S’East congratulates Buhari

The people of South East geo political zone has congratulated General Muhammadu Buhari on his victory at last Saturday’s presidential election, even as they applauded Nigerians for making the right choice.

A press statement made available to newsmen by All Progressives Congress, APC, South East coordinator, APC Presidential Campaign Committee, Senator Chris Ngige, said the 2015 presidential election in Nigeria would certainly go down in the annals of the country’s political history, as one that showcased a sharp departure from the past.

Ngige said the fact that the most desired change has been realised by the massive support of Nigerians, who were desirous of change, voting Buhari as Presidentelect, has further strengthened the faith and belief of Nigerians in the country’s democratic process.

He said: “Against this back drop, we the people of the South East geo-political zone wish to applaud Nigerians and expressed our undiluted loyalty and support to success of the Buhari administration”.

Ngige further stated that the recent development has gone to vindicate the Igbos in APC before “our kin and kiths in the South East on the need for us not to put our eggs in one basket.”

We’ve fought a good fight -Fani-Kayode

Peoples Democratic Party Presidential Campaign Organisation has said its candidate, President Goodluck Jonathan, fought a good fight even as it insists that the campaign never abused anyone.

In its first official response since the declaration of All Progressives Congress, APC, candidate, Muhammadu Buhari, as winner of the poll, the campaign organisation reechoed the president’s show of sportsmanship when he congratulated the presidentelect by calling him on phone.

Speaking at a press conference on Wednesday in Abuja, Director, Media and Publicity of the organisation, Femi Fani-Kayode, congratulated Buhari on his victory at the poll.

He asked Nigerians to support the incoming administration as well as support democratic process and agitate for a better Nigeria.

The organisation, he stressed, is very proud of the achievements of the president.

He said: “We ask them to co-operate with the in-coming government and to remember that we are first and foremost Nigerians before anything else.”

On whether PDP would seek legal redress, he declined comment, saying while he would not speak on behalf of the party, it has every right to go to court if it deems it fit.

“Having lost, it does not mean that is the end to the world, it just means we need to re-group, re-organise ourselves and begin the process all over again, because another election will come in a few years time. And that is where we are today. We have conceded that we have lost. We acknowledge the fact that we fought a good fight.

“We do not have any fears about the future. We did the right thing during the campaign. We have no regrets about our candidate or the way in which we conducted our campaign and we will live to fight another day.

“I had nothing personal against anybody. I was simply doing my job for which I have no regrets and I wish them well, and I sincerely hope they will take Nigeria to a level that we can all be proud of,” he said.

At least 15 dead as gunmen attack university in Kenya

NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — Al-Shabab gunmen attacked a college in northeast Kenya early Thursday, targeting Christians and killing at least 15 people and wounding 60 others, witnesses said. The president said it is now a hostage situation.

Even as security forces cornered the gunmen in a dormitory at Garissa University College where they could be holding hostages, survivors described to The Associated Press a harrowing scene, where people were mercilessly gunned down and bullets whistled through the air as they ran for their lives.

Collins Wetangula, the vice chairman of the student union, said he was preparing to take a shower when he heard gunshots coming from Tana dorm, which hosts both men and women, 150 meters (yards) away. The campus has six dorms and at least 887 students, he said.

He said that when he heard the gunshots he locked himself and three roommates in their room.

"All I could hear were footsteps and gunshots nobody was screaming because they thought this would lead the gunmen to know where they are," he said. "The gunmen were saying sisi ni al-Shabab (Swaihi for we are al-Shabab)," Wetangula said.

When the gunmen arrived at his dormitory he could hear them opening doors and asking if the people who had hidden inside whether they were Muslims or Christians.

"If you were a Christian you were shot on the spot," he said. "With each blast of the gun I thought I was going to die."

The gunmen started to shoot rapidly and it was as if there was an exchange of fire, he said.

"The next thing, we saw people in military uniform through the window of the back of our rooms who identified themselves as the Kenyan military," Wetangula said. The soldiers took him and around 20 others to safety.

A spokesman for al-Shabab says it is responsible for the ongoing attack. Ali Mohamud Rage said in a radio broadcast that fighters from the group are conducting a "heavy" military operation inside the campus.

Kenya's security forces are trying to dislodge the gunmen from at least one dorm.

Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta said hostages have been taken.

"I am saddened to inform the Nation that early today, terrorists attacked Garissa University College killed and wounded several people and have taken others hostage," he said in a speech to the nation.

He said details would be forthcoming "in due course" from security officials.

Michael Bwana, a 20-year-old student who fled the attack, said he and other survivors have been trying to call their trapped friends but their phones are switched off. Either the students turned off their phones for their own safety or the gunmen have seized the handsets, he said.

"Most of the people still inside there are girls," Bwana said, referring to the student dormitory in which gunmen are believed to be holding an unknown number of students.

One suspected extremist was arrested as he attempted to flee the scene, Interior Minister Joseph Nkaissery told a press conference in Nairobi.

Augustine Alanga, a 21-year-old student, described a panicked scene as gunshots rang out outside their dormitory in the pre-dawn hours when most people were asleep.

The shooting became more intense almost immediately, he told AP by phone. The heavy gunfire forced some students to stay indoors as others fled with gunmen firing at them.

He said he saw at least five heavily armed, masked gunmen.

"I am just now recovering from the pain as I injured myself while trying to escape. I was running barefoot," said Alanga, who was one of scores of students who managed to escape through barb-wire fencing.

At the time the attack started — 5:30 a.m. — morning prayers were underway at the university mosque, where students were not attacked, he said.

A mortuary attendant in the town of Garissa says at least 15 people have been killed and at some 60 were injured. The attendant saw the casualties arrive by ambulance. He spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the press.

Some of the more serious wounded were being flown to Nairobi, the capital, authorities said.

Local residents donated blood outside Garissa hospital in the shade of a tree.

The National Disaster Operations Center said on Twitter that three of four dorms have been evacuated, with the gunmen cornered in one dorm. No further details were immediately available and Kenya Defense Forces have surrounded the area, journalists said, impeding their access.

Terrified students streamed out of buildings, some young men shirtless, as arriving police officers hunkered down, taking cover. The gunmen had opened fire at guards upon arriving, triggering a "fierce shootout" with police guarding student dorms, Kenya's National Police Service said in a written statement.

Wetangula was among about 20 students who had been rescued by soldiers. One soldier instructed them to run at their command and dive when they told them to when they got outside, he said.

"We started running and bullets were whizzing past our heads and the soldiers told us to dive," Wetangula said. He said the soldier told the students later that al-Shabab snipers were perched on a three story dormitory called the Elgon and were trying to shoot them.

Police and military surrounded the buildings and were trying to secure the area, police officer Musa Yego told AP.

Last week al-Shabab claimed responsibility for a deadly siege on a Mogadishu hotel in which at least 24 people, including six attackers, were killed. That attack lasted more than 12 hours as Somalia's security forces tried to dislodge gunmen who had taken control of parts of the Maka-al-Mukarramah hotel in the Somali capital.

Al-Shabab also attacked the Westgate Mall in Nairobi in 2013, killing dozens.

Kenya's northern and eastern regions, which are near the Somali border, have suffered many attacks blamed on the al-Qaida-linked Somali group, which has vowed retribution on Kenya for sending troops into Somalia to fight the militants. Kenya sent its troops there in 2011 to fight al-Shabab militants following cross-border attacks.

Last month, al-Shabab claimed responsibility for attacks in the county of Mandera on the Somali border in which twelve people died. Four of them died in an attack on the convoy of Mandera County Governor Ali Roba.

Police statistics show that 312 people have been killed in al-Shabab attacks in Kenya from 2012 to 2014. Thirty-eight people were killed and 149 wounded in Garissa in the same period

Ekiti Assembly shut as APC lawmakers resurface

In a dramatic turn of event, the 19 All Progressives Congress, APC, members in the 26-man Ekiti State House of Assembly surfaced at the House of Assembly complex yesterday after being locked out since November 17 last year.

The Dr Adewale Omirinled lawmakers, who held a session that lasted about 10 minutes, arrived in the complex in a convoy of 14 vehicles about 11:30am and entered plenary.

However, to safeguard lives, apprehensive staff of the Assembly picked up their belongings and rushed out of the complex.

Omirin, the speaker before his purported impeachment by seven members of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, lawmakers, which elected Dele Olugbemi in his place, spoke on behalf of members after the session.

He said the APC lawmakers were in the Assembly to begin their legislative duty, describing Olugbemi as an impostor.

Omirin said: “Why are you surprised that we are here? I don’t expect you to be surprised that we are in our offices because we are duly elected as members of the House of Assembly.

“This is my office and I shouldn’t be asked why I am here. Though, we have instituted a case against the seven lawmakers for the fake impeachment against me, but that would not prevent us from doing what we are supposed to do.”

He, however, said their return to the Assembly was not prompted by the victory of Gen. Muhammadu Buhari, adding, “it is a mere coincidence. Although I have not been here since November, that does not mean I have not been performing my duties.

“So, whether Buhari is declared winner or not, we have to do our work. I have been attending Speakers’ meetings in Abuja and attending to my people at my constituency, so we haven’t abdicated our duty,” the speaker said.

However, Police Commissioner, Mr. Taiwo Lakanu, who led a detachment of security agents to the Assembly to save the situation from degenerating, ordered closure of the complex.

Consequently, stern-looking policemen and soldiers took over the complex.

However, the factional Speaker, Olugbemi, criticised the police commissioner for shutting the Assembly.

“I don’t think it was right to have closed the Assembly. We have the capacity to contain the APC lawmakers. We are ready to meet them fire for fire,” he said.

But Lakanu said he took the action to prevent violence in the state, saying the police must be proactive to prevent the state from being plunged into crisis.

It will be recalled that Omirin and the remaining 18 APC lawmakers had stayed away from the Assembly grounds since November 17 last year when the seven lawmakers loyal to Governor Ayodele Fayose took over.

Subsequently, Omirin was impeached by the seven lawmakers on November 20, 2014 and Olugbemi was elected the new Speaker

PDP govs commend Jonathan

Governors on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, have commended President Goodluck Jonathan for his statesmanship and sacrificial decision to accept the result of the March 28 presidential election.

Speaking with State House Correspondents after the governors met with Jonathan at the Presidential Villa, Akwa Ibom State Governor, Godswill Akpabio, said the PDP remains the party that has maintained peace and refrained from violence in spite of anomalies witnessed during the election.

According to Akpabio, the PDP remains undaunted, the party would record victory in the gubernatorial election scheduled for April 11.

Akpabio said: “As governors, we came to show solidarity with our president and to commend him for being a statesman.

“He (Jonathan) has done something no African leader has done in such a flawed exercise, with under-aged voters everywhere, and disparity between states.

“Some using card readers, some failed card readers, some using manual and some states not using manual and some just taking ballot papers to government houses, particularly in certain parts of the country.

“It was a very flawed exercise; yet he looked at it and said in spite of it all I want to ensure peace, unity and stability of the country, let me give opportunity to the APC presidential candidate to come in and then give his own to the country”

“That kind of sacrificial stand by a president can only come from a PDP president and that is why we are very proud of what has happened,” Akpabio said.

The meeting with the governors came shortly after former Head of State, General Muhammadu Buhari, received his Certificate of Return from the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, as winner of the March 28 presidential election.

Jonathan, who was defeated by Buhari in the election, had congratulated the former Head of State on his victory at the poll.

The PDP governors who met with Jonathan yesterday at the Presidential Villa included Akpabio (Akwa Ibom); Theodore Orji (Abia); Seriake Dickson (Bayelsa) and Liyel Imoke (Cross River).

Also at the meeting were Idris Wada (Kogi); Emmanuel Uduaghan (Delta); Martin Elechi (Ebonyi); Ibrahim Dankwambo (Gombe); Murktar Yero (Kaduna); Jonah Jang (Plateau); Sullivan Chime (Enugu).

Some ministers, who also met with the President were Dr. Akinwumi Adesina (Agriculture); Ibrahim Shekarau (Education); Musiliu Obanikoro (State, Foreign Affairs II); Professor Viola Onwuliri (State, Education); Mohammed Adoke (Attorney General); Abba Moro (Interior); Aminu Wali (Foreign Affairs) and Suleiman Abubakar (National Planning).

A group of female ministers were also at the Presidential Villa, they included Zainab Maina (Women Affairs); Omobola Johnson (Communication Technology); Sarah Ochekpe (Water Resources); Laraba Mallam (Environment); Akon Eyakenyi (Land and Housing).

I am no longer interested in INEC job

Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Prof Attahiru Jega, said he would not serve another term, in the same capacity, even if his tenure was renewed.
Jega who spoke in Abuja last night, said another person should be given the opportunity to serve after his (Jega) tenure ends in June.
“I am grateful to God. I was asked to come and contribute my own quota to the national development and I have done my bit to the best of my ability. Whatever assignment one will do for five years – just like this difficult one, to me if one is able to successfully accomplish the task, someone else should be given the opportunity, because for me I am not interested and if I am requested to serve again, I will not do it, by God’s grace,” Jega said.
Jega, who anchored the March 28 presidential election, admitted that the INEC task was a difficult one, adding that he was not interested in tenure renewal and would not accept an offer of extension.

Alleged Boko Haram Sponsor 'Ndume' Celebrates Re-election to Nigerian Senate

Ali Ndume, alleged sponsor of the boko haram terrorist group and Senator representing Borno South at the National Assembly (NASS), on Tuesday, said his re-election into the Senate was a call to service.

Ndume stated this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Maiduguri.

He said ''in 2011, my intention was to seek re-election into the House of Representatives, but my people said I should go for the Senate and that was how I became a Senator today. I believe that it is still the wish of my people to seek re-election and that is why I won.’’

''Going to the Senate is not just about representation but about giving quality representation to the people.’’

He thanked the electorate for voting him for the second time and promised to work toward enhancing their standard of living.

''I thank God that I have won and I thank my people for their support.’’

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