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Oyegun Replies Tinubu On Ondo Election

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Oyegun Replies Tinubu On Ondo Election
APC National Chairman, John Oyegun
APC National Chairman, John Oyegun

National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress, APC, John Oyegun, has finally articulated a formal response to accusations of corruption leveled against him by Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, a national leader of the party, on the controversial governorship primary election in Ondo State.

In a statement released on Friday, Oyegun stated that he wished to clear the misinformation and falsehood that have characterized the outcome of the primary election, as well as set the records straight.

The result of that election had thrown the APC into a serious leadership crisis, notably between Oyegun and former Lagos State governor, Bola Tinubu, with the latter calling for the former’s resignation.

The APC national chairman said Tinubu’s claim that he (Oyegun) overruled the NWC’s vote of “six against five” in favour of cancelling the primary election results and conducting another primary, was false, as no such vote was held during the NWC meeting.

“There was absolutely no meeting which I chaired that voted in the manner alleged. Clearly, the report on which the media office of Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu acted was a figment of someone’s wild imagination,” he stated.

Oyegun explained that he had only ruled to uphold an earlier decision of the NWC not to cancel the Ondo primaries.

He also denied Tinubu’s allegation that “over 150 valid delegates (in Ondo State) were excised to make room for an equal number of impostors”.

“The Ondo State approved delegates list was compiled in strict compliance with the Party’s constitution. Only qualified delegates were included in the list,” he maintained, adding that even the appeal committee could not prove otherwise.

On the allegation that he had used a “prayer interlude” to “secretly excuse” himself from the NWC meeting in order to submit Akeredolu’s name to INEC, Oyegun said that the claim was “high fiction and an insult to the intelligence and sensibility of the respected NWC members present at the meeting.”

“We do not and have never engaged in prayer interludes/sessions outside the usual opening and closing prayers,” he clarified.

Tinubu in his letter to Oyegun had also implied that the national chairman must have been bribed when he stated that “Oyegun has dealt a heavy blow to the very party he professes to lead. It is an awful parent who suffocates his own child for the sake of a few naira.”

To this Oyegun replied: “This reckless and baseless corruption allegation levelled against me is unfortunate and an insult to my person and my hard-earned reputation which I have strongly maintained.

“Nobody has the kind of money that can buy my conscience or make me do injury to an innocent man.

“In all the primaries conducted under my watch as National Chairman, I have strived to ensure a free, fair, transparent and credible process. The 2016 Ondo State APC Governorship Primary Election was not an exception.”

The APC chairman further explained that “The NWC in its four-point resolution rejected the Appeal Committee’s recommendation (to cancel the Ondo Primary polls) on the grounds that the report was fundamentally and fatally flawed.”

He wondered why the Appeal Committee, after admitting in its report that ‘there may have been substantial compliance in the conduct of the exercise’, still proceeded to recommend the nullification of the Primary election.

Also, Oyegun said the Appeal committee, during its hearings, did not invite the party’s National Secretary to authenticate the delegate list used in the primary election, neither did it invite the chairman or members of the Primary election committee, which was headed by Governor Abubakar Badaru of Jigawa State.

Oyegun also said that the NWC could not have called for a fresh primary as time could not have permitted that.

“By the timetable released by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), all governorship primaries and issues related ended on September 19, 2016,” he pointed out.

He urged leaders of the party to “explore internal dispute resolution mechanisms in addressing their perceived grievances” before going to the media, adding that the party’s leadership was committed to the task of winning the Ondo state governorship election so as “to save the people of the state from the misrule of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP.”

Updated: Hurricane Mathew Claims Over 800 Lives In Haiti

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Updated: Hurricane Mathew Claims Over 800 Lives In Haiti

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The number of people killed by Hurricane Matthew in Haiti surged on Friday to 842, as help slowly trickled into marooned areas of the country’s southwestern peninsula pummeled by the powerful storm.

Officials told Reuters that they expect the number of deaths to increase, with isolated areas reporting higher numbers. Most deaths are believed to have occurred in the southwest region.

“Devastation is everywhere,” said Pilus Enor, mayor of Camp Perrin, a town near the port city of Les Cayes on the peninsula’s south shore.

“Every house has lost its roof. All the plantations have been destroyed. This is the first time we see something like this.”

Hurricane Matthew has pounded the Bahamas after slicing through Haiti and Cuba.

Trees and power lines were reportedly down in the Bahamas but no fatalities were reported.

Most of the deaths in Haiti were in towns and fishing villages around the southern coast, with many killed by falling trees, flying debris and swollen rivers.

The storm passed directly through the Tiburon peninsula, driving the sea inland and flattening homes with winds of up to 230km/h (145mph) and torrential rain on Monday and Tuesday.

The collapse of an important bridge on Tuesday had left the south-west largely cut off.

Non-governmental organisations said phone coverage and electricity were down and people were running out of food and water.

The BBC’s Tony Brown in south-western Haiti said he had seen people trying to cope with the mass destruction on their own, trying to rebuild from the rubble but without the help of the army or police.

Jean Joseph, a resident in one of the worst-hit towns described the scene as “complete devastation”.

“What’s going on right now is a lot of people are walking around, they have no home, a lot of them – they’re just walking around. I don’t know what they’re going to do,” he said.

The UN Office for the Co-ordination of Humanitarian Affairs, OCHA, reported that across the country, there were some 350,000 in need of assistance.

A spokesperson for the American Red Cross, Suzy DeFrancis, said the first priority was to get phone networks across the country back up and running, promising that “We will bring in technology to help do that.”

“… and then we are most worried about cholera, so we will be helping to distribute aqua tabs to purify the water,” she added.

The Red Cross has launched an emergency appeal for $6.9m “to provide medical, shelter, water and sanitation assistance to 50,000 people”, while the US is sending nine military helicopters to help deliver food and water to the hardest-hit areas.

Haiti is one of the world’s poorest, with many residents living in flimsy housing in flood-prone areas.

Meanwhile in the US, evacuation orders have been issued for areas covering some three million inhabitants.

The storm has so far stayed off the coast, lessening the potential impact to southern Florida, and it remains unclear when, where or if, the hurricane will make landfall.

Nevertheless, rain and high winds lashed the Miami area overnight.

Some 270,000 homes and businesses in Florida are already left without power.

Florida Governor, Rick Scott said: “Think about this: 11ft (3.3m) of possible storm surge. And on top of that, waves. So if you are close, you could have the storm surge and waves over your roof.”

One person is reported to have died so far in the US as a result of the storm.

Oye Rejects Suspension As APGA Chairman

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Oye Rejects Suspension As APGA Chairman

oye-rejects-suspension-as-apga-chairman

The embattled National Chairman of the All Progressives Grand Alliance, APGA, Victor Oye, has insisted that he is still in charge contrary to the decision of the party’s National Working Committee, NWC, that he has been suspended.

Oye told journalists in Awka on Friday that the purported suspension lacked substance and was based on  speculations authored by people he described as “saboteurs” and “dissidents” who were working against the progress of APGA.

He said that the party just concluded its monthly working committee meeting with all 29 members in attendance including the people that said he had been suspended.

Oye said: “The report about my suspension or sack is rubbish; it holds no substance whatsoever.

“I am talking to you from my office where we just had our NWC meeting attended by all members.

“I am surprised that just four people could go and generate such malicious story from nowhere. These people were also in our meeting. I tell you they are enemies of APGA. They are saboteurs and best described as dissidents; there is no crisis in APGA.”

Oye pointed out that it was unethical for some media organisations to have published the story without making any effort to hear from him.

On the just concluded Edo governorship election, Oye commended the APGA supporters in the state but added that the result announced by the Independent Electoral Commission, INEC was ‘not a true reflection of the minds of the people’.

He wondered why APGA, which he described as the third largest political party in the country, could not get up to 1,000 votes.

“APGA joins other political parties to condemn and reject the published results of Edo governorship election. It was not a true reflection of the minds of the people of Edo,” he said.

Recall that on Thursday, a group of APGA NWC members, led by the deputy National Secretary of the party, Jerry Obasi, told the media that the NWC had suspended the national chairman and two others for going against the party’s constitution among others.

How To Save Millions From Dying In The Lake Chad Basin

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How To Save Millions From Dying In The Lake Chad Basin

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By Obiejesi Kingsley

About 9.2 million people, including women and children, are in critical conditions and in dire need of food and medical assistance in the Lake Chad Basin – Nigeria, Chad, Cameroon and Niger – as a result of the Boko Haram insurgency, the United Nations has reported.

The world body has called on donor agencies and philanthropists to redeem their pledges of assistance in order to save the lives of the people living in this highly vulnerable area.

According to a report released on Thursday by the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, OCHA, about $739 million will be needed to “increase lifesaving support to the millions of people affected by the crisis” across the region, “of which $197 million has already been received.”

“The remaining unmet requirement of $522 million includes $368 million for Nigeria, $56 million for Chad, $55 million for Cameroon, and $44 million for Niger, respectively.”

In Nigeria, the UN agency warned that “without timely scale-up of life-saving assistance in the conflict-hit Northeast, and in Borno State in particular, the humanitarian crisis will deteriorate further.”

Part of the report read: “The 2016 Humanitarian Response Plan is now requesting $484 million up from $279 million. As of 3 October $116 million, or 24 per cent, of the funds had been received.”

Figures from the report showed that about 7 million have been affected by insurgency in Nigeria, including 1.95 million who were internally displaced and 4.4 million that are “severely food insecure.”

It would be recalled that in late September, an international Non-Governmental Organization, Medecines San Frontiers, MSF, also called Doctors without Borders, as well as UNICEF, released separate press documents warning of the dire humanitarian conditions in the various camps for internally displaced persons in Borno.

However, the Northeast regional office of the National Emergency Management Agency, NEMA, refuted the reports, and even accused the MSF of trying to use the condition of IDPs as a disguise to raise more funds for its campaign.

OCHA in its report stated that several UN agencies, including UNHCR, UNICEF, WFP, IOM, WHO, and FAO, as well as 15 other international Non-Governmental Organisations, have scaled up their interventions “as the centre of response moves to Maiduguri.”

“The humanitarian community revised its financial requirement upwards to reflect the needs of the affected population in newly-accessible areas and increased capacity in response due to the scale-up of humanitarian operations in the north-east,” OCHA stated.

Worst affected areas, according to the report include Bama, Banki, Monguno and Dikwa, with an acute malnutrition range of “between 30 and 60 per cent which is associated with a significantly increased risk of child mortality.”

The UN body also said that a spate of Boko Haram attacks targeting traders and food convoys in newly-accessible areas has raised fresh security concerns.

“On 19 September, a military-escorted convoy carrying traders and food along the recently re-opened Damboa-Maiduguri road was ambushed by gunmen who killed five civilians and wounded three soldiers.

“A similar attack was reported on 10 September along the Maiduguri-Monguno road, with the assailants killing six traders and looting food and livestock,” the report read.

According to the report, the priority areas in the revised requirements include: “food assistance for 1.4 million people; agricultural inputs to vulnerable households for 166,000 people and livelihood support for 127,000 people; management of acute and severe acute malnutrition, water, sanitation and hygiene services in the newly-accessible areas; and psychosocial support and response for conflict traumatized people, including children, orphans, unaccompanied minors, and survivors of sexual and gender based violence.”

Colombian President Wins Nobel Peace Prize

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Colombian President Wins Nobel Peace Prize

colombian-president-wins-nobel-peace-prize

Colombian President, Juan Manuel Santos, has been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts to end the 52-year conflict with left-wing rebels.

The Nobel committee in Norway praised him for his peace agreement with Farc rebels, signed last month after four years of negotiations.

However, Colombians narrowly rejected the deal in a vote last weekend.

The conflict has killed about 260,000 people, leaving more than six million others internally displaced.

“The Norwegian Nobel Committee has decided to award the Nobel Peace Prize for 2016 to Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos for his resolute efforts to bring the country’s more than 50-year-long civil war to an end,” said committee chairwoman Kaci Kullmann Five.

“The award should also be seen as a tribute to the Colombian people,” she added.

The peace deal was rejected by 50.2% of voters who went to the polls on 2 October in a nationwide refrendum.

Despite the result,  Santos vowed to continue with talks with the rebels.

Government negotiators have already returned to the Cuban capital Havana for further discussions with Farc leaders.

Critics, led by former president Alvaro Uribe, said the deal was too lenient to the rebels.

Under the agreement, special courts would have been created to try crimes committed during the conflict.

Those who confessed to their crimes would have received lighter sentences and would have avoided serving any time in conventional prisons.

The Farc would also have been guaranteed 10 seats in the Colombian Congress in the 2018 and 2022 elections.

Why We Withdrew Charges Against Saraki, Ekweremadu – FG

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Why We Withdrew Charges Against Saraki, Ekweremadu – FG
Senate President and Deputy president Bukola Saraki and Ike Ekweremadu
Senate President and Deputy president Bukola Saraki and Ike Ekweremadu

The Federal Government has formerly withdrawn the forgery charges against the Senate President, Bukola Saraki, his deputy, Ike Ekweremadu, and two others, because of a pending case related to the charges before the Federal High Court in Abuja.

When the case resumed on Friday, lead prosecuting counsel, Aliyu Umar, SAN, told Justice Yusuf Halilu of the Jabi Division of the FCT High Court, that “This government respects the rule of law, and hierarchy of the judiciary.

“It is obvious from these two applications (filed by Saraki and Ekweremadu) and the similar case before your learned brother, Justice Kolawole, at the Federal High Court who is dealing with the issue that we are withdrawing the charges.

“It is trite that two matters of the same subject matter cannot be before different courts of coordinate jurisdiction.”

Umar sought that “the amended charge dated October 5, 2016 and also the original dated June 10, 2016 and filed the same date be struck out and all the four defendants be discharged.”

The case before Justice Kolawole of the Federal High Court, Abuja, which Umar referred to was a civil case filed by a serving Senator, Gilbert Nnaji, challenging the then ongoing investigation into the alleged forgery of the Senate rule by Saraki and the others.

The application by Umar for the withdrawal of the charges was not opposed by the defence counsels, Ikechukwu Ezechukwu, Mahmud Magaji, Paul Erokoro and Joseph Daudu, all Senior Advocates of Nigeria, SAN.

After hearing the applications, Justice Halilu struck out the case and discharged all the four accused.

Wonder Bank Operator Nabbed Over N4 Billion Fraud

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Wonder Bank Operator Nabbed Over N4 Billion Fraud

 

wonder-bank-operator-nabbed-over-n4-billion-fraud

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC has arrested the managing director of an alleged ‘wonder bank’ known as “Lets Partner With You Ltd”, Patrick Nwokike.

Spokesman of the commission, Wilson Uwajuren, said that Nwokike was arrested at his residence in Enugu on Thursday, after the agency received hundreds of petitions from  Nigerian about  the nefarious activities of the illegal bank.

Uwajuren stated that “petitions from Nigerians across religious, gender, ethnic, economic and social strata indicate that the company had over the past five years solicited and obtained deposits of more than N4 billion from the general public with promise of mouth-watering interest in return.”

He added that EFCC’s investigations revealed that the company neither has a license to solicit and manage funds for the public nor was it registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission, SEC or the Nigeria Deposit Insurance Corporation, NDIC.

“Further investigations revealed that  the company had, for some time, paid a 10% interest on invested capital but suddenly stopped and all efforts by depositors to have at least their initial investments returned were futile,” Uwajuren stated.

Many of the complainants alleged that the fake bank boss lived a very flamboyant lifestyle, acquiring several personal assets as well as using depositors’ investment for philanthropic enterprise.

The EFCC added that the company operates more than six accounts in about four banks with Nwokike and his wife as the only signatories.

In his statement, the ‘bank’ MD acknowledged that depositor’s funds with his company was about N4 billion, but denied operating both money lending and investment business as alleged by the petitioners.

He said that his company was into partnership business, which receives money from interested partners who desire interest over a period of time.

Uwajuren said that investigation into the case was still ongoing.

New UN Chief, Guterres Promises To Serve The “Most Vulnerable”

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New UN Chief, Guterres Promises To Serve The “Most Vulnerable”

new-un-chief-antonio-guterres

Former Portuguese Prime Minister, Antonio Guterres, formally nominated on Thursday to be the next UN secretary general, has promised to “serve the most vulnerable”.

The 67-year-old, who led the office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, UNHCR, for 10 years, was unanimously nominated by the UN Security Council yesterday, and will take over from Ban Ki-moon early next year.

Accepting the nomination, Guterres said “I have two words to describe what I’m feeling now – gratitude and humility.

“Humility about the huge challenges ahead of us, the terrible complexity of the modern world; but it is also humility that is required to serve the most vulnerable, victims of conflicts, of terrorism, rights violations, poverty and injustices of this world,” he said.

He paid tribute to Ban Ki-Moon and called on UN member-states to support the outgoing Secretary-General in his final months in office.

Speaking earlier, Ban Ki-Moon described Guterres as a “superb choice” to succeed him in the position.

“His experience as Portuguese prime minister, his wide knowledge of world affairs, and his lively intellect will serve him well in leading the United Nations in a crucial period,” Ki-Moon told reporters during a visit to Rome.

Guterres’ appointment was also welcomed by ‘The Elders’ – an independent group of global leaders started by Nelson Mandela but now chaired by former Secretary-General Kofi Annan.

“I am delighted by the outcome of the Council’s selection process,” Annan is quoted as saying.

Observing that Guterres is a highly-qualified and well-prepared candidate, the Ghanaian diplomat added, however, that he would need “the firm support of the Security Council as well as the wider membership of the United Nations to help him fulfil his mandate in these challenging times.”

Analysts say the incoming UN boss has a huge task ahead of him, chief of which would be how to find new ways to handle international crises after the UN’s failure to reduce the fighting in Syria and other places.

Guterres’s nomination was formally agreed by all 15 council members during a closed-door meeting at the UN.

He entered politics in 1976 in Portugal’s first democratic election after five decades of dictatorship, rising through the ranks to become leader of the Socialist party in 1992 and was elected prime minister in 1995.

As head of the UN’s refugee agency, the UNHCR, from 2005 to 2015, Guterres was at the forefront of some of the world’s worst refugee crises, including Syria, Afghanistan and Iraq.

Although his nomination was widely welcomed, there was disappointment among some campaigners who had hoped for the first female UN Secretary General.

Buhari, Jonathan, Jega Win Joint Person Of The Year Award

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Buhari, Jonathan, Jega Win Joint Person Of The Year Award

leadership-person-of-the-year-award-buhar-jega

The trio of President Muhammadu Buhari, former President Goodluck Jonathan and former chairman of the Independent national Electoral Commission, INEC, Attahiru Jega, has emerged winners of the Leadership Person of the year award for their roles in the 2015 general election in Nigeria.

The award ceremony was held at the Transcorp Hilton congress hall in Abuja on Thursday.

Chairman of the Leadership Newspaper group, Sam Nda-Isaiah, in his opening speech said “Today’s event is basically to celebrate our democracy because… several doomsday pundits (had) concluded that the (2015) election might spell the end of Nigeria as we know it” were it not for the patriotism of the three men being celebrated.

“The story of the 2015 election will be told to many generations,” Nda-Isaiah said, “If you think this is no big deal, you only need to listen to Donald Trump stumping for the American presidency.”

President Buhari, in his speech noted that “the events of 2015 … marked a watershed in the political history of our country.

“It is, therefore, our commitment to this ideal, the patriotic zeal of President Jonathan, the impartiality of the electoral umpire, INEC and exemplary conduct of the political parties … that we collectively disappointed the prophets of doom who had predicted the disintegration of the country…

He added that Nigeria’s democracy has become stronger following the 2015 elections as Nigerians “now have more faith in the electoral system in the sense that their votes would count when choosing political leaders at various levels.”

Buhari called on the media to support government’s agenda “to defeat terrorism and violent extremism in the country, fight corruption and diversify the economy to create jobs for our teeming population and generally improve the standard of living of Nigerians.”

The ceremony also featured presentation of awards to various categories of Nigerians among which were: Young person of the Year – Chibok girls; Governor of the year – Ibrahim Damkwambo of Gombe state; Public service of the year – Boboye Oyeyemi, FRSC Corp Marshal.

Former President Jonathan was represented at the event by Tanimu Turaki, former minister for special duties.

NNPC Commends Defence Intelligence On Crude Oil Theft

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NNPC Commends Defence Intelligence On Crude Oil Theft
nnpc-commends-defence-intelligence-on-crude-oil-theft
Maikanti Baru, NNPC, GMD

The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, has commended the Defence Intelligence Agency, DIA, for its support over the years, especially in the area of recovery of stolen crude.

Group managing Director of the corporation, Maikantu Baru, gave the commendation during a courtesy visit to the DIA chief, Mohammed Usman, an Air Vice Marshal, on Thursday in Abuja.

Baru said the aim of the visit was to seek for more collaboration and support “on matters of strategic national importance as it affects our operations.”

He noted that “The impacts of the despicable acts of pipeline vandalism and crude oil theft on our operations are huge; the losses are mind-boggling.

“Other impacts are loss of lives, high cost of operations, refinery shutdown, fuel crisis and environmental degradation,” he said.

The NNPC GMD promised that the corporation will continue to strengthen its partnership with the DIA and other government security agencies in securing and safeguarding national assets.

“We are committed to collaborating with the DIA towards eliminating haemorrhage of losses, revenue deferments and energy security threats,” he stated.

Baru revealed that part of the NNPC’s twelve business focus areas include the establishment of a security advisory council to renew its strategies and security architecture.

“The security advisory council will ensure robust community engagement and regularly provide crucial inputs to the national security team,” he explained.

In his response, the DIA chief promised continued partnership with the NNPC in protecting the nation’s oil facilities.

“The problem in the Oil and Gas sector is something that should worry every Nigerian because it has a direct bearing on our economy,” Usman said.

“The DIA will continue to support the NNPC towards ensuring the security of the nation’s oil and gas facilities.

“The challenges before us today are huge. I urge the NNPC and other IOCs (International Oil Companies) to identify the most critical infrastructure for us to come and assist them.

“I assure u that whatever we can do to help NNPC overcome these security challenges, we will do it in the interest of our nation,” he promised.

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