S’East Did Not Put All Eggs in One Basket-Fidel Ayogu

S’East Did Not Put All Eggs in One Basket-Fidel Ayogu


Contrary to arguments that the Southeast geo-political zone lost out in the national power equation following the defeat of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the just concluded 2011 general elections, a chieftain of the party, Fidel Ayogu, weekend declared the position as a product of mischief.
Speaking in Abuja, Ayogu, a former Nigerian Ambassador to Uganda and Rwanda, said the zone followed a traditional pattern of voting which is not alien to other geo-political zones.
“It is only this time that people are saying that the Igbo put their eggs in one basket. We have always had a pattern of voting in this country. Even in the North, PDP states did not vote for Jonathan. In 2011, Niger State where most of the party big wigs come from, PDP did not win the election.
“President Jonathan did not receive sizeable number of votes from them and nobody discredited them. The Middle Belt still held the senate president. Some of them have been consistent. We know that the North have a way of voting in one direction. It is the same with the South East and South South.
“Nobody has used it as a basis for the distribution of ministerial positions or other positions or democracy dividends. Parties are set up to win elections. The moment you win election, every other part of the country is your constituency.
“And when you look at the whole scenario-2015 election, you will see that in the north, they had votes for the president in previous elections and in this last election April 11, they could not come close to the number of votes they had in the last election.
“If you total the number of voted cast in Kano, it did not come close to the number of votes of above two million votes in the last election-2011. Most of the northern states had more votes in the presidential elections but in the governorship elections, the votes were different but nobody is going into the details”, he said.

Ayogu, a gubernatorial aspirant, who moved a motion for the adoption of the Enugu State Governor-elect, Hon Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi, at a stakeholders meeting before the guber primaries, asserted that the argument could be translated to mean that the South East should have voted PDP and APC at the same time.
“There is nothing like putting all eggs in one basket. People are not being sincere when they say you must stand with one leg on one party and one on the other. In other words, they are saying that the South east should have voted for Buhari and Jonathan at the same time”, he said

Asari Explodes Again: Buhari Has NO Right to Imprison Anyone

Asari Explodes Again: Buhari Has NO Right to Imprison Anyone


It looks like the prison thing is a really sore topic for Asari Dokubo, and why wouldn't it, with the scores of Nigerians hounding him with the threat of it since president Jonathan lost his reelection bid to General Muhammadu Buhari?

According to certain blogs making the rounds right now, Asari responded to a Facebook commenter who said (for the umpteenth time, perhaps) that when Buhari assumes power, he (Asari) would be thrown into jail.

Asari's response? Here: Mohammed Kabir Ibrahim your Buhari does not have that power to send any body to prison get that into your piggy skull and nobody is afraid of him. We are waiting for him following the example of GEJ does not make us cowards.If he Buhari wants to be a Pharaoh then he will find a Moses in me.

asari riot

Xenophobia: South Africa Blasts Nigeria Over Envoy Recall, Says Remember The TB Joshua Case?

Xenophobia: South Africa Blasts Nigeria Over Envoy Recall, Says Remember The TB Joshua Case?


South African Government responds to the decision by the Nigerian Government

The South African Government takes note that the outgoing Government of the Federal Republic of Nigeria has recalled its Acting High Commissioner to South Africa. A government resorts to such an extraordinary diplomatic step to express outrage at actions or behaviour of another government.

We are not sure which actions or behaviour of the South African Government the Nigerian Government is protesting. It is only Nigeria that has taken this unfortunate and regrettable step. If this action is based on the incidents of attacks on foreign nationals in some parts of our country, it would be curious for a sisterly country to want to exploit such a painful episode for whatever agenda.

Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa has just returned from Indonesia to attend the Africa-Asia Summit and the 60th Anniversary of the historic Bandung Conference. At no stage did the Nigerian delegation present at that gathering, expressed its intention to formally raise the issue with the South African side.

South Africa remains committed to a strong bond of friendship and bilateral relations with Nigeria. It is for this reason that when 84 of our citizens perished on Nigerian soil, we did not blame the Nigerian Government for the deaths and more than nine (9) months delay in the repatriation of the bodies of our fallen compatriots, or for the fact that when these bodies eventually returned, they were in a state that they could not be touched or viewed as required by our burial practice.

We will raise our concerns through diplomatic channels with the new administration that will assume office in Nigeria next month.

The South African Government, as well as all political parties, religious organisations, non-governmental organisations, business, sports fraternities, including artists, musicians and ordinary people of South Africa, have been decisive and unequivocal in condemning and rejecting the attacks on foreign nationals.

Through our interventions, relative calm and order has been restored. We are encouraged by the solidarity our country continues to receive from other African countries and the international community. We shall also continue to support and not blame the Nigerian Government as it battles to deal with Boko Haram that continues to kill many innocent civilians. We hope that the more than 200 girls kidnapped by Boko Haram will someday be reunited with their families.

Enquiries: Mr Clayson Monyela, Spokesperson for DIRCO, 082 884 5974

ISSUED BY THE DEPARTMENT OF INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS AND COOPERATION

OR Tambo Building
460 Soutpansberg Road
Rietondale, Pretoria
0084

PDP's Darius Ishaku On Course to Win Taraba Gov Elections

PDP's Darius Ishaku On Course to Win Taraba Gov Elections


Unconfirmed reports says the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, will probably clinch the Taraba state governorship elections.

The race is between Darius Ishaku of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) against Sen. Aisha Jummai Alhassan of the All Progressives Congress (APC).

PDP Defeats APGA as Okezie Ikpeazu Claims

PDP Defeats APGA as Okezie Ikpeazu Claims


According to Premium Times, the Peoples Democratic Party candidate, Okezie Ikpeazu, has defeated Alex Otti of the All Progressives Grand Alliance in the governorship election in Abia.

The INEC returning officer in the state, Prof. Ozumba, while announcing the result at about 4:54am Sunday, in Umuahia, said Mr. Ikpeazu polled a total of 264,713 votes to beat his closest challenger Alex Otti of the All Progressives Grand Alliance, who garnered 180, 882 votes.

Mr. Otti is a former Managing Director of Diamond Bank.

How Buhari Saved Obasanjo’s In-law From Being Assassinated by Abacha’s Govt

How Buhari Saved Obasanjo’s In-law From Being Assassinated by Abacha’s Govt


Kenny Martins, an in-law to ex-president Olusegun Obasanjo, in an interview with Vanguard narrates how president-elect Gen. Muhammadu Buhari saved him from being assassinated during Gen. Sani Abacha's regime in the 90s.

"Obasanjo had just been arrested and I was around him. Some friends approached me and revealed that I was to be assassinated. And I have this attitude about death because I’d had two close shaves with death and so I believe when my time is up my time is up. But they were forceful and they said what if the bullet doesn’t hit you and it hits us.

"So, I went straight to Justice Maman Nasir in Malumfaci, just after Kano. I told him I’d heard that the government was after me. The justice said I should be at peace but that I should drive straight to Daura and meet with General Buhari and talk to him.

"I told General Buhari that I was being targeted and he asked why. I told him they said I was an Obasanjo man, ‘the man has been arrested and I don’t know why they are after me’.

"He said he would ‘try and see the head of state this weekend and by Sunday I would call you’. We had land lines that time. At about 1am, Saturday through Sunday, General Buhari called me from the Villa and said ‘I’ve seen the head of state and he has instructed the NSA, Alhaji Ismaila Gwarzo, to call you and he would be in Lagos on Monday. I have given him your number and nothing would happen to you’.

"On Monday morning, Alhaji Gwarzo called me and I’d not met him before. He introduced himself and told me not to worry and that he would be in Lagos on Friday but I insisted on my paying him a visit, but he insisted that if I wanted to come, I should let the former head of state know that I chose to come to Abuja because he was instructed to come and see me.

"So on Wednesday I was in the Villa, I went to Gwarzo’s office and introduced myself a Obasanjo’s in-law and that I heard they wanted to kill me.

"He said ‘but our government is not a killer’. There and then he called the head of the SSS then, explaining to him my allegation and that one said he knew me. Gwrazo assured me that I should go and that nothing would happen to me and nothing happened to me.

"But just two weeks later, my closest political associate, Alhaja Suliat Adedeji, was killed by government goons.

"If I had known her name was also on their list, I would have mentioned her; that day still remains the saddest day of my life when I realized that I missed an opportunity to save her.

Niger Delta Youths Warn Buhari Against Tampering With NDDC

Niger Delta Youths Warn Buhari Against Tampering With NDDC


Niger Delta youths have warned the in-coming administration of Major General Muham-madu Buhari against reducing the Niger Delta Development Commission, NDDC, to a parastatal under the Ministry of Niger Delta Affairs, Vanguard reports.

In a statement issued after a meeting in Warri, Delta State, at the weekend, a coalition, comprising 26 youth and ex-militant groups under the aegis South- South Mandate, vowed to resist any move that could impede the rapid transformation of the region currently being undertaken by the NNDC.

“In as much as we grudgingly decided to allow peace to reign after we were dubiously and maliciously rigged out of the presidency, our reluctant acceptance of that faulty March 28, 2015 electoral abracadabra over a sitting President from Niger Delta, a charade never recorded in the history of electoral contest in Nigeria, should not be misconstrued as capitulation by the youth of Niger Delta, now galvanized under the South-south Mandate, SSM,”the youths said.

“While we are still evaluating the import of March 28, 2015 presidential poll robbery through a well-orchestrated regional gang-up, procedural compromise and massive intimidation of the electorate in some parts of the country, we shall vehemently resist further humiliation and annihilation of our people”. The youths noted in the communiqué which was made available to newsmen in Abuja, that as the closest government interventionist agency to the poor and neglected people of the Niger Delta region, they would not tolerate any attempt to further suffocate the NDDC since it remained the only government agency that has direct impact on the oil bearing communities.

“Niger Deltans shall no longer allow their interest to be subjugated and trampled upon by the Federal Government of Nigeria under whatever guise”, they added.
Subscribe to: Comments (Atom)