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PDP Thrashes Adeyemi, Demands Apology to Governor Ikpeazu |The Source

By
Adesina Soyooye
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Smart Adeyemi
Smart Adeyemi: Another shot at the Senate

By Adesina Soyooye

Senator Smart Adeyemi, the Kogi Senator who inexplicably called Abia State Governor, Dr Okezie Ikpeazu, a drunkard, on the Senate floor, a few days ago, is still coming under the slammer from shocked members of the public.

Adeyemi had, while making contributions to an unrelated  subject on the floor, surprisingly, veered off course, insulted almost all the leaders in the State, and called Ikpeazu “a champagne  drinking Governor.”

The irony is that Ikpeazu, a Seven Day Adventist, does not drink alcohol. Reactions to Adeyemi’s unparliamentary outburst have been coming like claps of thunder.

Governor Ikpeazu, a former mrmber of the House of Representative, called him a mad man, while the Senate Minority Leader, Enyinnaya Abaribe, decried Adeyemi’s indecent language. And so have many other people.

Monday, was the turn of the South-east Zone of the People’s Democratic Party, PDP. At an emergency meeting, the Zone, in a statement signed by its Publicity Secretary, Augustine Elochukwu Okeke, took an exception to Senator Adeyemi’s unprovoked outburst  against Governor Ikpeazu.

It said it frowns, and condemns it, and gave the Kogi Senator a seven-day ultimatum to apologise to the Governor.

The statement reads in part:

“… the ZWC, reviewed the recent unprovoked and misguided verbal attack on the Governor of Abia State, His Excellency, Okezie Ikpeazu (PhD), by Senator Smart Adeyemi.

“For clarity, below are the exact words of ‘Distinguished’ Senator ‘Smart’ Adeyemi:

Gov Okezie Ikpeazu
Gov Okezie Ikpeazu

“Mr President, in some states of Nigeria today, where you have ‘highly intelligent’ people, ‘highly educated’ people, ‘highly enterprising people’ like Abia, they are governed by drunkards. The governor of Abia is a champagne drinking man. He has done nothing for his people; roads are not constructed in Abia. Mr President. Abia people are impoverished more than ever before. Abia people are unfortunate to have him as their governor…Abia is governed by a man who is a drunkard…He is a champagne drinking man..”

“South East PDP wonders why Senator Smart Adeyemi, a non-indigene, non-resident, who arguably owns no property or investment in any part or territory of Abia state could resort to such untoward and derogatory language to qualify a citizen of Nigeria, not less a Governor of a state elected not once but twice by the indigenes and residents of Abia state.

“For someone whose name is Smart; for someone whose status is (supposedly) preceded with the appendage ‘distinguished’, such hollow utterances from the congress man from Kogi – full of hatred, dereliction, opprobrium, contempt, bile – which has nothing smart or distinguished about it, is an unconscionable desecration of the hallowed red chambers of the National Assembly, which if left unchecked may lead to the misconstruing of the senate chambers as a breeding ground for the use of gutter language.

“It would have been understandable, albeit inexcusable, if there were any iota of truth in the allegations that Senator Adeyemi leveled against the person of Governor Okezie Ikpeazu as the incumbent governor of Abia State.

“South East PDP considers Senator Smart Adeyemi’s outbursts as an unbridled defamation of the character of His Excellency, Okezie Ikpeazu (PhD), a highly placed member of PDP of South East extraction, and by consequence a slight and an affront to the people of PDP in South East.

“South East PDP, unequivocally frowns at and frontally condemns this unprovoked disrespect of the person of His excellency, Okezie Ikpeazu (PhD), the government and people of Abia state and the entire members of PDP in South East zone.

“Consequent upon this, the Zonal Working Committee of PDP, South East Zone hereby demands that Senator Smart Adeyemi should publicly apologize to Governor Ikpeazu – within seven (7) days – for this unprovoked defamation of character.

“Failure of Senator Smart Adeyemi to do this, would leave the ZWC of PDP, South East zone with no other option than taking every necessary measure to seek redress, including but not limited to instituting a libel suit against Senator Adeyemi.

Unfortunately there is nothing much they can do since the Senator’s pronouncement on the floor of the Senate is not subject to legal actions.

How I Lost Faith In Nigeria |The Source

By
The Source
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Chidozie Ojobor

By Chidozie Ojobor

In 2014, I and several other Nigerian University graduates had been shortlisted to write the Presidential Special Scholarship (PRESSID) designed exclusively for First Class Nigerian graduates who wanted to pursue both Masters and PhD in any top 25 Universities in the world.

President Goodluck Jonathan had set the scheme up, and the idea was to build a strong team of brilliant Nigerians who will come back to serve the country years later.

There were a little above one thousand of us who wrote the exam at CHAMS, Abuja.

At the time, I was already lecturing in UNN, so most of my friends (who were also my colleagues) enrolled.

16 of us in total.

It was a computer-based test, so we knew our fate instantly.

I had scored 94% in the exam. In fact, 15 of us from UNN scored between 80 and 97%. Man! We came out of the exam hall completely joyous. We were so sure we had got the scholarship. And we were right.

Sometime in February 2015, the list of 101 successful candidates was shortlisted in the National Dailies.

Fifteen of us were on that list. I had applied to Princeton University, Imperial College London and University of Toronto already. That phase of our lives was glorious.

Fast forward to March 2015, Goodluck lost the elections to Mr. (Muhammadu) Buhari. That was where things started to take a new turn.

Shortly after Mr Buhari was sworn in, he had(allegedly) recalled the list and complained, (allegedly), that there was no single Northerner on it. He believed it was an agenda of the South.

Right before our eyes, meritocracy was short-changed for Federal character. It was first like a joke, but we all lost that huge scholarship.

It was worth about $250,000 per person (tuition and living expenses inclusive across 5 years).

Before then, I had little faith in the country. But when this happened, I became weary of the country.

Thankfully, later that year, I got a full scholarship from University of Toronto for my Masters and PhD (6 years in total). Of those other 14 friends of mine, 13 of them have also moved since then – US, Canada, UK, New Zealand, Japan etc.

Obviously, we moved on, but truth is, the life we have now was afforded to us by the Government of another country, many of which will seduce you with permanent residency, and citizenship afterwards.

Any nation that shortchanges merit for anything else will fall.

Nigeria has the brightest people, yet, we are where we are (in Osibanjo’s voice).

These people will corroborate my story as they were also winners of the PRESSID scholarship:

*Odoeze Jideofor Okagu *Ogadimma Olikagu Sylvia *Chisom Hyacinth Ali David *Chukwuma Izuogu Samuel *Olisa Chima Eke and others.

Sad!

INEC To Create More Polling Units |The Source

By
Ayodele Oni
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0
INEC Logo
INEC Logo

By Ayodele Oni

The Independent National Electoral Commission, (INEC), has raised the hope of agitators of more polling Units as it announced creation of additional voting centres ahead of future elections.

According to the Commission, wide consultations have been made with various stakeholders on the need to create more polling units.

Director of Voter Education and Publicity of the Commission, Mr Nick Dazang disclosed on Monday in Akure, at the opening ceremony of the INEC/IFES Voter Education Manual Review/Validation and Training of Trainers Workshop.

The INEC official stated that “the inadequacy of polling units was one of the problem of Nigeria voting system, saying since 1996, the number of polling units in Nigeria had not increased while the population has increased.

“The Commission is intending to expand voters access to polling units. This is because the existing polling units were created in 1996, many of the voters today were not born at that time and what it means is that some of them won’t have access to where they can vote now.

“Also many towns and villages have come up while some have expanded.

“So many existing polling units cannot serve all the people now, that is why on election day, you see a lot of congestion at the polling units and some people would be pissed off and with that voter, apathy would occur.

”So the only way to ameliorate the problem is to create additional voting points.

“So we have started consulting the stakeholders, so far we have consulted with the leadership of political parties, CSOs, PWDLs, the media, Afenifere, ACF, Middle Belt Forum, Ohaneze among others to make them see the need for the creation of the additional polling units.”

The Commission, also, said there was a need for the voters’ education for the people of the country so as to give room for free, fair and credible future elections in Nigeria.

In his remarks, the Resident Electoral Commission in Ondo State, Dr Rufus Akeju, said the Commission at present, was making concerted efforts to engage with stakeholders to buy into the intention of the commission to make polling units more accessible to voters nationwide.

“It is believed that this task would have been completed before the commencement of the Continuous Voters Registration.”

Akeju said that the fact that voters in Nigeria are still culpable in various electoral offences indicate that our voter education drive is yet to achieve the desired result.

Ondo Govt Bans NURTW, RTEAN From Motor Parks, Takes Over Ticketing |The Source

By
Ayodele Oni
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0

By Ayodele Oni

In a move to curb excesses of touts at motor parks and reduce transport fares in Ondo state, Governor Rotimi Akeredolu on Monday ordered National Union of Road transport workers, (NURTW) and the Road Transport Employers’ Association of Nigeria, (RTEAN) officials to vacate motor parks in the state.

Senior Special Assistant to the Governor on Special Duties and Strategy, Dr Doyin Odebowale, who made the announcement, said the suspension was with immediate effect.

According to the Governor’s aide, the suspension was as a result of the recent crisis within the Unions over leadership tussles.

The SSA directed the leadership of both NURTW and RTEAN to vacate motor parks across the 18 local government areas of the state and to stop collecting money from taxi drivers and other motorists.

Dr Odebowale, who also directed Taxi drivers to revert to the old price of fifty naira, explained that new tickets would be purchased directly from Government.

He pointed out that every attempt to make life difficult for the masses would be restricted, adding that security agencies had been notified to effect timely arrest and prosecution of the defaulters.

Fare for intra-city shuttle was recently increased by 100 per cent by the leadership of NURTW in the state.

The NURTW leadership, under the Chairmanship of Mr Jacob Adebo, also hiked prices of tickets for commercial vehicles in the state, which has led to astronomical increase in prices of foodstuffs.

“Senator Smart Adeyemi Is A Mad Man” – Governor Ikpeazu |The Source

By
Akinwale Kasali
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Okezie Victor Ikpeazu, Governor, Abia state

By Akinwale Kasali

For the records, Governor Okezie Ikpeazu has described Senator Smart Adeyemi, representing Kogi West Senatorial District, as a mad man.

Governor Ikpeazu made this statements at the unveiling of a book written by the Minority Leader of the Senate, Senator Enyinnaya Abaribe, titled: “Made in Aba”, where he was the Special Guest of Honour. He noted that there was no need to begrudge a mad man.

The Abia State Governor was responding, personally, for the first time, to Senator Adeyemi who called him a “drunkard” on the floor of the Senate last week.

The Governor quoted the evergreen words of Professor Chinua Achebe who famously admonished that “if a mad man picks the clothes of a man taking his bath and runs away, if the man runs after the mad man, nobody will know who is mad.”

Ikpeazu told the audience that he does not drink nor does he begrudge those who drink.

Adeyemi had come under the hammer by many people  because of his unguarded statement on the floor of the Senate, which had nothing to do with the subject under discussion.

Ondo Command Of NDLEA Nabs Man With Two Human Heads |The Source

By
Ayodele Oni
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0
NDLEA Found two Human Heads

By Ayodele Oni

The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, (NDLEA) officials in Ondo state, while nosing for drug related substances, have discovered two dried human heads in a vehicle.

The NDLEA officials, on a routine checks along Akure/Owo highway discovered the human heads inside a car boot.

The driver of the vehicle has been arrested with two heads concealed in a brown cartoon.

The Agency gave the name of the owner as Hassan Saka, who was paraded before journalists, in Akure on Monday.

The State Commander of the Agency, Haruna Gagara, explained that the suspect would be handed over to the police for prosecution.

Corruption: Former French President, Sarkozy Sentenced To Prison |The Source

By
Akinwale Kasali
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0
Nicholas Sarkozy

By Akinwale Kasali

In the history of modern democracy in France, former France President, Nicholas Sarkozy will be the second Ex-President to be convicted for Corruption  after Jacques Chirac.

A Paris Court has sentenced Sarkozy to one year in prison and a two-year suspended sentence.

His conviction is sequel to him being found guilty of corruption and influence- peddling.

The 66-year-old politician, who served as President from 2007 to 2012, was convicted on Monday for having tried to illegally obtain information from a Senior Magistrate in 2014 about a legal action.

This came to light, they said, while they were wire-tapping conversations between Sarkozy and his lawyer Thierry Herzog, after the former left office. The wire-tapping was carried out in relation to another investigation into alleged Libyan financing of the same campaign.

The Court said Sarkozy, a  lawyer himself, was “perfectly informed” about committing an illegal action. His two co-defendants were, also, found guilty and given the same sentence.

Sarkozy had denied any wrong-doing, saying he was the victim of a witch-hunt by financial prosecutors who used excessive means to snoop on his affairs. He now has 10 days to appeal Monday’s ruling.

Taking into account the two years suspended, the sentence of one year jail means it is unlikely Sarkozy will physically go to prison, a punishment that in France usually applies to jail terms of above two years.

The court said Sarkozy will be entitled to request to be detained at home with an electronic bracelet.

Sarkozy will face another trial later this month along with 13 other people on charges of illegal financing of his 2012 presidential campaign.

Insecurity: Fani-Kayode Predicts Looming Second Civil War |The Source

By
Akinwale Kasali
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Femi Fani-Kayode

By Akinwale Kasali

Following the incessant kidnapping, Banditry and insecurity rocking the nation, former Aviation Minister, Femi Fani-Kayode predicted that Nigeria could be on the brink of a second civil war.

Speaking during an appearance on Channels Television’s Politics Today, Fani-Kayode said the only way to stop the impending war is for Nigerians to come together and unite.

He asserted that Nigeria is divided into regional, ethnic and religious lines, saying that discussing together as a nation will foster peace and unity.

Fani-Kayode called on President Muhammadu Buhari to wake up to his responsibility of securing the nation.

He said: “It is time for us to come together as a nation in order to avert a civil war.

“This country is on the brink of war. The security situation is so bad that it is not just good enough for us to get up and be throwing stones. We have got to proffer solutions to the problems that we are all facing.

“This country is divided now, divided into regional, ethnic and religious lines. We can’t run away from that fact.

“There’s no point in going on about who is right and who is wrong. It is time for us to come together to talk to one another.

“Northerners should talk to Southerners, Southerners should talk to Northerners, Christians should talk to Muslims, APC should talk to PDP and APGA should be included and anybody else who’s a leader, every stakeholder in this country must come together because what we’re facing is a situation which might cause a very brutal, bloody civil war.”

EFCC: PDP Charges Bawa, To Avoid Magu’s Mistakes |The Source

By
Akinwale Kasali
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0
Abdulrasheed Bawa

By Akinwale Kasali

Opposition Party, the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, has urged the new Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, Boss, Abdulrasheed Bawa to re-engineer and restore professionalism in the anti-graft agency.

In a statement signed by  its National Publicity Secretary, Kola Ologbondiyan, in Abuja, the party urged Bawa to avoid the pitfalls of his immediate predecessor.

It advised him to resist all partisan pressures to use the Commissin as a tool for political persecution, harassment of dissenting voices, settling of personal scores as well as for personal enrichment.

The PDP said that such tendencies eroded professionalism in the EFCC, compromised its activities and diminished the public confidence with regard to fairness, impartiality and even-handedness in the handling of cases.

The PDP also noted that the EFCC was established to fight corruption and not as a tool for oppression and intimidation of innocent Nigerians for political and other unjustified reasons.

It stated:“The PDP notes that for the first time, the Chairman of the EFCC is drawn from the pool of trained investigators of the commission

“Nigerians expect the new chairman to bring the benefits of his training to bear by sanitising the system and restoring professionalism in line with international best practices.

“Furthermore, our party urges the new EFCC Chairman to bear in mind that, given his young age and training, he should exhibit the ideals of the Generation-Next Nigeria in reciprocation of the confidence Nigerians repose in him.”

Bawa, 40, succeeded CP Ibrahim Magu, who was suspended from office in July, 2020, and was finally removed from office on the appointment of Bawa.

Magu’s fate is still unknown, months after a Presidential Investigation Panel, headed by a retired President of the Court of Appeal, Hon. Justice Ayo Salami, which investigated his tenure, apparently recommended his sack.

NNPC: No Petrol Price Hike In March

By
Bayo Bernard
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0
NNPC
By Tosin Olatokunbo
Contrary to speculations of imminent increase in the price of Premium Motor Spirit (petrol) in the country, the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC has ruled out any increment in the ex-depot price of petrol in March, 2021.
A press release by the Group General Manager, Group Public Affairs Division, Dr. Kennie Obateru, stated that the Corporation was not contemplating any raise in the price of petrol in March in order not to jeopardize ongoing engagements with organized labour and other stakeholders on an acceptable framework that will not expose the ordinary Nigerian to any hardship.
NNPC also cautioned petroleum products marketers not to engage in arbitrary price increase or hoarding of petrol in order not to create artificial scarcity and unnecessary hardship for Nigerians.
The Corporation stated that it has enough stock of petrol to keep the nation well supplied for over 40 days and urged motorists to avoid panic buying.
It further called on relevant regulatory authorities to step up monitoring of the activities of marketers with a view to sanctioning those involved in products hoarding or arbitrary increase of pump price.
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