The President of Laity Council of St. Christopher’s Catholic Church, Games Village, Abuja, Dr. Ralph Igweh, has advised Christians to vote the right leaders that are capable of addressing Nigeria’s security challenge. In his New Year message on Sunday, Igweh said that the choices should devoid of political sentiments. “In the true demonstration of Christian values, may we all be guided by the Holy Spirit in this election year. “It is our civic responsibility to vote the right leaders to pilot this country’s affairs. “Let our choices not be guided by ethno-religious, social and political sentiments, rather, by values of good conscience. “We are burdened by security challenges occasioned by socio-economic problems in a country blessed with enormous human and natural wealth.” He said that the choices should be guided by thoughts of the future of our children and generation unborn. He called on the parishioners to use their God given talents for the good of self and the parish noting that it is a reflection of God’s grace at work in them. “The sacrifice of treasure, talent and time graciously given for the success of our common good, is an epitome of encouragement that comes not only from within us as individuals, but also, as a group of people chosen to lead. “You have consistently demonstrated the virtue of good will and grace.” According to him, in the pilgrimage of contemplative priesthood, we are guided to deeply reflect on our identity of true apostleship. Apostleship that comes from exemplary acts of being witnesses to Christ. He expressed hope that members of St Christopher Laity Council would draw water from the well of salvation. He prayed that God would grant all graces needed to overcome all challenges in 2023 and beyond. Source: NAN.
The spokesperson for the Atiku-Okowa Presidential Campaign Council, Daniel Bwala, has described former President Olusegun Obasanjo’s endorsement of the Labour Party presidential candidate, Peter Obi, as a way to achieve his third term by proxy which he failed to accomplish when he (Obasanjo) was president.
The PDP campaign spokesperson, who wrote from London in a report titled: ‘Obasanjo: In search of an impossible third term,’ said: “someone may need to remind him (Obasanjo) that Nigeria has indeed progressed from its days of imposition, manipulation and intimidation to popular participation of the people in government and their country’s affairs.
“The 2023 election is the election of the people and not of great personalities. Nothing about his 1999-2007 tenure gives him heavenly authority to dictate our future or the outcome of any yet to be held elections.”
The spokesperson said that Obasanjo “should have humbled himself and followed Peter Obi to rallies to test his own popularity; that’s what popular people do. He should go to town halls with Peter Obi, campaigning and bidding for votes to show he believes in a democratic electoral process.
“We do not vote on a letter threat. When was the last time we saw him visiting victims of a natural disaster? Or to play the role of a father of the nation he claims so passionately?
“Nigerians would decide, and they would do so, not on the basis of a letter from a man seeking a third term by proxy, but on their own judgment of who among the candidates made the case, their opinion justifies their votes.
“The letter is not new, its contents are not surprising, but his legacy seems to betray his claim in the letter. Baba OBJ Nigeria has moved on please let our democracy grow and respect the will and wishes of the Nigerian people.”
Nine persons have died from cholera outbreak in Akpoha community, Afikpo North local government area of Ebonyi State while many others have been hospitalized and are receiving treatment in various hospitals in the state.
Official reports put the number of those hospitalized at 30 but residents said that the number could be higher.
The state government has since set up Rapid Response Team to the community to help bring the situation under control.
Chairperson of the local government, Uchenna Ibiam, led the team which comprised staff of the state ministry of Health and that of the National Center For Disease Control (NCDC) to the community.
Addressing the village heads and people of Akpoha community, the council boss expressed concern over the unexpected deaths some of whom were children.
He called on the people of the area not to panic as the situation is under control.
He commended the state government for responding promptly, especially in sending Rapid Response Team to assist Health Workers at Akpoha in containing the situation.
He advised the residents to adhere strictly to medical advice from health professional to stem the wide spread of the outbreak.
Ibiam, who visited the victims at the various Health facilities at Akpoha, promised to drill four solar boreholes within two weeks to enable them have access to clean water.
Ibiam said that his visit was to serve as a psychological therapy to the people of the area and to assure them of the administration’s readiness for humanitarian interventions to save their children from mortality from cholera outbreak and other diseases.
The Chairperson gave out some relief materials including foams , disinfectants and cash to the people.
Former Nigeria’s Minister of External Affairs, Professor Bolaji Akinyemi, has asked former President, Olusegun Obasanjo to retire from public appearances and go home to rest like former Head of State, retired General Yakubu Gowon and others.
Reacting to Obasanjo’s endorsement of the Labour Party (LP) Presidential candidate, Peter Obi while featuring on Channels TV’s Sunday Politics, Professor Akinyemi insisted that Obasanjo is not in the position to recommend a candidate for Nigerians.
He made it clear that Obasanjo is part of those who brought the country to ruin and ought to keep his political opinion to himself.
He advised the former president to go home and retire like Yakubu Gowon and Abdusallami Abubakar, who no longer meddle in the country’s affairs.
“Don’t let us spend this programme on General Obasanjo’s letter or ideas because some of us believe he also is part of the foundation of the problems that we have in this country.
“One of the things that I have said is once you have occupied that post of president and you have served your term, please go home and be like General Yakubu Gowon, be like General Abdulsalami Abubakar, just be quiet…and let others get on.
“But for you to create a problem for us and then you come back and present yourself as a problem solver, I find it difficult to swallow.
“I know some people say ‘ignore the messenger and just focus on the message’. I’m sorry, I am a political scientist, that doesn’t rob with me.”
The Rivers State Governor, Nyason Wike has said that he is not too comfortable with the Presidential candidate of his Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), after his former boss, ex President Olusegun Obasanjo bypassed him and endorsed the Presidential candidate of the Labour Party (LP) for this year’s election.
Reacting to the endorsement of Peter Obi by Obasanjo, governor Wike said: “there is something fundamentally wrong.
“I was praying that Obasanjo should not say anything. When I saw the letter last night, I was touched. If your principal cannot recommend you, then there is something fundamentally wrong,”
Wike, who spoke today, January 2 at the flag-off of the construction of Akpabu-Odido Road in Emohua and Ahoada West local government areas of Rivers State, said: “after all, you people went to see your principal to lobby him to recommend you. It took your principal a long time before he now wrote a letter to all Nigerians.
“Look, I am not too comfortable with Atiku. I am not bothered about other people but this one (Obasanjo) worked with you and he knows you: why he took that decision.”
Atiku was Vice President during the Obasanjo administration between 1999-2007.
The Presidency has said that former President Olusegun Obasanjo is always attacking President Muhammadu Buhari out of jealous because he never though anyone can beat his record when he ruled for eight years as has been done by Buhari.
Responding to the latest attack in which Obasanjo wrote-off President Buhari’s government as the worse in history, the Presidency said that Obasanjo had always hallucinate that he is the best ever to lead Nigeria and there will never be another one better than him
In a statement by the senior special assistant to Buhari on media and publicity, Malam Garba Shehu, the Presidency said: “he (Obasanjo) will not stop attacking President Muhammadu Buhari because the former President won’t stop being jealous of anyone who beats him to a new record in the nation’s development process.
“President Buhari is ahead of Chief Obasanjo in all fields of national development and to do that is cardinal sin to Obasanjo whose hallucinations tell him that he is the best ever to lead Nigeria and there will never be another one better than him.
“President Buhari just completed the world class edifice that is the Second Niger Bridge after three decades of failed promises. It is now awaiting commissioning.
“Obasanjo laid the sod for the bridge in his first term as elected President and work never started.
“When he sought re-election for his second term in office, he returned to the site to turn the sod for the bridge the second time. When the Obi of Onitsha, forthright and scholarly, reminded him that he had done this in the past, Obasanjo told the foremost Southeast traditional ruler that he was a liar, in the full presence of the Chiefs and Oracles in his palace.
“Obasanjo lied to the Southeast to get their votes. President Buhari didn’t get their votes but built the bridge because he believed it is the right thing to do.
“President Buhari had been bagging awards and encomiums for trying to do that which the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria says a leader should do: serve one, or a maximum of two terms and go.
“President Buhari has been stating and restating that he will supervise a better election than the one that brought him to office and to leave as and when due.
“Having tried tenure elongation and failed, Obasanjo’s fictitious mind must be telling him that he is the one under attack.
“But he is not on President Buhari’s radar because experience has shown, especially lately in West Africa where there have been at least three successful coups and many other failed attempts, that third term or tenure elongation is a recipe for political instability.
“Furthermore, the totality of African leaders appointed President Buhari the Anti-Corruption Champion of the continent.
“You can’t be an anti-corruption champion if “you meddled and bent the rules,” carrying the putrid responsibility of what happened to national assets in the name of privatization as documented by the Nigerian Senate in 2011.
“As an insight, the Aluminum Smelter Company of Nigeria, ALSCON, which was set up with $3.2 billion, was sold to a Russian firm, Russal, for a paltry $130million. Delta Steel, which was set up in 2005, at a cost of $1.5billion, was sold to Global Infrastructure for just $30million.
“ALSCON got back $120million for the dredging of the Imo River, which was never carried out.
“Three, which is linked to the one above is the growing profile of President Buhari as the Champion of Democracy not only at home and in the West African subregion but the African continent as whole.
“As President, Obasanjo destabilized internal democracy by orchestrating impeachment after impeachment of governors who were not compliant with his highly imperial administration.
“As we said sometime back, Mr. Obasanjo’s tenure, 1999-2007, represented the dark days of Nigeria’s democracy due to a slew of assaults on the constitution.
“The former president deployed federal machinery to remove governors Joshua Dariye, Rashidi Ladoja, Peter Obi, Chris Ngige and Ayo Fayose from office. They were the then governors of Plateau, Oyo, Anambra, Anambra and Ekiti, respectively, unjustly removed using the police and secret service under his control.
“Under him, a five-man legislature met at 6:00 am and “impeached” Governor Dariye in Plateau; 18 members out of 32 removed Governor Ladoja of Oyo from office; in Anambra, APGA’s Governor Obi was equally impeached at 5:00 a.m. by members who did not meet the two-thirds required by the constitution.
“Under the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), lawmaking powers of the Rivers State legislature were transferred to the federal parliament to punish Governor Amaechi for shifting his political alliance.
“Moreover, Obasanjo damned the Supreme Court and unlawfully held back Lagos State revenues due from federal sources on account of his pettiness against Governor Bola Tinubu.
“On the other hand, in Washington a few weeks ago, the US President Joe Biden at a meeting with African Heads of States and Government described President Buhari as a champion of democracy and role model for the leaders of African states.
“Clearly, Obasanjo has become even more jealous by adopting a vengeful attitude.
“Four, to say that “frying pan to fire” is the situation in Nigeria at this time should be read to mean a personal experience to him and we know what that means.
“Hell” for Obasanjo is when a President, any President that comes after him refuses to be his own puppet, to do as he wishes on all matters and at all times.
“He then keeps attacking out of frustration.
“Obasanjo’s vengeful attitude towards President Buhari is the height of selfishness and little short of moral squalor.”
Presidential Candidate of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, and Jigawa state Governor Abubakar Badaru, landed at the private wing of the Nnamdi Azikwe International Airport in Abuja early today, January 2, 2023 after observing Umrah (lesser hajj) in Mecca, Saudi Arabia…
Language experts in Ebira and Igala in Kogi State have declared their readiness to implement the new National Language Policy which recommends the teaching of mother-tongue in all primary schools in Nigeria. The policy, which was approved by Present Muhammadu Buhari on November 28, 2022, after the meeting of the Federal Executive Council (FEC), stressed that the mother-tongue should be taught as the medium of instruction in teaching other subjects in the first six years of Basic Education. The policy was announced by the Minister of Education, Adamu Adamu, on November 30, 2022, directing all States to key into this Policy. A statement today, January 2, 2023, by the National Chairman of Ebira Language Development Association (ELDA), Alhaji Salawo S. Salami, said that the experts “have been working together and are fully ready to assist the State Government to implement the policy. “Kogi State has always excelled in all national policies and programs and this one should not be an exception.”
SS Salami. Salawo Salami, who is Principal Emeritus of Nigeria, further appealed Governor Yahaya Adoza Bello through the State Ministry of Education, to urgently put machinery in motion to begin the implementation of the National Language Policy in the State. He acknowledged that the State Commissioner for Education, Wemi Jones, showed a lot of interest and commitment on the Ebira and Igala languages project on assumption of office in 2020. “To this end, he held series of consultative meetings with stakeholders of Ebira and Igala languages. This greatly raised our hopes and we had the belief that light was beginning to appear at the end of the tunnel. “This hope was again dashed due to non-release of funds to execute the project. We are stuck at this critical stage where funds have to be made available to write textbooks for the language and train serving teachers on how to teach the language.” According to Salawo Salami, for over a decade now, there has been concerted effort by all stakeholders of Ebira language to impress it on the Kogi State Government to facilitate the teaching and learning of Ebira in schools in the Central Senatorial District of Kogi State. “To this end, an Ebira Language Curriculum supervised by experts from the Nigerian Educational, Research & Development Council (NERDC) Abuja was developed. “In 2010, the Ebira Language Curriculum was given full approval by the Federal Government during that year’s Annual Meeting of the National Council on Education. “Members of the Ebira Language Development Association (ELDA) have since 2010 been developing textual materials based on the approved Curriculum preparatory to the commencement of the teaching of Ebira in schools. “Unfortunately, all efforts to get the Kogi State Government to do the needful have so far met with a brick wall.”
A human rights lawyer and Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), Femi Falana, has asked Nigeria’s Federal Government to make it mandatory for persons arriving in Nigeria from China to produce negative COVID test results as a way of preventing the resurgence of the deadly disease.
In a statement today, January 1, Falana foresees the consequences of not adopting preventive measures as other countries, especially in the face of China’s recent easing of restrictions.
He said that the “rickety” state of Nigeria’s healthcare delivery system makes it a matter of urgency to prevent another COVID outbreak.
“It is public knowledge that there has been a COVID-19 surge in China in the last few weeks.
“The Chinese authorities have been reporting about 5,000 cases a day. Some analysts have said that the crisis has been underreported by the Chinese government.
“The development has compelled many countries to impose restrictions on passengers arriving from China. As usual, the federal government has not adopted any measure to prevent the spread of the dangerous disease through travellers arriving in Nigeria from China.
“In view of the rickety health care delivery system in the country, the federal government should, as a matter of urgency, make it mandatory for passengers arriving in Nigeria from China to produce a negative COVID-19 test taken not more than two days prior to departure.
“A stitch in time saves nine, as they say. The government should not wait until the nation’s healthcare is overwhelmed by the pandemic before taking the necessary scientific steps to prevent another upsurge of coronavirus infection.”
China had said that it will scrap its quarantine measures for inbound travellers from January 8, leading to a situation where other countries have began to impose travel restrictions on travellers arriving from China.
It is reported that on December 28, about 50 percent of passengers on two flights arriving Italy from China reportedly tested positive for COVID
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The spokesperson for the Atiku-Okowa Presidential Campaign Council, Daniel Bwala, has described former President Olusegun Obasanjo’s endorsement of the Labour Party presidential candidate, Peter Obi, as a way to achieve his third term by proxy which he failed to accomplish when he (Obasanjo) was president.
Former Nigeria’s Minister of External Affairs, Professor Bolaji Akinyemi, has asked former President, Olusegun Obasanjo to retire from public appearances and go home to rest like former Head of State, retired General Yakubu Gowon and others.
The Presidency has said that former President Olusegun Obasanjo is always attacking President Muhammadu Buhari out of jealous because he never though anyone can beat his record when he ruled for eight years as has been done by Buhari.
SS Salami.
