Politics

2023: APC an NGO not political party, will break up before elections – Dino Melaye

Former Kogi West Senator, Dino Melaye, has disclosed that the All Progressives Congress, APC, would break up before the 2023 elections.
Melaye said APC is not a political party but a Non-Governmental Organization, NGO.

He also explained that the ruling party faced an imminent implosion due to the “illegality” of the Governor Mai Mala-Buni-led Caretaker Committee.

The former APC chieftain noted that Buni’s appointment as caretaker chairman contravenes Section 183 of the 1999 Constitution as well as the Article 17(iv) of APC Constitution.

Politics

PDP Can’t Win 2023 Presidency With Secondus-Led NWC In Charge – Wike

Governor of Rivers State, Nyesom Ezenwo Wike says the present National Working Committee of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, cannot lead the party to victory in the 2023 general elections, hence the quest for its replacement.

“If you go to the public and ask Nigerians if PDP is ready to take over power in 2023, if you take referendum, you will know that Nigerians are even waiting for PDP. But the fear of Nigerians is whether PDP is ready to take overpower. So, people are concerned about it. Obviously, it is ripe for PDP to take over, but you must be prepared to take over.

“And we said with what we have now, it will be difficult to take over power in 2023 if there are no amendments. Leadership was the problem. The point is this, the current NWC, as it is today, cannot lead the party to victory. Nobody has said they have not done well, one way or the other, but we are talking about the challenges ahead.

“That is why we are pushing for the party to have other people to lead the party and to give it a different strength altogether. If you know APC, you know that you need a robust, determined leadership of the party (PDP) to make sure you match them word by word, action by action.”

News

I Have Tried My Best, It’s Time You Defend Yourself Against Bandits – Katsina Gov. Tells Residents

Governor Aminu Masari has urged Katsina State citizens resident in areas prone to activities of bandits to acquire weapons and defend themselves.

Masari noted that it is morally wrong for people to submit cheaply to the bandits without any attempt to defend themselves, according to a statement by his Media Aide, Malam Abdu Labaran,

The governor said this during his visit to Jibia Town to condole with the families of 10 people that were recently crushed by operatives of the Nigerian Customs Service (NCS) through reckless driving.

According to him, security is everybody’s business, pointing out that it is not the responsibility of the government alone.

“It is the people’s meek submission that emboldens the bandits to continue with their heinous activities with murderous frequency.

“People must divorce their minds from the mistaken notion that security is government’s sole responsibility alone,” Masari said.

Meanwhile, the governor assured that those killed by the customs operatives would not die in vain.
“Government is perusing all the necessary legal steps to seek redress for the families of the deceased as well as those who sustained various degrees of injuries.
“Legal experts have already been consulted to advise on the way forward to ensure speedy (legal) resolution of the matter,” he said.

News

Court Orders Policeman to Pay Businessman N4m for torturing and detaining him after being caught in bed with his wife.

Chief Superintendent of Police, CSP Celestine Umeh, the Nigeria Police Force and the Akwa Ibom State Commissioner of Police have been ordered by the Akwa Ibom State High Court sitting in Uyo to pay the sum of N4 million as compensation to a businessman, Clement Asuquo Etim

There has been a one time reportage of how businessman, Etim , was arrested, detained and tortured for three straight days after catching CSP Umeh in his matrimonial bed with his wife in May 2020, at Aba Ukpo Estate in Uyo.

Etim had filed a case against Umeh and in a 46-page court document, he explained how Umeh who is now the Divisional Police Officer (DPO) in charge of Itu Division in Akwa Ibom State, violated his fundamental right to private and family life guaranteed by Section 37 of the Nigerian Constitution when he evaded his matrimonial home in his absence at Aba Ukpo Estate in Uyo to be with his wife, Mrs Laurentia Asuquo Etim.

Inibehe Effiong, a Lagos-based human rights lawyer representing the Plaintiff, Etim, filed the lawsuit with Suit No: HU/FHR.72/2020 at the High Court of Akwa Ibom State, and asked the court to enforce the fundamental rights of his client to dignity of the human person, personal liberty, private and family lives and freedom of movement.

Delivering judgement on August 16, 2021, the presiding judge, Justice Charles Ikpe, found that the police violated the fundamental right of the Applicant to personal liberty by detaining him for three days without justification. He also confirmed that Mr Etim was tortured thereby violating his right to dignity of the human person.

The court found guilty of violation of the fundamental right of the Applicant to private and family life by intruding into the matrimonial home of Mr Etim without his consent, hence, the compensation judgement was ruled.

Seeing justice take its course, Effiong commended the judge for his industry and the lucidity expressed in the judgment.

Politics

2023: Zoning Presidency To South Is Madness, We Need Competent Leader —Jega

Professor Attahiru Jega, former chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), has said rotational presidency is not the way forward for Nigeria.

Professor Attahiru Jega, former chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), has said rotational presidency is not the way forward for Nigeria.

As the 2023 elections draws nearer, there has been a clamour for power shift across political parties.

But when he featured on an ARISE TV programme, Jega said Nigeria’s next president can be from any region as long as the person is competent.

“The way Nigeria is now, we need the best person with competence, capacity, experience to be the president to get this country out of the challenges we have presently.”

“That person can come from the North, South, East or the West, but the important thing is that even if political parties decide that a candidate should come from a particular area, what we need to do is that Nigerians must interrogate the capacity of that person to lead this country appropriately.

“This idea of rotational presidency cannot take us out of the challenges we have in this country, presently,” he said.

Crime

We Know Those Behind Killings In The North —Obadiah Mailafia

A former presidential candidate, Obadiah Mailafia has spoken on the identity of those behind the problems in northern Nigeria
According to Mailafia, the elites who hate the country are responsible, saying such people want nothing but the worst for Nigeria
The former CBN deputy governor also stated that the activities of elites prove they are the problem of the nation
Amid the high level of insecurity in the northern region, Dr. Obadiah Mailafia, has identified the elite as those responsible for challenges in the geographical zone.

Mailafia in a Zoom conference on Sunday, August 15, explained that there is a peculiar ‘disease’ in northern Nigeria which is being perpetrated by the elites who hate the nation, according to The Punch.

The former deputy governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) went on to note that the elites are the problem of Nigeria, adding that their activities prove it.

While decring the campaign against Western education being championed by Boko Haram, the former presidential candidate of the African Democratic Congress (ADC) said Islam is not opposed to it.

According to Mailafia, the elites want nothing but the worst for the country.

He was quoted to have said:

“We have a peculiar disease in northern Nigeria perpetrated by elites who hate Nigeria and want nothing but the worst for our country. That is what I’m beginning to see with all these killings.”

News

Man murders wife’s lover on matrimonial bed

A 32-year-old businessman, Ezekiel Igbokwe, has been arrested by the Ogun State Police Command for allegedly killing his wife’s lover, Victor Olatundun.

Igbokwe was said to have killed Olatundun after he caught him having sex with his wife at their matrimonial home.

The suspect allegedly committed the offence at about 12am at Peace Lodge on Itura Street, Awa Ijebu, Ijebu-North Local Government Area of Ogun State.

The suspect, who committed the crime on Wednesday, July 27, was arrested by the police the following day.

Igbokwe and his 28-year-old wife were among the 23 suspects paraded at the Ogun State Police Command headquarters, Eleweran, Abeokuta, on Thursday, for various offences ranging from murder to illegal possession of firearms and ammunition.

Igbokwe, who said he was a businessman, explained that he had returned from his trip to Onitsha and met Victor on top of his wife on their matrimonial bed.

He said he picked a machete in the toilet and cut the victim in the neck and hand.
Olatundun reportedly died on the way to the hospital.
Igbokwe, who deals in electronics, said he was born in Ago Iwoye, Ogun State.

He said, “I travelled to Onitsha on July 25, and when I came back on July 27, I met a man inside my room making love to my wife. Then we started fighting. The man was stronger than me. When I saw he could overpower me, I got a cutlass in my toilet and dealt him blows in the hand and neck. On the way to the hospital, the fuel in the car finished and he died.”
Igbokwe said he committed the crime due to anger, adding that he never meant to kill the victim.
He claimed that he had never met Olatundun before, saying he also never suspected that his wife was having an extra-marital affair with

We learnt that Igbokwe and his wife, Juliet, have three children aged nine, seven and five.
Juliet, who sobbed intermittently, said her alleged lover had been pressurising her for a relationship for some time.

She explained that she had always told him she was married, but the victim never gave up until he ended up at their matrimonial home on that night.

Juliet, who said she sold snuff, said Victor was her supplier and he pestered her for six months before she finally gave in.
She said she suspected that the deceased used a charm on her, as she could not explain how it all happened.
She said, “He had been disturbing me that he wanted to marry me, but I said I was married.

“On the day of the incident, I really can’t say if he used a charm on me. All I know is that he called me that he wanted to see me and I told him not to come; he knew my house and when he came, I didn’t know what happened.

“He used to come and deliver snuff to me in the house. On the day of the incident, he told me he was coming from somewhere and that it was already late. He wanted to sleep in our place till the next day. He didn’t know that my husband was away. He tried to sleep with me, but later he didn’t.”

Juliet, who claimed that she got married to her husband in 2005, said the husband did not take good care of her and the children.
She said their marriage had been turbulent and fraught with fights and quarrels.

The mother of three said each time there was a fight, her husband would leave the house for months.

News

I’ve Never Benefited From Any Government In Nigeria Since I Was Born – Bishop Oyedepo

President and founder of Living Faith Church Worldwide, Bishop David Oyedepo has denied benefiting from any government in Nigeria since he was born on September 27, 1954.

The African richest pastor made the assertion on Sunday during a sermon at the church’s headquarters in Ota, Ogun State.

He restated how God instructed him to warn Nigerians in 2015 against the current government. According to him, he saw trouble befalling the nation by President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration.

He said, “A lot of people were washing their mouths on me, 2015 when I told them, ‘you are heading for trouble’.”

He told me. I saw trouble, I saw Nigeria under stress. He confided in me: warn them.

“I am a zero beneficiary of any political era in my life. Ask them. I have never taken a ballot box in my life. I have grown outside that realm, by grace,” he said.

“When I wasn’t grown, when I was crawling, it was not God’s plan for my life.”

It is not about… I will still tell you whether you want to hear it or not. Now see your trouble since 2015.

“You can’t access His plan because you are experienced in the Faith. You need to be in love. He shows me,” he added.

News

Strike: Nigerian Doctors Must Stop Competing With God – Ngige

The Minister of Labour Chris Ngige has urged striking Nigerian doctors to be humble and stop competing with God, lamenting incessant strike by health workers.

National Association of Resident Doctors (NARD) called an indefinite nationwide strike on August 2 to press home their demand for the implementation of a Memorandum of Understanding they signed in March 2021.

The MOU contained issues bothering on the welfare and other issues affecting the doctors.

Mr Ngige, who last friday said he cannot continue to waste his time meeting with striking doctors, said God gave doctors power to save lives and doctors must not compete with God but discharge their duties with humility.

“We don’t create lives, God creates.

We only preserve people’s lives through the act of God.

In doing so, God has given us some powers and those powers are his own to create.

“But there is something God does not want, God does not want when he gives you powers you use it to try to say that you are like him or you are competing with him.

God loves you to do that which he has asked you to do; to use that power with humility,” Mr Ngige said.

Speaking on Thursday at the 2nd Summit of Medical Elders Forum (MEF) held in Abuja, Mr Ngige said the medical profession is in great danger and doctors must learn to be humble and not play God while discharging their duties.

“At no time in the history of medical association am I seeing our association and our profession in danger as I am seeing now.

Many people will not see it but from where I am sitting and standing, I can see danger ahead,” he said.

The minister lamented incessant strikes by Nigerian medical doctors, saying “Doctors should ask themselves questions; why is it that it is when your colleagues are in government that you go on the greatest number of strikes.

Some of these colleagues were Presidents, Secretary Generals of NMA and even NARD.”

“Dr Onyebuchi Chukwu, Dr Isaac Adewole faced plenty of strikes, since our government came I have consolidated four strikes.

Something is wrong.

We must start by telling ourselves the truth,” he added.

Crime

Crises Under Buhari Pushing Nigeria To National Disaster – Emeka Anyaoku

Emeka Anyaoku, former Commonwealth secretary-general and elder statesman, has warned that the deterioration of the worsening insecurity and other social-political crises under President Muhammadu Buhari’s regime is pushing Nigeria “to the brink of national disaster.”

Mr Anyaoku raised the alarm at the 10th edition of the Emeka Anyaoku Lecture series on Good Governance, organised in his honour in Awka on Thursday.

“Developments in this country are pushing Nigeria to the brink of national disaster,” he stated. Mr Anyaoku decried the country’s degeneration into international irrelevance and sliding into the ranks of poverty-stricken nations.

He noted that he had to break his over 10 years’ resolve to stay away from public glare, as Nigeria was fast drifting away.

The octogenarian added that the level of deterioration had robbed Nigeria of the desired respect and the much-needed sense of belonging by its citizens.

He pointed out that kidnappers and bandits should be called “terrorists and nothing more.”

In 2021 alone, hundreds of people, including schoolchildren, have been kidnapped for ransom. Hundreds of others have been killed across the country, especially in the North. There has also been state-sponsored violence against South-East and South-West separatist agitators.

Mr Anyaoku also expressed worry over the recent assault on a Nigerian diplomat in Indonesia, noting that such a development indicated the ignominy with which the rest of the world now treat Nigeria.

In his speech, Governor Willie Obiano said of Mr Anyaoku, “We have also come under the powerful influence of the ideals and philosophies that formed the foundations of his entire life’s work and remarkable career that changed the interface between nation-states.

Also speaking, Donald Duke, former governor of Cross River, described Mr Anyaoku as a gift from the Obosi people to Anambra, Nigeria, and the world.

Kingsley Moghalu, the guest lecturer, called on Nigerian leaders to sit up and deliver good governance to the people.

Mr Moughalu, a former deputy governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, stated that leadership, not politics, was the main driver of a nation’s progress.