njoku Lecture Series

By
The Source
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Hope Uzodimma

Governor Hope Uzodimma of Imo State has challenged the authorities of University of Nigeria, Nsukka to put to good use the outcome of the Prof. Eni Njoku lecture series.

He said they could reduce each of the lecture series to a policy formulation suggestion which would then be sent to federal and state governments for possible implementation.

The governor made the recommendation yesterday when he presided over the 15th edition of the lecture series with the topic – Science and Technology as Allies with Good Governance in Wealth Creation and Poverty Reduction.

Represented by the State Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Hon Declan Emelumba, the governor said it was a waste of time and resources if the outcome of the lecture series is not put to practical use.

According to him, based on the importance the world attaches to research, it was incumbent on academics to push the frontiers of knowledge through implementation of policies initiated through such fora as the Eni Njoku lecture series.

He regretted that the thought provoking lecture he delivered during the 14th edition of the lecture series was not followed up by the Igbo intelligentsia.

Governor Uzodimma insisted that it was the work of the academia to recommend policies to government for the overall good of the society.

He said good governance can only create wealth and lead to poverty reduction when the academia apply Science and Technology to good use.

He therefore challenged the authorities of University of Nigeria, Nsukka to ensure that the outcome of the lecture series is put at the domain of government for possible implementation.

His words: “We need our academics to draw up a roadmap for the realization of policy initiatives be it in politics or the economy or even in security for us to make the much needed progress in wealth creation and poverty reduction.”

The Governor, however, expressed gratitude to the organizers of the lecture series for finding him worthy to be the Chairman of the 15th edition after being the guest lecturer in the 14th edition.

He pledged to continue to support all efforts aimed at sustaining the legacies of late Prof Eni Njoku whom he described as a “Nigerian academic prodigy.”

Uzodimma also extolled the choice of this year’s lecturer in the person of Prof Chinedu Nebo, saying he was one of the finest academics produced by Nigeria.

Tinubu Returns To Nigeria After Working Visit To Europe

By
Akinwale Kasali
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Bola Tinubu Returns to Nigeria

By Akinwale Kasali

The crowd that invaded the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja, to welcome President-elect, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu from his working visit to Europe was unprecedented.

The private jet which brought him back  State landed at about 2.15pm where he was welcomed by his supporters, party members and some governors.

A statement signed by his Media Aide, Tunde Rahman, disclosed that the President-elect would also spend his stay engaging with investors and other key allies with the goal of marketing investment opportunities in the country.

Before embarking on the trip, Tinubu met with the candidates endorsed by the All Progressives Congress for Speaker and Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Tajudeen Abbas and Benjamin Kalu.

Vice-President-elect, Senator Kashim Shettima led the delegation that included Kano State Governor, Dr Abdullahi Ganduje; Senate President, Dr  Ahmad Lawan and the ruling party’s anointed candidate for the post of Senate President in the 10th Assembly, Senator Godswill Akpabio to welcome the  President Elect.

Dressed in a blue ‘babariga’ and his trademark cap to match, Tinubu was accompanied by his wife, Senator Oluremi, who also wore a matching blue attire.

The President-elect departed Nigeria, according to him, to avoid unnecessary pressures and distractions while he continued to fine-tune his transition programmes and policy options with some of his key aides.

It was gathered that the reason for the early arrival of Tinubu is due to the official opening of the Dangote Refinery complex in Kano on Monday, in which President Muhammadu Buhari is expected to commission.

Presidential Election Petitions Tribunal To Host 160 Witnesses

By
Ayodele Oni
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Presidential Election Petition Tribunal 2023

By Ayodele Oni

As hearing continues, the Presidential Election Petitions Tribunal, (PEPT) is expected to listen to evidences from nothing less than 160 witnesses, the tribunal was told on Saturday.

Former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), who is a petitioner has the highest number of 100 witnesses.

His lawyer’s disclosed on Saturday that no fewer than 100 witnesses will  testify for them in their petition challenging the election of Bola Ahmed Tinubu before the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal.

Their lawyer, Chief Chris Uche (SAN) disclosed this in Abuja at the resumption of proceedings before the tribunal.

Uche said the anticipated 100 witnesses will include those already listed before the court and those to be subpoenaed.

Lawyer to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Abubakar Mahmud SAN said his client, who conducted the disputed election, plans to call two witnesses to defend the poll.

The President-elect, Bola Tinubu on his part, is expected to call 39 witnesses to defend his challenged victory in addition to those to be subpoenaed.

The All Progressives Congress (APC) which was jointly declared as winner of the February 25 presidential election alongside Tinubu announced its intention to call 25 witnesses to establish the victory in addition to those to be subpoenaed.

Jonathan Preaches Integrity, Good Governance

By
The Source
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Goodluck Jonathan

Former President Dr. Goodluck Jonathan has called for the entrenchment
of a culture of integrity across both the corporate and civil spaces
as a way of addressing the problems associated with governance,
democracy and development in the country.

Dr. Jonathan stated this on Wednesday in Lagos at the 40th anniversary
dinner of the  Institute of Directors (IoD Nigeria), where he also
made a case for closer cooperation among African leaders, especially
former and serving presidents, stressing that Africa needs such
synergy, to ensure peace and progress on the continent.

Noting that there is a trust gap between leaders and the people of the
continent, the former President emphasised that the challenge could
only be addressed by honest and dependable leaders.

He said: “A culture of integrity is what is needed to address many of
the challenges confronting governance in our country. When integrity
is entrenched as a culture and a corporate lifestyle in many
organizations, the problems associated with corruption, dishonesty,
poor governance, and even election management will be significantly
addressed.

He also noted that cordial relations exist among Nigeria’s former
leaders, describing the development as  commendable and healthy for
the nation.

In this regard, he commended IoD for the cooperation among its
leaders, saying: “I have also noticed a similar trend within your
Institute, where former Presidents cooperate and advise the current
President and Chairman of Governing Council.
“This, regrettably, is not the case in some African countries where
political transitions and relations between serving and former leaders
are quite challenging and unhealthy because of unnecessary rivalry. In
some of these countries former presidents and sitting Presidents are
like enemies who hardly talk to one another.
“In Africa, We need to develop a sustainable political culture that
treats elections as a contestation of ideas, where whoever wins will
be disposed to run the country with other broadminded patriots for the
benefit of the citizens.”
Dr. Jonathan further charged members to continue to strive to project
IoD as the go-to organization for integrity and exemplary leadership.
“A place like IoD, given the reputation you have built for yourselves,
could serve as a think tank or policy institute where corporate and
political leaders could visit to test their ideas for responsible
leadership and good governance. It can also serve as the place where
leaders could go to headhunt for tested and trusted technocrats to
occupy strategic national positions; those that would justly deploy
their skill and experience in exemplary service to the nation. This is
my hope for  IoD Nigeria as you celebrate this milestone. “

Edo: Obaseki Laments Rising Rot At Ambrose Alli University, Ekpoma, Vows To Deal With Perpetrators

By
Ayodele Oni
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By Ayodele Oni

Edo State Governor, Mr. Godwin Obaseki, has announced that a team is currently working to unravel cases of fraud, examination malpractices and other vices at the state owned university, Ekpoma.

Obaseki added that government, in partnership with security agencies is stepping up effort at investigating the alleged crimes at the Ambrose Alli University (AAU), Ekpoma, reassuring that anyone found culpable will be duly arrested and prosecuted in accordance with the law.

The Governor said this when he received the executive members of AAU Alumni Association Worldwide, who were on a courtesy visit at the Government House, Benin City.

Commending the leadership of the alumni association for their support to the government in repositioning the institution to meet global standards, Obaseki noted that Edo has become “a proxy for Nigeria globally when you talk of accelerated countries and people redefining their educational system.

“We are transforming the junior school system, dis articulating it from the secondary school system, and can’t allow AAU to remain without developing and growing.

“We call on you to join us to save this University and ensure we maintain the standard in terms of infrastructure and learning, among others. We must not allow some persons to kill our institution because it belongs to Edo people.

“I heard some people still call themselves union going around and addressing the press. We have said everybody who has been involved in any criminal conduct in AAU is currently under investigation.

“We will arrest and prosecute. You can’t go and harass other people’s children and sell transcripts as these are criminal activities and in the name of unionism, we allow them to go.

“No way, it’s one fight we will fight till the end. It is either they win and take the University or Edo people win and take back their University. It’s time to take politics out of the school and reposition it for the betterment of our people.

“For close to two decades, some group of persons has held the University hostage as several administrations have tried to rescue the University but failed. My predecessor tried and failed too and went to establish another State University.

“We decided not to shut it down but rather get a team to do a surgical operation and look at all issues to ensure the school’s development. From their findings, we can’t run a successful university like that. The school is enmeshed in politics and the school can’t be run like that.

“We have the will as a government to correct the anomaly, and with the support of associations like yours, nobody can stand in our way.”

The head of the AAU Special Intervention Team (SIT), Mr. Andrew Olotu, said staff of the state-owned tertiary institution have been engaged in a lot of illegal activities, including selling of examination question papers, harassment of female students, turning transcript and certificate collection into big business, among others.

Also, the President of the AAU alumni association, Dr. Clifford Omozeghian thanked the governor and the SIT for their efforts in repositioning the institution, pledging to collaborate with the government and other relevant authorities to take AAU to greater heights.

In another development, the leadership crisis that has engulfed the Ambrose Alli University(AAU) Alumni Association worldwide is far from being over. The crisis deepens by the day.

The association in a statement has disowned the executive members led by Godwin Nogheghase, that visited Governor Obaseki, describing them as impostors.

In the statement which was signed by all the branch chairmen of the association and made available to the Press, the association said: “The attention of the Executive Council of AAU Alumni Association worldwide has been drawn to the purported visit by an imposter and self-acclaimed Worldwide President, one Mr. Godwin Omozeghian.

“We wish to use this opportunity to inform Mr. Governor and the general public of a pending case in Benin High Court, suit no B250 05/22 instituted by majority of Branch Chairmen against the Constitutional abuses of the Alumni Association.

“We appeal with you to disregard this so call visit, pending the determination of the ongoing Court Case.”

Kano Releases N1 Billion For Students External Examinations

By
Ayodele Oni
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Students in Examination Hall

By Ayodele Oni

Kano State Government has approved over N1Billion for the sponsorship of 66,102 Kano state indigenes’ bid to write three external examinations, NECO, NBAIS and NABTEB) this year.

The Commissioner of Education, Ya’u Abdullahi Yan’shana who disclosed this commended Governor Abdullahi Umar Ganduje for approving  the sum.

The Commissioner explained that students that will benefit from the government’s gesture are those that passed the qualifying examinations with six Credits and above including English and Mathematics from the conventional Secondary Schools.

“Similarly those writing NBAIS Examinations must also passed the Qualifying examination with six Credits including Arabic and Islamic studies, as well as Qur’anic Studies and Arabic for NBAIS Tahfiz/Tajweed and NBAIS SAISCE  examinations respectively.

In the same vein those writing NABTEB from Science and Technical Colleges must also possessed 5 Credits and above including English and mathematics.”

The Commissioner therefore, directed the students to go to their respective schools beginning from Monday to collect their results  and proceed  with the registration for the external examinations.

He further, urged them to double up to reciprocate the government’s gesture by passing their Examinations with flying colours.

The Commissioner, thanked the stakeholders that have jointly contributed in ensuring the student’s sponsorship as well as benchmarking six Credits and above as against the preceding years.

“Arthur Eze Made Me Governor” – Umahi; Begs Eze To Be Face Of Ndigbo In Tinubu’s Government

By
The Source
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Dave Umahi and Arthur Eze

By Charles Igbo

Outgoing Governor of Ebonyi State, Engr. Dave Umahi, has acknowledged billionaire business man, Chief Arthur Eze, as the person who made him the Governor of the State. Umahi said he became Governor just by being taken to President Goodluck Jonathan by Eze in Eze’s car.

Umahi revealed this at the commissioning of a flyover at Abaomege Junction, Onicha Local Government Area and Abaomege- Ukwu-Ngwulangwu-Okposi Road, Ebonyi State, both of which he named after Eze.

At the commissioning if the projects performed by Eze, Umahi told the people: “He (Arthur Eze) took me in his vehicle to the Villa to meet President Goodluck Jonathan, and he said this is the man that will be the Governor of Ebonyi State, and Mr President ticked my name.”

Umahi, also, asked Eze to be “the face” of the South-east in the Tinubu Administration so that the Igbo will not be  neglected.

Umahi: “I am using this opportunity to beg you to be the face of Ndigbo in Tinubu’s Administration. If you put yourself forward, the Igbo man will not be neglected.

“You have raised a lot of people. I have never seen any man that has outperformed you in this regard.

“History is made today. I think it should be three years back when we invited Arthur Eze to lay the foundation of this flyover. For so many reasons, he was very key to our struggle

“He took me in his vehicle to the Villa to meet President Goodluck Jonathan and he said this is the man that will be Governor of Ebonyi State, and Mr President ticked my name.

“A man that has made so many politicians, he gives money in millions of Dollars, and he doesn’t ask you back.”

Earlier, Eze had assured Umahi that he (Umahi), will be the President of Nigeria, one day.

This is not the first time Eze would tell Umahi he would be President. In 2019, Eze had said to Umahi, before Buhari, that Buhari would hand over to Umahi as his successor.

Apparently, Umahi believed Eze, which, perhaps, pushed the Governor to dump the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, a Party under which he won a second term in office as Governor, for the All Progressives Congress, APC.

Instructively, he lost his deposit when he vied to succeed Buhari. He failed at the Primaries which was won by the now President-elect, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu.

Recently, he had another failure. He put himself up for the position of the Senate President. Tinubu asked him to stand down for the immediate past Minister for Niger Delta and former Governor of Akwa Ibom State, Godswill Akpabio. He obeyed.

Former Minister, Prof Nebo, Others Laud Uzodimma On Owerri-Okigwe Highway

By
The Source
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0
Hope Uzodimma

It was a harvest of commendations for Governor Hope Uzodimma of Imo State, Friday, at the 15th edition of Eni Njoku Lecture series, at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka (UNN), as professors at the event took turns to laud the governor for solid road construction in the State.

Former Minister of Power, Prof  Chinedu Nebo who was the Guest Lecturer opened the floodgate of commendations for Governor Uzodimma for the solid construction of the Owerri-Okigwe road, which hitherto was a death trap to motorists.

The former Minister said  he drove through Okigwe-Owerri road two weeks ago with his family and “there was no single pot hole on the road.”

His colleague, Prof F.C Chilaka of the  Department of Biochemistry of the University, who spoke immediately after the guest lecturer also applauded Governor Uzodimma for constructing durable roads in Imo State.

In like manner, Prof Chilaka said he was pleasantly amazed recently when they went to bury a late colleague, to discover that “Owerri to Okigwe that used to take three hours because of the bad state of the road, now takes only 45 minutes.”

Also, Prof Jerry Ugwuanyi, former Dean of faculty of Biological Sciences, who said that he was among those who went to bury their departed colleague, described the new Owerri-Okigwe road as “simply amazing,” adding that, “as a frequent user of the road I was truly amazed that the governor has turned it to a motorists delight through solid road work.”

Prof Nebo who said he was satisfied with the quality of the construction, noted that “commuters had before now suffered as a result of the deplorable condition of the road.”

Prof Nebo, a former Vice Chancellor of the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, also  praised the governor for initiating the dredging of the Oguta/ Orashi to the Atlantic, which will lead to the establishment of a sea port in the South East.

He  told Governor Uzodimma that if he accomplishes that, he should be assured that history will never forget him and that he has written his name in gold in the South East forever.

Speaking on the topic – Science and Technology as Allies with Good Governance in Wealth Creation and Poverty Reduction -, the erudite scholar told Governor Uzodimma that what he was doing in Imo State were examples of how good governance can create wealth.

He emphasized that more of such legacies were needed in the South East for the creation of wealth and reduction of poverty.

Prof Nebo charged Governors in the South East to evolve ways of initiating programmes that will create wealth for the teaming number of unemployed youths in the region.

He however praised the organisers of the Eni Njoku Lecture Series for their resilience in sustaining the legacies of the late don, saying that “posterity will always be kind to the icon for his trail blazing efforts in the development of academics in Nigeria,”

The event was well attended by academics, students and other invited guests.

Group Fingers Foreign Involvement In Move To Truncate May 29 Handover Date

By
Ayodele Oni
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0
President Buhari of Nigeria

By Ayodele Oni

A Group, Peace and Stability Initiative (PSI) has alleged that some international pressure groups are planning to use fake reports to truncate the May 29 hand over date.

PSI in a statement on Friday, also fingered some aggrieved politicians in the country as their collaborators.

The statement signed on behalf of the group by its coordinator, Ali M. Ali  stated that “Since the result of the Presidential election was formally announced on March 1, 2023, there have been many insidious plots by some foreign agent provocateurs working in cahoots with their local collaborators masquerading as civil society groups and others to instigate large scale political uprising in Nigeria because they failed woefully in their predetermined agenda to influence the electoral outcome.

“These agents of destabilization have not relented in their evil plots even though we are just few days away to the May 29, 2023 inauguration of a new central government that will be led by the President-elect , Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu.

“We salute the outgoing administration of President Muhammadu Buhari for the fidelity to the transition programme and its insistence on peaceful and orderly transfer of power in Nigeria.

“Intelligence reports indicate a new plot by local opposition elements goaded by a foreign union to release a harebrained,  skewed and  stage-managed final report on the 2023 General elections in Nigeria, with emphasis on the presidential election.

“The heavily slanted report, based on the views of biased  observers, will be released any moment from now. It shares the same denunciatory tone like the one released in March.

“The release  is deliberately timed to achieve two sinister objectives. One is to dampen the celebratory mood in our country ahead of the inauguration of Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu and delegitimize the incoming All Progressives Congress government that will be led by him.

“Second is to intimidate and hope to influence  the judgment of the Presidential Election Petition Court that has just commenced the process of adjudicating on the petitions before it.

“We are putting this busybody, meddlesome international development agency that has constituted itself into an interloper in our country’s internal affairs on notice that Nigeria is a sovereign state.

“It is no longer a vassal state, tied to the apron strings of neo-colonialists, that can be harassed by special foreign interests seeking to cause internal strife.

“We also view their planned action as contemptuous of our country’s judicial system as all litigations about the general elections are now before our courts for adjudication.

“We reiterate and maintain our earlier positions that the 2023 general elections in Nigeria was the most peaceful, transparent, free and fair election in Nigeria since 1999 as attested to by all non-partisan foreign and local observers.

“Among these are the African Union, ECOWAS, Commonwealth Observer Mission and the Nigerian Bar Association. The winner of the election scored 8.7 million votes.

“The major opposition parties recorded over 14 million votes combined. This speaks to a free, fair, competitive and credible process. Right now, there is an ongoing healthy bid for the Speakership of the House of Representatives.

“The opposition parties combined have more members than the ruling APC. And this was an election conducted contemporaneously with the presidential election.

“The latter through its empirically based findings by 1000 observers   found that 91.8 percent Nigerians rated the conduct of the presidential and National  Assembly elections, despite some lapses,  either as excellent or  satisfactory. Only a negligible 8.2 percent rated the umpire, INEC poor or very poor..

“We are not unmindful of the consistent evil agenda of foreign crisis merchants to precipitate huge political conflagration in Nigeria to make it easy for them to continue to plunder our land.

“The ongoing civil war in Sudan where nations are struggling to get their citizens out of Khartoum with attendant loss of lives and industrial scale destruction is another sad reminder of how external forces have perpetually turned Africa into conflict zone.

“Nigeria is too big and too important for Africa’s survival, to be used as another cannon fodder for self-serving conflict merchants.

“Since 1999, we have chosen democracy as a form of government with established and entrenched democratic institutions to address electoral grievances.

“Despite challenges and sometimes boisterous nature of our politics, Nigeria’s democracy and democratic culture are maturing.

“It can only get better and stronger to deliver better governance outcome to all Nigerians when it is nurtured and  protected by all men and women of goodwill.

“Since aggrieved parties that participated in the 2023 general elections have followed the rule of law by submitting  themselves to the election petition tribunals, we appeal once again to them and their foreign collaborators to allow the already activated process to run its full course without intimidation and undue external pressure. That is the only way to preserve the sovereign integrity of our country.”

Lamidi Apapa Debunks Claims He Received N500m To Plunge Labour Party Into Crisis

By
Akinwale Kasali
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0
Lamidi Apapa - Labour Party

By Akinwale Kasali

Lamidi-Apapa, the factional National Leader of the Labour Party, LP, has debunked claims that he was paid a huge sum of N500 Million to destabilise and scuttle the ongoing case of the Party at the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal.

A few days ago, the Party became a symbol of ridicule at the Tribunal when both factions, Apapa’s  and that of the  suspended substantive National Chairman,  Julius Abure, engaged each other in a free for all fighting in the public glare.

Apapa escaped lynching by angry Party loyalists during an interview with newsmen. It  took the intervention of Security operatives at the Tribunal who whisked  him away to save him.

Though, Apapa, according to him, had called on the LP Presidential Candidate at the February 25th, 2023 Presidential Election, Peter Obi to intervene in the crisis bedeviling the Party objectively with a view to resolving it.

He said that Obi must be unbiased and objective in handling the crisis in order to resolve the leadership tussle.

Apapa decried what happened at the PEPC  in the presence of  Obi describing it as disgraceful and a test of Obi’s leadership quality.

The factional Chairman said that the leadership crisis would have been put behind them if the Presidential Candidate had respected an order of the  FCT High Court.

The FCT High court had ordered Julius Abure and three others to desist from parading themselves as National officers of the party over their alleged indictment for forgery and perjury.

Tracing the genesis of the crisis, Apapa said that immediately the order of Court was served on the parties, he was unanimously selected to lead the party in an acting capacity.

He said that it was wrong for Obi to be according respect to Abure in spite of the order of the Court and as a Presidential candidate seeking justice from the same Court of Law.

He implored Obi to be open- minded and neutral in order to end the crisis.

In attendance at the briefing were the Deputy National Chairman of the Party in the North, Mike Auta, the National Publicity Secretly Olufemi Arabambi and the Acting Women Leader Rukkayat Salihu.

For his part, Auta  denied that the All Progressives Congress, (APC) was behind the crisis adding that the allegation was baseless and unfounded.

He also said that the Apapa-led faction had no intention of withdrawing the petition at the PEPC.

Auta apologised to Nigerians who he said gave the party over six million votes during the Presidential Election saying  they should not be discouraged by the current leadership crisis as it would soon be over.

He gave the assurance that the dispute would be resolved amicably.

There was drama at the PEPC when  two factions of Labour Party clashed over which faction had the right to be present in court.

The drama led to Apapa receiving some punches before he was whisked away by security personnel to safety.

The trial Judge, Justice Haruna Tsammani, adjourned the case to party Friday.

When asked if he would be present at Friday’s sitting in spite of what happened in court on Wednesday, Apapa answered in the affirmative adding that except he would be barred by security personnel.

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