With just a few weeks to the expiration of his tenure, President Goodluck Jonathan has appointed former Anambra state governor, Peter Obi as the new chairman of Nigeria’s Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
Obi, who served two terms as governor of Anambra State on the ticket of the All Peoples Grand Alliance (APGA), had defected to President Jonathan’s Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in a move that critics saw as a betrayal of the late Ikemba Nnewi, Emeka Odumegwu Ojukwu.
Obi’s appointment was announced today to newsmen by the Presidential spokesman, Dr. Reuben Abati.
Dr. Abati also announced the removal of Dr. Femi Thomas as the Executive Secretary/Chief Executive Officer of the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS), and quickly replaced with Olufemi A. Akingbade as acting Chief Executive.
The outgoing President also approved the confirmation of Mounir Haliru Gwarzo as Director-General of the Securities and Exchange Commission.
“Mr. Gwarzo, who has been acting as Director-General of the Commission, was appointed to the Board of the Securities and Exchange Commission as Executive Commissioner in January, 2013,” Abati said. [myad]
The Nigerian government has made a u-turn, denying that it had recalled its envoys from South Africa following the xenophobic attacks on foreign citizens in the country.
Briefing journalists at the State House Abuja today, Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Dr. Reuben Abati, said that what was in the public domain was a mix up and misinformation on the matter.
In a statement on Saturday by the Foreign Affairs Ministry, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Ambassador Aminu Wali had said that the envoys had been summoned for consultation.
Wali’s statement had read: “The Honourable Minister of Foreign Affairs, Ambassador Aminu Wali, has summoned for consultation, Nigeria’s senior diplomats on tour of duty in South Africa. These are the Acting High Commissioner in Pretoria, Ambassador Martin Cobham, and the Deputy High Commissioner in Johannesburg, Ambassador Uche Ajulu-Okeke.
“The invitation is in connection with the ongoing xenophobia in South Africa targeting foreigners, mainly African migrants. It will be recalled that the current spate of attacks began about three weeks ago, and have so far claimed some seven lives, destruction of property and created fear and uncertainty in the minds of African migrants in the former apartheid enclave.
“The South African President, Jacob Zuma, has condemned the attacks in a statement presented to the South African National Assembly. Ditto for the Zulu Monarch, Goodwill Zwelithini, whose alleged inciting comment provoked the attacks. Well-meaning South Africans have also organised peace marches against xenophobia.”
The South African government has since criticised Nigeria’s decision on the withdrawal of its envoys.
However, Dr. Abati told journalists that they had only been invited for routine consultations.
“It is not true that Nigeria has recalled its envoy in South Africa on account of recent xenophobic attacks in that country,” he said. “There is a mix up and misinformation on the matter.
“The truth is that Nigeria has not recalled his envoy from South Africa. What has been done is to invite the Charge De Affairs in that country for routine consultation by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Recall of envoy is a serious and sensitive matter, that has not happened.” [myad]
A local Radio Station, Tao FM on frequency 101.9, in Okene, in the Central Senatorial District of Kogi state was this evening, bombed by unknown gunmen, killing no fewer than five people, including the security personnel guarding the station.
Reports just reaching us indicated that the gunmen gained entry into the station through the hilly rear, gunned down the two security men before throwing an explosive into the building housing the station. The report has it that the station is still on fire as at the time of this report, at 10Pm.
There was no information as to the motive of the gunmen and no group has claimed responsibility for the attack, even as the dead and the injured ones have been taken to Okene general hospital.
So far, no official statement has come from the security agencies in the area, but the chairman of the Board of Directors of the Station, Dr. Tom Adaba and commissioner of information in Kogi state, Hajiya Zainab O. Suleiman have confirmed the bombing.
The South African government has expressed disappointment with Nigerian government for what it calls her decision to recall its ambassador over the xenophobic attacks.
The government of South Africa emphasized that it is unfortunate and regrettable that a sister country like Nigeria would take such an action even when it is clear that the government of South Africa is taking steps to stop the attacks on sovereign nationals.
In a statement issued today, the Department of International Relations And Cooperation said that Deputy President, Cyril Ramaphosa, had just returned from Indonesia to attend the Africa-Asia Summit and the 60th Anniversary of the historic Bandung Conference.
The statement said however, that “South Africa remains committed to a strong bond of friendship and bilateral relations with Nigeria”.
Meanwhile, Nigeria’s two heads of mission in South Africa have have arrived back in Nigeria ahead of their appearance before the National Assembly.
Nigeria’s Acting High Commissioner in South Africa, Ambassador Martin Cobham, and the Consul-General in South Africa, Ambassador Uche Ajulu-Okeke, are to brief lawmakers on the welfare of Nigerians in the wake of the xenophobic attacks recorded in KwaZulu Natal and Johannesburg this month.
The Nigerian Union in South Africa says more than 4.6 million Rand, about 84 million Naira has been lost by Nigerians to the xenophobic attacks as against 1.2 million Rand (21 million Naira), initially estimated.
Al least seven people died over a month of attacks on foreigners and foreign owned property in South Africa.
Zulu King, Goodwill Zwelithini, has been blamed for sparking the attacks with comments about foreign workers. [myad]
The Editor-in-Chief of Sun newspapers, Mr. Femi Adesina, has been re-elected as the President of the Nigerian Guild of Editors (NGE) in Lagos. He is to lead the Guild in the next two years.
Adesina was returned unopposed at the 2015 biennial convention of the Guild by his colleagues most of whom described his tenure as the best the Guild had ever had.
The election which was adjudged by the editors as free, fair and credible saw many members of the previous executive return unopposed. However, the post of Secretary of the Guild was hotly contested between Mustapha Isa of Silverbird Television and Victoria Ibangha, former editor at Champion newspapers who polled 117 votes to Isa’s 103 votes.
The highpoint of the election was the maturity, patience and camaraderie displayed by the editors who by their action showed an honourable path for Nigerian politicians whom they had consistently criticized as too partisan and intolerable.
The Minister of Information, Senator Patricia Akwashiki, who was represented by the Registrar of Advertising Practitioners Council of Nigeria (APCON), Garba Bello Kankarofi, extolled the editors for discharging their watchdog role, but urged them to continue to strive for excellence and to consider national interest above all things in their judgment.
The Guest of Honour, Prince Tony Momoh, who was himself a former editor of Daily Times and former Minister of Information said the duty of the editor as gate-keeper is to monitor governance on behalf of the people. He urged the editors not to relent on this especially at this critical time in the nation’s history when good governance is all that the people desire.
The host governor, Babatunde Raji Fashola, thanked the editors for being part of the success story of leadership in Lagos State through their constructive criticisms and agenda-setting roles. He charged them to do more.
Fashola’s charge was corroborated by the chairperson of the occasion, Mrs Dupe Ajayi-Gbadebo, who urged the editors never to relent in their watchdog duty especially in a democratic Nigeria, stressing that the Nigerian editor played very prominent role in the birthing of democracy in the nation and therefore show be in the front row in the task of safe-guarding it. [myad]
No fewer than seven people have been confirmed dead in Kano today when a pedestrian bridge at Dorayi quarters, Kano, collapsed.
The state Police command’s Public Relations Officer, ASP Magaji Majiya, confirmed that the incident happened around 4:45 p.m. when the bridge, which was still under construction caved in and collapsed on a car.
“The workers at the site had warned motorists not to pass because they were working on the bridge but the driver of the taxi allegedly ignored the warning.
“So, the moment he moved; before he passed, the bridge caved in and collapsed on the vehicle, which led to the death of seven persons,’’ he said.
According to him, the vehicle has since been evacuated from the scene while the corpses have been deposited at a hospital morgue.
Majiya said the police had also commenced investigation into the cause of the incident. [myad]
Imo State governor and candidate of All Progressives Congress (APC), Chief Rochas Okorocha, was today declared winner of the governorship election in the state by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) even as the governorship candidates of Peoples Democratic Party in Abia and Taraba states, Dr Okezie Victor Ikpeazu and Mr. Darius Ishaku, respectively, also won.
In supplementary governorship elections in the three states yesterday, INEC declared the three candidates winners in their respective states today
Okorocha scored 416,996 votes to defeat the PDP candidate, Hon. Emeka Ihedioha, who polled 320,705 votes. Okorocha was declared winner by the State Returning Officer, Professor Ibidapo Obe, who is Vice Chancellor of the Federal University, Ikwo, Ebonyi State.
In the senatorial election in Delta Central, Ighoyota Amori of PDP won the election, polling 115, 000 votes to defeat his closest opponent, Ovie Omo-Agege, of Labour Party, who scored 53, 000 votes. Amore was declared the senator-elect. Amori polled 2, 981 votes in Ughelli South, while Omo-Agege polled 681 votes. In Sapele, Amori got 8, 864 votes, Omo-Agege got 1, 541. In Udu, the PDP candidate got 9, 194 votes, while his LP challenger got 3, 956 votes. In Uvwie, Amori got 4, 819 votes, while Omo-Agege got 2, 366 votes. In Okpe, the PDP candidate scored 8, 613, while the LP candidate got 2, 022 votes. In Ethiope West, Amori got 172, while Omo-Agege had 12 votes. Also in Ethiope East, Amori scored 14, 142 votes, while Omo-Agege scored 7, 168 votes.
The results announced early this morning by INEC showed that Okorocha led Ihedioha in 20 of the 23 local government areas where the supplementary polls took place in Imo State. Okorocha won in Nkwerre (APC 255, PDP 164), Oru west (APC 395, PDP 129), Okigwe (APC 603, PDP 76), Orlu (APC 687, PDP 179), Ihitte Uboma (APC 131, PDP 66), Nwangele (APC 271, PDP 55), Orsu (APC 471, PDP 218), Njaba (APC 1095, PDP 236), Obowo (APC 697, PDP 505), Ow. North (APC 674, PDP 620), Onuimo (APC 412, PDP 207), Ohaji/Egbema (APC 1210, PDP 996), Owerri West (APC 1342, PDP 793), Ehime Mbano (APC 604, PDP 393), Mbaitoli (APC 3997, PDP 2422), Oru East (APC 7154, PDP 1168), Ngor Okpala (APC 416, PDP 323), Isu (APC 2773, PDP 979), Isiala Mbano (APC 1415, PDP 1000), and Oguta (APC 5030, PDP 1378). Ihedioha won in three local governments, namely, Ezinihitte (APC 213, PDP 715) and Aboh Mbaise (APC 686, PDP 939), Ikeduru (APC 786, PDP 1022).
Okorocha had polled 385, 671 votes, while Ihedioha scored 306, 142 votes at the main election on April 11. That gave a difference of 79, 529 votes between the highest scorer and the runner-up, and the number of cancelled votes was 144, 715. The election was declared inconclusive by the INEC Returning Officer in the state, Obe. After the supplementary election, APC had 31,326 votes while PDP had 13,624.
The Electoral Act 2010 (as amended) stipulates that where the number cancelled votes exceeds the difference between the number of votes polled by the candidate who comes first and the person in second place, a winner cannot be declared until the conclusion of a supplementary election in the areas affected by the cancellations.
Results, as announced by INEC, from the eight local government areas of Abia State where the supplementary governorship elections held showed that in Aba North PDP got 754 while APGA polled 857; in Ikwuano PDP 1,748, APGA 2179; Ohafia, PDP 2,479, APGA 326; Isiala Ngwa North, PDP 60, APGA 60; Aba South, PDP 722, APGA 2536; Ogwunagbo, PDP 1893, APGA polled 1289; Umuahia South, PDP 1377, APGA 4184; Umuahia North, PDP 1,899, APGA 2,376, and Osisioma, APGA 5,322, PDP 1668.
The Collation/Returning Officer for the Abia State governorship the election, Professor Benjamin Ozumba, had on April 12, announced that the governorship elections were inconclusive and subsequently rescheduled in some polling units where either did not hold or were cancelled due to irregularities. But Ikpeazu had polled 248,459 votes against Otti’s 165,406 votes after the first election on April 11, making a difference of 83,053 votes, while 177,000 votes were cancelled – which was more than the vote difference between the top candidate and the runner-up. This had necessitated the supplementary election.
In Taraba State, as results of the supplementary election continued to trickle in, the governorship candidate of the PDP, Darius Ishaku, was steadily consolidating his lead in the April 11 gubernatorial election, which was declared inconclusive by INEC. Going into yesterday’s supplementary election which was conducted in 218 polling units, Ishaku was ahead of his main challenger, Senator Aisha Jummai Alhassan of APC by 54, 812 votes.
Results announced from the various polling units across the 10 local government areas indicate that PDP won in Kofar Sarki in Takum local government by 588 votes against seven votes polled by APC. In Daka polling unit in Takum, PDP polled 378 while APC scored 110 votes just as PDP scored 178 against APC’s five votes in Rafin-Kada ward in Wukari local government.
At Asibiti ward in Donga local government, PDP scored 4,412 while APC scored 604 and in Akete ward still in Donga local government, PDP polled 2,065 votes in 11 out of the 12 polling units collated while APC scored 1,506.
Also at Suntai Daaji in Donga local government, PDP garnered 1,139 votes against APC’s 74 votes, while at Nyitan ward in Donga, PDP scored 4,304 while APC scored 199 votes. In the only polling unit where election was held in Yorro local government, PDP scored 469 while APC polled 34 votes.
At Muhammed Tukur polling unit which was the only polling unit where election was conducted in Jalingo local government, APC polled 362 votes while PDP polled 90 votes while in 17 out of the 20 polling units in Bali local government, PDP polled 5,370 votes while APC polled 750 votes.
The PDP candidate is also leading in Karim Lamido local government where the acting governor of the state, Alhaji Sani Danladi, hails from just as PDP is leading in all the four polling units in Ussa local government.
The total number of registered voters in the 218 polling units where the election was conducted is127, 125 and based on the low turnout of voters, the number of accredited voters in the election is not expected to be more than 50 per cent of the registered voters. The local governments where the additional elections were held are Donga, Bali, Takum, Karim Lamido, Kurmi, Yorro, Ussa, Wukari and Zing.
Though, security was tight in the parts of Taraba, Imo, and Abia states where supplementary governorship elections held yesterday, very few voters participated in the exercise meant to conclude the process for determining those who would govern the states for the next four years.
INEC had said on Friday that the supplementary elections will hold in 51 Registration Areas in nine local government areas of Abia State; 79 RAs in 23 LGAs in Imo; and 32 RAs in 10 LGAs in Taraba. But the election in Abia State took place in eight local government areas, comprising 274 polling units. INEC’s head of voter education/publicity, Mr. Edwin Enabor, explained that Umunneochi Local Government Area was “erroneously” included among the areas designated for the supplementary poll.
The low turnout of voters was so widespread that in Abia State, town criers had to use wooden gongs to try to mobilise voters to come out and vote. That was the situation at Agbo village in Ibeku East II state constituency and other places. The town criers went to work when it was noticed that three hours into the official time for the commencement of accreditation, voters were not coming out to be accredited at polling unit 007.
At Michael Okpara University of Agriculture, Umudike (MOUAU) in Ikwuano local government, voters at polling unit 007 were voting for the third time since April 11. One of the voters, Mr. Isaac Onwuegbulam, told THISDAY after accreditation that they had voted “peacefully” on April 11 only to learn later that it was cancelled. He said the voting was repeated on April 12 “but later we heard that ballot boxes were snatched,” hence it was again cancelled. He said voters in the area had become fatigued.
Generally, however, the supplementary elections went peacefully, despite the tension and threat of violence that preceded the polls in some places. There was tight security with partial restriction of vehicular movement, especially in the designated areas for the supplementary polls.
In Taraba State, six units of the Police Mobile Force from neighbouring states were deployed to the state, in addition to an unconfirmed numbers of soldiers. The security personnel moved around the state capital in a show of force. The Deputy Inspector General of Police (DIG) in charge of finance and administration at the force headquarters, Mr Hillary Opara, led two other Assistant Inspectors General of Police (AIG) to the state to provide security for the election. [myad]
A former Nigerian Minister of Commerce and Tourism, Chief Bola Kuforiji-Olubi has faulted an asset freezing order purportedly issued against her and some members of her family by a London court following a dispute between a company where she was a Chairman – Phoenixtide Offshore Nigeria Limited and its estranged foreign partner, Tidewater Marine International Incorporated. The ex-minister said the order issued ex-parte on March 31 by Justice Eder of the Commercial Court, High Court, Queen’s Bench Division, was intended to coerce her and her family into submission and to stop her from further insisting that Tidewater must settle all outstanding indebtedness and tax liabilities to Nigerian government and tax authorities before the termination of both companies’ relationship. Kuforiji-Olubi, who spoke through her lawyer, Ade Adedeji, said steps had been taken to stay the execution of the wrongly issued order and to have it set aside. Tidewater still operates in the country through a local company, T1 Marine Services Limited. Adedeji said it was strange that a court could grant such order without hearing form the other side. He accused Tidewater of suppressing facts before the English court especially failing to tell the British judge that there were pending cases between parties in Nigerian courts and the fact that Tidewater had appealed an earlier order by Justice Ibrahim Buba of the Federal High Court, Lagos asking Total to pay its $12.6m debt into an account opened by the court until the determination of pending cases between parties. He said Tidewater did not only hide these facts from the court, it deceived the London court to believe that the Nigerian stakeholders in Phoenixtide, including Kuforiji-Olubi were blocking its access to the $12.6m yet to be paid by Total in view of the appeal it (Tidewater) filed. Adedeji noted that even when all business done was with PhoenixTide in Nigeria, which is a bona fide limited liability company registered in the country, Tidewater is “surreptitiously demanding payment of the outstanding amount from Total from Kuforiji-Olubi and her family when they have never had access individually and severally to those funds. [myad]
Pope Francis has said that he was deeply saddened by the massive earthquake that killed more than a 1,000 people in Nepal and expressed his solidarity with those affected by the tragedy.
The pontiff’s feelings were expressed in a telegram sent by his Secretary of State Pietro Parolin to the Nepalese Catholic authorities.
“He expresses his solidarity with all affected by this disaster and assures those who grieve for deceased family members of his closeness in prayer,” the statement read.
The pontiff also offered encouragement to the civil authorities and emergency personnel as they continue their rescue efforts and assistance to those touched by this tragedy.
Officials said at least 1,170 people are known to have died in Nepal after the devastating 7.8 magnitude quake, making it the quake-prone Himalayan nation’s worst disaster in more than 80 years.
Dozens more people were reported killed in neighbouring India and China and there are fears the final toll could be much higher. [myad]
The Chief Executive Officer of AFRIFF, Chioma Ude, has made it clear that inadequate local local language and culture have been responsible for the failure of the reason Nigerian movies to get much recognition from global film awards and festivals.
Speaking as a panelist at the Nigerian Entertainment Conference alongside Wunmi Obe, Femi Falodun and Theo Lawson, Chioma emphasized that most of the movies do not have as much local language content as required to enter the Foreign Film categories at most of the world’s biggest award shows.
“We need to understand what this category is about and the criteria for entry. Movies in this category are expected to have rich cultural elements which must reflect in the language, story, music and all other elements present in the film. Although, things are getting better now, as Nollywood got an invitation from the Oscars last year, and hopefully will get a slot soon. The right film must have at least 51% local language content to be accepted into the Foreign Language Film category.”
Speaking for the music industry, recording artiste, Wunmi Obe, explained that the same reason was why only the likes of Sunny Ade, Femi Kuti, Angelique Kidjo are the ones who usually get nominated for the Grammys.
“These people are very African in their sounds and lyrics, and that is what is required for that category.” [myad]
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