Professor Onyabuchi Chukwu who resigned as the Nigeria’s minister of health to contest the governorship of Ebonyi state under the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has been felled by the state Deputy Governor, Engr. Dave Umahi. The Deputy Governor emerged today as the party’s flag bearer for the 2015 elections IN party’s primaries conducted in the State.
The primaries which took place at the Abakaliki Township Stadium was contested by eight governorship aspirants, including Engr. Dave Umahi, Engr. Paul Okorie, Dr. Aja Nwachkwu, Chief Hycinth Ikpo, Senator Paulinus Igwe Nwagu, Chief Michael Ude Udumanta, Senator Offia Nwali and Prof Onyebuchi Chukwu (absent) who were present till the end of the exercise.
Announcing the results of the primaries that had 592 delegates, the Chairman of the gubernatorial electoral panel and Governor of Ekiti State, Ayo Fayose declared the Deputy Governor of Ebonyi State who polled 541 votes as the winner and gubernatorial candidate of the PDP in the 2015 general election.
In a remark, the winner thanked God for his victory at polls stressing that his loyalty to Governor Martin Elechi remained intact even as he asked the Governor to forgive him in any way he may have wronged him in the course of the whole exercise.
Umahi said that his priority would be to improve the living standard of the people of the State.
Eight governorship aspirants of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), today, boycotted the Ogun governorship primary election which to pick a candidate for the 2015 elections.
They Asiwaju Tony Ojesina, Prince Yanju Lipede, Dr. Remilekun Bakare, Alhaji Sarafa Tunji Ishola, Dr. Yomi Majekodunmi, Professor David Bamgbose, Isiaq Akinlade, Alhaji Rafiu Ogunleye and former speaker of the House of Representatives and Dimeji Bankole.
Also absent at the primary were the former Nigeria President, Olusegun Obasanjo and ex-governor Gbenga Daniel whose names were mentioned.
However, in spite of cancellation of the primary by the party”s National Working Committee following the confusion over the delegates list, the state branch of the party went ahead to elect the former governorship candidate of the Peoples Party of Nigeria (PPN) in the 2011 election, Gboyega Nasir Isiaka as its governorship candidate in the state.
The primary which was held at the party Secretariat, Kuto, Abeokuta was monitored by the officials of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
The winner of the primary polled 705 votes to defeat Jelili Kayode Amusan and Omoba Segun Adewale who scored 151 and zero votes, respectively. Over 900 delegates voted in the Ogun PDP governorship primary.
The election was held under tight security provided by heavily armed anti-riot policemen, men of the State Security Service and operatives of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps.
Delegates were thoroughly frisked by stern-looking security agents who manned the gates to the PDP state secretariat venue of the primary which kicked off at about 2:25pm.
The PDP National Working Committee had earlier in a statement issued by the party’s National Publicity Secretary; Olisa Metuh announced the cancellation of the Ogun governorship primary.
Metuh said that the Ogun PDP governorship primary had not been authorized by the party’s national headquarters, warning that the exercise which had been declared null and void would amount to a nullity.
The PDP national publicity secretary said that a new date for the conduct of the Ogun PDP governorship primary would be announced later by the party national leadership.
In his opening remarks before voting commenced, Chairman of Ogun PDP, Chief Bayo Dayo assured that the primary election would produce a credible governorship candidate for the party in the state.
Bayo who told newsmen earlier that he was not aware of the directives of the PDP NWC cancelling the primary expressed confidence that the party’s standard bearer would defeat the incumbent Governor Ibikunle Amosun in the 2015 governorship election in the state.
“Today will mark the beginning of good things in the party. By 2015, we’ ll drive this APC government away. My ambition is to have PDP returned to power in 2015,” Bayo said.
One of the aspirants who participated in the governorship primary election, Amusan who stormed out before the announcement of the full results said that he had accepted the outcome.
In his remarks, after he was declared winner, the PDP governorship candidate said that his election as the party’s standard bearer for next year’s poll followed due process and was conducted in observance of the rule of law. [myad]
A small jet airplane crashed into a neighborhood in the Washington, D.C. suburb of Gaithersburg, Maryland today, reportedly killing at least three people aboard the aircraft. Numerous homes were set on fire by the crash.
The Embraer EMB-500 twin-engine jet was a mile away from Montgomery County Airport on approach to land when the accident occurred.
According to a statement from the Federal Aviation Administration, the three people killed were all passengers in the ill-fated plane.
The crash also destroyed large sections of the houses.
Twenty-one governorship aspirants of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) in Akwa Ibom State have alleged that the accreditation of delegates for the primary was done in the state house in the private resident of the governor, Godswill Akpabio.
The aspirants, who had earlier walked out of Ibom International Stadium, the venue of the governorship primary election in protest of alleged skewed delegates list, said they would not accept whatever result that emanated from the primary.
Meanwhile the former Secretary to Akwa Ibom State Government, Udom Emmanuel Emmanuel has won the primary in landslide.
The 21 aspirants, led by a former ambassador to Russia and Belarus, Assam Assam, said: “All the people who are in this hall were brought from that venue in Akwa Ibom Transport Corporation buses. Chapter chairmen of the party were not permitted to identify their people. People who were not from their specific local government areas were brought in here to come and vote.
“In fact there were no congresses; the lists that were used to ask the people to come and vote were contrived lists.
“We have addressed this area to the panel and gave them the opportunity to address this issue before the commencement of voting. They ask us to wait for the outcome of the appeal panel when they come.
“We do not want to create violence in this place and that is why we have decided to walk out this venue to seek redress.”
They, however, request for a free and fair primary in the state.
Meanwhile, Udom has said the candidates that walked out were only responding to the reality of the situation.
He stated that out of 24 of them, the governorship position could only be won by one person and not by the 24.
He, however, said that the people of the state had demonstrated true democracy.
The Leader of the Senate, Victor Ndoma-Egba (SAN), has been defeated by his rival, John Owan-Enoh in the primary election of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) for Cross River central senatorial district which was held in Ikom yesterday. Ndoma-Egba described the process and the outcome as a sham.
Ndoma-Egba, who addressed journalists in his residence in Calabar hours after Owan-Enoh had been declared winner of the primary election, rejected the result even as he saw it as setting the nation’s democracy backward.
He also gave indication that he would challenge the process and outcome of the primary, which he described as fraudulent, through the internal mechanisms established by the PDP.
Pointing out flaws that characterised the conduct of the primary which held at the Ikom Local Government Secretariat, Ndoma-Egba said: “Well, It was a complete sham. I can say confidently that if what I saw is what is going on, then our democracy is clearly in recession.
“Usually, when we do primaries, we start by publishing the delegates lists, so that people get to know who the delegates are, and those who will be participating in the exercise. In today’s instance, there were two lists in circulation, so we don’t even know which one was used.
The incumbent Senators, Barnabas Gemade and Mike Onoja withdrew for governor Gabriel Suswam and Senator David Mark respectively in the Benue state primaries of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) yesterday.
Consequently, the Senate President and the governor have secured tickets to contest the senatorial election with other political parties in the 2015 general elections.
Mike Mku also secured the party’s ticket for his senatorial zone.
The primary for Benue South Senatorial District was held at the Otukpo local government secretariat.
Announcing the results on Sunday in Otukpo, the Returning Officer for the election, John Akume, said Senator Mark scored 384 votes to pick the party’s ticket while his only rival, Mike Onoja, withdrew from the race hours to its commencement.
Mark has represented the zone, comprising Otukpo, Okpokwu, Ado, Ogbadibo, Agatu, Oju, Obi, Ohimini and Apa local government councils at the senate for since 1999.
At the Akume Atongo stadium, where the primaries for the Benue North East Senatorial seat held, Gabriel Suswam polled 312 votes to emerge the winner.
In a post-election speech, Suswam thanked the people of the zone for their support during his tenure as governor and for nominating him as their flag bearer for the 2015 general elections.
At the Aper Aku Stadium in Makurdi, the returning officer for the Benue North West Senatorial District, Bob Nenge, said Mike Mku polled 168 votes to beat three others.
The others were former Speaker, Benue House of Assembly, Terseer Tsumba, Laha Dzever and Sam Bula.
According to the results, Tsumba scored 56 votes, Mr. Bula got 3 votes while Mr. Dzever scored 101 votes.
Speaking to newsmen after the contest, Mku commended the electoral panel for conducting a free and fair election and promised to work hard to ensure victory for the party in 2015.
He appealed to the losers to join him for the overall victory of the party at the general elections.
Mku is set to meet Sen George Akume, who is a consensus aspirant on the platform of the APC at the 2015 general elections. [myad]
The sour relationship between former President Olusegun Obasanjo and President Goodluck Jonathan appears to have deteriorated at the weekend as an Abuja court has stopped a book written by Obasanjo and scheduled to be launched this week. The book has three volumes with the third volume dedicated to happenings in government after Obasanjo left government in 2007.
The third part is believed to have highly uncomplimentary details of the incompetence of President Jonathan in handling several national issues. The book also had details of an attempt made by Obasanjo to help Jonathan resolve some national issues that have now ballooned into a major catastrophe for the country.
One Mr. Kashamu Buruji, who is believed to be fronting for the President, got a court injunction from an Abuja federal high court judge, stopping Obasanjo from publishing or circulating the book.
According to court documents, Alex Izinyon (SAN) filed a lawsuit (FCT/HC/M/2392/2014) on behalf of Kasahmu last week seeking an injunction restraining Obasanjo from publishing or circulating his autobiography.
The court judge, Valentine Ashi, granted an order on Friday to Kashamu barring Obasanjo from publishing or circulating the book until the substantive case is resolved before the court. The case is adjourned to December 10. [myad]
An umbrella body of medical doctors in Nigeria, Nigeria Medical Association (NMA) has recommended that all politicians seeking various offices in the next general elections should be made to undergo psychiatric tests to determine their mental state.
In a communiqué at the end of the National Executive Council meeting in Jos, NMA said that all psychiatric doctors have been advised to register with the Independent National Electoral Commission who will supervise such tests.
NMA National President, Dr. Kayode Obembe, who read the communiqué today, said that such tests have become necessary because of the manner some political office holders have conducted themselves.
The communiqué asked medical doctors to register to participate in the political process at all levels. It also asked them to register as polling officers to assist INEC to conduct free and fair elections.
The communiqué clarified issues on the strike embarked upon by some doctors, saying that NMA is not on strike, but would continue to keep services running and would not succumb to blackmail.
The communiqué expressed reservations at the level of services in the health care delivery, which has been compounded by the unhealthy power tussle among the medical practitioners. [myad]
Former President Olusegun Obasanjo has asked Nigerians not to take the Ekiti State governor, Ayo Fayose, serious over his current verbal attacks on him even as he released a letter Fayose wrote to him about two years ago, begging him over previous insults, adding that he will soon come seeking for forgiveness again.
Governor Fayose had last week in Ile Ife, Osun State, lambasted Obasanjo over what he what called Obasanjo’s unnecessary outbursts on President Goodluck Jonathan.
Also, Fayose had on Friday condemned Thursday’s visit of five Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) governors to former President Obasanjo, saying the visit would further encourage disrespect for the office of the president of Nigeria.
Fayose said: “visiting Obasanjo to plead with him to rescind his decision not to participate in the party’s activities was capable of encouraging other members of the party to openly disrespect the office of President and Commander-in-chief of the Armed Forces of Nigeria as being done by Obasanjo.”
Governor Fayose also called for “immediate suspension of the former president from the PDP for anti-party activities,” and contended that “a man who has refused to respect the office of the President of Nigeria that he once occupied does not also deserve respect from anyone.”
However, a letter to Obasanjo by governor Fayose, dated 26th June, 2012, was made available to newsmen recently. The letter read: “Dear Baba, “There is no denying the fact that my relationship with you has gone sour as a result of my action and inaction which have definitely caused you embarrassment in public and this has marred our very good father-son relationship in the past.
“I take responsibility for my overreaction and disrespect to your person which is most regretted, I am indeed sorry.
“I pray that God will give you the grace to let go of the past knowing fully well that I am human and therefore not infallible especially considering the circumstances surrounding my removal from office.
“To further buttress my willingness to seek peace with you, I could recall that I had made several efforts to this effect by consulting your close allies in the persons of Aare Afe Babalola (SAN), Chief Omilani and Pastor Oyedepo amongst others.
“Lastly, kindly disregard all insinuations or political blackmailing suggestive of my doing or saying anything contradicting my present disposition as contained in this letter.
“My reconciliation with your goodself may not go down well with some of my political opponents, but you remain the father of all.
Police and civilians today, in California, the United States of America, clashed over a spate of recent killings, by the police, of young African American suspects. The civilians, in the confusion that ensued, were believed to have looted shops and hurled objects at police and injured several officers.
Some of the civilian protesters were said to have launched canisters of smoke and tear gas back at police, while others could be seen smashing store windows with skateboards.
Police spokeswoman, Jennifer Coats said: “several splinter groups broke off and began hurling bricks, pipe, smoke grenades, and other missiles at officers. Numerous officers were struck, and one officer was struck with a large sandbag and treated at a local hospital for a dislocated shoulder.”
Several buildings were damaged, including a bank and grocery store, while numerous civilian and police cars were also vandalized.
Coats said that police in Berkeley used tear gas against the crowd as some demonstrators smashed store windows and looted shops, but said that the number of arrests and injuries was not known.
One of the demontrators who would not give her name asked: “why are you people looting? There’s no need, we’re peacefully protesting you shouldn’t be taking stuff from stores that aren’t bothering us.”
Thousands of demonstrators gathered across the United States yesterday for a fourth consecutive night to condemn a grand jury decision not to charge the white officer in the July 17 chokehold death of black father of six Eric Garner in New York.
Protests were largely peaceful from New York, where “die-ins” were staged as people lay down in Grand Central Station to Washington, where several roads and a central bridge were closed.
Civil rights activist Al Sharpton’s National Action Network held an event in Harlem attended by actor Spike Lee, and in Chicago, NBA star Derrick Rose warmed up for a game in a T-shirt bearing the words “I Can’t Breathe.”
Those were the final words gasped by 43-year-old Garner, whom police wrestled to the ground in New York’s Staten Island for allegedly selling untaxed cigarettes.
The decision not to indict the officer comes after another grand jury in the St Louis suburb Ferguson also decided not to indict a white officer who shot dead Michael Brown, an unarmed black teenager.
That decision also sparked angry protests in the largely black suburb of Ferguson, which has a mostly white police force.
And last month, a 12-year-old African American boy brandishing a toy gun was shot dead by police only seconds after they arrived at the scene.
The deaths have sparked outrage across the country, as well as a national debate on race relations and police tactics. [myad]
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